To judge from the smoke in which the investigation of the Dockyard abuses has ended, it would seem that the late Government played their cards in the knowledge that knaves were trumps. * * * * * THE EAST INDIA HOUSE.--It has been said of the East India House, that "it is an establishment which, in patronage, and other delicate little matters, generally goes 'the whole HOGG.'" * * * * * [Illustration: DELIGHT OF THE GROUSE AT THE PROSPECT OF A LATE SESSION.] * * * * * PAX VOBISCUM. The Irish constituencies being now completely in the hands of their spiritual advisers, it is contemplated that henceforth the Speaker's writ for a new election in Ireland shall be directed to the priests of the vacant locality. The Reverend gentlemen are to meet (whiskey toddy and tobacco to be charged to the county), and their endorsement of their tool's name on the back of the writ, without any other form of election, is to save all the riot and bloodshed which they now feel it their duty to their Church and their consciences to cause, if a layman, Catholic or Protestant, ventures to present himself to the electors without priestly sanction. Anything for peace and quietness. * * * * * THE FARMER'S MAGIC STROP. The genius of MR. MECHI has sharpened many razors:--may it have a corresponding effect upon agricultural blades. * * * * * HINTS FOR A NEW EDITION OF THE DRAMATISTS. We have been favoured with a glimpse of the note-book of a great dramatic critic, who evidently contemplates giving, or selling to the world, a great national treat in the form of a new edition of the dramatists. The annotator seems to combine all the acuteness of the needle with the straightforward bluntness of the railway buffer. We subjoin a few specimens:-- NOTE ON THE TRAGEDY OF DOUGLAS. There is a passage in this play which has escaped the attention of all critics who have preceded me; a passage which shows _Glenalvon_ to have been of a social disposition. In one of the scenes with _Norval_, _Glenalvon_ says (_aside_), "His port I love." And, from this remarkable passage, we get three facts: first, that _Glenalvon_ liked port; secondly, that he had tasted _Norval's_ port; and, thirdly, that the port in question was of a high character. NOTE ON JULIUS CÆSAR.