note
Of Shakespeare being out of it.

The seasons went and came again;
At length the languid Public cried:
"It is a sorry sort of Lane
That hardly ever turns aside.

"We want a little change of air;
On that," they said, "we must insist;
We cannot any longer bear
The seedy sex-impressionist."

Across the sounding City's din
This rumour smote her on the ear:
"The publishers are going in
For songs and tales of pleasant cheer!"

"Alack!" she said, "I lost the art,
And left my womanhood foredone,
When first I trafficked in the mart
All for a mess of Bodley bun.

"I cannot cut my kin at will,
Or jilt the protoplastic germ;
I am sister to the microbe still,
And second-cousin to the worm!"

6.

A VIGO-STREET ECLOGUE.

(AFTER THE SAME)

Maecenas. John. George. Arthur. Grant. Richard.

MAECENAS.

What ho! a merry Christmas! Pff!
Sharp blows the frosty blizzard's whff!
Pile on more logs and let them roll,
And pass the humming wassail-bowl!

JOHN.

The wassail-bowl! the wind is snell!
Drinc hael! and warm the poet's pell!

MAECENAS.

Richard! say something rustic.

RICHARD.

Lo!
The customary mistletoe,
Prehensile on the apple-bough,
Invites the usual kiss.

GEORGE.

And now
Cathartic hellebore should be
A cure for imbecility.

GRANT.

Now holly-berries have begun
To blush for Women That Have Done.

ARTHUR.

The farmer sticks his stuffy goose!

MAECENAS.

Come, come, you grow a little loose;
That's Michaelmas; you must remember
That Michaelmas is in September!

ARTHUR.

Northward the swallow sweeps his wing.

MAECENAS.

No, no! the bird arrives in spring!

ARTHUR.

Such knowledge fits the country clown;
We've better things to note in town.
What's Nature's lore compared with women's?

JOHN.

For this enigma go to S-m-ns;
He is the----

ARTHUR.

Yes, I am, I know,
The devil of a Romeo!

JOHN.

Hark! hark! the waits, the precious waits!
Their music beats at Heaven's gates.