_Burlesque._ Because I fling your follies in your face, And call back all the false starts of your race, Show up your shows, affect your affectation, And by such homoeopathic aggravation, Would cleanse your bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon our art--bombast and puff. _Mr. Wigan._ Have you so good a purpose, then, in hand? _Burlesque._ Else wherefore breathe I in dramatic land? _Mrs. Wigan._ I thought your aim was but to make us laugh. _Burlesque._ Those who think so but understand me half. Did not my thrice-renownèd Thomas Thumb, That mighty mite, make mouthing Fustian dumb? Is Tilburina's madness void of matter? Did great Bombastes strike no nonsense flatter? When in his words he's not one to the wise, When his fool's bolt _spares_ folly as it flies, When in his chaff there's not a grain to seize on, When in his rhyme there's not a grain of reason, His slang but slang, no point beyond the pun, Burlesque may walk, for he will cease to run. FINIS. Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. GREAT SUCCESS. THE BOOK OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON. THIRD EDITION (WITHIN A FORTNIGHT OF PUBLICATION). =THE BACHELORS' CLUB.= By I. ZANGWILL, Crown 8vo. 348 pp. 3s. 6d. With ILLUSTRATIONS by GEORGE HUTCHINSON. BRIEF EXTRACTS FROM FIRST PRESS NOTICES. ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE: "Some exceedingly clever fooling, and a happy audacity of whimsical invention." DAILY GRAPHIC: "A genuine humourist. We own to having laughed heartily, and appreciated the cleverness and the cynicism." STAR: "Mr. Zangwill has an original way of being funny. He is full of clever and witty, paradoxical and epigrammatical, surprises. His book is a splendid tonic for gloomy spirits." EVENING NEWS: "Not one in a score of the amusing books which come from the press is nearly so amusing as this." SUNDAY TIMES: "Read, laugh over, and profit by the history of 'The Bachelors' Club,' capitally told by a fresh young writer." GLOBE: "A clever and interesting book. Agreeable satire. Store of epigram." REFEREE: "A new comic writer. There is a touch of the devilry of Heme in Mr. Zangwill's wit." SCOTSMAN: "Any one who has listened to what the wild waves say as they beat the snores of Bohemia will read the book with enjoyment and appreciate its careless merriment." FREEMAN'S JOURNAL: "Very clever and amusing; highly interesting, humorous and instructive." PICTORIAL WORLD: "One of the smartest books of the season. Brimful of funny ideas, comically expressed." MAN OF THE WORLD: "Witty to excess. To gentlemen who dine out, the book will furnish a stock of 'good things' upon every conceivable subject of conversation." GRANTA: "A book of genuine humour. Full of amusing things. The style is fresh and original." NEWCASTLE DAILY CHRONICLE: "Really clever and amusing; brimful of genuine humour and fun."