For two pugilists, shaking hands before the knock-out fight begins:--
"Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech Each on each."
"It is interesting to learn that the swans on the lower lake have built a nest and that one of the pairs on the upper lake have followed suit, so that there is some possibility of signets on the lakes presently."
We shall be glad to see these freshwater seals.
(_How the prospect strikes an Englishman._)
["In ancient times ... the Devlins were the hereditary horseboys of the O'Neills. (Loud laughter.)"--_From the "Times'" report of Mr. TIMOTHY HEALY'S speech in the House._]
I love to fancy, howsoe'er remote The fiery dawn of that millennial future, That some fine day the rent in Ireland's coat Will be adjusted with a saving suture, And one fair rule suffice For lamb and lion, babe and cockatrice.
In her potential Kings I clearly trace Ground for this hope; no bickering there, no jostling; If HEALY cares to hint that DEVLIN'S race Subsisted by hereditary ostling, That's just the family fun Brothers can well afford whose hearts are one.
No less the picture of O'BRIEN'S fist Clenched playfully beneath a colleague's nose-piece Lets me foresee--a sanguine optimist-- That Union which shall bring to ancient foes peace, When all who lap the Boyne Beg on their knees to be allowed to join.
Still (to be frank) 'tis not alone the dream Of leagued Hibernians kissing lips with Ulster That warms my heart; there is another scheme That with a livelier motion makes my pulse stir; And this can never be Till we have posted REDMOND oversea.
But, when he's planted on his local throne, The Federal Plan should find him far less sniffy; We shall have Parliaments to call our own Modelled from that high sample on the Liffey, And crown the patient years With joy of "England for the English" (_Cheers_).
Meanwhile, amid the present rude hotch-potch, We natives must forgo this satisfaction, For still the cry is "England for the Scotch" (Or else some other tribe of Celt extraction); That's why I shan't be happy Till Erin's tedious Isle is off the tapis.
I was rather glad to spend my eighteenth birthday in Germany, because I knew my people would make a special effort in the matter of presents. They did, and I turned the other girls at the _pension_ green with envy when I wore them. The only thing that spoilt my day was that there was nothing at all from Cecil, which was rather a blow.