6 JANUARY 1917, Page 22

PEACE?

[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.")

Sus,—Has anybody remembered to quote these two verses out of Mrs. Browning's poem "First News from Villafranca "1—

fa Peace, peace, is still your word?

We say you lie then !—that is plain.

There is no peace, and shall be none.

Our very Dead would cry Absurd I' And clamour that they died in vain, And whine to come back to the sun.

Peace, you say ?—yes, peace, in truth I But such a peace as the ear can achieve 'Twixt the rifle's click and the rush of the ball, Twill the tiger's spring and the crunch of the tooth, 'Twixt the dying atheist's negative And God's face—waiting, after all! "