r
Chuckling about the "pretty sinner"
Who hankers for that finer Club,
The House o' Commons! There's the rub!
They do not want you there, my dears;
The prospect of your "franchise" queers
Wire-pullers' plans, and party reckoning--
Hope, in male guise, stands blandly beckoning.
He--_Codlin_--is the friend, _not Short_,
But, in his heart he's making sport.
Of course 'tis wickedest of shames,
But--recollect Sir HENRY JAMES,
Your open enemy avowed,
Did not the House o' Commons crowd
Of frauds and shams play up to him,
And shelve "the Female Franchise" whim
Only the other day? Sheer diddle!
Have you not _nous_ to read the riddle?
How wondrous prompt was W.G.
To back up SMITH! With what sly glee
The "Woman's-Rightists" did subside.
And--_sub silentio_--let _you_ slide!
Your Grand Old Man, dears,--well, _he's_ human.
He doesn't want some Grand Old Woman
As colleague or as rival. WOODALL?
Well, he is gentle, genial, good all;
But there's a twinkle in his eye
Persuades me that _he_ would not die
Did you consent to drop your "claim."
And now there comes another name
To raise for Shes the party slogan.
Well, trust, dears--if you like--to LOGAN;
He "will support you _at all times_!"
Keep your eye on him! SHAKSPEARE's rhymes
Tell you "Men were deceivers ever."
M.P.'s wise, foolish, crass, and clever,
Are--nominally--on your side,
And--privately--your cause deride.
Take the straight tip, my dears--I glean it
From private talk--_they don't half mean it!_

* * * * *

THE VOLUNTEERS' FOOTHOLD.--SHOEBURYNESS.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

BORN, FEB. 22, 1819. DIED, AUG. 12, 1891.

"We could not have been prouder of him had he been one of
us."--_Times_.

Bard of two worlds, and friend of both,
As ripe in years as culture, verily
To miss that voice two worlds are loth,
In which much wisdom spake so merrily.
A voice, and no mere echo, thine,
Of many tones, but manly ever.
Thy rustic _Biglow's_ rugged line
A grateful world neglecteth never!
It smote hypocrisy and cant
With flail-like force; sleek bards that ripple
Like shallow pools--who pose and pant,
And vaguely smudge or softly stipple,--
These have not brain or heart to sing
As _Biglow_ sang, our quaint _Hosea_,
Whose "Sunthin in the Pastoral line,"
Full primed with picture and idea,
Lives, with "Th