_). "THANK GOODNESS WE SHAN'T 'AVE NO AIR-RAID TO-NIGHT, MRS.
'ARRIS. IT SEEMS TO BE BLOWIN' UP NICELY FOR RAIN."]

* * * * *

TO "MARTIN ROSS."

(_AFTER READING "IRISH MEMORIES."_)

Two Irish cousins greet us here
From BUSHE "the silver-tongued" descended,
Whose lives for close on thirty year
Were indistinguishably blended;
Scorning the rule that holds for cooks,
They pooled their brains and joined their forces,
And wrote a dozen gorgeous books
On men and women, hounds and horses.

They superseded _Handley Cross_;
They glorified the "hunting fever;"
They purged their pages of the dross,
While bettering the fun, of LEVER;
With many a priceless turn of phrase
They stirred us to Homeric laughter,
When painting Ireland in the days
Before Sinn Fein bewitched and "strafed" her.

With them we watched good _Major Yeates_
Contending with litigious peasants,
With "hidden hands" within his gates,
With claims for foxes and for pheasants;
We saw _Leigh Kelway_ drop his chin--
That precious English super-tripper--
In shocked amazement drinking in
The lurid narrative of _Slipper_.

_Philippa's_ piercing peacock squeals,
Uttered in moments of expansion;
The grime and splendour of the meals
Of _Mrs. Knox_ and of her mansion;
The secrets of horse-coping lore,
The loves of _Sally_ and of _Flurry_--
All these delights and hundreds more
Are not forgotten in a hurry.

Yet the same genial pens that freight
Our memories with joyous magic
Gave us the tale of _Francie's_ fate--
So vulgar, lovable and tragic;
Just to the land that gave them birth
They showed her smiling, sad and sullen,
And turning from the paths of mirth
Probed the dark soul of _Charlotte Mullen_.

Alas! the tie, so close, so dear,
Two years ago death rent asunder;
Hushed is the voice so gay and clear
Which moved us once to joy and wonder;
Yet, though they chronicle a loss
Whose pang no lapse of time assuages,
The spirit of brave "MARTIN ROSS"
Shines like a star throughout these pages.

Here in her letters may one trace
The generous scorn, the gentle pity,
The easy unaffected grace,
The wisdom that was always witty;
Here, mirrored in a sister soul,
One sees the comrade, strong yet tender,
Who marched unfaltering to her goal
Through sacrifice and self