wives,

And shirking stings in their home-hives,

Take up "the Cause" with a sham zeal,

Which not five in five thousand feel.

But hear them over a Club-dinner

Chuckling about the "pretty sinner"

Who hankers for that finer Club,

The House o' Commons! There's the rub!

They do not want you there, my dears;

The prospect of your "franchise" queers

Wire-pullers' plans, and party reckoning—

Hope, in male guise, stands blandly beckoning.

He—Codlin—is the friend, not Short,

But, in his heart he's making sport.

Of course 'tis wickedest of shames,

But—recollect Sir HENRY JAMES,

Your open enemy avowed,

Did not the House o' Commons crowd

Of frauds and shams play up to him,

And shelve "the Female Franchise" whim

Only the other day? Sheer diddle!

Have you not nous to read the riddle?

How wondrous prompt was W.G.

To back up SMITH! With what sly glee

The "Woman's-Rightists" did subside.

And—sub silentio—let you slide!

Your Grand Old Man, dears,—well, he's human.

He doesn't want some Grand Old Woman

As colleague or as rival. WOODALL?

Well, he is gentle, genial, good all;

But there's a twinkle in his eye

Persuades me that he would not die

Did you consent to drop your "claim."

And now there comes another name

To raise for Shes the party slogan.

Well, trust, dears—if you like—to LOGAN;

He "will support you at all times!"

Keep your eye on him! SHAKSPEARE's rhymes

Tell you "Men were deceivers ever."

M.P.'s wise, foolish, crass, and clever,

Are—nominally—on your side,

And—privately—your cause deride.

Take the straight tip, my dears—I glean it

From private talk—they don't half mean it!

THE VOLUNTEERS' FOOTHOLD.—Shoeburyness.

James Russell Lowell.

BORN, FEB. 22, 1819. DIED, AUG. 12, 1891.

"We could not have been prouder of him had he been one of us."—Times.