And it was strange, indeed. * * * * * AT THE THEATRE! _THE LYCEUM AGAIN. THE HAYMARKET ONCE MORE._ "Great Scott!" we exclaim,--not Critical CLEMENT of that ilk, but Sir WALTER,--on again seeing _Ravenswood_. Since then an alteration in the _modus shootendi_ has been made, and _Edgar_ no longer takes a pot-shot at the bull from the window, but, ascertaining from _Sir William Ashton Bishop_ that _Ellen Lucy Terry_ is being Terryfied by an Irish bull which has got mixed up with the Scotch "herd without," _Henry Edgar Irving_ rushes off, gun in hand; then the report of the gun is, like the Scotch oxen, also "_heard_ without," and _Henry_ reappears on the scene, having saved _Ellen Lucy Ashton_ by reducing the fierce bull to potted beef. [Illustration] "What shall he have who kills the bull?" "The Dear! the Dear!" meaning, of course, _Ellen Lucy Ashton_ aforesaid. After this all goes well. Acting excellent all round--or nearly all round, the one exception being, however, the very much "all-round" representative of _Lady Ashton_, whose misfortune it is to have been selected for this particular part. Scenery lovely, and again and again must HAWES MCCHAVEN be congratulated on the beautiful scene of The Mermaiden's Well (never better, in fact), Act III. The love-making bit in this Act is charming, and the classic Sibyl, _Ailsie_, superb. Nothing in stage effect within our memory has equalled the pathos of the final _tableau_. It is most touching through its extreme simplicity. The Haymarket has re-opened with the odd mixture of the excellent French _Abbé Constantin_ and the weak, muddle-headed, Tree-and-Grundy-ised "village Priest," known as the _Abbé Dubois_, or "_Abbé Do Bore_," as 'ARRY might call him. Changes are in contemplation, and may have been already announced. Whatever they may be, it is some consolation to learn that this Tree-and-Grundy-ised French Abbé is not likely to be a "perpetual Curate." * * * * * MR. PUNCH'S PRIZE NOVELS. NO. II.--BURRA MURRA BOKO. (_BY_ KIPPIERD HERRING, _AUTHOR OF "SOLDIERS' TEA," "OVER THE DARODEES," "HANDSOME HEADS ON THE VALETS," "MORE BLACK THAN WHITE," "EXPERIMENTAL DITTOS," &C., &C._) [NOTE.--The MS. of this story arrived from India by pneumatic despatch, a few puffs having been apparently sufficient. In a letter which was enclosed with it the author modestly apologises for its innumerable merits. "But," he adds, "I have several hundred of the same sort in stock, and can supply them at a moment's notice. Kindly send £1000 in Bank of England notes, by registered letter, to K. HERRING. No farther address will be required."]