You have quite turned the tables, that’s true,
Russian Bear,
The dancer did use to be you. 
Now you thump the tabor, And France, your “dear neighbour,”
Seems game to dance on till all’s blue. 
Hurroo!

Alliances are pretty things,
Russian Bear! 
Seductive and promising things;
That rat-a-tat-too, Which suggests a Review—­
Makes his legs whirl as swiftly as wings. 
How he springs
And leaps to the wild whillaloo!

You pipe and he dances this time,
Russian Bear! 
The Bear and his Leader change places. 
Quicker and quicker he, Steps; Miss TERPSICHORE
Scarce could show prettier paces.
Houp la!
Atta Troll could not rival his graces.

He who pays for the Pipe calls the tune—­
Russian Bear! 
Pooh! that old saw’s quite obsolete. 
Just look at that stocking!  What matters men’s mocking?
He’ll pay, but your tune is so sweet—­
Rat-tat-too!—­
That it keeps him at work hands and feet!

How long?  That remains to be seen,
Russian Bear;
But in spite of political spleen,
And Treaties and Fables, You have turned the tables. 
Such sight is not frequently seen.

You’ve slipped yourself out of your chains,
Russian Bear;
’Till hardly a shackle remains
In Black Sea or Bosphorus.  This may mean loss for us,
Bruin cares not whilst he gains.

Treaties and protocols irk,
Russian Bear;
And therefore are matters to shirk. 
Berlin and Paris, No longer must harass
This true friend of France—­and the Turk. 
Hrumph! hrumph! 
Well, well, we shall see how ’twill work!

* * * * *

“HANGING THEOLOGY.”—­Readers of the Times have been for some time in a state of suspense—­most appropriately—­as to the result of the correspondence carried on by Lord GRIMTHORPE & Co. under the above heading.  At all events the Editor of the Times has been giving his correspondents quite enough rope to ensure the proverbial termination of their epistolary existence.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  “TURNING THE TABLES.”

("The success of a Russian Loan is not dearly purchased by a little effusion, which, after all, commits Russia to nothing.  French sentiment is always worth cultivating in that way, because, unlike the British variety, it has a distinct influence upon investments.” —­Daily Paper.)]

* * * * *

“REVOLTED MORTIMER.”

[Dr. MORTIMER GRANVILLE, in a letter to the Times, attacks the logic and disputes the dogmas of the fanatical Teetotaller, and carries the war into the enemy’s country by boldly asserting that “incalculable harm has been done to the average human organism, with its functions, which we are wont to classify as mental and physical, by the spread of teetotal views and practices.”]

  Oho!  Doctor MORTIMER GRANVILLE,
  You are scarcely as bland as DE BANVILLE. 
    On the Knights of the Pump
    Your assertions come thump
  Like an old Cyclops’ “sledge” on his anvil.