Alexandra

ALEXANDRA 5 6. v. I. You with your smile . . . with that smile. 7. v. I. encouragedst. 8. v. I. all the savants . . . in their trappy caverns . . . all the Magi . . . (Oh anthropophagi !) 9. v. I. to ‘ meliorate.’ 10. It is an open secret that the late Herbert Spencer was solely inspired in his laborious la- bours by a desire to gratify his august though be- witching sovereign. It is related that in his early days as a student Her Majesty was visiting the school where he studied. “ What are you doing, Herbert ? ” asked the beautiful but insouciant girl, as she then, as she now is, was. “ Studying phi- losophy, miss ! ” was the brusque yet courtly reply. “ Why study it ? Rather synthesize it ! ” observed the thoughtful though dazzling monarch. “ I will, miss ! ” cried the youth, the flash of genius leaping to his eyes. And as we all know, he kept his word. 11. v. I. You saved . . . savedst. 12. It is said that on the occasion of an important shooting match at Hurlingham, in which the Prince of Wales was to take part, Queen Alexandra in full regalia rushed between No. 3 trap and the 24-yard mark, and, in noble imitation of the Empress Agrippina, smote herself in the region of the uterus and cried “ Strike here ! ” From that moment the doom of pigeon-shooting (save the mark !) at least in England, ever leader of humanitarian exacerba- tion, was sealed. 13. v. I. . . . our statisticians own . . . our J. Holt Schoolings. 14. v. I. Maids, matross, mots . . . 15. v. I. Oxford. 16. i.e. we occupy various official positions in In- dia and the Colonies. Strand : i.e., the foreign strand. Cf. Heber (not the Kenite) “ India’s coral strand ”. The phrase denotes homesickness. But the whole stanza is certainly obscure.