"
"There is more connection between geographical place-names and
poetical inspiration than is generally recognized; one of the
chief reasons why there are so few really great poems about Russia
in our language is that you can't possibly get a rhyme to names
like Smolensk and Tobolsk and Minsk."
Clovis spoke with the authority of one who has tried.
"Of course, you could rhyme Omsk with Tomsk," he continued; "in
fact, they seem to be there for that purpose, but the public
wouldn't stand that sort of thing indefinitely."
"The public will stand a good deal," said Bertie malevolently,
"and so small a proportion of it knows Russian that you could
always have an explanatory footnote asserting that the last three
letters in Smolensk are not pronounced. It's quite as believable
as your statement about putting elephants out to grass in the
Himalayan range."
"I've got rather a nice bit," resumed Clovis with unruffled
serenity, "giving an evening scene on the outskirts of a jungle
village:
'Where the coiled cobra in the gloaming gloats,
And prowling panthers stalk the wary goats.'"
"There is practically no gloaming in tropical countries," said
Bertie indulgently; "but I like the masterly reticence with which
you treat the cobra's motive for gloating.
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