THE HEROIC PIT-BOYS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
SIE,—Your correspondent, "A. C.," has honoured me highly- by the style in which he has rendered my Greek lines. My motive for writing, however, is to disclaim the credit of the idea which does not belong to me, but to a friend who, as "S. B.," has written a series of short poems on the same- theme. Receiving from him anonymously a post-card with the following lines-
" Where the Soul-boat glides O'er the nine dull tides With Death's daily countless mass, Three hundred men
From the Grecian glen,
All clad in shining brass,'
Were standing by,
With Spartan eye,
To see Three Laddies pass—"
I attributed them to another friend, who is a classical scholar. Upon the spar I cast the thing into the form of an epigram, and sent it to him by return of post. On discovering my mistake, I sent the lines to the Classical Review, partly with the hope of finding the original author.
(By-the-bye, svisvoxpvi [sic] was a misprint for zuoirOopui, not xisapixpoi; " dark-browed," not "dark-coloured." And On' should be am, Sir, &c.,
Sirnan, St. Andrews, December 15th. LEWIS CAMPBELL.
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