HORSESHOES FOR THE QUEEN.

ancient « rest service" at the law courts. A quaint little ceremony, known as a rent service, was, (nays the London "Daily-Mail," observed in the Queen's Remembrancer's room at the law courts on October '-21. The ceremony wa9 replica of what had taken place annually for at least 600 years, and it consinted of the paymeni to her Majesty the Queen of two hatchets, six horseshoes, and 61 horse- J shoe nails, in consideration of certain property owned by the Corporation of the City of London. The property consists of a forge in Milford lane, - St. Clement Danes, and an estate in Shropshire known an the " Moors." The cu3tom of rendering these curious dues to thp Crown dates back to the ; days of King John, and probably I before. At this particular ceremony the Q.ieen's Remembrancer (Mr G. F. Pollock) was seated at the head of a table to receive the dues on behalf of the Queen. On another table wore 'six large iron horseshoes, twice as large as present-day horseshoes, a new, keenedged axe, a bright and blunt billhook, and a chopping block placed between two bundle^ of faggots. Half a dozen ladies and three gentlemen seated on chairs arranged in the form of a horseshoe watched the proceedings on behalf of the general public. The service oppned with a short explanation by tho Queen's Remembrancer. The tenant of tin* " Moors'' was then asked to come i forward and render his dues to thfl Qne'.n. The tenant, in the person of Mr H. Homewood Crawford, tha City Solicitor, approached the table, bowed most gravely, and theu took np the axe and a bundle of faggots. With one blow he^ cut tho faggots in half, and the pieces leapt in all directions. "Good,", said the Queen's Remembrancer, thus testifying to the excellent quality cf the axe. The City Solicitor next took up the billhook, but it was so blunt that several cuts had to be made before the faggots parted. " Not so good, but quite good enough,' 1 remarked the Queen's Remembrancer, and tho axe and the billhook were formally handed over in payment for the privilege of owniug the " Moors."

The tenant of the forge was next commanded to render his dues . Again the City Solicitor gathered up the horseshoes, and carefully replaced them ono by one. " Six." he said . "A. good number," replied the Queen's Remembrancer. The nails were then Blowly counted. " Sixty and one — sixty-one," said the City Solicitor. "A good number," again answered the Remembrancer with evident satisfaction, and tho horseshoe? and the nails hecame the property of her Majesty the Queen. The City Solicitor, again solemnly bowed, and the Queen's Remembrancer, with a bpcoming gravity, announced that the horsesho?s and the nails and tho axes would be " rendered to the Queen in due course if she desires to have them." Tho seriousness of the remark caused every one to smile. The horseshoes, and the nails to fit them, it should be explained, have been trotted out for thi.-j unique show many, many

times, but\the axes , are renewed every year. .Thej^ are' given, away, to some leading citizen, , providing, her Majesty does not w,ans.thera.v;),.', , ,' „ THE BEST jSkj^^^k F,IGHT. THE FIRSTsCLASS CRUISER DIiADEMV Ab regards fighting forde, there can be no doubt (says '"\Blackwood's Mag'a* zinc' 1 ) that a 'given expenditure of money, devoted not only to building and maintaining the ship herself, bnt also to tho paynieut of the men necessary for manning her, will provide a more powerful force if invested in laree cruisers than in small ones. The Diadem is a' first-class cruiser,, costing distinctly less than' two second - class cruisers of the Arrogant type, for though the initial cost of a single Dia-, I dera may be greater than that of two, Arrogants, the two emaller ships require in the aggregate a larger and considerably more expensive complement than the heavier ship, so. than the total sum fcr building, manning, and maintaining two Arrogants in perpetuity would be decidedly greater than that for a single Diadem. But according to the manoeuvre rules, even a considerable number of Arrogants are incapable of capturing a single Diadem. ' This may seem rather an extreme regulation, but there is, nevertheless, much reason for such a rule. In the old wars much experience proved that a numerous body ot frigates w»>re not a match for a single 74 or 80, and yet the lin<"-6f- battleship carried no armour. The Diadem not only throws double the weight of broadside thrown by the Arrogant, but has more than half her guns protected by armour impenetrable by the Arrogant's guns, whilst all the Arrocant's ->nns are unprotected against the 6in. shell of the Diadem. The struggles between the Federals and .Confederates in the early sixties conclusively pr.ived that a gun protected by armour is worth almost any number without such protection. After the achievement of tlie famous Confederate iron-plated ship Merrimie, when she disposed of three nnarmonred ships in one afternoon, all superior to hor in weight of broadside, it was" universally admitted tnac it was impossible for men unprotected by armour to stand up against those who were adequately protected. Nor has anything occurred since to shake this belief. The Chinese ships at the Yalu which had guns protected by armour steamed away unmolested at the J clo9e of the action, when four hours •of daylight stil! remained, while the oapanese flagship, with her unprotected I gun deeta, turned inta a shambles by a I single shell, was unable to cmtinu'e tha action ; and the remaining Japanebe nn- ! armoured cruisers seemed to think it wai desirable to let the Chine3e armoured ships go off without further molestation It scarcely seemed as if three, four, or even five Arrogants could count ou a ' successful action with a single Diadem, more especially as the li»lter, having the highest speed, could in all probability engage her adversaries seriatim. Similarly a single Arrogant shonld dispose of almost any numbir of the Pelorous typo of third-class cruiser ; and yet it is extremely doubtful if more than two Pelorusess could be built and kept in commission for the sum sufficing for a single Arrogant. Besides the greater cost of maintenance of the smaller ship?, there is the necessity of replacing them after -a shorter interval, for the biggtr a ship the longer she lasts.