athers and a cunning set of springs,
By means of which the wearer could ascend to any height,
And sail about among the clouds as easy as a kite!

V

"O father," said young _Icarus_, "how I should like to fly!
And go like you where all is blue along the upper sky;
How very charming it would be above the moon to climb,
And scamper through the Zodiac, and have a high old time!

VI

"Oh wouldn't it be jolly, though,--to stop at all the inns;
To take a luncheon at 'The Crab,' and tipple at 'The Twins';
And, just for fun and fancy, while careering through the air,
To kiss the _Virgin_, tease the _Ram_, and bait the biggest _Bear_?

VII

"O father, please to let me go!" was still the urchin's cry;
"I'll be extremely careful, sir, and won't go _very_ high;
Oh if this little pleasure-trip you only will allow,
I promise to be back again in time to fetch the cow!"

VIII

"You're rather young," said Daedalus, "to tempt the upper air;
But take the wings, and mind your eye with very special care;
And keep at least a thousand miles below the nearest star;
Young lads, when out upon a lark, are apt to go too far!"

IX

He took the wings--that foolish boy--without the least dismay;
His father stuck 'em on with wax, and so he soared away;
Up, up he rises, like a bird, and not a moment stops
Until he's fairly out of sight beyond the mountain-tops!

X

And still he flies--away--away; it seems the merest fun;
No marvel he is getting bold, and aiming at the sun;
No marvel he forgets his sire; it isn't very odd
That one so far above the earth should think himself a god!

XI

Already, in his silly pride, he's gone too far aloft;
The heat begins to scorch his wings; the wax is waxing soft;
Down--down he goes!--Alas!--next day poor Icarus was found
Afloat upon the AEgean Sea, extremely damp and drowned!

L'ENVOI

The moral of this mournful tale is plain enough to all:--
Don't get above your proper sphere, or you may chance to fall;
Remember, too, that borrowed plumes are most uncertain things;
And never try to scale the sky with other people's wings!

VIVE LA BAGATELLE

("_Swift's Cheerful Creed_")

BY CLINTON SCOLLARD

A bumper to the jolly Dean
Who, in "Augustan" times,
Made merriment for fat and lean
In jocund prose and rhymes!
Ah, but he drove a pranksome quill!
With quips he wove a spell;
His cree