LIBRARY OF THK UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 153 Class POEMS : By RICHARD GARNETT Of this Edition 350 Copies have been printed for England I T ,Tl-Ti> A Edinburgh : T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty PREFATORY NOTE ABOUT a third of the Poems in this volume were published in 1859, with other pieces, under the .title, ' lo in Egypt, and other Poems.' 181605 CONTENTS PAGE PRELUDE .... I 10 IN EGYPT .... 3 WINE AND SLEEP ... .8 THE SEA OF SOUL .... II MELUSINA .... 14 EVEN-STAR . . . . . . I 8 SICILIAN OCTAVES ... 2O THE BROKEN EGG 24 THE ISLAND OF SHADOWS . . . . 29 MORE .... 33 BY TROPIC SHORES .... 34 THE LOST POETRY OF SAPPHO . -35 vii CONTENTS PAGE THE FRIEND OF GREECE ... 39 UNBLEST DISCOMFORTABLE THING . . 42 RONDEL ..... 44 NAUSICAA . . 45 THE FAIR CIRCASSIAN . 48 UNDER THE COCOA . . . . 5 A PERSIAN'S THOUGHT . . . . 51 MY BLOOD IS WARM . . . . 52 ^EGISTHUS . . . . . . 53 A NOCTURN 55 A LITTLE IDLE SONG . . . . 56 THE KELPIE AND THE WRECKER . 57 THE PHILTRE . . . . . . 59 THE VIOLET TO THE NIGHTINGALE . . 6 1 A MELODY ...... 63 ELFIN FOLK ...... 64 THE MERMAID OF PADSTOW . . . 65 SEVEN DEVILS . . . . . 68 THE HARPY AND THE PANDARIDE . . *J\ viii CONTENTS PAGE THE SIREN . 73 THE EVE OF THE GUILLOTINE 74 A CITY SOXG .... /8 THE DIVER'S STORY . 79 PHILEMON'S DEATH . 82 OUR CROCODILE . 83 ECHO AND NARCISSUS . 85 IN THE TRAIN. MIDNIGHT . .87 THE BIRTHDAY ... .88 THE BLACKBIRD . 90 THE BALLAD OF THE BOAT 9 I THE GATE . 94 ALADDIN'S RING . . 96 RAJAH AND RYOT . 97 ABROAD ... .98 THE HIGHWAYMAN'S GHOST . 99 FADING-LEAF AND FALLEN-LEAF . IOI CONSTANCE ... IO2 THE LYRICAL I'OEM . .104 ix CONTENTS PAGE THE DIDACTIC POEM . .104 THE VIZIER AND THE HORSE . .105 MOKANNA'S VEIL ... .108 THE NEW GRISELDA . . 1 09 APOLLO IN TEMPE . . . .Ill POLYIDUS . . . . .113 THE NIX I 1 8 MIORA 119 VIOLETS . . . . . .121 BEAUTY . . . . . .122 FORTH TO THE WOODS . . . . 123 MUSIC 124 SONNETS TO DANTE 127 AGE 128 ON REVISITING LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL . 129 SHADOWS BEFORE 130 CONTENTS PAGE THE SANDS OF TIME . . . . I 3 1 TO AMERICA . .132 GARIBALDI'S RETIREMENT . . 133 BISMARCK AND MOLTKE . 134 BUNYAN AND SPINOZA . ! 3 5 AN OLD PERUVIAN BOOK . . .136 A DOUBTFUL PROSPECT . . .137 JOY .138 SEA-PAGEANTRY . .139 THE TAPER . . . . . .140 SONGS OF SION . . . .14! THE SONNET-CONCERT . . . . 142 CAMOENS IN BANISHMENT . . . .143 TORCHES OF LOVE AND DEATH . . .144 THE SIREN . . . . . .145 THE WORLD AND THE SEA . . .146 THE STAR OF LOVE . . . . .147 BREVITY . ... 148 ENDYMION . . . . . .149 xi CONTE NTS PAGE DIAN'S WAYS 150 WRITTEN IN MILES'S ' POETS OF THE CENTURY' I 5 I OCCASIONAL POEMS THE CENTURY . . . J 55 LINES AT BOSCOMBE . 1 60 WITH AN INDIAN LAMP . 1 66 A WELCOME ... I 68 MEMORIAL VERSES ... I JO Xll PRELUDE NOT with ware of worth unladen, Sailed my bark in days of yore. When, seafarer bound for Aidenn, By the singing siren-maiden Tempted, I forsook the shore. Waning day departed, wailing Wild with rush of wind and rain ; Stress of storm and surge prevailing Scourged the skiff and marred the sailing , So to port we sped amain. Much I mused, misdoubting whether More to fare on fickle sea ; Sunny blaze and sullen weather, Breath of breeze and blast together, Chain as charm had woven for me. PRELUDE But pure heaven with shadeless pleasure Smiles upon the moving blue ; And the waves dance merry measure ; And my boat stores novel treasure ; And the Siren sings anew. Trustful, then, in Powers presiding O'er the chance of changeful main ; Wave from buoyant wave dividing, Lightly with a heart confiding. Launch the little bark again ! 