O horrible! horrible _world!_ there's not e'en
An old maid in't, to ask me to tea;
Not fit, or in country or town, to _be_ seen,
They have hurried off, blindly _to see!_
Parks, houses, clubs, shops, churches, squares, _deserts_ seem;
Quite flat, Magazines and Newspapers;
Ah, what shall I do? make a trial of _steam,_
In order to banish the _vapours?_

Shall I swallow my dinner? I can't--shall I sleep?
Then I don't get away from _myself!_
Shall I think what a beau I have _once_ been, and weep
Like a belle, that is laid on the shelf?
Shall I write? shall I read? ah, yes, that will do,
But an old book is terrible stuff:
Boy, get the new novel, stop, _reading's_ so new,
That a _book_ will be _novel_ enough!

M.L.B.

* * * * *



ANCIENT HISTORY OF DRURY LANE.

(_For the Mirror._)