3,:; 8, 18 2.] F N . THE COMIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FUNNY AND ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE. IS the first letter in all alphabets, excepting the Ethiopian and the S Runic, where it quietly drops in after z r', T. It is also the letter which the ... child learns most easily to produce, so t' '. hat the father, if the son shines at all, '/ i may tell him to go and make his A at i : "once. In grammar it is the indefinite article, and an article that is in very S great demand. A becomes an before 'if' il .. a vowel, as ANN becomes mute before _._- y ~iifl, her mistress when she is accused of ', 'l'"lflirtation with the policeman (a silent SII) round the corner. After avowal, there may be another change of name. We say Miss M IVINS would like "an ice cream" or a nice scream," according to the state of the party. In music, A is the major sixth of the scale of C major, so when you see anymajor who may be about half-a-dozin', and in reply to your question if le is a major in the sixth, he simply says, Eh," you may take it for an answer, and make a note of it. ABATEMENsT.--This word is used in its literal signification when we speak of abating or putting down a nuisance, which, though it seems to create a new sense in the word, is really its true meaning. When a gate, or other obstruction, is placed in a public way, it is in the way of the public, and any person may therefore beat down and remove it; but this does not justify the samd person beating down a linendrapor who has "no abatement" marked on his goods and removing those, as the low price is a bait meant for the public, and the goods should make their own way accordingly. In heraldry, abatement is a mark placed over a portion of the paternal coat of arms, and is significant of some base act on the part of the bearer. When an Irishman takes off his coat and asks you to tread on the tail ofit, there is a chance that the coat will not furnish the only illustration of a-bating. AnNitEvriATIroN are contrivances in writing for saving time and space, of which I O U may be given as a sufficient example. When a man, whose pace is very great, has borrowed money of yon, the above abbreviation will show the amount, and you may save much time by never going after it. He who takes his tick in this way generally abbreviates his own. AnDICATIO.--The act of giving up an office, and generally the office of ruler or sovereign. When your office is in the city, you may abdicate what is sometimes called a "city-vation," but you are expected to leave the ruler behind. In Great Britain the monarch cannot abdicate without the consent of Parliament, so that he must get over a succession of forms before he can get off his seat. ABEYANCE.-A legal term derived from the French, which means, according to the dictionaries, to look at anything with the mouth open. Daring the performance of dreary five act plays, the audience at a theatre will frequently be found in abeyance. Titles of honour are in abeyance when the persons next in inheritance are females; so that if you discharge JoiNst the footman, and make byAlvY, the housemaid, wait at table instead, JoIIN'S title is in abey- mace, and must rein s main so until le successor is invested with the Dignity of the plush. AIISENTsrs.--Capitalists who, deriving their income from one coumitry, spend it in another. Where there are many absentees, there are imaniy absent dinners. CAN WRONG BE RIGHT? Yi:s, beyond a doubt, if the right in question be copy!-right. For, by law, in the absence of a written instead of a verbal agreement, the property il writings, published in a magazine, is of a nature to be best described by a quotation from a poem of Mit. ALLiNOIiAi'S :- "But the best in these songs, Whatever it lie, To you a,il to nme And to 'no one belongs." WIAT'S IN A NAMI: ?-A Mans. MtI:a Pi:i [oirE has lately been taken unp for shoplifting. Would not PrigtonoE have been a better applica- tion ? POSITIVE, COMPARATIVE, AND SUPErLATIVE.-Protestantism, Pusey- isnm, loinanism. N -. CA3ALISTIC. Y1,ES hilt orl wO1rry well 1tlt. F'N Ihitt th]a;s: t hliyre ci r hal'iItuil ll stit i S like thliix l];iilt, ti'0r plecss (o) bllayme f'iur litting hour osses go lion0t, without, proppor kure o' coorso ilicy his klnow dontalb) i o hit. Weut thou lhis 're which I Sdooit moon 1862b but this ynea S nattlrhishas this. 'eopul lknin- planes uf hour innsiwillitee wot his theyr innsiwillity to huss hi Sbacx? Wothevver hour names is they korls hlis hall h Kabby." SNo! novver says Fow muclih ihas "Ilif ver pleso le ist r IKbnaiun." But hits halwayes ".Now Ink sharrup," ior Drive kick wil r yer," hor it is, tGet lion karnt, yer;" which they sayes hin n hannytliink butt hanilbull woicm has lowd has they lain borml. Hif hi mayk ay Miss Stake hand misstaxe will appin hin the best, rekkillatid kabs hand turn down a rong corner they hu)p hand puts his ed hout hof ther vinder hand says sterniley "Now then Stoopid vere the juice ar yer driving too ?" hor Dont yor no yer way ? wi.tl no rigguard too hour feelinx has if ivo wos broots. Ilo hi hassewer yer I gets korled hall their hasses hand hideottes himanagunnabul hand hif hi says a wurd hits korld linsullonce and t he bck at the stayshunouse fines me five bob hand korsts. 1laint we a riglar sivvil suvvice as regards thor ladies wy buskads his nothing by side of bmi. Let peepll beehive nur reesonabully pullito to hus hand ller good unn hamung huss his moore than the bad who will make hall thlinx niso clene rispektabul hand sivvil has it looves me at prcssunlt. -Yors trooley, K. II. FASIITONABLE INTELLIGENCE. IlERE is the lorn ini Post ? What S' is tie Cor't ,Jl urn datoilng? Il ow Sis it that we reo allowed to gilat hr i l ef llowiilg (sHI t()onal i it el lige n'eo) Sfront the columnsiiii of the 'inte sup- Aplenl oint?- )u O U TliI Z1ous I ill'S IIA IIAVE IRETIMIIIINIED) TO) TIIIV ], I I,I WINynow.'' Where Liave thoe dist in nguishled part ics sl pnt the ullnllner and fro n what ilrcign country dto G I.theoy ro, em urn lo n London wivthig ] L ords, t he Cong)eio is, and tihe to ? We are lost in erniuise as to whether they have been inspecting civilizat ion in A nwri-e, civilized amusement in Hombourg and Baden, civilized worship at i illie, or civilized government at St. Petersburgn ad Warsaw. Or have they been paying a visit to their relative, The DO'Danno int ? or their eon- nexions, the Mexicans t We are at a loss to decide, bill we ure con- vinced on one point, that the fashionablo paper tire to Imlatle for not having reported their arrival from a foreign tour, and their return to the Field window, after a survey of mankind with a wider field of observation. EPIGRAM. B B MEnSESn1 Or Trrt ZOOLOGICAeL SOCIETY. The Pythoness now-a-days sits ul0on eggs; And from her on the eggs difibrs -hle (ni e11 triplod, In that that is an a-pod and this is a hi-pod. GRATrs.-To an advertising tradesm:in a na0me is everything. In the fulness of our generosity, we present to cienterprising tailors a now name for a universal coat, to be prepared by them against, the groat Exhibition, and the anticipated influx of all nations. Here it is. '-JuH. COAnY MKUNIn: a coat for all the world! THE ANGEL OF MIIUNIOHT."-Sleep.