10 IN EGYPT IO IN EGYPT No palm-grove, green 'mid lion-coloured sands, No forest-heaving mount, no river coiled Involving in clear silver fair champaigns, Saw lo, mad and dizzied vagabond, Full thirty days, so long the visible wrath Of Hera as a gad-fly followed her. First from the awful pinnacle whereon, Like a wrecked star, the lorn Prometheus lay, Precipitated. Pine on pine was crashed ; Stone dusty, fiery bounded after stone ; The startled eagle's scream, a moment's space, Vanquished the clash of cataracts. Then on Through deep Armenia, where the baffled snow Glares on the plenteous mulberry secure In sheltering glens. Then headlong through the still Mesopotamia's plashed unbroken plain ; 3 IO IN EGYPT Then ever-hungering deserts, no man's land, By Syria and Arabia both disowned : Till her strength failed her, and she fell at once, Unwitting where. Grey-cushioned on soft mist, Fumed from broad fens, reposed the sullied moon. A slow stream nursed her image, as a weak, Down-couching mother holds her new-born babe Up toward the father's face. Green cur- tainers, The rigid reeds upstood, and tressy sedge Bathed in the water. Ever and anon The crocodile plunged stone-like ; herded bulks Of tumbling, snorting hippopotami, Churned the smooth light, or, dripping as they rose, Pashed the tall flowering marsh where lo slept. She woke in sunlight. As an alchemist From crucible to chalice, Libya poured A molten flood on Egypt. Golden sheets Unbeaded by a bubble. Like a cloud 4 10 IN EGYPT Ibis and pelican and feathery rose Of flushed flamingo hovered o'er the stream. Where the winged anguish ? vanished ! In its stead Stood mighty female forms, austerely proud In the calm grandeur of colossal limbs. Linen their raiment, needle-wrought with gold, Gold-cinctured, billowing on the bosom, sunk Decorous to the bulrush-sandalled feet. Braided the hair on each dark front serene, Jet-spiked by each smooth ear. Their almond eyes Dwelt mildly on the prostrate one, their hands Shook silverly the sistrum while they said : c The land of refuge hails thee ! Hera's frown Melts in maternal Isis gravely mild. Come, lo lo, come and be our queen. The millet thickens, and the joyous vine Runs riot in the Mareotic marsh ; The palm is doubly plumed, gourds doubly The earth by lo gladdened with a queen. 5 IO IN EGYPT I listened from the island in the Nile ; The waves were musical, the wheeling stars Chimed in their courses, from the looming fane Lowed sacred Apis, and the voice of all Saluted lo coming to be queen. A sound goes forth from Ethiopia ; The hills unlock their fountains, burdened clouds Unsluice their murky waters, rills with rain Roll, rage and roar ; soon Nile with mighty floods Comes crowding on the land and blesses it More blest with lo coming to be queen. The dusky faces swarm into the streets ; They wait for thee with leopards leashed in gold, With ebon, ivory, frankincense, and myrrh. The cymbals clash around Amenophis Sole-sitting in his royal seat ; his lords Look forth and hear him crying : " See ye aught Of my dark sisters and my golden queen ? " 6 IO IN EGYPT Then went she with them. Through plains, water-like With the green millet's glimmer ; past the huts Huddled in date-trees ; where the sifted sand Locked the laborious foot, and cattle lay Cool in the shadow of the pyramid ; Through avenues enormous, sphinx on sphinx, And pillared streets and shouting multitudes. So to the palace, niched with gilded forms Of god and sage, and bright with giant kings Warring for ever on the pictured frieze ; Then the great court, awful with deities, Where pressed Amenophis his vivid throne, That seemed a golden glowing apple, rolled From the bent knees of his colossal gods. WINE AND SLEEP WINE AND SLEEP AMID Cithaeron's wilderness, what time Ambiguous eve was brightening stars with shade, I heard young Bacchus boasting, as, superb In languid pride and jovial indolence, He leaned against a plane-tree richly wed With vine at the Immortal's touch upgrown. Low-browed, with pulsing nostril and short HP, And slackly muscular he leaned, a cup Idly on his plump finger balancing, And glorying thus he mocked the other Gods : Apollo, Hermes, Hera, Cybele, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Artemis, And very majesty of Zeus, look down, And say where ye descry