Some greatly more accomplished man than I Must tackle them: let's say then Shakespeare said it; And, if he did not, Lewis Morris may (Or even if he did). Some other day, When I have nothing pressing to impart, I should not mind dilating on this matter. Or on the lonely housetop; hold! this chatter And perhaps I was born to set it right,— I don't see any cause for cursing in it. I In such pursuits since first I read divinity. What's Eton but a nursery of wrong-righters, A training ground for amateur reciters, A sharpener of the sword as of the pen; A factory of orators and fighters, A forcing-house of genius? Now and then The world at large shrinks back, abashed and beaten, Unable to endure the glare of Eton. I think I said I knew a man: what then? Of that delusion while he wields a pen. But who this man was, what, if aught, he did, Nor why I mentioned him, I do not know, Nor what I "wished to say" a while ago. James Kenneth Stephen [1859-1892] "Not a Sou Had He Got" "NOT A SOU HAD HE GOT" AFTER CHARLES WOLFE NOT a sou had he got-not a guinea or note- As he bolted away without paying his shot, We saw him again at dead of night, All bare and exposed to the midnight dews, And he looked like a gentleman taking a snooze "The doctor's as drunk as the devil," we said, 1933 We raised him; and sighed at the thought that his head We bore him home, and we put him to bed, Loudly they talked of his money that's gone, We tucked him in, and had hardly done, Slowly and sadly we all walked down From his room on the uppermost story; Richard Harris Barham [1788-1845] 66 THE WHITING AND THE SNAIL From "Alice in Wonderland" AFTER MARY HOWITT WILL you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail, "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail, See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance! They are waiting on the shingle-will you come and join the dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance? "You can really have no notion how delightful it will be When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!" But the snail replied, "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance. Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance. "What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend re plied. "There is another shore, you know, upon the other side. The further off from England the nearer is to FranceThen turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance. Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?" Lewis Carroll [1832-1898] The Higher Pantheism in a Nutshell 1935 THE RECOGNITION AFTER TENNYSON HOME they brought her sailor son, Tall and broad and black of beard, Hand to shake and mouth to kiss, Then they praised him,-called him "smart," But her son she did not know, And she neither smiled nor wept. Rose, a nurse of ninety years, Set a pigeon-pie in sight; She saw him eat:-" "Tis he! 'tis he!" She knew him-by his appetite! Frederick William Sawyer [1810-1875) THE HIGHER PANTHEISM IN A NUTSHELL AFTER TENNYSON ONE, who is not, we see: but one, whom we see not, is; What, and wherefore, and whence? for under is over and under; If thunder could be without lightning, lightning could be without thunder. Doubt is faith in the main: but faith, on the whole, is doubt; We cannot believe by proof: but could we believe without? Why, and whither, and how? for barley and rye are not clover; Neither are straight lines curves: yet over is under and over. Two and two may be four: but four and four are not eight; Fate and God may be twain: but God is the same thing as fate. Ask a man what he thinks, and get from a man what he feels; God, once caught in the fact, shows you a fair pair of heels. Body and spirit are twins: God only knows which is which; The soul squats down in the flesh, like a tinker drunk in a ditch. One and two are not one: but one and nothing is two; Once the mastodon was: pterodactyls were common as cocks; Then the mammoth was God; now is He a prize ox. Parallels all things are: yet many of these are askew. Springs the rock from the plain, shoots the stream from the rock; Cocks exist for the hen: but hens exist for the cock. God, whom we see not, is: and God, who is not, we see; Fiddle, we know, is diddle: and diddle, we take it, is dee. Algernon Charles Swinburne [1837-1909] THE WILLOW-TREE AFTER HOOD LONG by the willow-trees Vainly they sought her, Wild rang the mother's screams |