13486.67.02

of the original donors may have become acquainted with the particulars to which we call attention, and before any such sale is permitted to take place we think that each individual of these, or their representatives, should be communicated with, and their views taken. Such views, we believe, would be rather on the side of liberality than otherwise; but it appears to us that justice requires that any donor should be permitted to reclaim his gifts should he so desire (the purpose for which they were bestowed having so signally failed), before any attempt is made to disperse them by means of a public auction. Such a step would, we conceive, be most impolitic, to say the least, and we trust that the "vendors" will pause before they adopt a course so manifestly inconsistent with the original intentions of those to whom they have been indebted. We trust this matter will not be allowed to pass unchallenged, or unexplained.

En Memoriam.

TOM TAYLOR.

BORN 1817. DIED 1880.

AND has he passed to that still shadow-land,

And joined the dear old friends of vanished days!
Felt their hushed welcome-as we go our ways,
Mourning that we no more shall touch his hand!

Tom Taylor gone! It was but yesterday,
Erect he moved among us in the strife,
Treading, with sturdy step, the path of life,

An honest traveller on an honest way!

For, from his steadfast toil the lesson came,
That rank and honour wait on each recruit ;
That flower of work will blossom into fruit,
And simple labour lead to solid fame.

And this he taught us with the wit, the grace,
The kindly wisdom born of chastened years,
The kindlier word, that, now recalled, with tears
Will moisten eyes that note his empty place!

For, though the last the world's vain din to heed-
To note its clamour as it passed him by ;
He was the first to hearken to the cry
Of fainting brother brought to sorest need.

So thus, while Art he served, and taught the Stage
With labour cultured, scholarly, and chaste,
To clearer heights to beacon public taste,-
Of things still nobler he gave nobler gage.

MARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FROM THE LIBRARY OF
GEORGE RICHARD BLINK

SEP 10 1926

N"A Midsummer-Night's Dream" Shakespeare has, with an irresistible charm, interwoven into the most delightful fantasy, the height of poetry, dignity, and nobleness, and the broadest farce. What could be more enchanting than the simple and poetical characters of Titania and Oberon, assisted by their fairies, and the merry gambols of Robin Goodfellow, or, as he is called, Puck? Theseus, throughout the play, but more particularly in his speech to Hippolyta about the representation by the workmen of " Pyramus and Thisbe," shows himself to be a true and noble gentleman. Then, in the conceited humour and bombastry of "sweet bullyBottom," we have the depth of low comedy. Yet these elements are so worked together, with such a perfection of art, that the whole play is as entirely harmonious, as every character in it is subordinate to the will of the poet.

PUCK.

Although the action of the comedy takes place at Athens, the play is,