Our Weekly Budget.

The Mansion House Fund , for the relief of the sufferers by these terrible inundations , is already assuming very respectable dimensions , about £ 8 , 200 having been collected up to Thursday evening . No doubt the Grand Lodge will not be behindhand in voting its quota towards the relief of the sufferers .

There has been a marked change in the weather during the last few days , and things have assumed quite a wintry aspect . We know not if a severe winter , supervening on a miserable autumn and an indifferent summer , is before us .

If so , the prospect for the very poorest classes is far from being encouraging . There is , however , this consolation , the wealthy section of the community never fails in its duty towards its less fortunate brethren , and least of all at Christmas tide , the period of universal rejoicing .

The great St . Leonards' Will case is nearly concluded , the Judge , Sir James Hannen , holding that the will and eight codicils had been duly executed , but he has not yet pronounced for them . Dr . Deane ' s theory as to the disappearance of the will was , that the late

Lord St . Leonards himself destroyed it , with the intention of making a new one , and Sir H . James followed his learned friend , and adopted the same line of argument . The Lord Chief Justice has been occupied the whole of this week in the Wainwright case . One matter in connection with the

case is mosb objectionable—that any woman of respectability should have been induced . by morbid curiosity to seek admission into the court during the trial . No doubt women inherit from our common mother Eve the vice of

over-curiosity , but a regard for tlie outward forms of decency is expected of those whom the papers describe as well dressed ladies . For ourselves , we only refer to the trial at all , because it forms a principal item in the news of the week .

"Larking" and practical "joking" are too often attended with unpleasant consequences . On Tuesday , the Maidenhead magistrates committed for trial a man named Joseph Garrett , for causing grievous bodily harm to a boy , Henry Emm . It seems the man and boy in question were both

employed at the Temple Paper Mills , Bisham , and the former was carrying a basket of rags to a vat of boiling lime water . " Larking" had been going on between the two , and , at length , Emm , threw the basket from Garrett ' s shoulder . The latter thereupon flung the boy into the vat ,

but Emm , clutching to the side , got out , with one leg badly scalded . The defence offered was , that it was only meant to stop the boy ' s "larking . " We are not in the confidence of Mr . Garrett , but we presume he is aware what usually follows when human flesh and boiling water

come into contact with each other . It is evidently high time he learned that people who are dipped into boiling water , invariably suffer the most excruciating agonies . If

the facts of the case , as described , are brought home to him , we trust Mr . Garretfc will be duly taught that throwing boys into boiling lime water , whether for a lark , or to stop larking , cannot be clone with impunity .

Our first idea , when we saw the paragraph in Thursday s papers , headed " A Spelling Bee , " was that some ingenious person had found out a method of teaching bees to spell . We have all heard , of course , of the marvellous doings of sundry performing dogs , monkeys , learned pigs ,

as well as of the industrious flea , but a spelling bee was something quite out of the common . We not unnaturally began to think the "littlebusy bee " had been taught some other way of improving " each shining hour" than the one so pathetically described by Dr . Watts . It turns out ,

however , that " A Spoiling Bee" is an American " notion , " imported into London , for the first time , on Wednesday , and tested as to its merits a : the Agricultural Hall under the auspices of Ex-Lord Mayor Lu ^ k , Mr . Waddy M . P ., and other gentlemen . A "Spelling Bee "

is simply a " Spelling bout , " in which those of the contestants who spell the most words correctly cany off the prizes . The " notion " is not a bnd one , especially as a considerable number of English men and women take very great liberties with the spelling of their native

language . There arc many who allow themselves great latitude in describing literally the words they utter . Even words in every clay use , such as " practice , " " practise , " " expense , " " skilful , " & c , & c , are too often misspelt ,

while the havoc that is made with words like " unparalleled " is dreadful to contemplate . We wish every success to the experiment , which cannot but be productive of good , We agree , however , with the Standard that the questioner must be careful in his orthoepy . How can people be ex-

Our Weekly Budget.

pected to spell properly if the words are inaudibly or improperly pronounced ? Again , we quite endorse the opinion of the same journal that an American Dictionary

of the English language should not be taken as the standard of correct spelling , at all events in England . It were better to take Latham than Webster , though the merits of the latter are by no means to be denied .

