rybdis stands not far
From the Machine-man's Scylla.

"Culture derides the Caucus for its heat,
Its hate--its absence of the Light and Sweet,
So jays might flout the vulture.
Partisan bitterness and purblind haste?
Come, view the haunts of dilettante Taste,
The coteries of Culture!

"Here _Savants_ wrangle o'er a fossil bone,
CHAMPER, with curling lip and caustic tone,
At RUDDIMAN is railing.
CHAMPER knows everything, from PLATO'S text
To Protoplasm; yet his soul is vext,
His cheeks with spite are paling.

"Why? Because RUDDIMAN, the rude, robust,
Has pierced with logic's vigorous vulgar thrust
The shield of icy polish.
CHAMPER, in print, is hot on party-hate,
Here his one aim is in the rough debate
His rival to demolish.

"Sweet Reasonableness? Another host
Of sages see! The habits of the Ghost,
The Astral Body's action,
Absorb them, eager. Does more furious fire
The councils of the Caucusites inspire,
Or light the feuds of faction?

"And there? They argue out with toil intense
A 'cosmic' poet's esoteric sense,
Of which a world, unwitting,
Recks nothing. Yet how terribly they'd trounce
Parliament's pettifogging, and denounce
'Political hair-splitting'!"

"O Shade, the difference is but small, one dreads.
Betwixt logomachists at loggerheads,
Whether their theme be bonnets
Or British interests. Zealot ardour burns
Scarce fiercer o'er Electoral Returns
Than over SHAKSPEARE'S Sonnets.

"At MARABOUT the Mugwump sniffs and sneers;
Gregarious 'votes of thanks' and sheepish 'cheers'
Stir him to satire scornful.
But when sleek Culture apes, irate and loud,
The follies of the Caucus and the Crowd,
The spectacle is mournful."

"True!" smiled the Shade. "Yon supercilious sage,
With patent prejudice and petty rage,
Penning a tart jobation
On practised Statesmen, must as much amuse
As Statesmen-sciolists venting vapid views
On rocks and revelation."

(_To be continued._)

* * * * *

THE SOUTH-EASTERN ALPHABET.

A was the Anger evinced far and wide;
B was the Boat-train delayed by the tide;
C was the Chairman who found nothing wrong;
D was the Driver who sang the same song;
E was the Engine that stuck on the way;
F stood for Folkestone, reached late every day;
G was the Grumble to which this gave rise;
H was the Hubbub Di