It is asserted that a certain eminent medical man lately offered to a publisher in Paternoster-row a "Treatise on the Hand," which the worthy bibliopole declined with a shake of the head, saying, "My dear sir, we have got too many _treatises on our hands_ already." * * * * * PLEASURES OF HOPE (RATHER EXPENSIVE). The _Commerce_ states "the cost of the mansion now building for Mr. Hope, in the Rue St. Dominique, including furniture and objects of art, is estimated at six hundred thousand pounds!"--[If this is an attribute of _Hope_, what is reality?--ED. PUNCH.] * * * * * FASHIONS FOR THE MONTH. We perceive that the severity of the summer has prevented the entire banishment of furs in the fashionable _quartiers_ of the metropolis. We noticed three fur caps, on Sunday last, in Seven Dials. Beavers are, however, superseded by gossamers; the crowns of which are, among the elite of St. Giles's, jauntily opened to admit of ventilation, in anticipation of the warm weather. Frieze coats are fast giving way to pea-jackets; waistcoats, it is anticipated, will soon be discarded, and brass buttons are completely out of vogue. We have not noticed so many highlows as Bluchers upon the understandings of the promenaders of Broad-street. Ancle-jacks are, we perceive, universally adopted at the elegant _soirees dansantes_, nightly held at the "Frog and Fiddle," in Pye-street, Westminster. * * * * * ARTISTIC EXECUTION. We understand that Sir M.A. Shee is engaged in painting the portraits of Sir Willoughhy Woolston Dixie and Mr. John Bell, the lately-elected member for Thirsk, which are intended for the exhibition at the Royal Academy. If Folliot Duff's account of their dastardly conduct in the Waldegrave affair be correct, we cannot _imagine_ two gentlemen more worthy the labours of the [Illustration: HANGING COMMITTEE.] * * * * * NEW PARLIAMENTARY RETURNS. We have been informed, on authority upon which we have reason to place much reliance, that several distinguished members of the upper and lower houses of Parliament intend moving for the following important returns early in the present session:-- IN THE LORDS. Lord Palmerston will move for a return of all the _papillote_ papers contained in the red box at the Foreign Office. The Duke of Wellington will move for a return of the Tory taxes. The Marquis of Downshire will move for a return of his political honesty. Lord Melbourne will move for a return of place and power. The Marquis of Westmeath will move for a return of the days when he was young. The Marquis Wellesley will move for a return of the pap-spoons manufactured in England for the last three years. IN THE COMMONS. Sir Francis Burdett will move for a return of his popularity in Westminster. Lord John Russell will move that the return of the Tories to office is extremely inconvenient.