[Mr. Halliwell, in his _Dictionary_, says, "The phrase _To call a
spade a spade_ is applied to giving a person his real character or
qualities. Still in use." "I am plaine, I must needs call _a spade
a spade_, a pope a pope."--_Mar-Prelate's Epitome_, p. 2.]
_Prince Rupert's Drops._--At the risk of being thought somewhat
ignorant, I beg for enlightenment with regard to the following passage
extracted from a late number of _Household Words_:--
"Now the first production of an author, if only three lines long,
is usually esteemed as a sort of Prince Rupert's Drop, which is
destroyed entirely if a person make on it but a single scratch."
If you, or some of your correspondents, would not think this too trivial
a matter to notice, and would inform me what the allusion to "Prince
Rupert's Drop" refers to, I should be very much obliged.