In a Honeymoon now he has got an excuse,
And the LORD MAYOR pronounces it "perfectly valid"!

* * * * *

THE OPERA-GOER'S DIARY.

[Illustration]

NOTHING particular this week. Mlle. MELBA, the two DE RESZKÉS, and M.
LASSALLE sang, by Royal command, in the afternoon at Windsor Castle.
"Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the QUEEN?" Rather. We meant
to wind up the week with _Le Prophète_, but JEAN DE RESZKÉ had caught
cold,--perhaps on the return journey from Windsor,--and so _Faust_ was
substituted, with MELBA as _Marguerite_, and RAVELLI the Reliable as
_Faust_. We are looking forward to _Hamlet_. "_To be or not to be_"?
Probably "to be." Highly successful Season gradually drawing to a
close. Where's _Masaniello_? Not heard it for years. It would come out
as quite a novelty. Let the Sheriff-elect look to it. If not for this
Season, let it mark the year of office of DRURIOLANUS OPERATICUS.

* * * * *

"PAROCHIAL" POLITICS INDEED!--Making over to a handful of Colonists
that would not fill many an English parish the "mighty mileage" of
Western Australia!

* * * * *

[Illustration: TOUCHING RECIPROCITY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE.