_M. le General Boxe._ "SAVEZ-VOUS VOUS BATTRE?" _M. Coxe_ (_homme d'etat_). "NON!" _M. le General Boxe._ "EH BIEN, ALORS! ALLONS-Y-DONC!" (_Translation._--"Can you fight?" "No!" "Then come on!")] * * * * * Jest in Earnest. (_What might have happened._) _Monday._--The Fleets started on their manoeuvres. Before leaving, the Ironclads ran down, accidentally, all the unarmoured vessels in the harbour. _Tuesday._--Collision. Sinking of the _Ajax_. _Wednesday._--Mistake in steering. Foundering of the _Minotaur_. _Thursday._--Error in seamanship. Loss of the _Neptune_. _Friday._--Misapprehension of signal. Ramming of the _Devastation_. _Saturday._--Something wrong somewhere. The remainder of the Fleet goes to the bottom. * * * * * MR. PUNCH'S MANUAL FOR YOUNG RECITERS. [Illustration] It is a charming characteristic of the Young Amateur Entertainer that--whether he possesses or not the smallest acquaintance with any language beyond his own--he is always prepared to impersonate a foreigner of any given nationality at a moment's notice; and _Mr. Punch_ is confident that the most backward of his Pupils will be perfectly at home (and how his audience will envy him!) with the following Anglo-German recitation, which may be given under the following title:-- PROFESSOR BOMPP RELATES A LITTLE ANECDOTE. (_To do this effectively, you must assume an air of childlike candour._) I deach my dong in Engeland for dventy years and more; And vonce I dvell at Vigmore Shtreet, ubon ze zegond floor-- (_Pull yourself up suddenly._)