* * * * *

A painful example of Mr. LLOYD GEORGE’S ignorance is forthcoming in the astounding fact that he is, or was, under the impression that Karsavina was the name of a town, and that the only musician of the name of Corelli was the author of The Sorrows of Satan.  The critic concludes with a masterly analysis of the results of these short-comings on the vitality of the Coalition Cabinet, already weakened by the withdrawal of Mr. BALFOUR, a very sound and accomplished musician of the old school.

* * * * *

THE EXILE.

  Now I return to my own land and people,
    Old familiar things so to recover,
    Hedgerows and little lanes and meadows,
  The friendliness of my own land and people.

  I have seen a world-frieze of glowing orange,
    Palms painted black on a satin horizon;
    Palm-trees in the dusk and the silence standing
  Straight and still against a background of orange;

  A gorgeous magical pomp of light and colour,
    A dream-world, a sparkling gem in the sunlight,
    The minarets and domes of an Eastern city;
  And, in the midst of all the pomp of colour,

  My heart cried out for my own land and people,
    My heart cried out for the lush meadows of England,
    The hedgerows and the little lanes of England,
  And for the faces of my own people.

* * * * *

    “The Viceroy, fishing in the Kabini river yesterday, caught a mahseer
    weighing 77 pounds.  This is the best fish so far caught in one day.”—­
    Weekly Rangoon Times.

We gather that the giant would not have allowed any less august angler to land it except by instalments.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  “RATTLING GOOD BOOK THIS, COURTSHIP AND CRIME.”

“YES, I’VE READ IT.”]

[Illustration:  “SPLENDIDLY WRITTEN.”

“YES, I’VE READ IT.”]

[Illustration:  “BY JOVE, IT’S EXCITING!”

“I’VE READ IT.”]

[Illustration:  “THERE’S ONE THRILLING BIT WHERE—­”

“YES, I’VE—­“]

[Illustration:  “—­THE HERO—­”

“—­READ IT.”]

[Illustration:  “—­BUT I MUST READ IT TO YOU.”

“I’VE READ IT.”]

[Illustration:  “I KNOW YOU’LL—­”

“I’VE READ IT.”]

[Illustration:  “—­ENJOY IT.”

“I’VE READ IT.”]

* * * * *

GUINEA-PIGS.

It was with ill-concealed trepidation that I approached the Pontifical Personage who presides over Messrs. Barkrod and Tomridge’s Zoological Department.  The recollection of my previous and only encounter with him still burned in my memory.  I had gone thither with a young nephew on whom in a rash moment I had urged the satisfaction to be derived from the study of natural history and he had countered with a birthday and a demand that I should convert precept to practice by providing him with a pet.