Which, Joe, is why I ses te you―― Æsthetic-like, and limp, and free―― Now _ain’t_ they utterly too-too, Them flymy little bits o’ Blue? W. E. HENLEY. ―――― IN WAIN! (_A Villanelle of Vexations. By B * * * y P * * g._) Addressed to all true Jingoes. In wain would I the British Lion wake! In wain I’d rouge the brute to wilent springing; His tail won’t wag, his mane declines to shake. In wain my daily ’larum-bell I take, Till his ears tingle with its brazen ringing In wain would I the British Lion wake! In wain I warn him of that Northern snake, Who midst our Injun grass will soon be stinging; His tail won’t wag, his mane declines to shake. * * * * * He sleeps as placid as a windless lake; Cold water on my fire his calm is flinging. His tail _won’t_ wag, his mane declines to shake; In wain would I the British Lion wake! _Punch._ August 11, 1877. ――――:o:―――― THE TRIOLET. (_In a Temper._) A Triolet’s scarcely the thing―― Unless you would carol in fetters! If lark-like you freely would sing, A Triolet’s scarcely the thing: I miss the poetical ring, I’m told that it has, by my betters! A Triolet’s scarcely the thing―― Unless you would carol in fetters! _Punch._ The _Triolet_, which should consist of eight lines, but only two rhymes, is more often met with in French literature than in our own; the following old specimen was christened by Ménage _le roi des Triolets_:―― _Le premier jour du mois de mai Fut le plus heureux de ma vie: Le beau dessein que je formai, Le premier jour du mois de mai! Je vous vis et je vous aimai. Si ce dessein vous plut, Sylvie, Le premier jour du mois de mai Fut le plus heureux de ma vie._ JACQUES RANCHIN. ―――― A TRIOLET, (After Mr. Dobson’s “I intended an Ode”) I wished to sing my love; I cannot do so now. (As I remarked above) I wished to sing my love, But Kate crossed with her cow And gave my love a shove. I wished to sing my love; I cannot do so now. JOHN TWIG. ―――― HOW TO FASHION A TRIOLET. As triolets are now the “go,” A charming one I’ll write, Their little niceties to show,―― As triolets are now the “go,”―― I’m writing one (and _àpropos_, By Webster, I am right); As triolets are now the “go,” A charming one I’ll write. The dictionary teaches me The triolet receipt:―― The verses of eight lines must be; The dictionary teaches me The first line, by the recipe, Three times I must repeat. The dictionary teaches me The triolet receipt.