_A._ An assembly of men in which hats are worn when the Members don't want to talk, and removed when they wish to show what amount of brains they may possess. _Q._ What is a hat? _A._ Generally a nuisance. _Q._ What is cover? _A._ The profit made by an Outside Broker out of his too confiding customers. _Q._ What is the difference between an Outside Broker and an Inside Broker? _A._ One is associated with the Stock Exchange, and the other is usually made comfortable with a pot of beer and a penny paper in the kitchen. _Q._ What is a kitchen? _A._ The source from which happiness or misery flows under the superintendence of a cook. _Q._ Describe a cook. _A._ As a food-preparer he, or she, is often an executioner. _Q._ What is a century? _A._ When obtained by a cricketer, an honour; when achieved by an individual, a distinction that must be shortly followed by extinction. * * * * * OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.--JOHN OLIVER HOBBES'S last contribution to FISHER UNWIN'S charming Pseudonym Library is well named _A Study in Temptations_. It is not in itself an attractive title, but it accurately indicates the style of the book. It is a study for a novel rather than an accomplished work. One expects, my Baronite says, that in some leisure time the author will come back and finish it. It is well worth the labour, being full of living characters. _Lady Warbeck_ in particular, is excellent, reminiscent of, and worthy of THACKERAY. The temptingly arranged pages glitter with shrewd thoughts admirably phrased. BARON DE B.-W. * * * * * NO DOUBT AS TO THE ANSWER.--In the list of "Noblemen and Gentlemen" (invidious distinction, by the way) attending the _Levee_ at St. James's Palace, whose name would be always found?--Why that of "JAMES O. FORBES, _of Corse_." * * * * * NEW (NORWEGIAN) NONSENSE VERSE. (_After seeing Ibsen's Dramas._) There was a young female in Norway, Who fancied herself in a poor way, Because she felt that Her sweet sex was squeezed flat, As though caught in cold Destiny's doorway. This rebellious young woman of Norway Cried, "Man, in his coarse, brutal boor-way, Would wipe his big feet On my sex soft and sweet; But _I_'ll be no mere mat in Man's doorway!" And so this young woman of Norway Got IBSEN to write, in cock-sure way, Concerning her woes, And tip-tilted her nose, Crying, "_Now_ womankind will have more way!" But alas! this young woman of Norway _Still_ feels that her soul's in a poor way, Because, in a play, She won't charm (so they say) Or draw crowds through the theatre's doorway. * * * * * LATEST A PROPOS OF THE COVENT GARDEN FANCY DRESS BALLS.--"Of course," observed Mrs. R., "as ladies do not want to be recognised, they simply go in dummy noses." * * * * *