3\ir. Bromley-Davenport 



opium ? Of hashish ? They cannot supply such a volup- 

 tuous entrancement as a run like this.' 



A run like this is almost the same run, with names of 

 places left out, that he describes in * The Dream of the 

 Old Meltonian.' It is not too much to say that this is the 

 best imaginary run which the Fox-hunting verse of the last 

 century has given to us. Had it been set to music and to 

 an air that would have tickled the ear, it might well have 

 been the most popular hunting-song of the day. Read it 

 aloud, and you will find that the lilt of the metre is like the 

 gallop of a horse. A sporting recitation at a convivial 

 gathering is apt to be dangerous, and conjures up in the 

 memory such masterpieces as * Kissing Cup's Race.' But 

 we have heard Mr. Bromley-Davenport's stanzas roll trip- 

 pingly off the tongue and hold spell-bound the attention of 

 such a critical audience as a Bullingdon dinner-party, who 

 would surely have pelted with bread, or whatever came 

 handy, any one who tried to charm them with * Kissing 

 Cup's Race.' 



* Lowesby Hall ' was pronounced by Major Whyte 

 Melville to be the best parody in the English language. 

 If parodies are to be allowed at all, this must surely be one 

 of them. It is free from offence, and does not detract 

 from the dignity of the original. It is not mere parody 

 for the sake of parody ; rather does Mr. Bromley-Daven- 

 port make use of Lord Tennyson's vehicle for the sake of 

 telling his own story and uttering his own prophecy, and 

 in the doing of it occasionally yields to the temptation to 



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