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BALLAD ON THE ARMADA.

IN eighty-eight, ere I was born,
As I can well remember,
In August was a fleet prepared,
The month before September.

Spain, with Biscay and Portugal,
Toledo and Grenada-

All these did meet, and made a fleet,
And call'd it the Armada.

Where they had got provisions,
As mustard, peas, and bacon,-
Some say two ships were full of whips,
But I think they were mistaken!

There was a little man of Spain,
That shot well in a gun-a;
Don Pedro hight, as good a knight
As the knight of the sun-a!

King Philip made him admiral,
And charged him not to stay-a;
But to destroy both man and boy,
And then to run away—a!

The King of Spain did fret amain,
And to do yet more harm-a,
He sent along, to make him strong,
The famous Prince of Parma !

When they had sail'd along the seas,
And anchor'd upon Dover,
Our Englishmen did board them then,
And cast the Spanish over.

Our Queen was then at Tilbury,

What could you more desire-a?

For whose sweet sake, Sir Francis Drake
Did set them all on fire-a!

But let them look about themselves,
For if they come again-a,

They shall be served with the same sauce

As they were I know when-a!

TABLE SHOWING THE PART THAT d., ETC., IS OF £1, ETC.

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TABLE OF WAGES, ETC., FROM £1 TO £150 PER ANNUM.

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Y. Pr M Pr W Pr D Y. Per M. Pr.W. Pr. D. Y.

Per M. Per W. Pr. D.

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THE RATE PER CENT. ON A POUND AND A SHILLING, FROM TO 10 PER CENT.

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THOMAS MURBY.

FOR TWO VOICES.

Poetry by E. CAPERN.

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Allegro.

She's up in yon-der field, 'Mid the new sown

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I heard her noisy clapper, and her scare-crow cry.

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SUPPLEMENT.

1. The following picture of London conveys a pretty accurate view of our overgrown condition :-"The growth of London is not only its own growth, but that of the country too. The progress of the nation must carry with it the progress of the metropolis. Within the last fifty years the population of Great Britain has all but doubled. It was but 12,500,000 in 1811, whereas it was 21,000,000 in 1851, and is perhaps above 23,000,000 now. Obviously the British capital in 1859 must assume very different dimensions from the same city in 1809. But, besides this, the metropolis has become more metropolitan. It is more everybody's town than it used to be. A visit to London was once a great event in the life of a provincial Englishman, and in many of the more remote counties it was a thing scarcely heard of, even among the gentry. Now-a-days, people of all classes come to town regularly, either for the operas or the exhibitions; for the Crystal Palace or Exeter Hall; for shopping, sight-seeing, recreation, or business. The results are before our eyes in the means taken to meet the new demands. New theatres are built, each larger and more commodious than the last. New dining-halls and hotels are established-the latter on a gigantic scale, and yet insufficient still. Get up any spectacle of a novel or extraordinary kind-add but the least intensity to the standing attractions of the metropolis, and London becomes instantly too small for its visitors. Beds are not to be had, cabs are not to be hired, accommodation of any kind is out of the question, and newspapers report with thankfulness the morning after the event that no lives were lost in the crowds of the previous day. All this must needs be accompanied with an extension of public works. That same principle of expansion which adds a supplement or Junior' to the Pall Mall clubs, which provides a second opera-house for the lovers of music, which creates single hotels as large as all the old hostelries in the Borough, and single 'tabernacles' as large as a dozen churches, must find its expression also in new streets, new bridges, and new public edifices."

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2. At a public dinner at Romsey, the toast of "the Press" was thus given by Lord Palmerston :-"I rise to do homage to that which may properly be said to be one of the wonders of modern civilisation. I mean The Press.' (Cheers.) If any man compares now a newspaper published in the last century with one of those wonderful sheets we read every day, the contrast is the most striking that the mind of man can imagine. I have heard that towards the end of the last century there was a man of the name of Woodfall, who used to publish debates; and how did he do it? It is said that he used to go to the House of Commons, listen attentively with his face in his hands to what passed, go home, drink two pots of porter, go to bed, get up next morning, and, from his dreams and his recollection, make out what he called a report of a debate. (Laughter.) Now, it is quite marvellous to see the accuracy with which debates in the House of

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Commons are reported. When the speeches are such as are calculated to attract attention, they are reported word for word as they are uttered; and how it is possible for the human hand to follow with such rapidity and such exactness I am at a loss to conceive. I once, as many others have done, began to learn shorthand, but I confess that I found out two difficulties which turned out to be quite insurmountable. The one was to write it-(laughter)-and the next and greatest was to read it when it was written." (Loud laughter.)

3. Lord Elcho has been among the most strenuous promoters of volunteering, and most diligent students under General Hay, at Hythe. Lord Elcho is an old and a crack deer-stalker; and to his mortification he found, at Hythe, strive as he would, he could not get into the first class. Among his more successful competitors was a by-no-means distinguished-looking Londoner-a true son of Cockneydom-who gradually outstripped all his fellow shooters, and ended by carrying off the first prize. The Londoner was evidently no novice at ball practice, yet he was, just as evidently, the last man in the world likely to have had any shooting in a deer forest. Lord Elcho, curious to learn how he had gained his proficiency, asked him how he had acquired it. Oh," was the unpretending reply, “on cats in my garden, at Brompton."

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4. Two soldiers, both dragoons, one a sergeant, the other a private, entered a railway carriage. The sergeant fell asleep; the private stealthily took out a razor, and, to the horror of the passengers, began to sharpen its edge. He allayed their fears for a moment by cutting bread and meat with the weapon. Then he put the remainder away, and continued to sharpen the razor. The excitement of the passengers was now fearful to behold. Suddenly the sergeant awoke, and seizing the private by the throat, disarmed him. The private was a lunatic, en route to an asylum.

5. Some years ago, a young gentleman was anxious to procure a commission in a regiment of dragoons, and not possessing those mental qualifications which the commander-in-chief now requires, procured a substitute to pass the necessary examination. The substitute duly presented himself to the examiners in London, and received a first-class certificate, which was recorded in the name of the aspirant who had employed him. In a month or two afterwards, the latter was gazetted to a cornetcy. The substitute continued for nearly ten months to harass the young cornet, and to procure from him, by threats of exposure, large sums of money, till at last he was unable to meet these inordinate demands. The substitute then addressed an anonymous letter, mentioning the circumstances of the fictitious examination, to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge,

*En route (route pron. root), on the way.

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