_Truth_, January 8, 1880. ――――:o:―――― THE BELLS.[8] Hear a voice announcing IRVING in _The Bells_――sledge’s bells! What a scene of wild excitement the advertisement foretells! See the rush upon the pay-hole―― People stand a night and day whole To secure a little corner for _The Bells_! To look ghastly pale and shudder, every man and every “brudder” Feels that nothing can be equal to _The Bells_! _Bells! Bells! Bells! Bells!_ Too horrified to cheer, Folk will testify by fear How appalled they are by IRVING in _The Bells_; While great beads of perspiration will appear, For in conscience-stricken terrors he excels! Gloomy _Bells_! Pit and gallery will glory in the weird and frightful story, Which may even thrill the bosom of the swells, For every Yankee “dude” Unquestionably should Have nightmare after witnessing _The Bells_! Will our cousins all go frantic from Pacific to Atlantic, or condemn as childish antic IRVING’S dancing, and his gasping, and his yells! There’s a certain admiration which the strange impersonation Still compels, E’en from those who can’t see beauty in _The Bells_―― In the play that Mr. LEWIS calls _The Bells_! Wondrous _Bells_! You first made HENRY famous, so the stage historian tells, Will the scene be now repeated which in London always greeted His performance of Mathias in _The Bells_? Or will every sneering Yankee, In his nasal tones, say “Thankee, I guess this is just another of your mighty British ‘sells?’” Let the thought for ever perish, that the actor whom we cherish Could fail to lick creation in _The Bells_! But if there are detractors Of this foremost of our actors, Of the gentlemanly IRVING――friend of TOOLE’S―― “They are neither man nor woman, they are neither brute nor human,” They are fools! _Judy_, October 24, 1883. ――――:o:―――― The following verses, in imitation of POE, are quoted from a little work entitled “Original Readings and Recitations,” by W. A. Eaton, published by H. Vickers, Strand. Mr. Eaton is a well-known Temperance Advocate, and the author of many pathetic poems admirably adapted for public Recitations:―― THE VOICE OF THE BELLS.