A DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN.
"DREAMING, methought I heard the Laureate's song
Of fairest women linked with deeds of shame,
Whose burning loves of insult and of wrong
Were anguish-paths to fame.
"And for a while their sad looks haunt my dream;
Then the night-visions slowly fade away,
And fairer faces in the warm light gleam—
The beauties of to-day.
* * * * *
"And around one, supreme in perfect grace,
Princes bow down, and nobles gather nigh;
And crowds afar off gaze upon her face,
Contented there to sigh.
* * * * *
"Then o'er my dream a daintier figure came,
Whose voice was music, and her gesture grace
The fire of genius frets her tender frame,
And lights her girlish face.
"In foreign tones she murmurs, 'O, the bliss
Of art that triumphs on a perfect stage;
The thunders of applause, and e'en the hiss
That tells of Envy's rage!'"
A parody on the same original, entitled A Dream of Great Players (in reference to Lawn Tennis) appeared, on the 13th February, 1884, in Pastime, an ably conducted journal, devoted to out-door games and recreations. Unlike most of the sporting papers, Pastime has a distinctly literary tone, and publishes, from time to time, clever parodies of our modern poets. Two have appeared on Tennyson's blank verse, the first (June 29, 1883), entitled A Fragment of the Lost Tennisiad; the second, which was much longer, appeared in the number for July 27, 1883, and commenced thus:—