old Horaes' measure.

"Look!" Such a burst of laughter shook the room
As might dispel a desert anchorite's gloom.
Flushed faces keen and clever
Contorted wildly; such mirth-moving shape
Was taken by that genial histrion's jape
As mobs are mute at never.

A long soft-lighted room, the muffled beat
On carpets soft of watchful waiters' feet
In deft attendance gliding;
A table spread with toothsome morsels, fit
For the night-feast of genius, wealth and wit,
Of a skilled _chef's_ providing.

Goodfellowship, _bonnes bouches_, right pleasant tales
Of _bonnes fortunes!_ Here a quaint cynic rails,
There an enthusiast gushes.
Gay talk flows on, not in a rolling stream,
But with the brooklet's intermittent gleam
And brisk irradiant rushes.

Side-lights from all Society shift here
Reflected in keen _mot_ and jocund jeer,
Wild jest, and waggish whimsey.
Stagedom disrobed and Statecraft in undress,
Stars of the Art-world, pillars of the Press,
Sage solid, _flaneur_ flimsy,

All cross and counter here; they lounge and sup:
The fragrant smoke-cloud and the foaming cup
Tickle their eager senses.
What care these for the clock, whilst banter flows
And dainty "snacks" and toothsome herring-roes
The distant cook dispenses?

"How different these," my calm companion said,
"From the crowd yonder! These yearn not for bed
As rest from leaden labour."
The night may be far spent, the Sabbath dawns,
But here no dull brain-palsied drowser yawns
At his half-nodding neighbour.

"With wit, and wealth, and wine, the hours of night
In sombre Babylon may dispense delight.
These revellers, slumber-scorning,
Radiant and well-arrayed, will stop, and stop,
Till waiters drowse. But then, yon slaves of Shop
Must meet a different morning."

(_To be continued._)

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

An unsatisfactory christmas present.--We can well understand and
sympathise with you in your disappointment on discovering that you had
been deceived as to the amount of intelligence possessed by the Learned
Pig that you had been induced to purchase as a Christmas present for
your invalid Grandfather. It must have been very annoying, after having
imagined that you had provided your aged relative with a nice long
winter's evening amusement resulting from the creature's advertised
powers of telling