Punch (94.1888)

Apeil 28, 1888.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

195

AN INOPPORTUNE FLIRTATION.

" In the Spring a Young Man's fancy lightly turns on thoughts of Love.'

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Born at Laleham, near Staines, December 22,
1822. Died, April 15, 1888. Buried at
Laleham, April 19, 1888.

He who sang " Thyrsis," then, shall sing no
more [notes!
This side the stream that stills all earthly
Whilst April wakes the woodland's tardy
Bong, [floats
On morn's mild breeze the throstle's fluting
To ears long waiting and attentive long.

But near the shy Thames shore
Mute lies the minstrel who with mellowest
reed [ways.
Piped of its sunny slopes and wandering
Singer of light and of large-thoughted days.
And the soul's stillness, art thou gone indeed ?
Great Son of a good father, Laleham's Tower,
'Neath which thou liest, is not firmlier set
Than thy well-founded surely growing fame.
The budding briers with April drops are wet,
Anon the river-fields with gold shall flame;

The fritillary flower [feet
Shall spread its purple where thy frequent
Lovingly lingered. For thy Muse's flight
The Light of Nature's gift is yet more
• light,

The Sweetness of Earth's boon is still more
sweet.

The Python of Stupidity is slain

By Phoebus' shafts; the Philistine must fall
To lucid wit and lambent irony;

And hot unreason yieldeth, if at all,
To arms of light. Well, the world owes to
This gospel, and its gain [thee
"erchance is greater than from all the noise

Of Boanerges. Men at least may turn
To thee the graoious ways of calm to learn,
High Culture's bland repose and blameless j oy s.

"The night as welcome as a friend would
fall," •

So didst thou sing, and lo! to thee it came
Like a friend's sudden clasp, and all was
still. [thy fame

Sleep well by thy loved Thames; henceforth
"With that of " Thyrsis" blent shall haunt
Each reach, each islet, all [each hill,
-that spreading scene which Clough and
Arnold loved; [more,
And men of English mould will love it
Thinking, on silvery flood and verdant shore,
Here Arnold sang, here gentle Thyrsis
roved!"

* " Thyrsis," Matthew Arnold's exquisite
Monody on the death of his friend, Arthur
Hugh Clough.

Tried by the Furniss.—As might have
been expected, the Fiery Furniss has been
"making it hot" for some of them in his
lecture as reported in last Friday's Times. No
one could more appropriately do this than the
Fiery Furniss. His instructive and amusing
Lecture, evidently deals with burning ques-
tions. His next discourse will probably be
headed, " Cremation by Furniss," in which
he will discuss the utility of burning bodies,
and the advisability of selecting one consider-
able body—that of the Koyal Academy—for
an initial experiment. If he cannot obtain
the entire body, he will be content with
roasting one member at a time. This Furniss
burns brightly for nearly two hours, and no
Bort of interruption ever puts him out.

Goethe and the Very Dickens.

Mephistopheles, "The Spirit who denies,"
is the embodiment of Universal Scepticism.
Mrs. Prig, who "didn't believe there wasn't
no such person" as Mrs. Harris, is the illus-
tration of the particular Sceptic. The first
includes the seoond, and a term which shall
be a combination of the two may well ex-
press modern scepticism; and this term is
'' Mephistophelian-Priggishness."

Mr. Arthur Roberts's Lament.

I cannot sing the old song

(Which line perhaps you've heard);
I do not like the old song

As sold by Messrs. Sheard.
My serious reputation I

Must keep up in Lon-don,—
That second line is halting, but

'Twill be correct if you don't put
" The " (proper) " accent on."

Something like a Conversion.—At the
first conference of the Pastors' College Evan-
gelical Association last Wednesday, when
Mr. Spurgeon made one of his most telling
and characteristic speeches, a Converted Devil
addressed the Assembly. True he was only a
Printer's Devil; but this is a step in the
right direction, which would have delighted
the Original Origen and generous Robbie
Burns of Ayr,—of that Ayr, by the way,
whence came the puir Printer's Deil in ques-
tion. He was one of the " inko guid."

A Dilemma.—The Managers of St. JameVs
Theatre have deoided not to keep The Wife s
Secret, but, on the other hand, they can t let
it out.