look as if they were performing a rather meritorious
action than otherwise.)

The position-drill proceeded, but it was very hard
work. We speedily noticed that when Strongbow
had any instruction to give, he invariably
chose the time when we were at the "Present,"
i.e. when the strain upon our muscles in holding
out the rifle was tremendous. After two
seconds you would perceive the muzzle of the
extended rifle begin to quiver in a very singular
manner, then the body of the gentleman holding
it would begin to rock about from the knees
upwards, and finally, when he received the
grateful command to "ease springs," he would
give vent to an exclamation something
between the ejaculation of a paviour, and the
"characteristic 'hugh'" of Mr. Fenimore
Cooper's Indians, and add, "'Gad, I'm nearly
done up!"

The art of comporting oneself as a "rear-
rank standing," having been acquired, we were
initiated into the mysteries expected from a
"front-rank kneeling;" and these gymnastics
proved even yet more serious and invincible.
For a gentleman of large frame, and accustomed
to a well-stuffed easy-chair, to have to sit for
five minutes on his right heel, and that alone,
is by no means an easy matter; but the difficulty
is considerably aggravated, when he has
to perform, while in this attitude, feats of
manly strength in connexion with throwing
out a rifle to the full extent of his left arm.
He has then to take aim at the target on the
wall; and about this time, and just when he
begins to puff dreadfully, he will hear a stentorian
shout from the instructor, "What are you
doing, sir? restrain your breathing! restrain your
breathing, for Heaven's sake!" The unhappy
man endeavours to do this, and to follow all the
other directions given him in the slowest time—
thus: "P'sent! to—oo—ooo! thre—ee—eee!
fo—o—war! f—'ive!" until at the end, when
he is called upon to spring smartly up to
"Attention!" what with breath-holding and extra
exertion, he resembles a boiled lobster in colour,
and is shaking in every limb.

The judging-distance-drill is an equally
humorous but considerably less fatiguing evolution.
Its object is to enable the soldier to note
the difference in the appearance of men at different
distances: a happy result, which is
apparently accomplished by sending several of the
persons to be observed completely out of the
range of any but the sharpest sight. Points are
thrown out at certain allowed distances up to
three hundred yards, and the men under instruction
are told the distance, and made to observe
the appearance of the "points." Then the
"points" are sent out at unknown distances, and
the men have to give their opinion of the
distance at which these points are placed, the
answers being noted in a register. We had some
little difficulty at first in preventing the "points"
from running away altogether, or slipping into
the public-house when the instructor's back was
turned. The guesses of some of the men were
perfectly miraculous in their inaccuracy, and it was
observed that whenever private Miller whispered
his ideas on distance to the sergeant, that
functionary would be convulsed, arid rendered
so oblivious of decorum as to attempt to write
without any ink, and to make futile scratches on
his register. It was afterwards discovered that
the ill-conditioned Miller, instead of giving his
ideas of distance, was whispering the latest riddle
in the ears of the instructor. Even he, however,
owned to the value of the judging-distance practice,
declaring that after a few lessons he should
be able to recognise, and consequently to avoid,
his tailor, if he saw him at the other end of
Pall-Mall.

So we progressed through our difficulties, until
we numbered some excellent shots among us.
We are to be inspected by Colonel M'Murdo
very shortly, to take part in the Wimbledon rifle
contest and in the grand review, where we shall
have plenty of opportunities of distinguishing
ourselves. I shall not fail to chronicle our
movements.

SECRET INSTRUCTIONS OF THE
JESUITS.

WHEN the gate of a city is kept so closely
locked that a dog or a cat cannot thrust its
nose outside without being asked by the warder
whether it be of the number of good men and
true; and when we then behold a cartload of
gunpowder openly marched through that gate,
by the light of day without the warder's saying,
a word; we naturally conclude that the
possessor of the key gave full consent to the
explosive exportation.

That closed city gate in some respects represents
the state of the Parisian press. Neither
the Duke d'Aumale nor the Duke de Broglie—
not to mention many much more harmless gentlemen
—is permitted to peep, in literary form,
beyond the grating of the portcullis. Even with
printed sheets which do manage to get abroad,
there is a time to let pass free, and a time to
stop. Edmond About's pungent remarks on the
state of things at Rome, first appeared in the
official journal of the government. The Pope
soon stretched out a long arm, and motioned the
door of the Moniteur to shut. It was shut, as the
maid shut the door to keep out her sweetheart;
"then she went to bed, and tied up her head, and
fastened the door with a skewer." For About's
letters soon took the form of a book, which was
published in Belgium, and which crossed the
French frontier, to be seized after a while. But
the seizing phase has passed away, for it; the
volume is now on sale, revised, neatly printed,
at a popular price.

Therefore, the looker-on concludes there is a
time to seize, and a time to let go unseized.
Whatever may be the case to-day or to-morrow,
yesterday was not the- time to seize the Monita
Secreta Societatis Jesu; for a copy dressed in
red and black (the garb of a melodramatic demon),
with the Latin original and a French translation
on opposite pages, is now lying on the writer's
table. Nor would seizure be of much use