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Lapsus Calami (Apr 1891)/Of W. S. (Mr)

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For other versions of this work, see Of W. S..

This Shakespeare parody was first published in the Eton Rambler, July 1880.

1789226Lapsus Calami — Of W. S. (Mr)James Kenneth Stephen

Of W. S. (Mr.)

For Greek Iambics.

Pe.Not so, my liege, for even now the town
Splits with sedition, and the incensed mob
Rush hither roaring.
Olc.Let them roar their fill,
Bluster and bellow till the enormous wings
Of gusty Boreas flap with less ado.
Ask they my treacherous nephew's wretched life,
As if that order were a thing of nought
Which I did publish? Let them beg or threaten,
I'll not regard them. Oh my trusty friend,
There is no rock defies the elements,
With half the constancy that kinglike men
Shut up their breasts against such routs as these.
Pe.O my most valiant lord, I feel 'tis so,
Permit me to advance against the foe.
(Olcis and Terranea, Act iv., Sc. iii.)

Eton Rambler, July, 1880