"Spectator" Competitions

RULES AND CONDITIONS.

Entries must be typed or very clearly written on one side of the paper only. The name and address, or pseudonym, of the com- petitor must be on each entry and not on a separate sheet.

When a word limit is set words must be counted and the number given.

No entries can be returned.

Prizes may be divided at. the discretion of the judge, or withheld if no entry reaches the required standard.

The judge reserves the right to print or quote from any entry.

The judge's decision is final, and no correspondence can be entered into on the subject of the award.

Entries must be addressed to :—The Editor, the Spectator, 99 Gower Street, London, W.C. 1, and be marked on the envelope Competition No. (—).

The result of Competition No. 5 will appear in our next issue.

Competition No. 6 (Set by " SCADAVAY.") In his choice of title the modern biographer has developed a habit of compromising between the flamboyant and the allusive-: witness such recent publications as Ariel, The Savage Messiah, The Incredible Marquis and The Mysterious Madame. A prize of three guineas is offered for the best titles of this sort for popular bio-- graphies of four of the following individuals : Mr. Philip Snowden, Mrs. Meyrick, Primo Camera, Mr. Somerset Maugham, Miss Nellie Wallace.

Entries must be received not later than Monday, May 25th. The result of this competition will appear in our issue of June 6th.

Competition No. 7 (Set by "Duum.") A PRIZE of £3 3s. is offered for a Thumb-nail Short Story (true or otherwise) beginning " On Whit Monday . . . ." The length, including a title, must not exceed 350 words.

Entries must be received not later than Monday, June 1st, 1931. The result of this competition will be announlod in our issue of June 13th.

Report of Competition No. 4

(REPORT AND AWARD BY " SCADAVAY.")

A PRIZE of three guineas was offered for the best poem in three eight-line verses on the Budget in the spirit and metre of Peacock's War-Song of Dinas Vaarr.

The relatively small entry for this competition would seem to indicate in the readers of the Spectator either a sympathy far Mr. Snowden or an ignorance of Peacock which I find equally surprising, if not equally deplorable. Tolerance of those who govern him is looked on, in an Englishman, as a rather unhealthy trait ; but it may be no more than their due. Peacock and his poem, on the other hand, merit neither oblivion nor neglect. The War Song of Dinas Vawr is one of the very few poems by an acknowledged master of English literature which a small boy—and for all I know a small girl—can repeat from memory (if compelled to do so) without embarrassment and even with enjoyment. The metre, so impetuously tripping, as it were sophisticates the blood and thunder narrative, lending a rather callous gaiety to black and violent deeds. A parody of it—it cries out to be parodied —might very well be attributed to the Chancellor of popular imagination.

Unfortunately, the standard of the entries was not very high. Mr. Snowden was perhaps treated no harder than he deserved (I am no judge in these matters), but there was certainly a lot of injustice done to Peacock. Whatever the faults of the original poem, it does at least go ahead briskly, without wasting time ; every couplet throws fresh light on

the history of the raid. Competitors like Banna," with his

" If I am asked to judge it,

As a plain and simple voter, A was a kiUdly_Budget

(I do not own a motor),"

marked time for too long while their rhymes came up into line ; and too many entries were marred by clumsy and involved expression and a metrical unorthodoxy which were very far from suggesting Peacock's engaging facility.

" Glenarne " was quite good, and finished strongly. Cedric Wallas wrote with fluency and polish.: witness :

" The Chancellor is soleinn, As befits the promulgator Of to-morrow's leading column

In the Times and the Spectator," but the tone of his verses lacked the hearty diablerie of the original.

The prize is divided. Two guineas go to Mr. A. Raybould for a poem which is admirably loyal• to Peacock. One guinea goes to " Seacape " : at least it will go if he sends his name and address. As a comment on the Budget his entry is better, because more specific, than Mr. Raybould's ; but his prosody sounds a colloquial note which is out of place. Dinas Vawr belonged to the urbane school of Wicked Uncles.

THE FIRST PRIZE POEM

Unnerved by slothful leisure, And rent by sect and faction, A people steeped in pleasure Are ripe for men of action. I named a monstrous figure To save their boasted freedom; The law in all its rigour My weapon was to bleed 'em.

My long-prepared offensive Was ruthless beyond measure ; By ravages extensive I seized their ill-got treasure ; To farmers and to traders I showed no spark of pity ; The fierceness of my raiders Spread terror in the City.

Their parks and grouse and castles Filched from the honest peasants,

Their retinues of vassals

Laid at my feet as presents. - The millions thus collected By methods bureaucratic, I'll spend on doles and pigeon-holes With justice democratic. A. RAYBOTILD.

Normanby, Eston,- Yorks. •

. . - THE SECOND - PRIZE POEM The Government needs money,

And those-who have it grudge it ; We therefore find it. funny

To introduce a Budget And, true to our tradition,

Pay Paul by robbing Peter,

Paul having no position And Peter a two-seater.

Our income-earning victim We know is always surly ; We manage to afflict him By making him pay early.

For cultivator and lord - There is no rhyme or rhythm ;

They'll rue the role of landlord

Before we've finished with 'em.

We'll squeeze them and we'll grind them And bring them to the gutter ; In turn, we'll have to find them Their daily bread and butter ; For when their wrongs grow heavy The rest will have to right 'em.

Thus levy follows levy,

And so ad infinitum.

SEACAPE.