NEWS OF THE WEEK.
' 1 EASTER comes early this year ; yet with a fair average allowance of verdure and early flowers, though hitherto it cannot be said, with 'Chaucer, that the sweet showers of April " the droughts of March have pierced to the rote." The wind, which for nine mortal weed; has blown unrelentingly from the East, after two days' veering and vacillation, seems still' determined to parch the earth with cold from., that quarter—in mystical sympathy with the- Orientalism of a Disraeli Cabinet.
• But as this pertinacious East wind has failed to check the pro- mise of the young year, so the advent of the great Asian mystery to office has failed to dash the confidence of the world of business. The Funds are nearly at par, though the Thalaba of the Peel coin mercial policy has "trade the Dom-Daniel floor." Earth resumeh her mantle of green ; herb and tree push forth bud and blossein-; lambs are yeaned in due season, regardless of the withering winds and trade holds "on in good heart, although the statesmen who threatened` to'reimpose fetters on it—to " restore the reign of Chaos and old Night "—are in high place.
passed off rather languidly. From n new Prime Minister at the Mansionhouse festivities, some striking novelty might have been expected; but Lord Derby was simply apologetic and deprecating. Mr. Disraeli, from whom something brilliant or eccentric might have been looked for, did not appear : big with his Budget, (or with excuses for postponing it,) he keeps private, like ladies on the eve of an acconchement. Even' the Easter Vestry meetings have lacked their wonted oratorical spirit. Only one of the theatres has pro- duced anything to excite a sensation. The desperate efforts to re- new public interest in the Crystal Palace are as tedious as all twice- told tales proverbially are. John Bull has made holyday at Easter, according to use and wont; but, as the Frenchman said centuries ago, " it s'amusait tristement, Eldon la coutume de son pays." • , People have even contrived to make holyday at Easter as usual, in spite of these drawbacks. The streets and shows of London have been _thronged with fully their average number of pleasurit seekers. If the merriment has not been loud, if the sights have been comparatively flat and commonplace, their tameness is perhaps more apparent than real—the consequence of contrast with unprecedented excitement and expectation which. prevailed at this season last year. Still it must be admitted that the spectacles of the season have
