18 JUNE 1887, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE arrangements for the Jubilee are now nearly complete, and no efforts have been spared to make the ceremonial a grand one. The " pit-full of Royalties" who will attend to congratulate her Majesty, and who will include every ancient reigning family in Europe except the House of Othman, will appear in the procession, though an interval will separate them from the Queen's division of it; a Bodyguard of Princes has been arranged to accompany the Queen (Lord Lorne, we see, being admitted into it) ; and ten thousand troops will be on the ground in one capacity or another. The scene in Westminster Abbey will be as magnificent as at a coronation, all the digni- taries of State being present, both Houses of Parliament, and representatives of all services and all classes, except Parnellite Irishmen; and the subsequent reception at Buckingham Palace is to be of unprecedented grandeur. The slave posted behind the car of triumph to suggest the mortality of all will be, as usual, Ireland. The Abbey is to be searched through and through, no workman will be admitted except on business, and earnest requests are addressed through the Press to all who will attend not to give way to panto should anything unforeseen occur. The precautions are most complete, and nothing will probably happen, the enthusiasm of the immense majority daunting the few disaffected ; but the necessity for such care—which would, however, be equally required in every Monarchy in Europe— throws a certain shade of melancholy over what would other- wise be entirely joyous. The Victorian Era will have lasted fifty years.