Canoe_ was better even than _Essays in Little_, and the audacious
words were actually printed in a journal to which ANDREW LANG is
an occasional contributor. I myself have never dared to go so far.
There is something sacred about an established reputation. And I can
honestly say that I like the elegant airy trifles which your little
Muse has bestowed upon us, though I confess to a weariness when the
talk is too much of golf-clubs and salmon rods. And I admire your
appreciation of the original work of other men. In the present case
you and I disagree upon a question of taste. That is all. _Tant pis
pour moi_, I hasten to add. But I disagree in good company, for I note
with some amusement, that the PAYN whom you rightly praise, has a kind
and encouraging word for the PAIN whom you so vehemently disparage.
And in this case I will stake my all upon the eulogy of JAMES PAYN as
against the censure of ANDREW LANG. As you did me the honour to refer
to something I had written, I thought myself bound in politeness to
reply, and am

Your obedient servant,

AN A.R. IN THE B. DE B.-W.'s OFFICE."

* * * * *

A STRAIGHT TIP TO CANADIAN "CROSS COVES."

'Tis nice "in a Canadian Canoe"
To practise what the ribald call "canoodling;"
But what the deuce does the Dominion do,
"In _this_ galley," with this new game of "boodling?"
"Paddle your own Canoe," dear, if you will,