Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, With hands in pockets, down Cheapside I go, And onward where one hears that dismal yell Of “Echo, Standard, Special, or Pall Mall,” Or where that dear old School forsaken lies A weary waste expanding to the skies. Where’er I roam whatever realms to see, My heart untravell’d fondly turns to thee; My thoughts to “Homer” turn, with ceaseless pain, “Physics” and “Newth” I ne’er shall do again. * * * * * And oft a sigh prevails and sorrows fall To see humanity of man so small; To turn us all away from that dear School, And sacrifice her to the workman’s tool. But my worn soul now deems it for the best At Kensington to see my fellows blest. JAMES E. THOMPSON. From _Pauline_, the Magazine of St. Paul’s School, in the City of London, October, 1885. ――――:o:―――― The Vicar of Wakefield is probably, of all English stories, the one which has been most widely read, (perhaps only excepting Robinson Crusoe), and has taken most thoroughly hold of the hearts of English speaking people. It was first printed at Salisbury, by Collins, and was issued by Francis Newberry, in 2 vols., in March 1766. A dainty facsimile of this original Edition has recently been published by Mr. Elliot Stock. A dramatic version of _The Vicar of Wakefield_, by W. G. Wills, entitled _Olivia_, has for some time past been attracting large audiences to the Lyceum Theatre, to see Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry in the parts of the Vicar and his daughter. The success of _Olivia_ tempted the inevitable travestie, and on Saturday, August 8, 1885, “The Vicar of Wide-a-Wakefield, or the Miss-Terry-ous Uncle.” a Respectful Burlesque Perversion by H. P. Stephens and W. Yardley, was produced at the Gaiety Theatre. The burlesque had but little humour, or literary merit, and although Mr. Arthur Roberts’s imitation of Henry Irving as Dr. Primrose was at times quaint and amusing, the entire success of the production was due to the extraordinary caricature of Miss Ellen Terry given by Miss Laura Linden, who has a perfect genius for such mimicry. Not only in voice, but in gestures, movements, and delivery, the resemblance was striking, and wonderfully sustained throughout the piece, with only just sufficient exaggeration to produce the intended effect of caricature. The plan of the authors of the burlesque consists in making the virtuous persons of the original appear to be more or less villainous and unprincipled, while the villain of the original is made out to be the only pure-minded and moral individual in the piece. For instance, the Vicar is a terrible old scoundrel, who only pretends to have lost all his money, who knows that Mr. Burchell is the baronet in disguise, and who schemes to get his daughters and son married, and performs the nuptials himself,