Salaam to Omar!-PAGE 517.

"It does not appear that there was any danger in holding and singing Súfi Pantheism, so long as the Poet made his Salaam to Mohammed at the beginning and end of his Song" (FITZGERALD, Prefaces to Rubaiyat, 1872). The last stanza here printed was an afterthought, and was not inIcluded in the version on the menu. A third piece, written

for the Omar Khayyám dinner of March 1903, and kindly read for the author in his absence by Mr. HENRY Newbolt, is subjoined :

"UNDER WHICH KING?"

"Under which king, Bezonian? Speak, or die."

.

-2 HENRY IV. Act v., Scene 3.

Under which king?" you ask, my friend.
"The Hermit of the Suffolk shore?—
The Tent-maker of Naishapúr ?—
OMAR, FITZGERALD-which?" Perpend.

The great CORNEILLE, when pressed of yore,
To judge two sonnets, answered thus :-
"One, in its way, is marvellous ;

And yet I like the other more."

This is my case betwixt your twain.
But if you further question why
I sit in this brave company,

I will with your good leave-explain.

Life is a toilsome thing at best:

We all too-heavy burdens bear,

And groaning 'neath our load of care,

Run to and fro in search of rest.

We find it where this board is set:
Kind looks across the napery gleam;
The Past, the Future, grow a dream;
And for the moment-we forget.

OMAR, FITZGERALD-these are all

But phantasies. We snuff the air;

The green spot in the desert bare;
The Opiate of the Interval!

"That once he lent to YOUNG."-PAGE 530.

The allusion is to the admirable epigram attributed to Young, and written with a pencil borrowed from Lord Chesterfield :

"Accept a miracle instead of wit,—

See two dull lines by STANHOPE's pencil writ."

A BALLAD OF ANTIQUARIES.-PAGE 539.

This and the succeeding ballade (p. 541) were prologues to The Antiquary for 1880 and 1881.

"These to his Memory."-PAGE 545.

These quatrains were written by request in January 1901, as the "Dedication" to a special Stevenson number of The Student, the Edinburgh University Magazine.

A BALLAD OF INCAPACITY.-PAGE 546.

Recited by the author at a dinner at the Whitefriars Club in November 1901.

"A VOICE IN THE SCENTED NIGHT."-PAGE 548.

This, and the pieces at p. 569 and p. 589, appeared in the Century Magazine, and are here reproduced by permission.

"When POPE came back."-PAGE 549.

Alexander Pope: his Safe Return from Troy. A Congratulatory Poem on his Completing his Translation of Homer's Iliad. (In ottava rima.) By Mr. Gay, 1720 (?). Frere's burlesque, Monks and Giants-it will be remembered-set the tune to Byron's Beppo.

"The Paradise of Birds."-PAGE 549.

Published in 1870.

"The Life in Poetry."-PAGE 549.

Life in Poetry, Law in Taste, two series of Lectures delivered in Oxford, 1895-1900, 1901.

"The Weight that WARTON."-PAGE 549.

A History of English Poetry, 1895 (in progress).

SURGE ET AMBULA.-PAGE 551.

Written for Wayfarer's Love, a volume published in 1904, and edited by the Duchess of Sutherland, in aid of the "Potteries and Newcastle Cripples' Guild."

SNAP-SHOT.-PAGE 552.

This, and the lines to Myrtalé at p. 568, appeared in Harper's Magazine.

ON PEPYS' DIARY.-PAGE 555.

Written for the Pepys Dinner at Magdalene College, Cambridge, February 23, 1905.

THE SIMPLE LIFE.-PAGE 557.

Published in the Queen's Carol, 1905.

RICHARD GARNETT.-PAGE 561.

Dr. Garnett died on the 13th April 1906. These lines were written for The Library for July in that year.

The Passionate Printer to his Love.-Page 562.

This, and the pieces at pp. 572, 581, and 591, were written for the Annual called Printers' Pie, published in aid of the Printers' Pension, Almshouse, and Orphan Asylum Corporation.

TO THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.-PAGE 567.

These lines appeared in the American Outlook for November 24, 1906. Mr. Aldrich attained his seventieth year on November 11. His lamented death took place in March 1907.

A WAIF.-PAGE 570.

Written for Tales for the Homes, a volume published in 1907 on behalf of the National Barnardo Memorial Fund.

THE FRIEND OF HUMANITY AND THE RHYMER.— PAGE 573.

Written for The Book of the League of Mercy, 1907.

A MILTONIC EXERCISE.-PAGE 583.

Written, by request, for the celebration at Christ's College, Cambridge, July 10, 1908.

ENTENTE CORDIALE.-PAGE 593.

Written for the Souvenir of the Franco-British Charity Fête and Bazaar, June 1909.

LA BONNE Comédie.-Page 598.

This was written as an epilogue for the Molière (1910) of my friend, Prof. Brander Matthews, of Columbia University, New York City, although it appeared in Scribner's Magazine a little earlier.

IN MEMORIAM-PAGE 600.

These verses were printed in the Times for Thursday, May 19, 1910.