A MATTER OF "GORSE."--Why will picnicers persist in being so careless? The _Liverpool Courier_ reports that a party of them succeeded in setting fire to and destroying some 200 acres of gorse on land belonging to Lord CHOLMONDELEY and Sir PHILIP GREY EGERTON, at Broxton Hills, in Cheshire. Not only was the furze completely burnt, but a "valuable fox cover" was also destroyed. Shades of _Jorrocks, M.F.H._, and his huntsman, _James Pigg_, the "canny" Novocastrian! Pity, that these reckless _al fresco_ diners--ready enough with their indignant resentment if turned off any domain--could not be apprehended, and summarily dealt with. Sportsmen will echo the words--adapted to the case in point--in _Handley Cross_, "Cut 'em down, and hang 'em up to dry!" * * * * * [Illustration: THE CONTRARINESS OF THINGS. _He._ "THAT LITTLE TRIP OF OURS TO BOULOGNE NEVER CAME OFF, AFTER ALL!" _She._ "NOTHING EVER _DOES_ COME OFF--EXCEPT _BUTTONS!_"] * * * * * STRICTLY ACCORDING TO PRECEDENT. (_Fragment of a Romance found between Fleet Street and the Kaatskill Mountains._) RIP VAN WINKLE had slept (thanks to a hypnotic trance) for a considerable time. On opening his eyes he called for a paper. He eagerly glanced through the columns, and was absolutely baffled by the nature of their contents. "What is the matter?" asked a bystander, who had watched his movements, not without amusement. "Can I help you?" "Well, yes," replied the sleeper awakened. "When I commenced my slumbers all the world was talking about the Armenian question. Pray tell me, are the Powers going to coerce the Turks?" "No one knows, and no one cares," was the prompt reply. "And then there was the excitement about our relation with the French in Africa. Will the matter lead to international complications?" "My good fellow, the matter does not attract the smallest attention." "Once more, there was the boom in gold mines. Surely that is a topic of interest to some one?" "No, I fancy not," came the answer. "Perhaps a few stockbrokers think about it--but I doubt it." "And how about the reserve of ammunition? Have we got enough Cordite powder or have we not?" "Really I don't know, and don't care," smilingly replied the person RIP had accosted. "And how about the SHAHZADA?" "I believe His Highness has left England, but the movements of the Afghan Prince remain nowadays unreported in the daily papers." "You astonish me!" exclaimed RIP. "Does nothing interest you?" "Well, not such out-of-date matters as those to which you have referred. My good friend, you are talking of things that happened ages--or to be quite accurate, about three weeks--ago. They belong to the past." "Then what is now engaging your attention?" "Why, one subject to the exclusion of all others--how to spend the recess!"