The Prince of Wales gave a fancy ball on Wednesday,
and the Times of Thursday devoted three columns to an elaborate descrip- tion of the principal dresses worn by both sexes, the general effect being that men nowadays, in England, are slightly less extravagant, but a great deal more vain than women,—pre- cisely the distinction noted in savage tribes. The most original episode in the ball seems to have been a fairy quadrille—an artistic idea—but the quadrille of " Cards" is old, and the Prince's advisers missed the great oppor- tunity which a set of Chessmen might have afforded. With Lord Salisbury for King and Lord John Mic..iners for Queen, the prin- cipal parts might be easily cast, and any eight county members taken at random would have done for pawns. It would have been a grand political lesson, more especially if Mr. Disraeli had completed the scene by dressing as the motionless Automaton Player.
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