By bluebell-brightened bramble-brake; bestow
Bespeckled broods; but bold bad boys beware!
Babble, blithe brooklet! Barren borders breach,
Bathe broomy banks, bright buttercups bedew,
Briskly by bridge, by beetling bluff, by beach,
Beckoned by bravely bounding billows blue !"
-Sir Patrick Fells.

"Brimming brooklets bubble,
Buoyant breezes blow,

Baby-billows breaking

Bashfully below.

Blossom-burdened branches,
Briared banks betide,
Bright bewitching bluebells
Blooming bend beside.

But beyond be breakers,

Bare blasts brooding black,
Bitterly bemoaning

Broken barks borne back."

"Beverage by bibbers blest,

-A. M. Morgan.

Balmy beer bewitching bane,
British brewings, boasted best,
Blunting Bacchus' brandied brain.
Bonny bumpers brimmed by beads,
Barley-born, bring blind relief,
Bubbling Bass-brewed Burton breed

Bland beguilement, bright but brief.

Bar-bought beer-bah ! bitter brine

Barrel-broaching braves, beware!
Bid Bavaria, benign,

Better brews bold Britons bear." 1

-W. H. Evans.

Mr. Swinburne, of whose style there has been given an imitation, is not the only poet who is prone to alliteration-in fact, all poets are given more or less to it, though not to the same extent. When used excessively it is as disagreeable as any other excess, yet its occasional use unquestionably adds to grace and style.

Pope says on this point in the following lines, which are also alliterative

"'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.

Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar."

We find this example in Tennyson:

"The splendour falls on castle walls,
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying;
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying."

Crabbe also used this ornament profusely, as:

"Then 'cross the bounding brook they make their way
O'er its rough bridge, and there behold the bay;
The ocean smiling to the fervid sun,

The waves that faintly fall and slowly run,
The ships at distance, and the boats at hand,
And now they walk upon the seaside sand,
Counting the number, and what kind they be,
Ships softly sinking in the sleepy sea."

Take also this from Shelley's "Ode to a Skylark: "

"Teach me half the gladness

That my brain must know,
Such harmonious madness

From my lips would flow,

The world should listen then, as I am listening now.

Waking or asleep,

Thou of death must deem

Things more true and deep

Than we mortals dream,

Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?"

In the numbers of "Truth" for November 1881, there appeared a variety of excellent examples of alphabetic verses in the course of a competition, and of these there follows one:

A YACHT ALPHABET.

"A was the Anchor which held fast our ship;
B was the Boatswain, with whistle to lip;
C was the Captain, who took the command;
D was the Doctor, with physic at hand;
E was the Euchre we played on the quiet;
F was the Fellow who kicked up a riot;
G was the Girl who was always so ill;

H was the Hammock from which I'd a spill;
I was the Iceberg we passed on our way;
J was the Jersey I wore all the day;

K was the Keel, which was stuck on the shore;

L was the Lubber we all thought a bore ;
M was the Mate, no one better I'd wish;
N was the Net in which I caught a fish ;
O was the Oar which I broke 'twas so weak;
P was the Pennon which flew at our peak;
Q was the Quoit which was made out of rope ;
R was the Rat which would eat all our soap;
S was the Sailor who got very tight;
T was the Tempest which came on one night;
U was the Uproar the night of the storm;
V was the Vessel we spoke in due form ;
W's the Watch which the crew kept in turn ;
X was Xantippe, whom each one did spurn;
Y was our Yacht, which flew through the foam;
Z was the Zany who wouldn't leave home."

NONSENSE VERSE.

HE following lines have been kindly sent us by Professor E. H. Palmer, who wrote them after a cruise on a friend's yacht, and are an abortive attempt to get up a knowledge of nautical terms.

THE SHIPWRECK.

"Upon the poop the captain stands,
As starboard as may be;

And pipes on deck the topsail hands
To reef the top-sail-gallant strands
Across the briny sea.

'Ho! splice the anchor under-weigh!
The captain loudly cried;
'Ho! lubbers brave, belay! belay!
For we must luff for Falmouth Bay
Before to-morrow's tide.'

The good ship was a racing yawl,

A spare-rigged schooner sloop,
Athwart the bows the taffrails all
In grummets gay appeared to fall,
To deck the mainsail poop.