24 DECEMBER 1881, Page 16

[It is dangerous, sometimes, to jest. We have received a

letter fiercely scolding us for saying that Mr. Plunket, though a Tory and an Irishman, usually adhered to truth and common-sense " That," says the writer," means that Tories and Irishmen are- usually fools and liars, and is wholly unworthy of the Spectator." Can our correspondent really not see that the sentence is a jest, intended to hit those who extravagantly distrust Tories and Irishmen ? Suppose we had written, " Dr. Magee, though a Bishop, is a human being." Would that have meant that the rest of the Episcopal Bench were not human beings ?—En. Spectator.]