and ribald parodies, spiced with a good deal of personal insult. "The Biter Bit" is a parody of "The May Queen;" "The Lay of the Lovelorn," of "Locksley Hall;" "The Laureate" (written on the death of Southey in 1843) is a parody of "The Merman," and is chiefly noticeable as containing an anticipatory mention of Tennyson in connexion with the Laureateship seven years before he succeeded to that office.
The Laureate bold,
With his butt of sherry
To keep him merry,
And nothing to do but to pocket his gold.
'Tis I would be the Laureate bold," &c.
"Caroline "is a parody of some of the portraits of women—Lilian, Adeline, &c.
Wretched, indeed, must be the taste that such things as these can please, where "every noble thought is turned into a joke or quibble, the rich creations of a poet's fancy transformed into ribaldry and jest, and
address is given as "A. T., Chelsea." Tennyson was living at Little Holland House, Kensington, at this time.
