season of Lent; some excellent persons renounce all worldly
amusements; others, not quite so excellent, and both lots thinking, it
may be, no small beer of themselves, we may term the first lot Treble
Excellent and the second Double Excellent--the latter division think
that concerts possibly, sacred concerts certainly, and certain other
forms of mild and non-theatrical entertainments, are of a sufficiently
severe character to constitute, as it were, a form of discipline. Then
there are the larger proportion of those "who," as _Mrs. Malaprop_
would say, "'care for none of these things,' like GALILEO, my dear,"
and who inquire. "What is the state of the odds as long as we think
we're happy?" and who would indulge in balls and theatres, and in
every other form of amusement, while such pursuits afforded them, or
seemed, to afford them, any pleasure. To the first section, i.e., the
"unco guid," DRURIOLANUS has nothing to offer, not even a course of
sermons by popular preachers; but to the two others he has much to
say. For these, last Saturday, he commenced the first of his series
of Lenten Oratorios at Covent Garden--it was the 14th of February, and
this was his Valentine--and on the 17th, i.e., the Tuesday afterwards,
having made, so to speak, a clean sweep of everything serious, out he
comes with his Fancy Dress and Masked Ball. _Elijah_ the Prophet, on
Saturday, in the Covent Garden Calendar, must be reckoned among the
"minor profits," seeing that the biggest profit would be found in the
_Bal Masqué_ on Tuesday. Over the doors should be the motto, "_Festina
Lente_," whereof the Druriolanian translation must be, "Keep it up in
Lent." _Ave Janus Druriolanus!_

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OLD TIMES REVIVED.