pro THE EDITO/L OF THE " SPECTATOR." I lovers of
good light verse owe a debt of gratitude to Miss Gaiwey for allowing them to read so vigorous and admirable a specimen of the art as " Chillianwallah," in the Spectator of May 21st. It seems almost incredible that the author of these rattling lines should not be known by name, for the hand seems to be the hand of a master. He who wrota " Chillianwallah " must have written other pieces, if only to have gained the practised deftness shown in " Chillian- wallah." Yet Miss Galwey merely says he was "a young officer, afterwards, I think, killed in the Mutiny,"—that and nothing more. If I had been asked to name the author, I should unhesitatingly have guessed a certain Major Gahagan, known in real life as W. M. Thackeray.—I am, Sir, &c.,
R. C. L.
[The point of style raised by ".R. C. L." is most interesting. We agree with him as to the accomplishment as well as the verve of the verses, and also that the style is most sug- gestive of Thackeray. We are inclined, however, to reject the Thackeray theory of authorship, on the ground that the line, "But the —th Bengals disliked the balls," exhibits more local colour than Thackeray, writing in England, would have been likely to show, though Thackeray, of course, was always in touch with India through his Anglo-Indian relatives.—ED. Spectator.]
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