Wert thou a fallen State?
You—you—who had the ordering of her Fleet,
If you have only compassed her disgrace,
When all men starve, the wild mob’s million feet
Will kick you from your place—
But then—too late, too late.
Tennyson.
The above lines appeared in large type, and a prominent position, in the Times of Thursday, April 23rd, 1885. Many persons thought a hoax had been played on the Times, refusing to believe that such a dismal appeal ad captandum vulgus could have been penned by the Poet Laureate. Although it is true that all his recent productions have given signs of failing powers, both intellectual and poetical, nothing yet has been published so damaging as this to the reputation of the author of “The Idylls of the King.” It is, indeed, greatly to be regretted that he has no sincere and discriminating friend who could kindly, but firmly, dissuade him from the publication of such lines, which pain his friends, and give rise to endless satires at his expense. Journals representing all parties and every shade of opinion, at once set to work to ridicule The Fleet, and numerous parodies of it have already appeared, from which the following are selected:—
The Bard.
(On his reported imbecility.)
You—you—if you have failed to understand—