THE ROYAL ROAD TO LEARNING
But to us the most interesting comment on the visit is Punch's twice-repeated suggestion that the Prince might do a great deal worse than bring back an American bride. He made it on the Prince's departure in July in an Ode, with the apology, "If the Laureate won't do his work, Punch must," in which he says:
Transcendent charms drive even monarchs frantic,
A German Princess must he marry?
And who can say he may not carry
One of Columbia's fascinating daughters
O'er the Atlantic?
And he returns more seriously to the charge three months later:—
COUSINS FOR KINGS AND QUEENS
A Law which Nature contravenes,