The Universal Review, for December, 1888, contained a peculiar article by Mr. H. D. Traill, entitled “The Doom of the Muses,” in which he satirically describes the present position of the Fine Arts. Dealing with Poetry, he thus alludes to the present craze for the Ballade:—
This is the age of glorified jingle,
Honour is only to rhyming pranks;
Deftliest who their assonants mingle,
They shall walk first in Poesy’s ranks:
They shall recline upon Helicon’s banks,
Fountain of bards who have conquered Time;
(Others must do with inferior tanks)
This is the era of run-mad rhyme.
Cold though their verse as the sea-shore shingle,