others were good-natured, and would reply,--

"DEAR SIR,--I have to acknowledge, with many thanks, your _Cebren and
Paris_, and anticipate much pleasure from its perusal."

LEGION kept all these letters in a book, and published some of them as
advertisements of his _Cebren and Paris_ (an unsuccessful Newdigate),
when it appeared in a volume, with an astonishingly decorative cover.
It was a classical piece, in blank verse. Cebren, the father of
Oenone, is represented asking Paris what his intentions are as regards
that lady. It was piece of classical _genre_, the author said: such
interviews must have occurred when a young Trojan prince, with no
particular expectations, paid marked attentions to the daughter of a
River-god, like Cebren. Here is a specimen piece,--

"Now mark me, Paris," said the River-god,
Seated among the damp lush water-weeds,
His tresses crowned with crow's-foot,--"Mark my words,
Thou dalliest with my daughter; what thine aim,
I ask, and crave an answer--great thy line,
The lineage of renowned Laomedon.
Thy sires have wedded goddesses ere now.
But wealthy though the House of Troy may be.
Thy father has a monstrous family,
Daughters and sons as countless as the rills
That Ida sends to be my tributaries.
What he can give thee, what thy prospects are,
What settlements thou art prepared to make,
If thou wouldst lead Oenone to the altar,
This would I know; excuse an anxious sire!"