Alexandra

8 ALEXANDRA We xylo Xavier, we X-ray Xerxes, This is a vision like a drunken Turk sees : We yammer of Yvonne, we yell Yolande, This is weak tea to Alexandra’s brandy : We zeal for Zelma, zig-zag after Zaza, No ! happiness is never à la casa : 19. The loved disciple is perhaps St John. But Patmos is a rocky, not a wooded, island. Obscure. 20. Not a painted miniature, of course. More probably a black and white reproduction, or possi- bly a coloured one, of a sketch or photo- graph. Only the gentlemen and noblemen about the court would be in a position to order a painting on ivory by an artist such as Sargent or Herkomer from such sketch or photograph. 21. The nautical reference is, on the authority of Lloyd’s journal, obscure. 22. Cancelled passage, vv. XXXI, XXXII. XXXI Who turn ? Why, Arthur, Bertie, Charles, Dick, Edward, Frank, George, Hal, Ike, John, Kenneth, Leonard, Mike, Nat, Oliver, Pete, Quintus, wend them bedward Alone, alike. XXXII So Roger, Sam, Tom, Unus, Victor, Willie, Xenocrates, Yeo, Zeno, frown on fun, Disdain, delight, cry : “ Though you think us silly, A.R. or none ! ” The line “ Alone, alike ” resembled too nearly “ Aloft, alone ”, in the famous Diamond Jubilee Ode. Hence the whole passage had to go.