your worshippers. Cold flaky ashes choke the relic brand, Unbutchered lows the steer, neglected droops The chaplet interwoven with pale webs. 8 WINE AND SLEEP For that the cities and the villages Are void of those who worshipped erst, but now, Evoe-shrieking, thyrsus-brandishing, Grape-maddened, roam Cithaeron's wilds with me, The youngest and the mightiest of the Gods. Thus vaunting, he strode forth, and with proud glance Surveyed his retinue, but instantly Contentment fled him, and he flushed with wrath, 'Ware of the presence of a mightier God ; For all the Maenads lay subdued by Sleep. Careless in flowing attitudes, like streams Of living beauty poured and serpenting, They lay on bunches of crushed grapes, or coils Of limber ivy, delicate of leaf, Blent with the thyrsus, the empurpled bowl, And copious tresses' prodigality. The deadly beauty of the leopardess Slumbered among them, tawnier for the milk Of their smooth limbs, blunt head and dainty paw Entangled in the wreaths, and, carried long 9 WINE AND SLEEP In frenzy, the loosed serpent stole away. And Bacchus raised his hand as if to grasp His ivy crown, and hurl it 'mid the troop : When lo ! his hand met poppies, and his lips Inbreathed a fume more odorous than the sweet Of saturated wine-jars long immured And fresh unsealed. Swimming, his eye- ball thrice Circuited the moist oval of his eye, Then sank, and his drowsed hand dismissed the cup j And as a poured libation bubbles, creams, Then melts into the sod, so were his limbs Convulsed, composed, and as the wavering fall Of a shed rose-leaf on a windless noon, Such was his mild declension to the earth. There, undulant yet moveless, low he lay, The youngest and the loveliest of the Gods. And then a cloud eclipsed Cithaeron's snow, And issuing thunder boomed, big with the bland And sovran laughter of supremest Zeus. 10 THE SEA OF SOUL THE SEA OF SOUL WRIT vast Creation o'er By heavenly hand behold the precept true ; Lock not the abounding store With niggard heart and poor ; Give, that it may be given unto you. The rich sun not in vain Feeds on his own great heart of living light : The planets' shining train By his their state sustain. And by his fire's decrease the moon burns bright. The black cloud tempest-sped, Showering its silver on the barren sea, Gives life unto the dead When drops so wildly shed Come back in happy rain to comfort flower and tree. ii THE SEA OF SOUL All energy and rest, All interchange of shadow or of shine, Are blended and are blest In mutual interest. Should not the lot of all things else be mine ? Sunlike my spirit burns, Lavish of light for mortal need amassed ; It leaves me, nor returns, No stars in golden urns Gather the brightness that from me hath past. For Penury and Pain Medicine I know, and Sorrow I can cheer ; But Sympathy's sweet rain Visiteth not again The source it fled, and my own heart is sere. Sore though the lip might chide, One little kiss of Love had made it dumb. I deemed we walked allied ; I called him to my side ; Gone was he not, for he had never come. 12 THE SEA OF SOUL Tears streaming inwardly, Thoughts misbegot and perishing alone : Can like abortion be By Nature's alchemy Wrought to a solace for the souls unknown ? Hath not Mind substance ? rare. But true as those twin oceans Space reveals, Bright water and soft air ? Whereof, touched anywhere, The whole mass thrills, and every atom feels. Cast then, of man unheard, Into that sea of soul thy secret sigh : Billow by billow stirred Swells with the tongueless word, And the far deeps have knowledge and reply. If such be Being's bent, I, wronged in nought, no more will idly rue, Nor more, my discontent Soothing with sweet lament, Linger beside my grief, as now I do. MELUSINA MELUS1NA 'TwAS when the loitering eves of idle June Like breezeless barks went slow and drowsy And Vesper kindled, and the mellowing moon Stood out distinct against the deep-blue sky, And the sun's wake, though he had vanished quite, Edged