ER'S mailed glove!"
But it left no stings
When they heard these things,
Though they wept as the brown bird weeps for Itys
On the day that the Wanderers whacked them two to love.

Suddenly then the news came flying,
"English mariners meet the Dutch,
Tars interned, with the neutrals vieing,
Beaten at Groeningen." Wild hands clutch
At the evening sheets
And the swift pulse beats;
Is the fame of HAWKE and FROBISHER dying?
The heart of the town is stirred by the NELSON touch.

Six--five. It's true. And the tears bedizen
The smoke-stained cheeks, and there comes a scream,
"If our English lads in a far-off prison
Are matched one day with a German team
And the Germans win,
They will say in Berlin
That a brighter than all our stars has risen;
Will even the Bottlesham Rovers stand supreme?

"Infantry, cavalry, guard and lancer--
Who on that day will bear the brunt,
With twinkling feet like a tip-toe dancer
Dribbling about while the half-backs grunt?
There is only one
Who can vanquish the Hun!"
And Bottlesham town with a cry made answer,
"There is only one; we must send our Tom to the front."

EVOE.

* * * * *

A RIVAL OF "TIPPERARY."

While much has been written of the songs that inspire our own brave
troops on the march, little is heard of those affected by our Allies.

Happily _Mr. Punch's_ Special Eye-witness with General Headquarters in
the Eastern Area has been enabled to send us the words of a song
which, set to an old Slav air, is rendered with immense _elan_ by the
gallant Russians as they go into battle. It is as follows:--

It's a hard nut is Cracow,
It's a hard nut to crack,
But it's not so hard to crack, oh!
When once you've got the knack.
Good-bye, Przemysl;
Farewell, Lemberg (Lwow);
It's a hard, hard nut to crack is Cracow,
But we'll soon crack it now.

By the more cultured Russian regiments, _i.e._, those recruited in the
neighbourhood of the German frontier, the last line is rendered:--

But we'll crack it right off,

to rhyme with Lvoff--the correct pronunciation of Lwow, according to a
contemporary.

* * * * *

AT THE PLAY.

KING HENRY IV., PART I.

I commend Sir HERBERT TREE'S obvious desire to do his duty as an
actor-manager and a patriot. His true inte