descension. "If you should feel disposed to honour this slight amusement with a light composition, I am persuaded you will oblige very highly." The responsive Hayley was not unwilling to oblige, provided no one would suspect him of being in earnest. He "scribbled" the desired lines "in the most rapid manner," "literally in a morning and a half" (Byron did not take much longer to write "The Corsair"), and sent them off to Bath, where they were "admired beyond description," and won the prize, so that the gratified Mrs. Hayley appeared that night with the myrtle wreath woven in her hair. The one famous contributor to the Bath Easton vase who did not win a prize was Sheridan. He, being entreated to write for it some verses on "Charity," complied in these heartless lines:—
THE VASE SPEAKS
For heaven's sake bestow on me
A little wit, for that would be
Indeed an act of charity.
Complimentary addresses—those flowery tributes which seem so ardent and so facile — were beginning to drag a little, even in Wal-
