"We air governed too much."--_Artemus Ward._
No! The old spirit is not dead,
Though long it, trance-like, slept,
While Peter Putright reared his head,
And venom'd vigil kept.
Their despot yearnings retrograde
Our tyrants label "Progress";
In specious robes of light array'd
They hide a horrid Ogress;
And many simple souls and true
By guile seduced to err,
Or fondly trusting something new,
Fell down and worshipp'd her.
And o'er their prostrate senses roll'd
A monstrous idol car,
Whose priests, in frenzy uncontroll'd,
Still know not where they are.
The doughtier freeman of the past
With wrath such bondage sees;
Who freedom won with pike and gun
From nobler foes than these.
Some bygone champions' pow'r benign
Our waning strength restores;
They forced from kings what we'd resign
To County Councillors.
The heirs of those who won our right
Inherit such a soul
They'd starkly fight by day and night,
But quite neglect to poll.
And so, in Law and Order's day
The brazen crew intrudes,
And London nigh becomes the prey
Of pedants, prigs, and prudes.
But lo! the slip 'twixt cup and lip
Has made their glory dimmer;
Down, down goes the dictatorship
Of _Stiggins_ and of _Trimmer_.
And threaten'd London joys to find
The Incubus o'erthrown,
The gang whose mandate 'tis to mind
All business but their own.
With "shoulders to the wheel" alway,
The grannies in a batch
Can suck such comfort as they may
From eggs they must not hatch.
* * * * *
A SUGGESTION FOR IMPROVING THE STAGE. --M. COQUELIN
for having played truant--not an absolutely new part for him--from the
House of MOLIÈRE has been condemned by the Court of Appeal to
pay five hundred francs every time he performs away from the Comédie
Française. This may, or may not, be hard on M. COQUELIN, an
artist whose absence from the stage would be much deplored: but could
not there be, in England, some Court of Public Appeal, empowered to
condemn an actor or two, _not_ artists like M. COQUELIN, in
similar penalties for appearing at all? Great opportunity for a new
court and new procedure. Witnesses for prosecution from stalls, dress
circle, gallery, pit, upper boxes. Witnesses to be heard in defence of
course also; and let the best evidence win.
* * * * *
A GOOD BANK NOTE.--After the recent meeting of the gentlemen
who manage the affairs of The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, the Bank
of England may now be considered not as a bank which may be of sand or
mud, but as a rock, and as firm. The Baring Straits having been safely
passed, the look-out man cries, "All's well that ends well!"
* * * * *
THE HIGHLY-ROUGED LADY'S CLAIM TO LITERARY DISTINCTION.--That
she is well-read.
* * * * *
[Illustration: "ANIMAL SPIRITS."