FRAGMENT OF A TRAGEDY.

_Dramatis Personæ_.
A Staff Officer.
A Colonel.
A Captain.
A Herald.
Chorus of Officers' Servants and Orderlies.

SCENE.--_Exterior of Battalion Headquarters Dug-out_.

_Leader of Chorus_.
Ho! friends, a stranger cometh; by his dress
Some nobleman of leisure, I should guess;
Come, let us seem to labour, lest he strafe;
A soldier ever eye-washes the Staff.

_Chorus start work, singing_.
Brighter than the queenly rose,
Brighter than the setting sun,
Brighter than old Ginger's nose
The raiment of the gilded one.

The red tab points towards each breast,
The red band binds his forehead stern;
The rainbow ribbons on his chest
Proclaim what fires within him burn.

Upon his throne amid the din
He sits serene--yet sometimes stoops