MR. CONGREVE ON TURKEY. rro TEE EDITOR OF THE "EIPROTATOR.1
SIR,—Will you allow me to mention that the author of the four lines, "There was an ape," &c., quoted by Mr. F. W. Haalam, in
his letter which appeared in your last number, is not, "in all I seriousness, Mr. Congreve," but the late Mortimer Coffins. They appeared originally in a very clever paraphrase or adaptation of the "Birds" of Aristophanes, called "The British Birds,"—a satire upon the Positivism and Materialism of the day. The first stanza of the chorus, in which the lines quoted by Mr. Haslam, with two slight verbal errors, occur is as follows :—
"Life and the Universe show spontaneity : Down with ridiculous notions of Deity ! Churches and creeds are all lost in the mists : Truth must be sought with the Positivists."
1 South Street, Thurlow Square, S. W., October 31.
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