Come What Would, It Was A Shame To Make
Ferdinand Work So Hard, So She Winds Up Thus:
"My father is hard at
study; pray now rest yourself - HE'S SAFE FOR THESE THREE HOURS."
Safe - if she had only said that "papa was safe," the sentence would
have been purely modern, and have suited Thackeray as well as
Shakspeare.
See how quickly she has learnt to regard her father as
one to be watched and probably kept in a good humour for the sake of
Ferdinand. We suppose that the secret of the modern character of
this particular passage lies simply in the fact that young people
make love pretty much in the same way now that they did three hundred
years ago; and possibly, with the exception that "the governor" may
be substituted for the words "my father" by the young ladies of three
hundred years hence, the passage will sound as fresh and modern then
as it does now. Let the Prosperos of that age take a lesson, and
either not allow the Ferdinands to pile up firewood, or so to arrange
their studies as not to be "safe" for any three consecutive hours.
It is true that Prospero's objection to the match was only feigned,
but Miranda thought otherwise, and for all purposes of argument we
are justified in supposing that he was in earnest.
THE ENGLISH CRICKETERS
The following lines were written by Butler in February, 1864, and
appeared in the PRESS. They refer to a visit paid to New Zealand by
a team of English cricketers, and have kindly been copied and sent to
me by Miss Colborne-Veel, whose father was editor of the PRESS at the
time that Butler was writing for it. Miss Colborne-Veel has further
permitted to me to make use of the following explanatory note: "The
coming of the All England team was naturally a glorious event in a
province only fourteen years old. The Mayor and Councillors had 'a
car of state' - otherwise a brake - 'with postilions in the English
style.' Cobb and Co. supplied a six-horse coach for the English
eleven, the yellow paint upon which suggested the 'glittering chariot
of pure gold.' So they drove in triumph from the station and through
the town. Tinley for England and Tennant for Canterbury were the
heroes of the match. At the Wednesday dinner referred to they
exchanged compliments and cricket balls across the table. This early
esteem for cricket may be explained by a remark made by the All
England captain, that 'on no cricket ground in any colony had he met
so many public school men, especially men from old Rugby, as at
Canterbury.'"
[To the Editor, the Press, February 15th, 1864.]
Sir - The following lines, which profess to have been written by a
friend of mine at three o'clock in the morning after the dinner of
Wednesday last, have been presented to myself with a request that I
should forward them to you.
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