_Oh, have you a remnant of Persia for half-a-crown?_

Carpets of Persia! Though not, perhaps, one of the best,
Like those which adorn the Victoria and Albert Museum,
Yet, since you assert that you're selling authentic antiques,
I'd like to have one which the foot of a Caliph has pressed,
Or one where the wives of a Wazir (I fancy I see 'em)
Were wont to recline, curled up in their shimmering breeks,
Or one whereon foreheads were rubbed before mighty HAROUN--
_Oh, have you a remnant of Persia for half-a-crown?_

* * * * *

A POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE.

SIR,--It has been brought to my notice that at a meeting you
addressed recently in your constituency you referred to me, and in
the course of your remarks you said that I had employed in the
House of Commons the "blustering artifice of the rhetorical
hireling." May I ask you for your authority for this statement? I
can only hope that your reply will avoid any ambiguity, and for
your further enlightenment I may inform you that I am annoyed.

I am sure I am acting as you would wish me to do in sending a copy
of this letter to the Press.

Yours faithfully,
N. Y. Z THOMSON-THOMSON.

A. B. C. WENTWORTH-COKE, ESQ.

SIR,--How like you to read an inaccurate report of my speech! The
words I used--you will find them reported in _The Wastepaper
Gazette_ for that week--were as follows: "We must then take these
statements of Mr. Thomson-Thomson to be nothing but the blustering
artifice of _a_ rhetorical hireling." You will, I am sure,
appreciate the difference between the two versions. If you do not,
I may add that I am prepared to endorse the opinion expressed in
the accurate version and to raise the question in the House of
Commons at an early opportunity.

I am sending a copy, of this letter to the Press, as your reply
will doubtless be irrelevant.

Yours faithfully,
A. B. C. WENTWORTH-COKE.

N. Y. Z. THOMSON-THOMSON, ESQ.

SIR,--I have perused several reports of your speech, and with one
exception they all agree that the word "the" was used and not the
word "a." _The Wastepaper Gazette_, with which I think you are
identified, is the