"Smoking not allowed." Of course, but I am going to enjoy my cigar in silence. "Want the window closed." Very sorry, but I can't find a cathedral. "Find my journal a nuisance." Dear me! was under the impression it was a newspaper. "Allow you to pass." Afraid only the Secretary can manage that for you; he alone has power to issue free tickets. "Do I mind the draught?" Not when I am attending to the chessman. "Do I know the station?" Of the people on the platform? Probably lower middle class. "Is this right for Windsor?" Yes, if it's not left for somewhere else. "Are we allowed five minutes for lunch?" Think not; but you can have sandwiches at the counter. "Isn't this first-class?" Quite excellent--first-rate--couldn't be better! "I want to go second." Then you had better follow me. "I am third." Indeed! And who were first and second? "I think this must be London." Very likely; if it is, it mustn't be anywhere else. * * * * * A CRY TO WHYMPER.--Last Wednesday Mr. EDWARD WHYMPER lectured at the Birkbeck. His subject was "_Twenty thousand feet above the Sea._" "That's ten thousand pairs of boots!" writes our shoemaker. "Wish I'd had the order! Well, well, soled again!" * * * * * A WALK IN DEVON. PART I.--THE START. _Notes from the Travel Diary of Toby, M.P._ _The Cottage, Burrow-in-the-Corner, Devon._ Went out for a walk just now; nothing remarkable in that; the wonder came in when I got back. Present postal address given at head of this note. The Cottage is there all right, but where the township, hamlet, village, or whatever Burrow-in-the-Corner may be, is situated, haven't the least idea, and I've tramped pretty well round the country. The Cottage stands at four cross roads, on the top of a hill. Specks in the distance, in the valley and on the hillsides, understood to be farm-houses. Three miles off is Tipperton; it is approached from this point by a steep hill: most convenient way of getting to bottom is to lie down on top and roll; some people said to have become adepts in practise; can even enjoy quiet sleep on the way, and pull up at the very shop in High Street where they have business. So it is said; but I rarely see any people about Burrow-in-the-Corner; so how can they approach Tipperton in this or other way? The only persons that pass The Cottage palings are men who stop to ask their way. The population is sparse, and seems to fill up its time by losing itself. This should have been a warning to me, but it wasn't.