To _Mr. Punch's_ friends, who think he blundered,
In thinking Eton's years were just four hundred,
And acted quite in error when he paid
Congratulations to King HENRY'S "shade,"
A word of explanation now is due,
To show how what he stated then was true.
The word is this--that fifty years have now
Elapsed since _Mr. Punch_ first made his bow;
And though since then with many friends he's parted,
Himself he is as young as when he started.
Just fifty years ago it now appears
That fair Etona claimed four hundred years.
Ungallant it had been if one had told her
That _Mr. Punch_ kept young whilst she grew older!
Yet if it is indeed the Fourth Centenary
Or Jubilee the Ninth since holy 'ENERY
Became the founder of a Royal College--
Well, _Mr. Punch_ prefers to have no knowledge.
He only does not know--has never known a
More worthy toast than "_Floreat Etona!_"

* * * * *

THE NEW CRUSADERS.

["Kaiser Wilhelm, according to a Berlin Journal, has given his
consent to a lottery being instituted throughout the Empire
'for combating the slave trade in Africa.' Tickets to the
amount of eight millions of marks will be issued, five and
a half millions of which will be devoted to prizes."--_Daily