ut the worst of the matter remains to be said.
These nine big lobsters were all of them _red_.[2]
And when they got safe to the floor of the tank,--
For which they had chiefly good luck to thank,--
They settled their cumbersome coats of mail,
And every lobster tucked his tail
Neatly under him as he sat
In a circle of nine for a cosy chat.
They seemed to be sitting hand in hand,
As shoulder to shoulder they sat in the sand,
And waved their antennae in calm rotation,
Apparently holding a consultation.
But what were the feelings of Master Blue Shell?
Oh, gentle Reader! how shall I tell?

[Footnote 1: The colours of lobsters vary a good deal in various
localities. _Homarus vulgaris_, the common lobster, is spotted, and, on
the upper part, more or less of a bluish black. I once saw a lobster
that had just got a new shell, and was of every lovely shade of blue
and violet.]

[Footnote 2: _Palurinus vulgaris_, the spiny lobster, has no true
claws, but huge hairy antennae. These lobsters are red _during their
lifetime_! I have seen them (in the Crystal Palace Aquarium) seated
exactly as here described, with blue lobsters watching them from
niches of the rocky sides of the tank, where they looked like
blue-jerseyed smugglers at the mouths of caves.]

From the moment that those Nine he saw,
He never could bear his blue coat more.
"Oh, Brothers in misfortune!" he said,
"Did you ever see any lobsters so grand,
As those who sit down there in the sand?
Why were we born at all, since not one of us all was born red?"
"Dear Brother, indeed, this is quite a whim."
(So his brothers and sisters reasoned with him;
And, being exceedingly cultivated,
The case with remarkable fairness stated.)
"Red is a primary colour, it's true,
But so is Blue;
And we all of us think, dear Brother,
That one is quite as good as the other.
A swaggering soldier's a saucy varlet,
Though he looks uncommonly well in scarlet.
No doubt there's much to be said
For a field of poppies of glowing red;
For fiery rifts in sunset skies,
Roses and blushes and red sunrise;
For a glow on the Alps, and the glow of a forge,
A foxglove bank in a woodland gorge;
Sparks that are struck from red-hot bars,
The sun in a mist, and the red star Mars;
Flowers of countless s