THE ROYAL MILITARY TOURNAMENT, This has now come to be regarded as a national enterprise. It is probably the most popular military display ever planned, and is certainly the most interesting and instructive of its kind held in London. The period of the Tournament is brief, though this year, we are glad to announce, it is somewhat extended. Before the public had well got to know it was in progress it was over. This was unfortunate, for there are many thousands of Londoners who have never seen it. The exigencies of military discipline have of course to be considered, but these could hardly be very seriously interfered with, one would think, by placing the annual Military Tournament on the same footing, as regards the period allotted to it, as the annual competitions of the Volunteer Artillery and Rifle Corps, at Shoeburyness and Wimbledon respectively. But we must take things as they are, and be thankful. The Royal Military Tournament will commence this year on Wednesday, May 18th, and terminate on Tuesday, May 31st, immediately follov ing the Horse Show at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington. It is expected that detachments of Indian troops will attend and compete in most of the events. No one who is in London at that time should fail to see it. The most entertaining display is on the opening day, though the daily tournaments have the peculiar merit of increasing in popularity as they proceed. Horses and men become more expert in the purely spectacular parts, and the personal encounters are arranged on a system which ensures, so far as possible, the survival of the fittest until the end, so that the interest of sightseers is likely to increase rather than to wane. Possibly there may be a limit beyond which the repetition of athletic feats, skilful horsemanship, and exciting episodes would begin to pall upon the most persistent admirer, but that limit has not yet been reached. In the exhibitions of swordsmanship and similar exercises, there is comparatively little interest taken, as the more exciting stages of these combats are reached only after preliminary trials, and one cannot go to the Tournament every day. No incident rouses the spectators to so much enthusiasm as the appearance of the sons and daughters of old soldiers and sailors--the four hundred and eighty boys from the Royal Naval School at Greenwich and the two hundred children of the Royal Caledonian Asylum, who go through "musical" drill and dumb-bell exercise with surpassing neatness and the regularity of a mechanical motion. The Royal Horse and Field Artillery batteries give a brilliant display of driving at the trot and gallop, the thundering stride of horses and the roll of guns producing a great impression on the visitors unaccustomed to such spectacles. Then a blare of trumpets heralds the approach of Life Guards, who in all the glory of their glittering accoutrements go through the intricate evolutions of a musical ride with faultless precision. Riding with firm, easy seats, light hands, and stately bearing, these stalwart troopers look the perfection of cavalry soldiers. At a canter their horses "change feet," without pause or break, as they circle right and left, and keep time to the music like skilful dancers in a cotillon. When, having finished, they slowly march out of the arena, the applause that follows them is loud and long. After this come riding and leaping competitions, for |