Mr . Peter Paul McSwiney and sundry Irish M . P . ' s do not show to great advantage in the disputes that have arisen over the O'Connell Centenary Fund . When men of different shades of opinion combine to honour the memory of some eminent personage , they should sink all personal

and private differences . But in this case a most undignified squabble has arisen . Could the late Dan O'Connell rise from the grave , and be present at another such Committee meeting , he would probably exclaim * with all bis native vehemence , " Save me from my friends . "

Archbishop Trench has met with an accident . In stepping ashore , at Kingstown , from one of the Holland steamers , his Grace fell , and severely strained the muscles of one of his legs . He was conveyed at once to an hotel , and , according to latest accounts , is progressing very favourably .

The stoppage , under orders of the Privy Council , of a number of Irish cattle , at Silloth , in Cumberland , owing to the prevalence of foot and mouth disease among the herd , has been magnified by Mr . Isaac Butt , M . P ., into an

Irish grievance . We are fully alive to the inconvenience and loss that must result from the stoppage of cattle , whether Irish , English , or foreign ; but there is a still greater evil to be feared if , when contagious diseases are

raging among our flocks and herds , the unrestricted movements of the cattle trade were permitted . The cattle plague of 1865-6 was only stamped out , at the last , by wholesale slaughter , and the most complete isolation of any

stock among which the disease had broken out . Had these severe measures been adopted at the outset , instead of at the last , it is very probable Cheshire would not have had to deplore the loss of some 80 , 000 head of cattle . It is hard enough to bear the present high prices of meat , but were

the movements of cattle wholly unrestricted , the disease might spread everywhere . However , the subject has been referred to the Royal Dublin Society , who will at once send over an influential deputation to the Duke of Richmond , President of the Council .

The Theatres and Concert Rooms are in full activity . Among the most enjoyable of the latter , are the Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts , at St . James ' s Hall , which have now become quite an annual institution . The second Monday " Pop" came off this week , and was

honoured by the presence of the Queen of Denmark , the Princess of Wales , and the Princess Thyra . Then there are the Oratorio Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall , and

at the Crystal and Alexandra Palaces . The Promenade Concerts , at Covent Garden , will shortly come to an end , in view of the preparations necessary for the production of the Christmas Pantomime .

The Chrysanthemum Show of Messrs . W . Cutbush and Sons , at the Alexandra Palace , will close to-day . The attractions at Muswell Hill are now , almost of necessity , limited to the concerts and theatrical representations ; and these are certainly well supported . Next month we are

promised a Dog Show , on a grand scale ; an Exhibition of Dolls , and on the 1 st proximo , which is the anniversary of the Princess of Wales ' s birthday , there will be a special programme in honour of the occasion . To-day , at the

Crystal Palace , the Annual Presentation of Prizes to the London Rifle Brigade will take place ; the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs will attend in State , and the Lady Mayoress will perform the ceremony of distribution .

The winter meeting of the London Athletic Club was held last Saturday at Lillie Bridge . The attendance , considering the time of the year and tho extreme rawnc- 'S of he weather , was very considerable , there being some four thousand people present . Everything passed off well , as

is usually the a ; -.-- , - > fc these deservedly popular meetings ; the more so , tluu a new feature , only introduced of late , was among the principal attractions . We allude to what , in our younger days and by readers of the Boys' Own Book , is no doubt familiar to our readers as French and Eno-lish .

Two teams , as nearly equal weight and strength as possible , take each an end of a long rope , and the struggle is which team shall pull its opponents over a mark . On Wednasday the same club held its annual assault of arms in the big room at St . James ' s Hall . The events were numerous anct