CURRAN'S ruling passion was his joke. In his last illness, his physician observing in the morning that he seemed to cough with more difficulty, he answered, "That is rather surprising, as I have been _practising_ all night." CMXIX.--EPIGRAM. (On the charge of illegally pawning brought against Captain B----, M.P.) IF it's true a newly made M.P. Has coolly pawned his landlord's property, As the said landlord certainly alleges, No more will Radicals and Whigs divide Upon one point, which thus we may decide, "Some members are too much disposed for pledges." CMXX.--CUP AND SAUCER. A GENTLEMAN, who was remarkable at once for Bacchanalian devotion and remarkably large and starting eyes, was one evening the subject of conversation. The question appeared to be, whether the gentleman in question wore upon his face any signs of his excesses. "I think so," said Jerrold; "I always know when he has been in his cups by the state of his saucers." CMXXI.--A NEW READING. KEMBLE playing _Hamlet_ in the country, the gentleman who acted _Guildenstern_ was, or imagined himself to be, a capital musician. _Hamlet_ asks him, "Will you play upon this pipe?"--"My lord, I cannot."--"I pray you."--"Believe me, I cannot."--"I do beseech you."--"Well, if your lordship insists on it, I shall do as well as I can"; and to the confusion of _Hamlet_, and the great amusement of the audience, he played "God save the king!" CMXXII.--CONCEITED, BUT NOT SEATED. SEVERAL ex-members are announced as about _to stand_ at the ensuing elections, and indeed it is probable many will have to do so after them, for there are very few who can reasonably expect to _sit_.--G. A'B. CMXXIII.--STRANGE VESPERS. A MAN who had a brother, a priest, was asked, "Has your brother a living?"--"No."--"How does he employ himself?"--"He says mass in the morning."--"And in the evening?"--"In the evening he _don't know what_ he says." CMXXIV.--A TRANSFORMATION SCENE. SIR B---- R----, in one of the debates on the question of the Union, made a speech in favor of it, which he concluded by saying, "That it would change the _barren hills_ into _fruitful valleys_." CMXXV.--AN ACCEPTABLE DEPRIVATION. THE Duke of C--mb--l--d has taken from this country a thing which not one person in it will grudge: of course we are understood at once to mean _his departure_.--G. A'B. CMXXVI.--ACCURATE DESCRIPTION. A CERTAIN lawyer received a severe injury from something in the shape of a horsewhip. "Where were you hurt?" said a medical friend. "Was it near the _vertebra_?"--"No, no," said the other; "it was near the _racecourse_." CMXXVII.--SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.