If all were genuine that is Big, If all were sound that's well intended, _Quixote's_ wild jaunt and _Sancho's_ jig Would very differently have ended. Zeal boldly mounts the Magic Horse, Charity on behind holds tightly, Who will not wish them skill and force To guide it rightly? But Human Life's a complex maze, And Nature's laws are most despotic. Vice is not killed by kindly craze. Nor suffering quelled by zeal Quixotic. Big questions the Big Scheme beset. Bid Pity _think_, and do not ask it Too blindly all its eggs to get In one huge basket. Philanthropy, which facts will school, Is not a theme for mocking merriment. As MORLEY says, he is the fool Who never ventures bold experiment. Against the ills our State that shake, The spectre Vice, Want the pale ogress, _Punch_ hopes the Magic Horse may make Practical progress. * * * * * [Illustration: "I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS, MARK, BUT I CAN'T HIT A BIRD TO-DAY!" "LET'S SEE YOUR GUN, SIR. AH!--WELL, I'D TRY WHAT YOU COULD DO _WITH SOME CARTRIDGES IN IT_, IF I WAS YOU, SIR!"] * * * * * RIGHT-DOING ON THE RIALTO; OR, THE MODERN SHYLOCK. (_A SHORT SHAKESPEARIAN SEQUEL._) _Enter the_ MODERN SHYLOCK _and_ BARINGO BROTHERS. _Shylock_. Five Millions sterling for three months? And this You say, they will advance, if you can show Sufficient guarantee? _Baringo_. Indeed 'tis so. _Shy._ Well, well! But how comes it about that you Whose honoured name has so long held the sway Of all safe dealing, that men only asked, "If a BARINGO backed it," to take up Unquestioning the newest stock,--should thus With sudden flash flare up and set in blaze The whole commercial world? _Bar._ Oh! press me not, Nor question me too closely! "_Argentines_!" That fatal word sums up the evil spell That in these latter luckless days has fallen Upon our swaying House. _Shy._ I see your case! A cry for gold finds you all unprepared, Your capital locked up beyond the seas. You cannot realise. _Bar._ Alas! too true! That is the situation! _Shy._ Badly done! Ah! it has been a sorry piece of work, Your "management." _Bar._ I bow my head to that! But you will lend your aid? You'll pull us through?