And then of Kubla Khan;
The youth observed, “He is a most
Remarkable old man!
“I only wish that he would talk
To some one else,” said he
“I cannot stand him any more,
I will arise and flee!”
He was the first that ever burst
From the never silent C.!
Mr. William Jeffery Prowse was born at Torquay on May 6, 1836, and died of consumption at Nice, on Easter Sunday, 1870. He was a journalist by profession, being more particularly connected with The Daily Telegraph as a leader writer, and with Fun. He had a great fund of humour, and a singular faculty of imitation, witness his “Prize Essays,” and a series of papers he contributed to The Porcupine, in which he adopted the modes of thought and expression of eminent writers of the day, without descending to mere parody of subject or language. In this he rivalled the success achieved by the brothers Smith in Rejected Addresses. The “Nicholas Notes” in Fun were also from his pen. They cleverly burlesque the prophets of the sporting papers, whose ambiguous utterances can be always afterwards explained to be in perfect accordance with what has come to pass. Nicholas is addicted to the bottle, is always impecunious, and is always just about to bring out a history of Knurr and Spell.