s her
pre-eminently for the part. That she has desisted is a mercy for which
man may be devoutly thankful. At the present time the rule here laid
down as to lady humorists is proved by an exception in the person of
Miss Murphy, a lady, it is said, of much beauty, who worked her way up
from a subordinate position to the editorship of "The Melbourne Punch,"
a really comic production; but the unequal battle that would follow any
extensive imitation of her example is altogether too painful to
contemplate.

Miss Kendall's first poems, which were introduced to the notice of
_Punch_ by Mr. Andrew Lang in sincere admiration of their cleverness,
were "The Lay of the Ancient Trilobite," and "Ballad of the
Ichthyosaurus," which were printed in the numbers for January 24th and
February 14th, 1885. It is Miss Kendall's peculiar talent that she is
able to extract delicate humour out of the most unpromising subjects,
and even in these lays, which together constituted her maiden effort,
the characteristic is clearly shown. One verse may serve as an example;
it is from the poem which shows how the Ichthyosaurus aspires to a
higher life, and how the all-absorbent Ether remains in triumph after we
have played out our little parts to their puny end:--

"And we, howsoever we hated,
And feared, or made love, or believed,
For all the opinions we stated,
The woes and the wars we achieved,
We too shall lie idle together--
In very uncritical case;
And no one will win--but the Ether
That fills circumambient space."

Quaintly humorous ideas are spread among her score of contributions--and
tenderness, too; but it is as a humorous versifier of refinement and
originality that she has appealed strongly to _Punch_ readers, although,
as she herself says, "it seemed very wonderful to be _in Punch_, which
I had venerated from my youth up."

The single contribution of Mr. Brandon Thomas has a rather interesting
story. It was a patriotic song of a stirring sort, called "Britannia's
Volunteers," composed at a time--in 1885--when patriotism was thick in
the air. It was put to music by Mr. Alfred Allen; and two days after it
was written, Mr. Thomas was at the house of Mr. Woodall, M.P., and there
he sang the song. An old gentleman, who covered his mouth and chin with
his hand, sat in the front row, and levelled a piercing look at the
singer, listening with intense interest. During the second verse Mr.
Thomas, who was much affect