"IONICA" I am going now to talk about a very rare kind of poetry in a very rare little book, like fine wine in a small and precious flask.

The author never put his name to the book--indeed for many years it was not known who wrote the volume.

We now know that the author was a school teacher called William Johnson who, later in life, coming into a small fortune, changed his name to William Cory.

He was born sometime about 1823, and died in 1892.

He was, I believe, an Oxford man and was assistant master of Eton College for a number of years.