THE BROWNIES IN ITALY.

Although no Cesar. will look down
Upon the scene with smile or frown,
No ready thumbs a signal throw

To spare or speed the final blow,
Far greater crowds our actions trace
Than all the Roman populace,

And loving millions far and near
May yet applaud our doings here.”

Another said: “My sportive friend,
Our time to this we cannot lend,
Too many objects are at hand

That claim attention from the band,
To other scenes we must away,
Nor linger here your game to play.”

When safe in Venice, quaint and old,
At length arrived the Brownies bold,
Said one: “This is the strangest yet
Of all the cities we have met—

Where streets are not dug up each day
Some other kind of pipes to lay,
Where no one sees a paving-stone,
And carriage-makers are unknown,
While all the horses here in sight

Are chiseled out of marble white.”

A second said: “It calls to mind

The stories one in books may find.

*T was here Othello did regale

The Duke with plain unvarnished tale;
78 ;