Το

C. M. E.

the constant companion of my wanderings in many lands,

THIS VOLUME

of wayside warblings and random rhymes

is

Dedicated,

as a Christmas "Souvenir,"

by her

loving and loyal

"KNIGHT-ERRANT,"

THIS volume is intended solely for the entertainment of innocent and juvenile minds irrespective

of age.

Three months of almost continuous downpour of rain during the autumn of 1872 in our northern counties, drove the writer to the south of Europe in search of the truant sun; but, failing to find that lost luminary even in that comparatively favoured region, he embarked for Egypt, and there beheld the object of desire waiting to greet him with even too warm a welcome.

After a pleasant sojourn of three weeks in Cairo, a party was formed for ascending the Nile as far as Philæ. The boat-one of the largest on the river-was christened the "Star of India." We

constituted the magic number "Seven," and called ourselves "THE PLEIADES." Five were ladies. For mutual edification we agreed to keep a "Logbook," wherein each was to scribble whatever and whenever the spirit moved.

The writer's own share of these contributions constitutes PART I. of this volume. Ordinary prose seemed too tame a vehicle of expression for the thoughts and feelings inspired by the scenes we were daily witnessing; hence these impromptu and unstudied effusions in rhyme, which helped to enliven our small party on board, and may perchance answer a like purpose with others similarly situated.

PARTS II. AND III. comprise, with a few excep

tions, scraps of verse dashed off at random on all sorts of occasions for the amusement of friends, young and old.

PART IV. is the result of sharing a German governess with a young lady during some otherwise dull winter days at Vevey. The subjects were derived chiefly from the poetical part of "Otto's Grammar," and have been included in this

collection only in deference to the opinion of some competent German scholars, who consider they successfully embody the style and spirit of the originals. The only excuse to be offered for such a medley of trivialities is that well-known line in Virgil,

"Cantantes licet usque, minus via lædet, eamus.”

Or,

"Tis lawful as we toil o'er life's highway,

To cheer the journey with a tuneful lay."

V. E.

ATHENÆUM CLUB, Dec. 1, 1873.