SUMMERY.

ON HIS OWN HOOK T

I as quite at t When he could sackcloth wear, 51w A'gol dire Airy and pleasant, made easy and slack Play I shadm Doff then your black cloth-wear-this is the crack cloth-wear, H Come and reside in a nice cool de sack!

Had I a touch of the fervour Swinburnian-blot zwould madW Great on warm kisses, the flame of a look, goda noitqmance ect Love's conflagrations, and fiery Falernian-out ferant vam tow Could I get HoT-'UN to publish the book- Lata not fit en -an abom 1 sdw am blot dot so) baided med of quo I wo wal

(Quite a chef-d'œuvre is shade overhead), I oh osont bit SSVE As when rain a pelter is, and helter-skelter is

Useless to write it is

Brains in hot weather are melted to pap. Ludicrous quite it is-poor as a flight it is I can't pen aught but this rigmarole scrap.

LOOKS INTO BOOKS.

MR. FREDERICK FIELD'S Mocking Bird and Other Poems, though it contains some pleasant original verse, will be chiefly remarkable in critical circles for the excellence of the parodies, which occupy the first forty pages of the volume. They avoid the common form of parody-the mere similarity in the sound of words-and make their echo appreciable by a delicate suggestiveness of the similarity of subject (often a similarity in diversity), and by an apt assimilation of rhythm as well as metre. There is a freshness in this new style of parody which is the more admirable because it will puzzle small wits to imitate it. We will give a brief extract to illustrate our meaning, selected from "The Phantom Cat":

"Still upon the Captain's shoulder, strange it seemed to the beholder,
In the twilight of the cabin among strangers standing so;
And I fancied it would fright her when the cuddy lamps grew lighter,
And I mused upon the writer of "The Raven," EDGAR POE,

On that weird and wondrous genius, wilful, wayward EDGAR POE,
Dead now eighteen years ago."

Here there is no attempt at a jingle upon the original "nevermore," yet the ethos as well as the mere flow of the original poem will be found preserved in the parody.

MR. FIELD is also to be congratulated on his translations, for the same power which enables him to give parodies that are not servile, assists him to renderings that are not spiritless-witness his version of the old oft-attempted "Three Students." Nevertheless, we are not quite sure that this appreciativeness does not mar his efforts when he essays original verse. Moreover he, with few exceptions, gives us such correct rhymes that we could wish he would avoid the slovenly habit of expending but two rhymes on a four-line stanza. In these days when every man is "a poet," until he publishes, and often after (if he be fortunate enough to escape our few real critics), it is most desirable that the skilful and educated versifier should set a good example to the unscrupulous by an almost excessive care as to the mechanism of his art.

SEASONABLE EXERCISE FOR VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY COMPANIES.Shelling Peas.

EGG-SEE!

THERE is reason in the roasting of eggs. But does anyone know that there is reason why the manufacture of eggs into cheesecakes ought to be so cheap that any schoolboy should be able to buy more of those delicacies than he can eat at a sitting, for a very small sum? Those patriotic fellows the photographers, whose motto is "pro aris et focis," reject the yoke-we beg pardon, yolk-and use the white of no end of eggs. We wonder whether this accounts in any way for the odd fact that cheap photographs and penny ices are almost invariably connected-that in short the photographer is generally a sort of partner in a confectioner's shop.

Inswers to Correspondents.

[We cannot return unaccepted MSS. or Sketches, unless they are accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope; but we do not hold ourselves responsible for loss.]

SAM SAWYER.-We only deal with top-sawyers.

L. E. (Brixton), puts to us a riddle:-"When does a negro change colour ? We think he would blush to be guilty of such an atrocious joke as L. E.'s answer.

A. MACINTYRE.-We hardly think the cause of the working-man is so creditably represented by the glass-blower-or the man who dealt a blow at the glass. We are too temperate to wish to share your spirit. JOE KING.-No relation evidently to JOCK ULARITY. in which their advertisers indulge. The advertiser in the Times may have X.-Newspapers can scarcely be held responsible for the errors of style been a student of the Daily Telegraph.

RAW.-Why say "addressed envelope shall be enclosed if required?" Read our rules and don't talk nonsense, for we can make no exception in favour of RAW ignorance.

MILKY WHITE.-Thanks for the suggestion.

Declined with thanks:-W. T., Kingsland-road; W. H. R., Old-street; B. B.; Pam; An Occasional Reader; H.; Bolt, Barnsbury; N.; J. B. C., Liverpool; R. W., Stoke Newington; Cambuslang; A. W. J.; Chrysostome; T. J. K., Plymouth; E. C., Liverpool; Frances; J. W., Liverpool; A. L. H., Mincing-lane; R. L., Old Kent-road; R. D. R. B.; A. C. Pitcairlie; Dip McGoalich; J. T., Walbrook; "Oh!!!"; A. F. W., Bristol; Joseph, sen.; W. H., St. Giles's.