... 4 THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE.-Pending the completion of the new Gilbert and Sullivan opera-which, report says, will be of a less fantastic character than some of its ?? Pirates of Penzance has been revived at the Savoy. There is no need to again describe at length the well-known plot and the always charming, though equally familiar, music. Audiences can now once more laugh at the humour of the ...

... ~-w 1O 'AIL SOCILETY OF I'IZVTERS IN VA TER COL OLURS THERE is no wvork of every great importance in the Winter Exhibition of this long-estal,lished Society, but a large proportion of its members send excellent examples of their familiar styles. Sir 1ohn Gilbert's large romantic landscape, with Nell-grouped imediteval soldiers and gypsies, called Rocks at Tunbridge AVells,' is as good as any ...

... 11. MR. W. M. AcNVORTH begins in the New Year's number of lffurray a series of papers on The London and North-Western Railway. In Part I. much interesting information is given about this particular line of passenger and goods traffic. Mr. Acworth remarks on the habit railway men have of taking an ordinary English word and giving it some special technical sense. The word bank, for example, ...

... XUSI DR. BRADFORD'S JUDITH.-Dr. Jacob Bradford's oratorio Yudith was essayed for the first time in London, at St. James's Hall, on Tuesday evening. It was intended as an 1 exercise for the com- poser's degree of Mus. Doc. at Oxford, and must accordingly not be judged from the ordinary point of view of oratorio. According to the regulations of the University the candidate is required to ...

... VI. SLAVONIAN folk-lore has not been investigated so completely as the popular traditions of most countries, so the Sixty Folk-Tales (Elliot Stock), gathered by A. H. Wratislaw, include many novel and unfamiliar legends. Mr. Wratislaw draws his material chiefly from a collection by the late Bohemian writer, Erben, and his book is an excellent companion to the late Mr. Ralston's Russian ...

... REHIES.; I . , , COBBET1'S Extaishi GRAMMAR,-(WItrd, Loock and Co.. Salisbury-square)..-E[undredsof persns now living would have - knowtt little of granma. but for the late Wm. Cobbett. The stern, phleg- matic politician, whatever 'his fault. i uiderstood how to write with perspicuity and : ith ?? honour to Lindley Murray, be it said, that no gra mar. of the English language ever written laid ...

... The second annual repository coinpetition of the Brigade took place on Saturday at the Barracks, in Park-street, and if we may judge from the number of competitors brought together, the event bids fair to be- come one of the most popular of the prize contests offered by the officers to the members of the regiment, no less than six detachments, or 114 men, assembling to test their prowess in ...

... Look not upon the newspaper when it is read. Go and buy a fresh one. It having been announced that a cashier had absconded, leaving a large deficit, an old lady wondered why he didn't take it with him so as to have something to live on during his exile. A man recently had a pair of pants built for hira. When he tried them on he found them very tight, and. he complained to the tailor. Can't ...

... THE PANTOMIME AT THE THEATRE .. ROYAL. . II I It is not only unfair, but it iE absurd, to attempt the criticism of a pantomime on first production. From manager down to call-boy, everybody ia thoroughly worn out with incessant rehearsal, and the demands of nature need attention. It is only whe, a pantomime has been played btfore the public for sevetal nights that it can* be said to be ...

... . CONTENTMENT. What is this life What is it after all? A daily strife In which we rise or fall. Like ocean's tide Our fortunes ebb and flow; We make a Etride Ahead, then backward go. Thus ups and downs, From life's mern till the eve,, We meet; and frowns Sore oft than smiles receive. What is the ain, Of all our daily strife? To make a name That perishes with life? Or is our toil, From youth ...

... The annual dinner of the members of this club took place on Tuesday evening at the Royal Station Eotel, amongst those present being Mr Councillor Fraser (in the chair), the Reys J. McCormick, A. B. Carpenter, H. L. Clarke (liedon), and Canon Randerson; Messrs John Leng (Dundee), W. Hunt, John Cook, Dr Shetburn, Dr Maffey (Bradford), Councillor Arisell, Councillor Cohen, Councillor Shaw, ...

... I On U1onday evening last, chiefly1 through the interested kindness of Mrr- Alderman Wells, of Mona House, there wasgiven at BSuttou an amateur concert of a high class. The eutertainmeut was in aid of the funds of the parish sohools, and was well patronised by a crowded and fashion- able audience. The programme consisted of a sacred and a secular part, and the following -were the ladies and ...