The Banquet, a Political Satire, by Mr. George Cotterell, was published in 1885 by William Blackwood & Sons. Like most political squibs its interest was somewhat ephemeral, but it contained several amusing parodies of Tennyson, and of Swinburne. Some of those on Tennyson have already been quoted, the following extracts are taken from a parody of Swinburne's "Dolores," entitled THE RADICAL PROGRAMME. THE days of the dunces are over, In hip and in thigh will we smite them, And nothing shall raise them or right them, They sought us with sweet condescension, When this beggarly bill they conceded They thought we should ask for no more; To make us more fierce than before: To the Lords shall the mandate he spoken, For the bonds that have bound us are broken, Then hurrah for the bill that we carried, For the Caucus that carried the bill! The Lords would have tampered and tarried, It was time for another beginning, So we started the world with a spin And while it goes spinning and spinning We will gather the spoils that we win; For it spins out the Whigs and the Tories, The Lords and the Church and the Crown And it spins us this glory of gloriesTo tread them all down. -:0: HYMN TO GLADSTONIAN LIberals. Is not this the First Lord of your choice? You will hear not again his fine speaking, Power and will hath he none of it left him Nor truth in his breath; Till his name be struck out of the lists Will ye know not the truth of his death! Surely, ye say, he is strong, but the Times Is 'gainst him and Parnell ; Wait a little, ye say-nay too long He has made our fair island a hell; Let him then die, as all must die, that Use treason thus as a rod; Let him fade from the ranks of his Party Take his foot from the neck that he trod. They cry out, his elect, his seekers for And in Africa stained by retreat, He is smitten! behold, he is smitten! The St. Stephen's Review, May 28, 1887. F.A.C. Prophet, what of the fight? What is the vision you see? England the stubbornly free, Erect, 'midst the whirl of her waves. Harbours she traitors and slaves, Harpies, of gold-worship bred, Who grope for their gain amongst graves That hide the hosts of her dead? (Four verses omitted.) Vultures, what of the fight?- Sold for your sakes to death. That leaves ye with wings and breath! England, what of that fight?— Rouse you, and raise a hand. These Vultures swarm in the land, Incompetence, traitrous greed. Scourge them to headlong flight, Vermin of office and mart, Ere the harpies batten indeed, Their beaks in the nation's heart. "According to a certain critic," said the Daily News in August, 1888, Mr. Swinburne "makes services' rhyme to 'berries.' How in the world does he manage that? Can it be in a poem on Lawn Tennis? 'Oh, thy swift, subtle, slanting, services That skim the net, and 'scape the racket of me, Oh, thy straw hat, and dainty body of thee!' Nothing exactly like this occurs in the English edition of Mr. Swinburne's poems, but this, perhaps, shows how the thing could be done, if the poet were so inclined." In the course of a singularly brilliant career it is not surprising that Mr. Swinburne should have been the subject of many fierce literary attacks. The history of these feuds must await the advent of another Isaac D'Israeli to add a Chapter to the "Calamities and Quarrels of Authors"; interesting as the topic most certainly is, it cannot be dealt with here. Suffice it to say that the principal grounds for adverse criticism have been the asserted voluptuousness and immoral tendency of his romantic poems, and the inconsistency of his political writings. As an instance of the latter failing The Daily News of May 2, 1887, reprinted a poem Mr. Swinburne wrote for The Morning Star (a Radical paper, now defunct) in November 1867 in favour of the Fenians then lying under sentence of death for the murder of Serjeant Brett. This poem Mr. Swinburne had also included in his volume, Songs before Sunrise, published in 1871, and it certainly presents a marked contrast to his recent utterances on the Irish question. As to the alleged immoral tendency of his works much has been written, and by many pens, one of the bitterest of his assailants being Mr. Robert Williams Buchanan, whose own early writings were, most assuredly, open to adverse criticism on the same ground. In his little work entitled, "The Fleshly School of Poetry," published in 1872, Mr. Buchanan not only attacked Swinburne, but he was also most malignant in his criticisms of the poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the kindest, gentlest, and purest of men. The controversy this aroused raged for some years, and the last word was only spoken when Mr. Edmund Yates published his article on "A Scrofulous Scotch Poet," severely castigating Mr. Buchanan, in The World, September 26, 1877. Long prior to this, the following verses relating to Swinburne, had been attributed to Buchanan. It is doubtful whether in 1866 Mr. Swinburne's name was sufficiently established to entitle him to a place in such distinguished company as is here mentioned." THE SESSION OF THE POETS. "Di magni, salaputium disertum !