Poetry

Eheu Fugate

[The Bishops propose'to omit St. Nicolas and St. N.asi,eonrteir:i from the Calendar and to insert a number of strictly I ;

personages.]

LEAVE to the isle distracted

The conqueror of snakes And take away King Alfred !

He only burns the cakes.

Grant us your strong protection, Saint Anskar and Saint Hild--.

But shall this new connexion Supplant our old affection, Old loyalties be still'd ?

0 Sancta Nicolae Whom nursery lips adore, Come down that Lambeth chimney And, while their Lordships snore, Tip-toe, lest they should hear 'ee, Their shovel hats destroy, Remove their gaiters dreary, Give caps and crackers cheery, And stockings-full of joy.

O saint of one-and-twenty, Saint Valentine to name ; The catkins bloom aplenty, The woods are all aflame.

At dawn the blackbird's wooing ; At eve the. rooks return ; Young blood is up and doing ; O saint of lovers' suing !

To thee our candles burn.

Sancti sanctaeque cuncti, Who love the young and free, Non sumus nos defuncti !

A nest's in every tree.

Good-bye to sermons prosy, To dogmas dull and dry !

Youth's good, and cheeks are rosy On every bank's a posy, And every corner's cosy, Saint Dryasdust, good-bye Ut olint crusta blandi Debar Horatius, Est tempts concordandi : Quid innocentius?

Non se»tper strictos mores Est observare fas : 0 revcrendiores Doetores, confessores, Nos Paulo juniores Sit nobis lenitas. S. V. F