half the sultry heaven with orange light Then, as a prisoned bird that will not sing Another song than erst the woodland taught, Where once she roved with free unfearful wing, So Melusina would not chant of aught But the still rivers, and of what may be Locked in the deep illimitable sea. 14 MELUSINA And so her songs were fair with fairest shapes Of Nixes that in reedy rivers roam, And those that haunt the billow-beaten capes, Flinging white arms around the flashing foam, And those that aim their music and their smiles At seamen shallop-borne past purple isles. She sang of the strange flowers that ever thrust Their blooms up towards the heaven they ne'er behold, And caves where pearls lie prodigal as dust, And spars of veering violet and gold, And constant shells that evermore retain The moody music of the murmuring main. The glowing woof of her bright songs por- trayed Great Neptune awful in the majesty Of his vast amber palace, pearl-inlaid, Domed with that mighty emerald, the sea; Or shining on his kingdoms like a star, As brine-born coursers snorted in his car. 15 MELUSINA Also she chanted of the faery pride Of Amphitrite rising on the sea, When moonbeams kiss it, and the mounting tide Wantons beneath the argent luxury. On dolphins' backs the harping Nymphs are borne, The Tritons swim, and blow upon the horn. Nor did she shun to tell of those who kiss The wandering corpse, and bear it to the caves Lonely and deep, where tempest never is, Nor any passion in the quiet waves ; But sweet low ripples stir with languid tone, And with their voice the spirit blends her own : c Sleep, chilly form, and evermore forget If thou hadst any wife or children dear, Or friendly cheek that haply may be wet, Or eyelash silvered with a growing tear ; Soothed to a dumb unalterable rest, With quiet folded round thee like a vest. 16 MELUSINA c The savage wind that vexed thee with its strife, The treacherous wave that rose and whelmed thy prow How gladly would they lay their troubled life Adown, and rest them here, and be as thou ! Repose for years untold they roam to find, And still are weary wave and weary wind.' As one who with a buried lover's ghost Walks, while the white moon wanders up the sky, And in the shadowy kisses joys almost As much as though the living Love were by, Her yearning spirit did she half appease With such vague dreams and dim remem- brances. EVEN-STAR EVEN-STAR FIRST-BORN and final relic of the night, I dwell aloof in dim immensity ; The grey sky sparkles with my fairy light ; I mix among the dancers of the sea ; Yet stoop not from the throne I must retain High o'er the silver sources of the rain. Vicissitude I know not, nor can know, Yet much discern strewed everywhere around ; The ever-stirring race of men below Much do I watch, and wish I were not bound The chainless captive of this lonely spot, Where light-winged Mutability is not. I see great cities rise, which being hoar Are slowly rendered unto dust again ; And roaring billows preying on the shore j And virgin isles ascending from the main; 18 EVE N-S TAR The passing wave of the perpetual river ; And men depart, and man remaining ever. The upturned eyes of many a mortal maid Glass me in gathering tears, soon kissed away; Then walks she for a space, and then is laid Swelling the bosom of the quiet clay. I muse what this all-kindling Love may be, And what this Death that never comes to me. SICILIAN OCTAVES SICILIAN OCTAVES The Sicilian Octave described and exemplified. To thee, fair isle, Italia's satellite, Italian harps their native measures lend ; Yet, wooing sweet diversity, not quite Thy octaves with Italia's octave blend ; Six streaming lines amass the arrowy might In hers, one cataract couplet doth expend ; Thine lakewise widens, level in the light, And like to its beginning is its end. ii The blade, unbuckled from the warrior's side, Hath oft-times fought against its former lord; And oft the eagle's blood an arrow dyed, Plumed from the very