"Engaged, Sir, who by?"--"_Mister Grace_," I sez, artful, a-tipping the wink on the sly to the Peeler. "Hordered me sharp for six-thirty, hay, constable?" "Right," _sez_ the Slop. "Better try a four-wheeler. Afternoon's 'ot, and you're not a light weight, Sir!" Oh lor! 'ow old crumpet-face slanged me _and_ cricket. Swore 'e'd ask W. G. if 'twos true, and 'e _wanted to call 'im away from the wicket!_ "Oh, shut your face and eat snuffers!" I sez; for the bowling just then was a-bein' fair collared, And I 'ad missed two or three boundary 'its, all along o' this "fare," as 'e floundered and hollered. "_You_ ain't no sportsman!" That finished 'im proper, for 'e was a deacon, it seemed, out by Stockwell; And didn't know _Ladas_ from lucky _Sir Visto_, or SHREWSBURY'S "cut" from the "drive" of young BROCKWELL. Well, I _do_ get cricket-cracks for my fares. How the crowd gathers round with their eyes all a-glisten! And 'ow big I feel; and lor! wot a temptation to look through the trap for a squint or a listen. I've often druv Bishops and Premiers and such; but I doubt if the whole 'Ouse o' Lords took together, Would match--say, TOM SAYERS, or STODDART or GRACE after one of their six hours' slambanging the leather. _Sportsman?_ Oh yes, in my own 'umble way. But I ain't got the fever like JERRY-GO-NIMBLE! Poor JERRY! 'E _carn't_ resist no sort of gamble, from Derby or Oaks to the pea and the thimble. Mad on it, JERRY is. Bad when it's _that_ way, the mischief in fack I like sport and a flutter A bit within bounds; and if t'aint the _best_ biz,--well there, life, after all, isn't _all_ bread-and-butter! * * * * * "Hail, divinest Melancholy!" Decidedly the town of Penarth must adopt this Miltonian line as its motto. At a meeting of the Public Works Committee of the District Council, a letter was read in which a citizen complained bitterly of the frivolous name given to the street wherein he had his habitation. Gay Street! How too shocking! "The whole neighbourhood objected to it," and not even the assurance that the thoroughfare had merely been thus designated out of compliment to a noble lady of the locality, whose Christian name was "Gay," served to allay the righteous indignation. Away with the demoralizing title and the base insinuation borne with it! It was proposed that the street--being in the vicinity of All Saints--be known for the future as "Amen Corner," a name suitable to the unswerving sobriety and solemnity of the city. The proposal was put to the vote and carried with only a couple of dissentients. Is it possible that there are even two Penarthians in favour of gaiety? * * * * *