Brave Betty was a maiden Queen, Bold and clever! bold and clever! King Philip, then a Spaniard King, To court her did endeavor. Queen Bess she frowned and stroked her ruff, And gave the mighty Don a huff: For which he swore her ears he’d cuff, All with his grand Armada. Says Royal Bess, “I’ll vengeance take!” Blessings on her! blessings on her! “But first I’ll eat a nice beefsteak, All with my maids of honor.” Then to her admirals she went, Drake, Effingham, and Howard sent, Who soon dished Philip’s armament, And banged his grand Armada. A SENSIBLE QUACK. An empiric was asked by a regular physician how it was that, without education or skill, he contrived to live in considerable style, while he could hardly subsist. “Why” said the other, “how many people do you think have passed us lately?” “Perhaps a hundred.” “And how many of them do you think possess common sense?” “Possibly one.” “Why, then,” said the quack, “that one goes to you, and I get the other ninety-nine.” GENEALOGY. The doggerel couplet repeated in varied forms but usually presented in this shape— When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? is a translation of the German Da Adam hackt und Eva spann, Wer war damals der Edelmann? which is further referred to a wag who had written the couplet on a wall near to which the Emperor Maximilian was tracing his pedigree; upon which the Emperor wrote the following impromptu:— Ich bin ein Mann wie ein ander Mann, Nur dass mir Gott die Ehre gann, (I am a man like another man, only that God gave honor to me.) A JUGGLER’S MYSTERY. The French Government, which formerly sent dancing-girls and comic actors to cheer up its soldiers when they were ordered away from the dancing-saloons and theatres, so common throughout France, engaged Mr. Robert Houdin to go to Algeria and exhibit his best feats of legerdemain before the natives, to shake the excessive influence exerted by the marabouts or priests, whose power seems to be established solely on their adroit jugglery. The marabouts were not disposed to yield to the new-comer’s powers without a struggle, and pressed him as hard as they could. M. Houdin was successful, but his victory was not altogether easy, as he tells in the following narrative:—