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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 186, 5 August 1864, Page 2 (Supplement)

What England could bo tor the Daves.— Ihc Army and Gazette observes that, should political events render it necessary to send an army to the assistance of the Danes, we could send out a most compact and efficient force. “ Onr troops as a body were never in better condition to take the field. Wo have now in the United Kingdom, in addition to the household brigade and depots, 17 regiments of cavalry, fifty batteries of artillery, and thirty-eight battalions of infantry. In the aggregate the strength of the artillery maybe roughly put down as 12,000 men, the cavalry 9,000, and the infantry 32,000 or 53,000 altogether. One-half this force placed beside the Danes would sec the AustroPrussian army on the south side of the Dannewerk for the period far outlasting the patience of their hot compatriots. The household troops at home number nearly 5,000 men, and after sending out 25,000 men of all arms, we should have a good reserve in them, in the 28,000 now forming regiments, and in the 152 regimental depots.” Wonders oe the English Language.— The constrution uf the English language must appear most formidable to a foreigner. One of them looking at a picture of a number of vessels said : “ See, what a flock of ships!” He was told that a flock of ships was called a fleet, but that a fleet of sheep was called a flock. And, it was added, for his guidance in mastering the intricacies of our language, that “ a flock of girls is called a bevy, that a bevy of wolves is called a pack, and a pack of thieves is called a gang, and a gaim of angels is called a host, and a host of porpoises is called a shoal, and a shoal of buffalo, is called a herd, and a herd of children is called a troop, and a troop of partridges is called a covey, and a covey of beauties is called a galaxy, and a galaxy of ruffians is called a horde, and a horde of rubbish is called a heap, and a heap of oxen is called a drove, and a drove of blackguards is called a mob, and a mob of whales is called a school, and a school of worshippers is called a con gregattun, and a congregation of engineers is called a corps, and a corps of robbers is called a hand, and a band of locusts is called a swarm, and a swarm of folks is called elite, and the elite of the city’s thieves and rascals are called the roughs, and the miscellaneous crowd of the city folks is called the community or the public, according as they are spoken of by the religious community or secular public.”