3 MARCH 1894, Page 15

JAMES SMITH'S GRAMMAR.

[To THE EDI MR OF THE SPECTATJR." I SIB,—In vindication of James Smith's grammar, it may be worth while to trouble you with a slightly different version of his lines on Andrew Strahan, in the notice of "A Wit of the Past" (quoted by you on p. 241 of the Spectator of February 17th). My copy is in the handwriting of my grandmother, the late Mrs. Dickinson, of Bramblebury, near Woolwich, a very old friend not only of Mr. Strahan's, but of the brothers, Horace and James Smith. It is as follows :- "February, 1831.

LA.FTER MAKING A VISIT TO ANDREW STRANAN, ESQ.1

Your lower limbs seem'd far from stout When late I saw you walk ; The cause I instantly found out Soon as I heard you talk.

The pow'r that props the Body's length In due proportion spread In you's concenter'd ; all the strength Has risen to the Head."

In the same MS. book, in which has been preserved this copy, is an epigram in James Smith's own handwriting :—

"EPIGRAM.

Should I seek Hymen's Tie As a Poet I die, (Ye Benedicks mourn my Distresses), For what little Fame Is annex'd to my name Is derived from Rejected Addresses.'

—JAMES SMITH, October 8th, 1835."

Another, by Horace Smith, is on Mr. Gully, the successful

candidate for Pontefract, who had formerly been a prize- fighter :—

" You ask me how Pontefract came so to sully Her name as to send to the Parliament, Gully—

The etymological cause I suppose is The breaking the Bridges of so many noses."