Second Prize.
Actor, whose art, with horror clothed, hath torn
From rank Parisian life this leaf, and flung
This portraiture of loathsome curse among
Women and men in calmer Britain born,
Not guiltless of excess, yet not quite lorn
Of decent instincts,—what shall calm us, say,
When ghastly sights like these brood o’er our way?
Shall Corneville’s hackneyed chimes, or jokes well worn
From Pinafore? Not so! Each reasoning soul