The Editor of "Spike,"

To occupy a portion of your space?
I must admit it is a trifle late to exhume
(Although I believe it was done in the Crippen case)
So pitiful a corpse as the Extravaganza.

A somewhat nachreous subject I admit, don't doubt it,
But—why and wherefore was the whole caboodle?
I like a plot; there may be some who can do without it,
But most, like me, think Priestley off his noodle
And would willingly revile him through a separate stanza.

But to proceed; Mr. Mountjoy's gyrations satanic
Were all very well, but most inapropos;
And all I remember is his mephistophelian panic
When the fire of his oration loosed his "mo"

I cannot cavil at the acting of Mr. Larkin;
And pleased I heard the Haeremai Club cease howling,
Drop their tomatoes and cabbages over-mature to hearken
To the fine, but untimely, singing of Mr. Dowling.

I must congratulate the author on his aptitude
For scavenging forth the inanity of jokes
That were original when the Ark on Sinai stood. . . .
So nought remains but to tell you common blokes
That for lack of another rhyme I'll sign myself

—Sancho Panza.