"Besides, such is the pleasantry--I would not say the profit--of our English law, that if he fails in this case he may go at it again with fresh witnesses, let us hope with fresh counsel--(_laughter_)--at least with a fresh jury--I say nothing of a fresh judge. (_Continued laughter._)" The members of the Temperance League, and the United Kingdom Alliance must surely have been shocked, as many as those who read and duly considered the foregoing words, by the idea which they suggest of a generally Fresh Court of Common Pleas. This horrid image was enough to have unfixed their hair and made their excited hearts knock at their ribs beyond the use of nature. Sobriety is so specially characteristic of the Ermine that "sober as a Judge" is an adage; not, indeed, because Judges are supposed not to drink, but to be able to drink any quantity. Irreproachable with laxity in the discharge of their high functions, British Judges are at all times incapable of getting tight. * * * * * EVENINGS FROM HOME. _MR. BARLOW, with MASTERS SANDFORD and MERTON, at the QUEEN'S THEATRE, to see "The Last Days of Pompeii."_ _Tommy._ Pray, Sir, what and where was Pompeii? _Mr. Barlow._ It was, my dear TOMMY, a Roman municipality, full of eligible villas, pleasantly situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Mount Vesuvius, and within easy reach of the sea. It was "a place to spend a happy day," and "there and back" from Naples formed one of the chief excursions, at a very moderate rate, for the middle classes of Neapolis. They had just commenced this instructive and entertaining conversation, when the curtain rising discovered to their eager eyes as artistic and effective a scene (with the exception of stationary painted groups, whose fixed attitude strangely contrasted with the movement of the actors in front of them) as it had hitherto been their lot to behold. As the play went on, HARRY requested permission of MR. BARLOW to ask a question. _Harry._ Did you not tell us, Sir, that the "e" in Pompeii was long? _Mr. Barlow._ Indeed, HARRY, I did. _Harry._ And did you not also tell us that one of the purposes of a theatrical exhibition, such as this is, is the advancement of education among all sorts and conditions of people? _Mr. Barlow._ You are again correct, and truly I begin to perceive the drift of your remark. Therefore let me tell you that had any Eton boy said Pomp[ue]ii, instead of Pomp[=e]ii, he would speedily have been taught the force of an _argumentum_ addressed, as was one of HORACE'S Odes, _ad puerum_. _Harry._ Surely too, Sir, a diphthong is long; so that the name _Apoecides_ should not be rendered Appy-cides, as if the name were an unaspirated pronunciation of _H_appy Cides.