23 FEBRUARY 1918, Page 11

THE CULT OF THE "LIMERICK."

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.'!] SIR,—Many Anglo-Indian readers of the article on "Limericks"

in the February Cornhill will have been disappointed to find no mention of T. F. Bignold's Leviora, a book of light verses which

has been oddly neglected by anthologists of such flu gee. May I

quote a couple of his Limericks ?— " There was a young lady in Cutch.

Whose master was teaching her Dutch Said he, Pretty maiden, I'll take you to Leyden.'

Said she, 'I was hoping as much! "

And here is another, which reminds us that this Anglo-Indian

Caian was a Judge in India :—

"There was a young lady in Shihuri

Who cut her aunt* throat in a fury; She was duly committed, But promptly acquitted On blowing a kiss to the jury."

Bignold died, I think, in 1887.

Here, finally, is a modern attempt, which may be worth printing, If only as an attempt to mitigate the sorrows and anxieties of war time:— " Three cheers from the men of all ranks, As their thanks for the banks in the Tanks, How magnificent sounds Their collection in pounds, How miraculous, counted in francs! "