Queer, crude, absurd, erratic.

I turned, and murmured, as I passed away,

"Such limbos of mimetic immaturity

Have no abiding hold e'en on to-day,

Of fame no calm security."

For over all there hung a glamour queer,

A sense of something odd the spirit daunted,

And said, like a witch-whisper in the ear,

"This place is haunted!"

Punch, May 18, 1878.