[We print as it reaches us this strange incoherent ejaculatory effusion, signed "A Lover of the Old Italian Opera." With the general spirit of this valediction it is possible to feel a certain amount of sympathy, but the author is clearly inaccurate in including amongst the bygone glories of the institution which he deplores places, persons, musical and even culinary features which are by no means obsolete. We confess also to grave misgiving as to the purity of the writer's style, which in some lines seems to smack more of the debased Anglo-Italian of Soho than the crystal-clarity of the Tuscan of Carducci.] O TEMPI passati!-- PAGANI, FRASCATI, MASCAGNI, SGAMBATI-- O Asti spumante! O scena cantante! Polenta, risotto, O contra-fagotto! Sordini, spaghetti, BELLINI, confetti. O cioppo dal grillo! TARTINI del "trillo," _Barbiere_, "Di tanti," O fiaschi di Chianti! O dolce solfeggio! O caro arpeggio! Salsiccia con veggio! O lingua Toscana! O bocca Romana! O voce di petto! _Rigoletto_, _Masetto_, Stringendo e stretto, O notte di festa! E poi mal di testa. O Caffe di GATTI! O PASTA! O PATTI! O PATTI! O PASTA! O Brava! O Basta! O danza San VITO! _Clemenza di Tito_, CAMILLO BOITO, _Sarastro_, "Qui sdegno," Da capo, dal segno, ALBANI, ALBONI! TREBELLI, GARDONI! O coloratura! O bella bravura! O "Salve dimora!" O _Norma_, _Dinorah!_ O lunga cadenza Senza desinenza, O tempo rubato! Strumenti a fiato! O pingue contralto! O ponte di Rialto! O basso profondo! O fine del mondo! O "voi che sapete!"-- PER SEMPRE VALETE! * * * * * =RACING AS A BUSINESS.= [The kind of article which one may confidently look for in the sporting columns of a penny newspaper at this time of the year.] From the very beginning of the season I have insisted that our objective should be "the winter's keep." Those who have stuck to me all along and played my system are on velvet. During the flat-racing year I have given a hundred-and-fourteen selections. Let me just tabulate the results; I like tabulating, for it fills my column in no time. Selections. Won. Second. Third. Unplaced. 114 5 8 1 100 N.B.--Non-starters neglected. The above is a statement of which I may well be proud. I assert with confidence that few sporting journalists can show anything like this record.