n.

From a letter in _The Globe_ on the liberty allowed to German
prisoners:--

"With Portland and Weymouth almost within artillery range the thing
seems monstrous. Who is responsible?--I am, &c., MIDDLE TEMPLAR."

Then we hope Middle Templar is ashamed of himself.

* * * * *

TO LIMEHOUSE.

Eastward the buzzing tram-car dips
Adown Commercial Road,
Till you may see the masts of ships,
With all their canvas stowed,
Stand o'er the house-tops, high
Against blue sky;
And thus Romance doth stray,
Mid work-a-day.

O drabbest of all penny fares!
Yet may you catch a glimpse
Of little dusty courts and squares
Where little dusty imps
Play by the plane-trees there,
Squalid, un-fair--
If these a child or tree
Could ever be.

The trams they go with hoot and lurch
Long miles, through glare and grime,
With here and there a dim cool church
Wide open all the time;
Where on this lovely day
Folk stop to pray
That wars, at length, may cease
And we have peace.

* * * * *

Stamping Out the Enemy.

"With German factories paralysed and the cold grip of the British
Feet about her throat, Germany, it is argued, must bring the war to
a close before starvation conquers her."

_Yorkshire Evening Post._

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)

I confess that I did not foretell the present state of affairs, and I
refuse to believe anyone else who professes to have done so unless he
can produce his prophecy in writing. _Germany and England_ (MURRAY),
however, puts the late Professor J. A. CRAMB definitely among the few
and persistent prophets who should long ago have been very much more
honoured in their own country. The book is a _resume_ of lectures
delivered in London in the early part of 1913, and it was first
published a few months ago. The present reprint proves the lecturer to
have been wiser before the event than many of us are even while the
event is happening. Had he lived to see "the day," he would certainly
have revised his incidental opinions of French competence and Russian
honesty, British resource, and the utility of the Territorial; he would
have willingly praised what he has somewhat hastily derided. His theme,
however, is not criti