In February, eighteen sixty-nine,
Alexandrina Victoria, Fidei.
Hm—hm—how runs the jargon? being on the throne.
Such, sir, are all facts, succinctly put,
The basis or substratum—what you will—
Of the impending eighty thousand lines.
“Not much in ’em either,” quoth perhaps simple Hodge.
But there’s a superstructure. Wait a bit.
* * * * *
From Fly Leaves, by C. S. Calverley. London. George Bell & Sons.