wing wherewith he soared j 20 SICILIAN OCTAVES And oft, to have on other hearts relied. The heart has late and bitterly deplored ; But I will make my constancy my pride, And worship aye where I have once adored. in As when a prophet rapt unto the skies, Remanded then to earth, for pledge doth claim Some leaf new plucked from groves of Paradise, Or gem imbued with no terrestrial flame, Lest, when at length the disenchanted eyes Ope on the wonted world, his heart grow tame And sceptic of its own high histories ; Thus only doth the Poet covet Fame. IV Spring's ravished blossoms garment not the blast ; Not for its wrecks doth Ocean statelier roll ; The Roman glutton's nightingale repast Did ne'er one lip to melody control ; 21 SICILIAN OCTAVES Thou wilt not, moth, be Psyche at the last For fretting Beauty's silk and Learning's scroll; But what is so unprofitably cast As lovely form around a loveless soul ? v The mightiest sea its times of ebbing knows ; The purest flame hath smoke and ashes wan ; The butterfly a reptile's youth ; the rose An earthy root ; a heavy flight the swan ; The sabre is not all an edge ; nor grows The almond with the almond-bloom ; upon Damascus in her orchards frown the snows Indissolubly heaped on Lebanon. VI Philosophy, first of God-given things, How vain his thought whoever would contrive To blend thy lamp-oil with Castalian springs, And make Minerva with Apollo wive ! Glad carols who spontaneously sings Seeks not their school who meditate and strive ; Which were as though the rose should put on wings, And go to gather sweetness at the hive. 22 SICILIAN OCTAVES VII 'Tis heaven to learn thy lot no longer crost ; 'Tis hell to know it raised o'er mine so far j If the sweet fellowship of fate be lost, Not all the Gods can keep us as we are ; If they in sooth can stay the spirit's frost, Then welcome jealousy, and ire, and jar ; Better Love's bark on desperate billows tost Than sailing safely by another's star. VIII To thee 'tis pleasure, haply, to have brought Home costly ware from Ormus or Japan ; And thine, when long and keen pursuit has caught Strange bird, or Psyche gay with veined fan ; And thine, to spell some sentence, wisdom- fraught, In palimpsest or Arab alcoran ; And mine, to seize some rare and coloured thought, And cage it in my verse Sicilian. THE BROKEN EGG THE BROKEN EGG (PORTUGUESE LEGEND) A FARMER tilled his plot 'mid waste and wild j One daughter dwelt with him, his only child ; And one man-servant did he entertain. It fortuned on a day of wind and rain A stranger lighted down his door beside, And entered, and entreated for a guide : 'For I,' he urged, 'come hither from Brazil, Bearing great store of gold, and it were ill To chance on robbers in this solitude.' c Give,' quoth the churl, not proffering drink or food, c And this my hind shall help thee to thy way.' And so it was, but when at close of day The knave returned, he rode the stranger's horse, And, c Master,' said he, c let us two discourse, For I have somewhat for thy private ear.' 24 THE BROKEN EGG c I hearken, speak.' c Thy daughter I hold dear, And, an thou wilt, to marry her am fain.' c Varlet, what drunkenness hath crazed thy brain ? By Heaven ! but thou shouldst taste of whip and thong, Hadst thou not served me faithfully and long.' ' Dear master,' said the servant, ' not so hot ; For know that in a solitary spot I fell upon thy guest, and smote him dead, And in the forest he lies buried, And mine is every ingot and doubloon.' c Ha!' quoth his lord, 'that chimes another tune : My daughter's troth is thine, thou good young man ; Yet must thou go where this American Thou hast disposed of, in the ground is laid, And thrice and four times call upon his shade, And ask of it what interval may be Ere vengeance for this blood shall visit thee.' 25 THE BROKEN EGG All joyous to the spot the murderer hied, And as his lord commanded him he cried, And shivered as there smote upon his ears The sepulchre's deep answer, c