The Cairo bulletin., 1909-11-01
POEM STARTLES
LONDON SOCIETY
WOMAN WITH THE SERPENT'S
TONGUE" HAS ORIGINAL
IN LIFE.
AN ENVtN0MED SATIRE
wives Talk Of "The SOUS"
Which Brought Scandal
as Affinity Hunters.

| London Oct. 3t.-In William Wat
sons new book of poems, just pub
lshed by John Lane, is included one
entitled; 1.-THE Woman With the
Serpent's Tongue which has set al
1 London talking. No name is men
toned in the Poem, but the name Of a
VERY wen known woman is in every
month
Mr.. Watson il being severely con
ldemned as having far exceeded the
bounds to which it is permissible tc
go.
OF everybody conversant with the
gossip OF what goes on behind the
scenes in London life the pict re is
a speaking likeness Of woman who,
perhaps more than any other in Enc
land, below royalty, has occupied pub,
lie attention from the days before her
marriage when she was the leader in
a select coterie known as The
Souls. to these latter times, when
ner reported indiscretions have been
near precipitating a political crisis.
EnVenomed Caricature!
Whether MIR. Watsous portrait Is
true to life or is only an envenomed
earicature is question hotly de
bated. Everybody who knows the
lady, who is supposed to be the orig
inal acknowledges that she has a
sharp tongue, and it is surmised that
the poet may have experienced it's
keenness. Another suggestion is that
Mr. Watson may ascribe TO this par
ticular womans influence the fact
that he has not been the recipient OF
any of those titular honors which are
occasionally awarded by the British
government to poets of more or less
merit.
Whether there is any more-or any
less-truth in these suggested ex-
plantations than in the accusations
which Mr.. Watson makes is a secret
which lies between tbs poet and his
Woman With the Serpsnt's Tongue"
In any case the verses have created
a maelstrom in the ordinarily quiet
eddies Of London literary lie, and in
other directions have caused no lit
tie commotion. | am told that the
publisher Of the poems strongly OBJ
jected to the inclusion Of this par
ticular effusion in the volume. but
that ,ir. Watson insisted that it be
retained.
The remarkable society known as
The Souls attracted much attention
in England several years ago, al
though public knowledge of its affairs
was always somewhat indefinite
Neither wealth nor position could Sc
cure an entire to this most exclusive
Of clubs Intellectual brilliancy was
the test, and among the leading mem
bers were Arthur J. Balfour, Mrs
Beerbolm Tree, Lady CRANKY, Lore
Elcho, Margot Tenant (now Mrs. AS
quith, wife Of the premier), George
Wynham and Alfred Lyttleton.
Souls Against Affinities.
The Souls" seem to have started
out with high ideals. They were
small band of men and women OF
aesthetic tastes who wished to ad
vance beyond the common herd. They
were most Of them well known.
either in the ultra fashionable world
or in the world Of art or letters.
They met often and discussed every
thing imaginable and rnimaginable.
At last they got 50 far on the road to
idealism, it was reported, that they
took to finding affinities and here
came the stumbling block. Affinities
got mixed Scandal began to attach
itself to the ideais,ic tendencies OF
the society, and finally a really pain
iu denoument to the affinity seekina
Of one luckiess couple caused society |
TO frown so severely uron The |
Souls that they disbandell forever
and nowilisilencel is preserved as K