VERYTHING was settled-except the chairman's cravat and the question what the monument was to be. The former had become one-sided, and the latter had not become de-cided, but both were at that moment on the point of being arranged by a show of hands. Never had a more amicable meeting been known. The meeting had agreed with the chairman, the chairman had agreed with the secretary, the secretary had agreed with the committee, the committee had agreed to a dinner, the dinner had agreed with the committee, and the wines had agreed with both. The auditors had found even the accounts agree, and quite a SHAKESPERIAN concordance prevailed. The nature of the monument alone awaited decision. This was a question of form. Should it be a temple, an obelisk, a statue, a picture, a drinking fountain, an almshouse, or a schoolroom? Should it be in the east, west, north, south, or, central division of the metropolis? Shall it be of bronze, of iron, or of stone? Shall it be an oaken carving or a leaden pump? Shall it be represented by a hewer of wood or a drawer of water? This was a material consideration. It had been proposed that the anniversary of the utterance of the Three Hundredth Joke of MR. JOSEPH MILLER should be commemorated by the joker's countrymen and admirers, and that a permanent record of the evident effect which that eminent individual had produced on the light literature of his native land, should be raised in a conspicuous part of the metropolis. Subscription lists had been opened, and the smallest jokes that had appeared thereon had been thankfully acknowledged by the secretary. All were Hi-larious, O-bliging, and U-nanimous, and in no other form was the I. O. U. presented. The Chairman now begged to call the attention of the meeting to the Report of the Site Committee. It was suggested by a subscriber that as they took a different side they ought to be called the Oppo-sita Committee. The subscriber remarked if that were the case he considered the Committee's site could not be very good. The Chairman called the subscriber to order," when the subscriber asked what the Chairman would like to have. He remembered two gentlemen once disputing about polities in BUTTON's coffee-house; one of them said—— The Chairman wished to put him in mind The subscriber observed, it did put him in mind of that smart reply which was made when an English gentleman asked SIR RICHARD STEELE, who was an Irishman The Chairman thought- The subscriber said, so did the Oxford scholars, when meeting on the road with a Yorkshire ostler, they fell to bantering The Chairman said it occurred to him 31 ALLEN 501082 |