“Ah, well-a-day! what evil looks, Had I from old and young! To the convict’s doom, to the living tomb, The pestilent man I flung! “And ever since a Shibboleth The world’s opinion rules; Fools and fanatics they who doubt―― Fanatics all and fools! “And still this tongue of mine is moved, With a woful tendency, To cry this cry and tell this tale Where’er I chance to be. “In public and in private life, In Needlemakers’ Hall, Whosever guest, with my unrest I still his ears appal; And tell the tale, and cry the cry, Which public ardour cools, Fools and fanatics they who doubt―― Fanatics all and fools!” _Funny Folks._ The _City Press_ lately reported (April 1888), that the Tichborne Claimant has returned to this country from America, travelling under the name of Sir Roger Tichborne, with Lady Tichborne. His ticket-of-leave is now out, and he boasts of a determination to re-open the Tichborne case. [Illustration] MATTHEW GREGORY LEWIS. BORN 1775.――DIED MAY 14, 1818. The first work of this author that attracted general attention was a somewhat licentious romance, published in 1795, entitled _Ambrosio, or the Monk_, from which circumstance he was afterwards generally styled “Monk Lewis.” He had a morbid taste for the horrible and supernatural in literature, and having achieved some fame by his _Monk_ and _Castle Spectre_ he continued to write ghost stories till, following as he did in the wake of Mrs. Radcliffe, he quite overstocked the market. Upon one occasion Lewis, speaking to Lady Holland about _The Rejected Addresses_, remarked “Many of them are very fair, but mine is not at all like; they have made me write burlesque, which I never do.” “You don’t know your own talent,” answered the lady. Lewis was very small in stature, he had large grey eyes, thick features, and an inexpressive countenance, he was, however, exceedingly vain, and very foppish in his dress. But he was a generous, kind hearted man, Sir Walter Scott spoke highly of him, and Byron wrote “I’d give a world of sugar cane, That Mat. Lewis were alive again.” He was for some time M.P. for Hindon, but he obtained no parliamentary distinction. The following, which is his best known poem, first appeared in his novel _The Monk_:―― ALONZO THE BRAVE, AND THE FAIR IMOGINE. A warrior so bold, and a virgin so bright, Convers’d as they sat on the green; They gaz’d on each other with tender delight; Alonzo the Brave was the name of the knight; The maid’s was the Fair Imogine. “And Oh!” said the youth, “since to morrow I go “To fight in a far distant land, “Your tears for my absence soon ceasing to flow, “Some other will court you, and you will bestow “On a wealthier suitor your hand.”