21 MAY 1892, Page 15

POETRY.

ON COLERIDGE'S " CHRIST.A.BEL."

INHOSPITABLY hast thou entertained, 0 Poet, us the bidden to thy board, Whom in mid-feast, and while our thousand mouths Are one laudation of the festal cheer, Thou from thy table dost dismiss, unfilled.

Yet loudlier thee than many a lavish host We praise, and oftener thy repast half-served Than many a stintksa banquet, prodigally Through satiate hours prolonged ; nor praise less well Because with tongues thou haat not cloyed, and lips That mourn the parsimony of affluent souls, And mix the lamentation with the laud.

WILLIAM WATSON.