etc.,
are, of course, common enough; but those who are acquainted with such
matters will, I am sure, corroborate my assertion that there was never
so much good poetry in our general literature as exists at present.
Persons of intelligence do not look for such things perhaps, and
certainly not in magazines, while persons of 'culture' are too much
occupied with old china and high art; but to humble folks, who take an
interest in their fellow-creatures, it is very pleasant to observe what
high thoughts, and how poetically expressed, are now to be found about
our feet, and, as it were, in the literary gutter. I don't compare these
writers with Byrons and Shelleys; I don't speak of them as born poets at
all. On the contrary, my argument is that second nature (cultivation,
opportunities of publication, etc.) has made them what they are; and it
is immensely creditable to her.

[5] I take up a half-yearly volume of a magazine (price 1-1/2d.
weekly) addressed to the middle classes, and find in it, at
haphazard, the five following pieces, the authors of which are
anonymous:

AGATHA.

'From under the shade of her simple straw hat
She smiles at you, only a little shamefaced:
Her gold-tinted hair m a long-braided plait
Reaches on either side down to her waist.
Her rosy complexion, a soft pink and white,
Except where the white has been warmed by the sun,
Is glowing with health and an eager delight,
As she pauses to speak to you after her run.

'See with what freedom, what beautiful ease,
She leaps over hollows and mounds in berrace;
Hear how she joyously laughs when the breeze
Tosses her hat off, and blows in her face!
It's only a play-gown of homeliest cotton
She wears, that her finer silk dress may be saved;
And happily, too, she has wholly forgotten
The nurse and her charge to be better behaved.

'Must a time come when this child's way of caring
For only the present enjoyment shall pass;
When she'll learn to take thought of the dress that she's wearing,
And grow rather fond of consulting the glass?
Well, never mind; nothing really can change her;
Fair childhood will grow to as fair maidenhood;
Her unselfish, sweet nature is safe from all danger;
I know she will always be charming and good.

'For when she takes care of a still