'Tis the place, I can assure you, if from funds you wish to part ; Yet for these you'll get a mixture, wisely stirred will warm the heart. This old house is situated in a street well-known as High ; Here the choicest spirits gather, when the moon is in the sky. Ost at night I've seen the taper seemingly to multiply And assume these quaintish fashions so deceptive to the eye, Till in fancy I've been lifted high above this earthly ball ; And the lights, like stars have twinkledd, in the mirrors on the wall. In the happiness that followed, I've forgot life's cankering care, Yet from these Elysian dreamings I've waked to misery and despair. In this mood I've heard, with pleasure common mortals can. not know, Grand debates, and songs and speeches, which from sparkling genius flow. Then I've built aerial castles towering up to heights sublime, And I've questioned in my fancy, if such blissfulness were mine. For the nonce, a powerful statesman, I have ruled with iron sway. Millions of my fellow-creatures, who, of course, were rougher clay. Changing, then, to mighty warrior, at the head of armies bold, l've crushed all who dared oppose me, just for glory, not for gold. Or, again, as learned historian, I've noted down the deeds of yore, Woven in a graceful fashion, mines of thought from ancient lore. Burning passions, that consumed me, caused my throbbing heart to swell, Or, when seized with poet's fancy, I've attempted oft to tell. Eut the finest of our fancies very quickly disappear, If from thoughtfulness we're wakened by the foolish jest or jeer. White-sleeved waiters can't appreciate thoughts superior to red wine, And that Act, by one Mackenzie, soeman is to Muses Nine. In my rev'rie I was shaken, by a hand, and grumy told That the hour had just departed, when with safety wine was sold. From The Modern Athenian, 18th March, 1876. And at their feet was laid a carpet fair, And Paris pondered, and I cried, “Oh! Paris, THE NEW CENONE.-AN EPIC FRAGMENT. (With Apologies to the Poet Laureate.) O British Public, many-fadded public, From Funch, December, 1879. Copies may be ordered of WALTER HAMILTON, 64, Bromfelde Road, Clapham, S.W., or of the Publishers, Messrs. REEVES & TURNER, 196, Strand, W.C, Notices of the Press. MR. E, L. BLANCHARD says: “There are many playgoers who are somewhat puzzled to understand the full significance of the satire conveyed in the adapted comedy of “The Colonel” at the Prince of Wales's, and Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan's original comic opera of “ Patience," still prolonging its singularly successful career at the Savoy Theatre. To these, and many others, may be safely commended a curiously interesting book, just published, called “The Esthetic Movement in Eagland." The author, Mr. Walter Hamilton, has treated a very important subject with much care and considerable research. His chapters on the painters and poets of the Esthetic school are excellently written and replete with information not readily accessible, while his sketch of the career of Mr. Oscar Wilde will solve many questions to which few, even in well-informed circles, could readily reply.-.“ Birmingham Daily Gazette.” MR. W. M. ROSSETTI says ::-" There are, I think, many true and pointed observations in your book, and I necessarily sympathise in the general point of view which it adopts on the questions at issue.' MR. G. A. Sala writes :-"Many thanks for your book on The Esthetic Movement in England.' It will be historically curious and valuable long after the silly opposition to the movement has passed away.” " The West Middlesex Advertiser" thus described the scope of the work :-" The origin of the Asthetic Movement in England is here ascribed to the small circle of artists and poets who styled themselves the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood, as far back as 1818. These were seven young Oxford students, naniely, Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Thomas Woolner, William Michael Rossetti, G. F. Stevens, and James Collinson, and they started a small magazine, entitled “The Germ,” to advocate their peculiar views in art and poetry. After describing the attacks this circle was subjected to, and Mr. Ruskin's able defence of it, comes an outline of Ruskin's influence on art, and Sir Coutts Lindsay's formation of the Grosvenor Gallery, in which nearly all the most celebrated pictures of the Esthetic School have been exhibited, including the works of E. Burne-Jones, who is by sone held to be the head of the School in painting, and the peculiar paintings by J, A. M. Whistler. In connection with the latter artist, an account is given of the remarkable action for libel he brought against Mr. Ruskin. “The chapter devoted to "Æsthetic Culture'is one that will probably excite the greatest interest and curiosity; in it the influence of the new School on art, music, architecture, furniture and dress is distinctly pointed out; and the undoubted good it has achieved prove that the ridicule which has hitherto been directed against the Esthetes was both unjust and upreasonable, “ The poetry of the Æsthetic School is next described, and naturally leads up to an account of Robert Buchanan's attacks upon Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Fleshly School, with the law-suit that arose out of the curious anonymous poem, “ Jonas Fisher." These chapters are full of literary details, which will interest admirers of Swinburne, Morris, Rossetti, and Buchanan, whilst the article on Oscar Wilde contains facts and anecdotes concerning that talented young poet, which will certainly be new to the general public, and extracts from his poems of a stamp likely to astonish some of those who now think it 'good form’to sneer at the Esthetic bard. “The author has throughout treated his topic in a reverent spirit; indeed, he deprecates the frivolitr of those who, without understanding its aims or meaning, choose to ridicule Estheticism, and if he is not himself an Esthete, he is at any rate an appreciative Philistine. PARODIES. ALTHOUGH Parodies abound in English Literature no attempt has yet been maile to publish a complete collection of these amusing Jous l'esprit, many of which have been composed by our greatest humourists. It is now proposed to publish, in monthly parts, a collection of Parodies, both in verse and in prose, drawn from every available source, and illustrative of all the most celebrated writings in the English Language, together with such notes, explanatory or bibliographical, as may be required to elucidate the text.. Each of the principal authors will be taken separately, and the series will commence with Parodies of the works of Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate, to be followed by Shakespeare, Swinburne, Wordsworth, Byron, Scott, Moore, Longfellow, Poe, Goldsmith, Gray, Lord Macaulay, Dickens, Carlyle, Ruskin, and a number of other favorite authors. The Editor offers no apology for Parody in itself, suffice it to say it exists, that the public appear pleased with it, and that no man with literary tastes can entirely ignore it. .As will be seen from many examples here printed the object of a Parody is very seldom to ridicule its · original more often on the contrary it does it honor, if only by taking it as worthy of imitation or burlesque. Every endeavour will be made to render the collection complete. The Editor tenders his best thanks to those gentlemen who have kindly permitted extracts to be taken from their works, and will be grateful for information as to any Parodies which may have escaped his notice. The series will be published in Monthly Parts, price Sixpence, or the first Six Parts will be sent, prist free, to Subscribers for Two Shillings and Sixpence. All subscriptions and conımunications to be addressed to WALTER HAMILTON, 64, Bromfelde Road, Clapham, LONDON, S.W |