Where here and there a dew-drop

Yet glittered in the dawn,

Said "Go to the Adelphi,

And see the 'Colleen Bawn'. -

"The word is due to Boucicault-

The theory is his,

Where life becomes a Spasm,

And History a Whiz:

If that is not Sensation,

I don't know what it is. -

"Now try your hand, ere Fancy

Have lost its present glow-"

"And then", his grandson added,

"We'll publish it, you know:

Green cloth- gold-lettered at the back-

In duodecimo!" -

Then proudly smiled that old man

To see the eager lad

Rush madly for his pen and ink

And for his blotting-pad-

But, when he thought of publishing,

His face grew stern and sad. - -