These consist of two Double Acrostics and two Charades.
No. I. was written at the request of some young friends, who had gone
to a ball at an Oxford Commemoration—and also as a specimen of what
might be done by making the Double Acrostic a connected poem
instead of what it has hitherto been, a string of disjointed stanzas,
on every conceivable subject, and about as interesting to read straight
through as a page of a Cyclopaedia. The first two stanzas describe
the two main words, and each subsequent stanza one of the cross “lights.”
No. II. was written after seeing Miss Ellen Terry perform in the play
of “Hamlet.” In this case the first stanza describes
the two main words.
No. III. was written after seeing Miss Marion Terry perform in Mr. Gilbert’s
play of “Pygmalion and Galatea.” The three stanzas
respectively describe “My First,” “My Second,”
and “My Whole.”]
