PAIN sometimes gives way to a touch or two of sentiment, but he abstains from sloppiness. His book is not only witty and humorous but fresh and original in style. It is admirably written. His prose is good,--which is moderate praise, striking a balance between the _pros_ and _cons_ of criticism. _Prosit!_ To all holiday-makers who like quaintness and fun touched with pathos and refinement, I say again, buy and read _In a Canadian Canoe_. BARON DE BOOK-WORMS. * * * * * [Illustration: THE HEIGHT OF FASTIDIOUSNESS. _Elder Brother_. "HULLO, FRANK! HOW IS IT YOU'RE NOT IN MOURNING FOR POOR AUNT GRACE?" _Frank_. "AH--WELL--FACT IS, I TRIED ON SIXTEEN OR SEVENTEEN HAT-BANDS, AND COULDN'T _GET ONE TO SUIT ME!_"] * * * * * "PUGS" AND "MUGS." (_A QUOTATION WITH A COMMENT._) "The faithful study of the fistic art From mawkish softness guards the British heart." The study of the betting British curse From swift depletion guards the British purse! * * * * * THE TRAVELLING COMPANIONS. NO. IV. SCENE--_The Wiertz Museum at Brussels, a large and well-lighted gallery containing the works of the celebrated Belgian, which are reducing a limited number of spectators to the usual degree of stupefaction. Enter CULCHARD, who seats himself on a central ottoman._ _Culchard_ (_to himself_). If PODBURY won't come down to breakfast at a decent hour, he can't complain if I--I wonder if he heard Miss TROTTER say she was thinking of coming here this morning. Somehow, I _should_ like that girl to have a more correct comprehension of my character. I don't so much mind her thinking me fastidious and exclusive. I daresay I _am_--but I _do_ object to being made out a hopeless melancholiac! (_He looks round the walls._) So these are WIERTZ's masterpieces, eh? h'm. Strenuous, vigorous,--a trifle crude, perhaps. Didn't he refuse all offers for his pictures during his lifetime? Hardly think he could have been overwhelmed with applications for the one opposite. (_He regards an enormous canvas, representing a brawny and gigantic Achilles perforating a brown Trojan with a small mast._) Not a dining-room picture. Still, I like his independence--work up rather well in a sonnet. Let me see. (_He takes out note-book and scribbles._) "He scorned to ply his sombre brush for hire." Now if I read that to PODBURY, he'd pretend to think I was treating of a Shoe-black on strike! PODBURY is utterly deficient in reverence. [Illustration: "I presume, though, he slept bad, nights."] [_Close by is a party of three Tourists--a Father and Mother, and a Daughter; who is reading to them aloud from the somewhat effusive Official Catalogue; the Education of all three appears to have been elementary._