In thee did such transcendent greatness gleam, That none might grudge thee an Imperial place; Yet such thy modesty, thou need'st must seem The leader, not the monarch, of thy race. Courage and pow'r, to wit and learning join'd, With energy that sham'd the envious sun; The ablest, bravest, noblest of mankind-- A Caesar and Aurelius mixt in one. At thy stern gaze Dishonour bow'd its head; Oppression slunk ingloriously away; The virtuous follow'd where thy footsteps led, And Freedom bless'd thy uncorrupted sway. When from the East invading Vandals pour'd, And selfish ignorance restrain'd our hand, Thy voice was first to bid us draw the sword To guard our liberties and save our land. Envy deny'd thee what thy spirit sought, And held thee from the battle-seething plain; Yet thy proud blood in filial bodies fought, And poppies blossom o'er thy QUENTIN slain. 'Twas thine to see the triumph of thy cause; Thy grateful eyes beheld a world redeem'd; Would that thy wisdom might have shap'd the laws Of the new age, and led to heights undream'd! Yet art thou gone? Will not thy presence cling Like that of all the great who liv'd before? Will not new wonders of thy fashioning Rise from thy words, as potent as of yore? Absent in flesh, thou with a brighter flame Shin'st as the beacon of the brave and free; Thou art our country's soul--our loftiest aim Is but to honour and to follow thee! H. P. LOVECRAFT. January 13, 1919. THE UNITED AMATEUR MARCH 1919 A Note on Howard P. Lovecraft's Verse Rheinhart Kleiner Comment occasioned by the verse of Mr. Howard P. Lovecraft, who is a more or less frequent contributor to the amateur press, has not consisted of unmixed praise. Certain critics have regarded his efforts as too obviously imitative of a style that has long been discredited. Others have accepted his work with admiration and have even gone so far as to imitate the couplets which he produces with such apparent ease. Between these two opinions there is a critical neutral ground, the holders of which realise how large an element of conscious parody enters into many of Mr. Lovecraft's longer and more serious productions, and who are capable of appreciating the cleverness and literary charm of these pastoral echoes without being dominated by them to the extent of indiscriminate praise and second-hand imitation.