[P. 304.] Lovers, and a Reflection. Calverley may have had in mind William Morris's 'Two Red Roses across the Moon,' which begins 'There was a lady lived in a hall,' but undoubtedly the source of his inspiration was Jean Ingelow's 'The Apple-Woman's Song,' from Mopsa the Fairy, the second line of which recurs: 'Feathers and moss, and a wisp of hay.' (From Fly-Leaves.)
[P. 306.] Ballad. Another burlesque of the same poet. Miss Ingelow attempted to retaliate in Fated to be Free, with feeble lines intended to pour scorn on 'Gifford Crayshaw'—i.e., Calverley. (From Fly-Leaves.)
[P. 309.] You are old, Father William. An example of a parody known to everybody, although the original is known to few. The poem imitated is Southey's 'The Old Man's Comforts, and how he gained them,' beginning:
You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
and ending:
In the days of my youth I remember'd my God!
And He hath not forgotten my age.
[P. 314.] The Three Voices. Tennyson's The Two Voices:
A still small voice spake unto me.
[P. 322.] Beautiful Soup. The authorship of 'Beautiful Snow,' which was immensely popular in this country as well as in its native America, cannot be verified. It has been attributed to an unhappy woman, to Major W. A. Sigourney, who was said to have written the verses in 1852, and who died in 1871, and to a James W. Watson.