Is flitting to far Peckham Rye;
And my Grocer has gone-in a "Shay,"
And my Tailor has gone-in a "Fly":
Good-bye to the Town!-good-bye!

And it's O for the sea and the sky!
And it's O for the boat and the bay!
For the white foam whirling by,
And the sharp salt edge of the spray!
For the wharf where the black nets fry,
And the wrack and the oar-weed sway!
For the stroll when the moon is high
To the nook by the Flag-house gray!
For the risus ab angulo shy

From the Someone we designate " Di!"
For the moment of silence, the sigh!
"How I dote on a Moon!" "So do I!"
For the token we snatch on the sly!
(With nobody there to say Fie!)
Hurrah! for the sea and the sky!

So Phyllis, the fawn-footed, hie
For a Hansom. Ere close of the day
Between us a "world" must lie:
Good-bye to the Town! GOOD-BYE!
Hurrah! for the sea and the sky!

1876.

A FABLE

(IN THE MANNER OF MR. JOHN GAY)

How much would end in mode abrupt, If listeners might but interrupt!

Once in a corner of the lawn,

When none was stirring with the dawn,
Save BETTY, who not less, alas !
Still lingered at her looking-glass,
A TORTOISE of didactic habits
Addressed some half-a-dozen Rabbits.
It was a Tortoise who, 'tis said,
Contrived to break a wise man's head;
Since then the sect, report avers,
Have set up for Philosophers.

No harm in this one could be found;
He weighed so much; was so much round;
Not slower than his kin, or quicker
(Although his shell was somewhat thicker)
And wearing just that look of thought
Which speaks profundity,-or nought,

"My text (he said) is PROMPTITUDE.” He stretched his throat, and thus pursued: "In this discourse I hope to bring Before you Promptitude the Thing; Next, if my limits space afford, I shall take Promptitude the Word; Lastly, to make my meaning better, I shall examine every Letter.

"And first, my Friends, however viewed, How beautiful is Promptitude!

How are we quickened, roused, renewed,
By dwelling upon Promptitude!
In short, how much may we discover
By simply saying the word over!

"How much, too, in this vale below,
To this one quality we owe!
'Twas Promptitude the battles won
Of CÆSAR, and NAPOLEON ;
By Promptitude to-day we boast
The blessings of the Penny Post;
By Promptitude (I dare affirm)
The early bird secures the worm.
The Rabbits are a docile race,
And patient under commonplace;
But here, one rather puzzle-pated
In Gallic style "interpellated":
"If Promptitude so much can do,
Why don't you try the practice, too?"
This was, as HAMLET says, "a hit";
Clergy was posed by Mother-wit,
The Tortoise the horizon scanned;
He had no repartee at hand;
So, finding inspiration fail,

He drew his head in, then his tail.
His audience scampered off in glee:
Risu solvuntur tabulae.

1877.

ON A PICTURE BY HOPPNER

(MRS. GWYN-GOLDSMITH'S "JESSAMY BRIDE")

"AND you went once with myrtle crowned!"

You once were she, for whom

Poor GOLDSMITH'S gentle genius found

That name of jasmine-bloom!

How strange it seems!

You whom he loved,

You who were breathing, vital,

Not feigned in books, for us have proved
Scarce but a fragrant title;

A shade too shadowy far to stand
Beside the girl PRIMROSES-
Beside the dear old VICAR, and

Our more-than-brother, MOSES!

We cannot guess your voice, who know
Scamp TONY's view-halloo;

For us e'en thin Beau TIBBS must show
More palpable than you!

Yet some scant news we have. You came,
When that kind soul had fled;

You begged his hair; you kept his name
Long on your lips, 'tis said;

You lived and died. Or when, or how, Who asks! This age of ours

But marks your grass-grown headstone now By GOLDSMITH's jasmine flowers!

1883.