“If I be waspish best beware!” was the motto which appeared under the title of _The Hornet_. This smart and satirical little paper was originally launched in the wilds of Hornsey as a minor City organ. It then came into the hands of the American, Stephen Fiske. This gentleman made theatrical criticism the leading feature of his newly-acquired property. He was a great friend of Mrs. John Wood, the inimitable comedienne, and he was said to have been financed by Peabody the philanthropist. This I always took leave to doubt, because, although Fiske put plenty of brains and labour into his new purchase, it gave none of the customary signs of any considerable outlay of money. Indeed, in his hands, the _Hornet_ was more or less (rather more than less) of a financial failure. Fiske returned to New York. Here he took up the post of dramatic critic on the _Spirit of the Times_, a position which he still holds, though the name of the journal has been changed to _Sports of the Times_. Joseph Hatton then undertook to run the _Hornet_. Hatton had written a novel called “Clytie,” a great part of which was made up of the proceedings in the celebrated Twiss case lifted bodily from the columns of a daily paper. The novel enjoyed a sort of library success, and Hatton thought to increase the circulation of his new property by bringing out “Clytie” as a serial. Now, the public hates reprint, and it particularly hates reprint of unsuccessful stuff. But Hatton was obsessed by “Clytie.” He not only ran it in his paper, but he turned it into a play, and as he could not find a manager willing to produce it, he took it on the road himself. That soon settled poor Jo Hatton, and incidentally involved his parting with the _Hornet_. Under the editorship of Vero Shaw the _Hornet_ exhibited all the signs of enlightened management and a desire to live up to the paper’s motto. Shaw introduced new men and new features. H. J. Byron was engaged to write a serial, and he also contributed a weekly causerie entitled “Our Absurd Column.” Other members of the staff were Godfrey Turner, John Augustus O’Shea, Tom Purnell, and the redoubtable Featherstonhaugh. For the first time in its varied career the paper began to hum, a circumstance attributable not only to the increased brightness of the literary department, but also to the fact that the cartoons were the work of that most gifted of caricaturists and most amiable of men, the late Alfred Bryan. One salient feature of the paper under its new control was a spicy City article in which the bucket-shops of the period were remorselessly exposed and condemned. A syndicate of City men then came forward and offered a price so substantial that the proprietor could not resist the temptation to realize. Having gained their object by purchase, the _Hornet_ was put to a speedy and painless end by its new owners.