Poetry.

MEETINGS OP THE SCIENTIFIC AND LEARNED SOCIETIES FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAT 11 TH , 1867 . Tuesday , May 7 th . —INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS , . at 8 . Wednesday , May 8 th . —SOCIETY OF AUTS , at 8 . Wednesday , May 8 th . —GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY , at 8 .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Queen went , on the 21-th ult ., to Bushey Park , and visited the Duke of Nemours and Princess Marguerite The Queen drove in a carriage and four , and was accompanied ¦ b y their Royal Highnesses Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice . Her Majesty and Princess Louise walked , and rode on ponies , on the morning of the 25 th ult . The Queen , accompanied by his

Royal Highness Prince Leopold , drove out in the afternoon . Her Majesty walked and drove in the grounds on the morning of the 2 Pth ult ., attended by Lady Churchill and the Hon . Caroline Cavendish . The Queen and Princess Beatrice rode on ponies in the afternoon in the grounds . Her Majesty drove out on the morning of the 27 th ult ., accompanied by her Royal

Highness Princess Louise , and attended by the Hon . Flora Macdonald . Princess Beatrice went out walking . In the afternoon the Queen held a private investiture of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath . The Queen drove out in the afternoon . The Hon . Lady Biddulph had the honour of accompanying her Majesty . The Queen , Princess Louiso , Princess Beatrice , and

Prince Christian , and the ladies and gentlemen in waiting , ¦ attended divine service on the morning of the 2 Sth nit ., in the private chapel . The Rev . R . Duckworth preached the sermon . The Queen and Princess Louise rode on ponies in the grounds on the morning of the 29 th , ult . The Queen , accompanied by her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice , drove out in the afternoon . Her Majesty drove out onthe morning of the 30 th ult ., attended by Lady Churchill . The Queen , accompanied by her Royal Highness Princess Lonisp , went to London in the

afternoon . Her Majesty travelled by special train on the Great Western Railway to Paddington , and drove from thence to Marlborough House , and visited the Prince and Princess of Wales . Afterwards her Majesty returned to Windsor Cast ' e . Lady Churchill and Lord Alfred Paget were in attendance . The Queen , accompanied by Princess Louise and Prince Arthrr ,

drove out on the morning of the 1 st instant . IMPEKIAL PABLIA ' MENT . —The HOUSE OP COMMONS met again on the 29 th ult . after the Easter recess . The attendance was not very large . A good deal of anxiety was felt to know something about the Luxemburg question , and Mr . Horsman ¦ asked Lord Stanley to give the House all the information on

the subject which he could . Lord Stanley ' s reply was frank . and perfectly satisfactory . There were , he said , good hopes that peace would be preserved , and that France and Prussia would consent to the terms proposed by the neutral Powers . Those terms were not , he said , proposed solely or especially by England , and be contradicted the report that the Government

had expressed a decided opinion upon the question of right in dispute . The English Government had always said that peace was her object , but that should war ensue England's position would be one of perfect neutrality . This is precisely the policy which we expected Lord Stanly to pursue . —Mr . Dillwyn wished to make an explanation as to the exposure made by Mr . Bernal

Osborne before the Easter recess of the intrigue between Colonel Taylor and some of the malcontent Liberals . Mr . Osborne had , however , written from Newmarket to say that he could not be in the House before the 2 nd inst . Under these

The Week.

circumstances , Mr . Dillwyn simply said that the conversation he had with Colonel Taylor was neither public nor private , that Colonel Taylor never alluded to the opinions of Lord Derby , and that the memorandum was not meant to influence the votes of lion , members at all . To this Mr . Owen Stanley replied that he had understood the

conversation was not a private one , and therefore lie had felt at liberty to mention it . Mr . Dillwyn had asked him to look at the document , and he did soj and the paper read by Mr . Osborno contained what he believed to be the substance of it . He might have been wrong as to Lord Derby , but nothing would be easier than to clear up the inaccuracy by producing

the original document . Mr . Dillwyn does not , however , seem to have thought this necossary . It will be noticed that Mr Dillwyn does not include the use of the name of Mr . Disraeli in his denial . -The Irish Land Tenure Bill of the Government was the first order of the day , and it led to a long discussion . On the motion for the second reading , Mr . Gregory moved an

amendment , declaring that no bill of the kind could be acceptable which did not provide for the adoption of the system of leases in Ireland . On the 30 th ult . the House had only a short sitting . Among the questions were some as to the Irish and Scotch Reform Bills . The Chancellor of the Exchequer thought tho Scotch bill more important than the Irish bill ,

though the latter was in preparation . The Scotch bill he hoped shortly to introduce , but not before the English bill had made some progress . With reference to a question put by Mr . Oliphant as to whether , seeing there were no compound householders in Scotland , the Government intended to give the franchise to every ratepaying householder in Scotch burghs , the Chancellor of the Exchequer declined to give any information till he introduced the bill . Of course , the object of this

is to continue to dangle household suffrage before the eyes of the Scotch members . —Replying to Mr . Darby Griffith , Lord Stanley said he had reason to hope that the Conference in respect to the Luxemburg question would meet at a very earlydate . In pointing out that Luxemburg since 1839 had been under an European guarantee , Lord Stanley seemed to imply

that the neutralisation of the Duchy under an European guarantee would meet with favour from him in the Conference We sincerely hope not . —An interesting debate arose on a motion by Mr . Trevelyan , declaring the system of promotion bypurchase to be injurious to the army . Mr . Trevelyan made a most lucid and exhaustive speech in introducing the motion . In

the debate which followed , Sir John Pakington and the Marquis of Hartington expressed their agreement with most of what Mr . Trevelyan had said , but opposed the motion on the ground that the time had not come for its adoption . Eventually it was negatived by 11 ( 5 votes to 75 . The House adjourned at eight o ' clock . At the meeting of the House on the 1 st inst . a

prominent object on one of the benches , in shape representing a small woolsack , attracted attention . It was a huge petition with reference to the bill for the regulation of public-houses . The petition was in favour of the bill , and was presented by Mr . Greaves , who has charge of the bill , and who rolled the bundle up to the clerk at the table , thereby exciting much merriment .

The petition was signed by 82 , 2 S 2 inhabitants of Liverpool , the list of whose names swelled out the document to its extraordinary size . —The second reading of the Railways ( Guards ' aud Passengers' Communication ) Bill was then moved by Mr . H . Sheridan , who proposed by this measure to enable travellers in railway carriages to communicate with the guards . On such

communication being made the guards are to communicate with the drivers , and to stop the trains if anything should be wrong . Penalties are to be imposed for running trains without the