often enough, the world is cleverer than any one man in it. The affectation of singularity is really a confession of inferiority. Yet, when we look through the lists of poets who have written for the stage, the number whose works have proved to possess the power of really moving the crowds of men and women who fill our theatres is so very small that to have succeeded as well as Wagner is hardly the lot of one true poet in a thousand. Of modern writers whom have we whose work rank high with the scholar, and can also win favour on the public stage? Besides Wagner, perhaps only one living man, the brilliant, flashy, erthusiastic, intensely "theatrical" poet of the Parisians, Victor Hugowith whom as a comrade essentially like, in spite of all his French unlikeness, I leave the ultra-German Richard Wagner.

EDWARD ROSE, in Fraser's Magazine.

THE ROYAL WEDDING.

Vide The Times, March 14, 1879.

I'M a reporter, bound to do
Reporter's duty;

In language beautiful all through

I sing of Beauty.

And he who thinks these words of mine

Something too many,

Let him reflect-for every line

I get a penny.

I sing of how the Red Prince took

His pretty daughter,

To marry her to Connaught's Dook

Across the water.

Oh, bright was Windsor's quaint old town,

Decked out with bravery;

And blessed Spring had ne'er a frown

Or such-like knavery.

The sea of legs before the gate
And round the steeple,

In short, the marvellously great
Amount of people,

Instead of treading upon toes

And dresses tearing,

Was (as a royal marriage goes),

I thought, forbearing.

The church-bells rang, the brass bands played,

The place was quite full,

Before the Quality had made

The scene delightful.

They came from Paddington by scores,
'Mid rustics ploughing,

And women huddled at the doors,
And infants bowing.

While condescension on their part
We quite expected,

On ours, as usual, England's heart
Was much affected.

Whene'er we welcome Rank and Worth

From foreign lands, it

Becomes a wonder, how on earth
That organ stands it!

The Berkshire Volunteers in grey,
(Loyd Lindsay, Colonel),

And the bold Rifles hold the way,
With Captain Burnell.

To guard St. George's brilliant nave,
Believe me, no men

Could properly themselves behave
Except the yeomen.

Spring dresses came "like daffodils
Before the swallow,"

On ladies' pretty forms (with bills,
Alas! to follow),

Their beauty "took the winds of March"

(Which in my rhymes is

A theft: the metaphors are arch,

But they're the Times's).

Sir Elvey played a solemn air;

I sent a wish up;

Four Bishops came to join the pair,

And one Archbishop.

Nine minor parsons after that

To help them poured in,

One strange-named man among them sate,

The Rev. Tahourdin.

But oh! how this "prolific pen"

Of mine must falter,

When I describe the noblemen

Before the altar!

There was the Lady Em'ly King

scote, like a tulip;

The Maharajah Duleep Singh,

And Mrs. Duleep.

ABOUT LOCUSTS.

FROM a resident in Smyrna we have received the following interesting communication regarding these Eastern pests, the locusts. He thus writes: In the month of May 1878 I went by rail to a village situated about five miles from the town of Smyrna. On one part of the line there is an incline, which I noticed we were ascending at an unusually low rate of speed, and the engine was puffing and labouring in a most unaccountable manner. On looking out of the window to ascertain the cause, I perceived that the ground was literally covered with locusts; and scarcely a minute had elapsed ere the train ceased to move, owing to the rails having become wet and slippery from the number of these insects that had been crushed on the line. Sand was thrown on the rails, and brooms were placed in front of the locomotive, by which means the train was again set in motion; and we finally reached our destination in thirty-five instead of fifteen minutes, the usual length of the journey. On entering the village, I called at a friend's house, and found the inmates assembled in the garden, drawn up in battle-array, armed with brooms, branches of trees, and other implements of destruction, waging war against their unwelcome visitors the locusts, which, it appears, had scaled the outer walls of the premises, taking the place by assault, and were committing sad havoc on every green thing to be found in the garden. The united efforts of the household, however, were powerless against their enemies, which were momentarily increasing in number; so they were compelled to beat an ignominious retreat, and seek refuge in the house.

In the

'I now propose to give some account of the nature and habits of these insects, which may possibly not be uninteresting to European readers. Locusts are first seen towards the end of April on the slopes of the hills, where the eggs of the females had been deposited the previous autumn. When born they are about the size of ants, but develop in a wonderfully short time to their full size. Early in May they are sufficiently strong to travel all day on foot, collecting together at night in dense masses. At sunrise they recommence their march-their heads invariably turned to the south-devouring every green herb that comes in their way, grass especially being their favourite food. rear of these advancing armies others are following, which subsist on what is left by their more fortunate companions of the advanced guard. Towards the end of May locusts are sufficiently developed to take short flights on the wing, and wherever they alight woe betide the unfortunate owners of the property! In June and July they rise to a consid erable height in the air, their infinite numbers occasionally darkening the sun. As at this season of the year there is no more grass in the plains and the corn has been harvested, the vineyards are unmercifully attacked as well as the leaves of trees; and when hard pressed for food, even the bark of trees is not spared by these voracious insects. Locusts die off in August; but before this occurs the females bore holes in the

ground on the slopes of the hills, sufficiently large to insert their bodies; then the males-I am assured by eye-witnesses-cut off their wives' heads; and thus the eggs which are contained in the females' bodies-averaging about seventy in number-are preserved against the inclemencies of the winter season.

It occasionally happens that locusts disappear for a number of years in succession; it is therefore presumed that in seasons of scarcity they are compelled-before the breeding season-to take long flights in search of food; and when this occurs, millions of their dead are found on the shores of the sea, and the effluvia from their bodies often occasion great sickness. In the year 1832 locusts lay two feet deep in the Bay of Smyrna. Shipping and typhus and other fevers became so prevalent in the town, that many families in a position to leave, took refuge in country villages. With a proper government, this Eastern plague could by degrees be done away with; but the Turks leave everything to Fate; and although occasional orders are given by the governors in the interior for their destruction when they first appear in the spring, only half-measures are taken, and little is gained by these futile attempts to destroy them. In former times, Cyprus was annually devastated by locusts; but of late years this great infliction has almost ceased to be a source of anxiety to its agricultural population, owing to the intelligence of a European who holds property on the island, and who invented the following simple method of destroying them in their infancy, which has been already alluded to in public journals.

'Locusts, as mentioned before, are born on the slopes of the hills, and when they are sufficiently developed to commence their work of destruction, descend into the plains in long and regular columns, never deviating from their path. Anticipating this method of progression,. trenches are dug at the base of these hills; and when the locusts are within a few yards of the pits, they are inclosed between two long strips of canvas placed perpendicularly in parallel lines leading to the mouths of the pits. A piece of oilcloth is then spread on the ground, extending a few inches over these trenches in a slanting position, over which the locusts continue to advance, and are precipitated into these traps in innumerable quantities, and immediately destroyed. If the Turkish government followed the example set them by the inhabitants of Cyprus, Asia Minor would soon be free of locusts; but as there is but little chance of this being the case, we must expect a yearly increase of these insects, and trust to natural causes for their destruction.' -Chambers's Journal.