We have also heard effective arrangements, presumably by other composers, of the adventures of the Table and the Chair, and of the cruise of the Owl and the Pussy-cat,--the latter introduced into the "drawing-room entertainment" of one of the followers of John Parry.

Indeed, in these days of adaptations, it is to be wondered at that no enterprising librettist has attempted to build a children's comic opera out of the materials supplied in the four books with which we are now concerned.

The first of these, originally published in 1846, and brought out in an enlarged form in 1863, is exclusively devoted to nonsense-verses of one type.

Mr.Lear is careful to disclaim the credit of having created this type, for he tells us in the preface to his third book that "the lines beginning, 'There was an old man of Tobago,' were suggested to me by a valued friend, as a form of verse leading itself to limitless variety for Rhymes and Pictures." Dismissing the further question of the authorship of "There was an old man of Tobago," we propose to give a few specimens of Mr.Lear's Protean powers as exhibited in the variation of this simple type.

Here, to begin with, is a favorite verse, which we are very glad to have an opportunity of giving, as it is often incorrectly quoted, "cocks" being substituted for "owls" in the third line: "There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!'" With the kindly fatalism which is the distinctive note of the foregoing stanza, the sentiment of our next extract is in vivid contrast:-- "There was an Old Man in a tree, Who was terribly bored by a bee; When they said, 'Does it buzz ?' he replied, 'Yes, it does! It's a regular brute of a Bee.'" To the foregoing verse an historic interest attaches, if, that is, we are right in supposing it to have inspired Mr.Gilbert with his famous "Nonsense-Rhyme in Blank Verse." We quote from memory:-- "There was an Old Man of St.Bees, Who was stung in the arm by a wasp.
When they asked, 'Does it hurt ?' he replied, 'No, it doesn't, But I thought all the while 'twas a Hornet!'" Passing over the lines referring to the "Young Person" of Crete to whom the epithet "ombliferous" is applied, we may be pardoned--on the ground of the geographical proximity of the two countries named--for quoting together two stanzas which in reality are separated by a good many pages:-- "There was a Young Lady of Norway, Who casually sat in a doorway; When the doors queezed her flat, she exclaimed, 'What of that ?' This courageous young person of Norway." "There was a Young Lady of Sweden, Who went by the slow train to Weedon; When they cried, 'Weedon Station!' she made no observation, But thought she should go back to Sweden." A noticeable feature about this first book, and one which we think is peculiar to it, is the harsh treatment which the eccentricities of the inhabitants of certain towns appear to have met with at the hands of their fellow-residents.