Carpets of Persia fashioned on Orient looms—
Webs which the craftsman's hand with a patient cunning
Wrought through the perfect marriage of warp and woof—
Such as were laid, I imagine, in Bahram's rooms
Where (since their removal) the lion and lizard lie sunning,
And the ass, according to Omar, stamps his hoof—
Are selling off cheap, it is stated, for money down:
Oh, have you a remnant of Persia for half-a-crown?
Carpets of Persia! (None of your home-made stuffs!)
After long years on the loom and infinite labour,
Piled in bales on piratical Arab dhows
At Bunder Abbas, and brought by a crew of roughs
(Each looking more of a cut-throat rip than his neighbour)
Down Ormuz Strait through a series of storms and rows—
Surely they ought to be bargains in London Town?
Oh, have you a remnant of Persia for half-a-crown?
Carpets of Persia! Though not, perhaps, one of the best,
Like those which adorn the Victoria and Albert Museum,
Yet, since you assert that you're selling authentic antiques,
I'd like to have one which the foot of a Caliph has pressed,
Or one where the wives of a Wazir (I fancy I see 'em)
Were wont to recline, curled up in their shimmering breeks,
Or one whereon foreheads were rubbed before mighty Haroun—
Oh, have you a remnant of Persia for half-a-crown?
A POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE.
Sir,—It has been brought to my notice that at a meeting you addressed recently in your constituency you referred to me, and in the course of your remarks you said that I had employed in the House of Commons the "blustering artifice of the rhetorical hireling." May I ask you for your authority for this statement? I can only hope that your reply will avoid any ambiguity, and for your further enlightenment I may inform you that I am annoyed.
I am sure I am acting as you would wish me to do in sending a copy of this letter to the Press.
Yours faithfully,
N. Y. Z Thomson-Thomson.
A. B. C. Wentworth-Coke, Esq.