The Sublime to the Ridiculous.

Vanity Fair (UK), May 17, 1906
 

Abdul, my friend, your little games
 Continue still to tickle us:
Your Porte is still sublime, but your
 Last exit is ridiculous.

 

 

Printed unsigned in Vanity Fair; entered by Wodehouse as “The Sublime & The Ridiculous” in Money Received for Literary Work.

Note:

 

“ABDUL’S CLIMB DOWN. The difficulty between Great Britain and the Porte over the Sinaitic Peninsula affair is over. In other words, the Sultan of Turkey, as most people expected, has climbed down the diplomatic ladder rather than provoke us to the point of administering to him a well-merited chastisement. Those people who hold that the Sultan of Turkey is not a person worth going to war with will be especially pleased. Turkish troops are now withdrawn from the disputed territory. (Dundee Courier, May 14, 1906)

 

—John Dawson