\^ 
 
 BY GRANT ALLEN. 
 (SCENE 'AT NIGHT.) 
 
 [The Struggles of a young miad in hla 
 undergraduate days at Oxford to get at tlia 
 neart of ttiu mystery of life and the worMU— 
 J. A. A.] 
 
 X. 
 
 My braiu i3 weary and my eyes areaoliinff 
 
 With poring over-long on Plato's text; 
 i'il uiako this stillest hoUr my own» forsaking 
 
 Tuo burled lore with whidh my Boal is 
 veledi 
 The air without is fresh and oool and moiBter, 
 
 ru iilng the narrow casement open wide 
 That looks athwart the silent court and 
 oioister* 
 
 To view the vorld.oatsi(ie% 
 
 It. 
 
 Bach dome and ipira from itortb to South 
 
 AI*iflfifl 
 
 An island from a roiUDff lea of mist. 
 That fills with shadowy watei the vale of Islfl* 
 
 All but the imperial olty's queeiU7 orest. 
 Above, the chlUy moonheams of October 
 
 Wrap round her sleepy, form a gilded 
 shroud; 
 Below, the fleecy sheets of rapoxKOhe her 
 
 In folds of silver cloud* 
 xzx> 
 Tho blood-red creeper on the pale gray turret 
 
 Shows purple in the dim recess of nlghti 
 rirtvo when the ehort-Uved autumn hreezes 
 stir iU 
 
 Kiashini^ a gleam of Crimson in my eighti 
 And droopittg Ivy spirays that twist and 
 
 dangl^ 
 
 Around the gloomy gargolle'6 moldeiiDg 
 ma88« 
 Shed ghostly shadows on the dafll ^UadTADglS 
 Across the moonlit grass* 
 
 iy» 
 
 Hard by the oieapQut pinnaoles of Morton 
 
 Kise black against the wan abyss on high) 
 The far cathedral steeple looms Uncertain 
 
 Through intervening depths Of haay Sky. 
 l^ligh in the tapeting hdlfry of QU Mary'fl 
 
 The solemn clock knells out the Stroke Of 
 three, 
 And fills with fioating sound and weifd y(igll« 
 riesk 
 
 The misty middle sea; 
 
 These dreamy teVerieS Of Fli^td oUttfflei 
 With PhapeiesB tjioud and Toioes oi;fMUe 
 bells« 
 
 T(i bid each vela through all my body tiogIe« 
 
 Atid stir my brain through all its throbbing 
 cells. 
 Tho city's form melts like the obaogefttl 
 vapor, 
 And those, her solid walls of massive StOQe* 
 Unreal as the fleecy robes that drape hOFi 
 Fade and I stand alone. 
 
 imillliiallllitoi 
 
 t<< 
 
Fado and I stand alone. 
 
 I know DOC if she be or if she be not; 
 
 I Dnly know I am and nauffht beside; 
 1 uuze abroad with timid eyes and 6&t% not 
 
 Beyond the mists by which my sight iB tlod* 
 The things I see and hear and feel arOU&d 
 
 me 
 ' Merge in the single conflOiOttSnesS Of 
 r" thought; I 
 
 Yet like an iron chain their limits bound me 
 
 With bands myself have wrought. 
 
 yii. 
 
 Is sentient life— set passive in the middle 
 
 or fleeting sights and sounds,of joy and pftlOt 
 Yearning yet motionless, an awful riddle 
 
 Whose hidden aim we seek to read In vain; 
 td life, so strangely shaped,a wanton oreatiure 
 
 Of calm design, that heeds not human oaroSt 
 Or bastard oflsprinir of unconscious nature 
 
 Begotten unawares. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 When chaos slowly set to sun or planetf 
 And molten masses hardened into eartU; 
 
 When primal force wrought OUt OQ flea ftSd 
 granite 
 The wondrous miracle of living blrthj 
 
 Did mightier mind, in clouds of glory hidden, 
 
 iJroathe power through all its limbs tO tsel 
 ana Know; 
 
 Or sentience spring, spontaneous and un- 
 bidden, — 
 With feeble steps and slow? ""** 
 
 IX. -^ 
 
 Areeense and thousht but uarasltefl Of belllff! 
 Did nature mould our limbs to aot and 
 move; "" 
 
 By some strange chance endow our eyes With 
 seeing, 
 
 Our nerves with feeling and our hearts Witli 
 love? 
 
 Since all alone we stand, alone diacernlng 
 Sorrow from Joy, self from the things with- 
 out. 
 
 While blind fate tramples on our rsPlHt'fl 
 yearning. 
 And fills pur souls with doubt. 
 
 'This very tree whose life is as our Sister. 
 
 We know not If the lohor in her veina 
 Trill wuh fierce joy when April dewfl have 
 kissed her. 
 
 Or shrink In anguish from November ralns. 
 We search the mighty world abOTO and 
 
 Yet nowhere find the soul WO fftln W0U14 
 find— ■ 
 
 Speech in^the hollow rumbling of the 
 thunder, 
 Words In the whispering wind. 
 
 -„ XI. 
 
 Wo yearn for brotherhood with lake and 
 mouotalD, • 
 
 Our conscious soul seeks OODSCIOUS 0ym« 
 nathy, 
 
 Nvmnhs in t be copplce,nalads in the fountain, 
 (iotls In the craggy heights and roaring 6ea: 
 
 Yet find but soulless sequences of matter. 
 Fact linked to fact in adamantine rods. 
 
 Eternal bonds of former sense and latter. 
 Blind laws for living Gods. 
 
 1