5 APRIL 1913, Page 18

THE PRIZE POEM STYLE.

r To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 Sru,—On reading some of the "absurd lines" which have been lately quoted anent Nebuchadnezzar in connexion with Arnold's " Belshazzar's Feast," I am reminded of a skit sent in (not, we may presume, for competition !) some time about 1840, or perhaps earlier, when the subject set for the Newdigate at Oxford was "The Sandwich Isles:" The successful candi- date being Lucas—I think, of Balliol. The lines, as far as I remember, ran thus :— "They gave him slices of dried ham and tongue

And bread that on the trees spontaneous hung. Pleas'd with his fare, the gallant Captain' smiles, And rightly christens them 'The Sandwich Isles."