te land,
To meet a Seraph in the Strand
Was somewhat unexpected.

Yet there one stood, as wrapt in thought,
Amid the City's din,
No other eye the vision caught,
Not even a stray policeman sought
To run that Seraph in.

But on the merchant curious eyes
Men turned, and mocking finger,
For well they knew his mien and guise,
_He_ was not wont, in moonstruck wise,
About the Strand to linger.

Mute stood the draper for a space,
The mystery to probe,
Alas! in that his hour of grace,
His eyes forsook the Seraph's face,
And rested on his robe.

And wildly did he seek in vain
To guess the strange material,
And golden fancies filled his brain,
And hopes of unimagined gain
Woke at the sight ethereal.

Then, suffered not by fate austere
The impulse to discard,
He never paused to idly veer
About the bush; but calm and clear
He said: 'How much a yard?'

A bright and tremulous lustre shone
Through the dull, dingy Strand,
From parting wings seraphic thrown;
And then, mute, motionless, alone,
Men saw the merchant stand.

*****

In town to-day his memory's cold,
No more his name on 'Change is,
Idle his mart, his wares are sold,
And men forget his fame of old,
Who now in Earlswood ranges.

Yet evermore, with toil and care
He ponders on devices
For stuffs superlatively rare,
Celestial fabrics past compare,
At reasonable prices.

To him the padded wall and dead
With gorgeous colour gleams,
And huge advertisements are spread,
And lurid placards, orange, red,
Drive through his waking dreams.'

'Thank you,' said Queen Mab, 'that is very interesting; but I can't
help being sorry for the merchant. For, after all, you know, it was his
nature to. Is it not time, now, for us to go back?'

CHAPTER VIII. -- THE BEAUTIFUL.

'Tweet!' cried the sparrows, 'it is nothing!
It only looks like something.
Tweet! that is the beautiful.
Can you make anything of it?
I can't?'
Hans Andersen.

'How exceedingly successful,' observed Queen Mab one day, 'the Permanent
Scarecrows have been!'

'The Permanent Scarecrows?' said the Owl.

The winged and gifted pair had been on another visit to London, and
Mab had found rows on rows of stucco houses, w