P.S.--My faithful "Co." has been reading _The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, No Thoroughfare_, and _The Perils of Certain English Prisoners_, the joint work of CHARLES DICKENS and WILKIE COLLINS, and now published for the first time in a single volume. He says that the book is instructive, inasmuch as it shows the growth of its authors' collaboration. When the writers started _The Lazy Tour_ they were, so to speak, like the gentleman seated one day at the organ, "weary and ill at ease;" they grew more accustomed to one another during _The Perils_, and attained perfection in _No Thoroughfare_. This last novel shows no traces of dual workmanship, and might have been the outcome of a single pen. My "Co." has but one fault to find with Messrs. CHAPMAN AND HALL (Limited)--he says that the stories deserved better illustrations. * * * * * A VALID EXCUSE. [A Juror who failed to put in an attendance at the Old Bailey sent an excuse that he was away on his honeymoon. The LORD MAYOR declared this was a perfectly valid excuse.] The sly Undergraduate, eager to be Of Tutors and Deans an acute circumventist, Has been known to declare, when he went on the spree, 'Twas to bury his uncle, or call on his dentist. The husband who's ever in scrapes or in pickles, And in coming home early displays a remissness, Is wont, if it's safe to believe HARRY NICHOLLS, To say he stayed out on "a matter of business." The hero whose praises they constantly sound, A Triton 'mongst minnows in prowess at cricket, When bowled by a ball that did _not_ touch the ground, Very frequently swears 'twas the state of the wicket! And the Juryman, finding excuses were vain, Of the Judge's displeasure has ever been fearful, Since he knew it availed not a whit to complain-- He must be in his place, or pay up and look cheerful. But the thought of a fine never more will produce Consternation, nor ever again make him pallid. In a Honeymoon now he has got an excuse, And the LORD MAYOR pronounces it "perfectly valid"! * * * * * THE OPERA-GOER'S DIARY. [Illustration] NOTHING particular this week. Mlle. MELBA, the two DE RESZKÉS, and M. LASSALLE sang, by Royal command, in the afternoon at Windsor Castle. "Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the QUEEN?" Rather. We meant to wind up the week with _Le Prophète_, but JEAN DE RESZKÉ had caught cold,--perhaps on the return journey from Windsor,--and so _Faust_ was substituted, with MELBA as _Marguerite_, and RAVELLI the Reliable as _Faust_. We are looking forward to _Hamlet_. "_To be or not to be_"? Probably "to be." Highly successful Season gradually drawing to a close. Where's _Masaniello_? Not heard it for years. It would come out as quite a novelty. Let the Sheriff-elect look to it. If not for this Season, let it mark the year of office of DRURIOLANUS OPERATICUS.