_Tara, Diddlebury_.
DEAR SIR,--When I was an undergraduate at Cambridge in the
'sixties a "Limerick" was current which began as follows:--
"There was an adventurous sole
Which swallowed an albatross whole."
Unfortunately I cannot remember the conclusion of the stanza, nor
am I able to state whether it was founded on fact or was merely an
ebullition of lyrical fancy. In the latter case the lines are
a striking instance of the prophetic power of minstrelsy, and
justify the use of the word "_vates_," or seer, as applied to
poets by the ancient Romans.