THE COUNTRY-COUSIN'S VADE MECUM.

_Question._ So you have conscientiously done the Jubilee?

_Answer._ Certainly. For the last month I have scarcely ever been to

bed.

_Q._ Why? _A._ Somehow I have not retired to rest before it has been

time to get up.

_Q._ Did you go to the Abbey?

_A._ That I did! Most touching! Shall never forget----

_Q._ Thank you. I think I can supply as much as you want of that sort of

thing. I will not trouble you for any descriptions. Were you at the

Guildhall Ball?

_A._ I was, and saw all the foreign Royalties.

_Q._ How did the LORD MAYOR get through it?

_A._ On the whole, well; although the Remembrancer, in a full-bottomed

wig, rushing about, in a very energetic fashion, was suggestive of

_Fusbos_ in _Bombastes Furioso_.

_Q._ Were you at the Royal Academy _Soiree_?

_A._ Certainly. It was a very large gathering.

_Q._ And who did you see there?

_A._ The same persons as those I had noticed in the Abbey.

_Q._ And they were----

_A._ The persons I had seen at the Reform Club

Ball.

_Q._ And they?

_A._ Were subsequently found at the Inner Temple Ball,

the Gray's Inn Maske, and the laying of the foundation-stone of the

Institute.

_Q._ Was the _Maske of Flowers_ a success?

_A._ A very great success; but it was all I could do to keep awake--I

was so dead beat--in the Gray's Inn grounds at the Garden Party

afterwards.

_Q._ And the Volunteer Review--how did you like that?

_A._ Oh, splendid! Nearly thirty thousand men all marching past.

_Q._ And the Review at Aldershot?

_A._ Magnificent! Nearly seventy thousand men marching past.

_Q._ Did they all pass you?

_A._ Yes, all. They took three hours or more in doing it. They were all

alike. Seventy thousand men, all alike, for three hours. It was deeply

interesting.

_Q._ Did you see the QUEEN?

_A._ I saw where she was, but HER MAJESTY was concealed from view by the

Long Valley dust.

_Q._ Did you go to the Lincoln's Inn Garden Party?

_A._ To meet Lord HERSCHELL, his friends, and the Prince and Princess?

Certainly. It differed from other Garden Parties in having in the

grounds a sort of bath containing a fountain, ducks, and (to the best of

my belief) turtles.

_Q._ Have you been to many Garden Parties?

_A._ Oh yes, to a large number. I have been to nineteen with Indian

Princes complete, and two without.

_Q._ Did you go to the Naval Review?

_A._ Oh yes; in the middle of the night. I came back before the dawn on

the following morning.

_Q._ Was it very beautiful?

_A._ Very--what I could see of it.

_Q._ What did you see of it?

_A._ Not much.

_Q._ Have you done anything else?

_A._ I have been in a chronic state of dinners, balls, operas, laying of

foundation-stones, fireworks, and marches past.

_Q._ Are you at all confused?

_A._ So much confused, that I have just head enough left to try, in a

feeble manner, to get back to the country.

_Q._ And if you do get back to the country, when shall you again visit

town?

_A._ Well, it is my impression, not just immediately!

* * * * *

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 93. July 30, 1887 · 第 22 / 27 题