ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

[Illustration: Our racing correspondent writes that Mr. LLOYD GEORGE
is having some difficulty with his string (Sinn Fein's Beauty GINNELL,
All and More for Ireland REDMOND, and Ulster CARSON) for the Irish
Grand National.]


_Monday, May 14th_.--No longer will the FIRST SEA LORD be distracted
from his primary duty of strafing the Hun by the necessity of looking
after supplies. That function will now be discharged by an hon. and
temp. Vice-Admiral, in the person of Sir ERIC GEDDES, late hon. and
temp. Major-General and Director of Transportation to the Army in
France, and now Shipbuilder-in-Chief to the nation. Everyone
seemed pleased, with the notable exception of Mr. HOGGE, who cannot
understand why all these appointments should be showered upon Sir ERIC
GEDDES, when there are other able Scotsmen still unemployed. A late
hon. Admiral of the Fleet, now residing at Potsdam, is believed to
share Mr. HOGGE'S objections.

The hardships endured by the criminal classes when they are so
unfortunate as to get into prison always strikes a sympathetic chord
in the gentle breast of Mr. EDMUND HARVEY. His latest discovery is
that they are allowed the use of writing-paper not more than once a
month; and for the rest of the time have to entrust their literary
compositions to the unsympathetic surface of a slate, with the aid of
a probably squeaky slate-pencil. Could JOHN BUNYAN have written _The
Pilgrim's Progress_ under such conditions? The question opens up
a vista of speculation as to the influence of environment upon the