NOT very long since it was my privilege and pleasure to be present at a modern reproduction of the famed Vauxhall Gardens. The occasion was the first of a series of Fancy Dress Balls at the Royal Opera, . By offering handsome prizes to the conventionally careless throng the management had caused that frivolous company to become exceedingly thoughtful. I have been told that for weeks, and even months, before the ball, those who intend to compete for had been busy in devising elaborate costumes. On the occasion I noticed a number of excellent assumptions that must have been the outcome of unlimited reflection and not a little imagination. As I watched some most complicated passing by, I frankly admit that I could not understand how their inventors had come to scheme them out. I felt inclined