11 MAY 1889, Page 15

"BULLS."

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTLTOR.1

SIR,—The following fine specimens may be entered in com- petition for a prize, English versus Irish "bulls." The first is from the Morning Chronicle (June 19th, 1844) :—" To investigate the question, however, would lead us too deeply into the dry and troubled waters of moral philosophy." I do not remember in what paper the following appeared, but the date was January 7th, 1839, when there had been a tremendous hurricane :— -" Several chimneys fell, burying the inmates in the ruins." "A row of cottages fell, but fortunately the inmates were all out."

These two came out in one of the Sheffield papers :— "At first sight, the electioneering addresses sound thoroughly Protectionist." "The house [i.e., the attendance at the theatre] was not so good as we had hoped to have seen it, but there were more persons present than we expected to have seen,"— (which is rather like Joe Miller's pig-jobber, who, being asked what sort of market he had made, replied,—" Not so good as I expected, and I thought I shouldn't.") A third is from a leading article in the same paper on the 'Czar of Russia :—" At any rate, if the Czar did show any heat, it is probable that he would go to sleep upon it."

I once heard an American revivalist, in his loudest tones, rave and roar about the "icebergs of damnation." Whether it was a lapsus lingux or not, it had a good resonant sound, and