Happy the man, who, void of cares and strife,
In silken or in leathern purse retains
A splendid shilling.
John Philips (1676-1708)
An unknown frugal Yorkshireman remembered Poet Philips' splendid shilling fortnight ago, and the Miltonic disasters that, according to ensuing stanzas, the lack of it entailed. Further he remembered that tousle-headed eight-year-old King Mihai of Rumania had just been given his first pair of long trousers (TIME, Oct. 28). To a Birmingham newspaper he sent a shiny new shilling piece and a note, addressed to the...