--CAT. LIB. LIII. "AT the Session of Poets held lately in London, The Bard of Freshwater was voted the chair: With his tresses unbrush'd, and his shirt-collar undone, He loll'd at his ease like a good-humour'd Bear; 'Come, boys!' he exclaimed, we'll be merry together!' And lit up his pipe with a smile on his cheek; While with eye like a skipper's cock'd up at the weather, Sat the Vice-Chairman Browning, thinking in Greek. The company gather'd embraced great and small bards, Both strong bards and weak bards, funny and grave, Fat bards and lean bards, little and tall bards, Bards who wear whiskers, and others who shave. Of books, men, and things, was the bards' conversationSome praised Ecce Homo, some deemed it so-soAnd then there was talk of the state of the nation, And when the unwash'd would devour Mr. Lowe. Right stately sat Arnold-his black gown adjusted With puddingish England serenely disgusted, He heark'd to the Chairman, with 'Surely!' and 'Really?' Then felt in his pocket, and breath'd again freely, "Close at hand lingered Lytton, whose Icarus-winglets Who studied the language of Goethe too soon, "How name all that wonderful company over ?Prim Patmore, mild Alford-and Kingsley also? Among the small sparks who was realler than Lover? Among misses, who sweeter than Miss Ingelow? There sat, looking moony, conceited, and narrow, Buchanan,-who, finding when foolish and young, Apollo asleep on a coster-girl's barrow, Straight dragged him away to see somebody hung. "What was said? what was done? was there prosing or rhyming? Was nothing noteworthy in deed or in word? Why, just as the hour for the supper was chiming, The only event of the evening occurred. Up jumped, with his neck stretching out like a gander, Master Swinburne, and squeal'd, glaring out through his hair, Although this collection is avowedly confined to Parodies which have previously appeared in print, it will be readily understood that numbers of original parodies are sent in, of which but a very small proportion can be inserted. Some amusing incidents occur, thus a short time ago a gentlemen sent from Scotland the M. S. S. of new and original burlesques on Hamlet and Othello, the first containing about 850 lines, and the second about double that number. The author earnestly requested they should be inserted in Parodies, but whether he had succeeded in getting any "new and original" fun out of such fresh and lively topics as Hamlet and Othello, the world will never be able to judge through this medium. Another, and almost equally humorous request was worded as follows:-"I enclose a parody on Mr. Algernon Swinburne's Dolores in the form of an encomium on 'Someone's Essence of Something' which is absurdly close to some cf the original verses. If you accept it please send proof and remuneration to me at above address." It so happened that this parody was not devoid of literary merit, but the author was presuming a little too much in expecting to get a puff inserted gratis, and to be paid for it in the bargain. A verse or two will suffice to indicate the author's treatment of the topic : ALL pale from the past we draw nigh thee, The boons and the blessings that rain What care though disease be a fixture Thou canst cast out disordered secretion, The victim of constant depletion, Fruits fail, Autumn dies, and Time ranges, have perpetual breath, The price of its bottles ne'er changes, Two-and-ninepence can wrestle with Death Our lives are rekindled and rallied, Our systems made wholesome and clean, Sick-headache, and sudden affliction, The remainder of this Poem will be inserted with full details as to price, and number of cures effected, on receipt of the customary advertisement fee. Another correspondent kindly sent in a lengthy rhymed criticism of Swinburne's style, commencing as follows:PADDY BLAKE ON SWINBURNE. DEAR Bailey, I will not deny That of Swinburne's great merit I'm sensible, He sings pretty songs about kisses, He christens them "red," also "white"; I confess, in all lowliness, this is Beyond my intelligence quite. It may well be that I'm very silly, But some of his songs seem to me Like a mixture of very weak skilly With ten times as much eau-de-vie. His language is wrondrously charming, But there's one thing that's rather alarming- END of PARODIES ON A. C. SWINBURNE. George R. Sims. Mr. George R. Sims was born in London on September 2nd, 1847. He was educated first, at Hanwell College, and subsequently at Bonn. In 1874 Mr. Sims joined the staff of Fun, and about the same time he also became connected with the Weekly Dispatch, to which he communicated the humorous papers, entitled: "Mary Jane's Memoirs." Since 1877 he has written much in The Referee, over the pseudonym of "Dagonet," and most of his Ballads, which have now a worldwide fame, first appeared in the colums of that journal. As a dramatic author Mr. Sims has also been both prolific and successful. "Crutch and Toothpick " "Mother-in-Law," 66 The Member for Slocum," "The Gay City' ""The Half-Way House," "The Lights o' London," "The Romany Rye," and "The Merry Duchess," are titles well-known to every modern play-goer. Judging by the vast amount of work in essays, dramas, and poems, produced by Mr. Sims, he must be possessed of extraordinary energy, powerful imagination, and of rapid composition. Some of his prose articles and ballads display an intimate knowledge of the inner life of the miserable, and the poor of London, such as could only have been acquired by one having keen powers of observation, after considerable time spent in the haunts of dirt, danger, and disease. In short, since Dickens left us, no writer has been so successful in this difficult and trying branch of literature, and Dickens himself was never so popular, nor were his works so widely read by the people as are those of Mr. Sims. Although there is much that is both droll and humorous in his prose writings, the principal feature in his Ballads is homely pathos, of which the following poem is one of the best known examples. It is one of the Ballads of Babylon (London. John P. Fuller, 1880), and is given by Mr. Sims's kind permission : OSTLER JOE. I STOOD at eve, as the sun went down, by a grave where a woman lies, Who lured men's souls to the shores of sin with the light of her wanton eyes, |