Thirty years.' ' Good,' spake the sire, c my daughter thou may'st wed, For ere the thirty years I shall be dead.' Yet lived he on, and when the thirty years Were all -accomplished, came two wanderers ; And he, with unaccustomed kindness, said, ' Let them come in and sup, and have a bed.' They entered then, but with a careless gait Striding, one fellow kicked against a crate Of country-stuff upon the floor, and broke An egg. And when he saw the running yolk That ancient sire began to rail and swear. c Sir,' said the tramp, c make not this thing a care, For though I roam the country-side and beg, Yet certes I can pay you for an egg.' 'Pish for the egg,' he said, c but well I see That Fortune's wheel is turning back with me. 26 THE BROKEN EGG *Tis thirty years I gave my child her spouse, And since have I inhabited this house In plenty, with my daughter and my son ; These thirty years no deed of mercy done ; These thirty years known no minutest cross, This shattered egg my solitary loss ; And now I harbour him who comes to beg, And presently am poorer by an egg.' Yet had the men their supper and their bed, And when the house was still, one whispering said, 'Art thou asleep ? ' 'Asleep ! In faith not I. I am not brave enough to shut an eye Where thirty years no kindness hath been shown, Or any grief or spite of fortune known, Save for a broken egg. Upon the sand This house is builded, and it will not stand.' ' Too late another lodging-place to try.' c No matter, let us sleep beneath the sky ; That will not fall upon our heads.' So they Stole forth, and in the open country lay. 27 THE BROKEN EGG An old wall sheltered them, as best it might. They slept, but soon upstarted in affright. With one loud ruin all the country rung ; Trembling, each closer to his fellow clung, Till, scarce emboldened by the breaking day, Fearful and eager they bent back their way To mark the manner of that mansion's fall ; But earth had swallowed and devoured it all. Inmates and house had gone into the pit, And nothing more was seen of them or it. 28 THE ISLAND OF SHADOWS THE ISLAND OF SHADOWS YES, Cara mine, I know that I shall stand Upon the seashore soon, And watch the waves that die upon the strand, And the immortal moon. One mew will hover 'mid the drowsy damp That clogs the breezes there, One star suspend her solitary lamp, High in the viewless air. My straining eyes will mark a distant oar, Grazing the supple sea, And a light pinnace speeding to the shore, And in it thou wilt be. The empty veins with life no more are warm, The eyes no longer shine, The pale star gazes through the pallid form, What matter ? thou art mine. 29 THE ISLAND OF SHADOWS The Love which, while it walked the earth, could meet No place to lay its head, Now reigns unchallenged in the winding- sheet, Nor fears its kindred dead. For Love dwells with the dead, though more sedate, Chastened, and mild it seems ; While Avarice, Envy, Jealousy, and Hate, With them are only dreams. I step into the boat, our steady prore Furrows the still moonlight ; The sea is merry with our plashing oar, With our quick rudder white. No word has passed thy lips, but yet I know Well where our course will be j We leave the worn-out world is it not so ? The uncorrupted sea To cross, and gain some isle in whose sweet shade Even Slavery is free ; And careless Care on smoothest rose-leaves laid Becomes Tranquillity. 30 THE ISLAND OF SHADOWS Far, far the haunts where, robed in gory weeds, Grim War his court doth hold, And mumbling Superstition counts his beads, And Avarice his gold. But Love and Death, the comrades and the twins, Uninterrupted reign ; Where is it that one ends and one begins ? And are they one or twain ? And all is like thy soul, pensive and fair, Veiled in a shadowy dress, And strewn with gems more rich were they more rare, And steeped in balminess. No drossy shape of earthliness appears On the phantastic coast, No grosser sound strikes the attuned ears, Than footfall of a ghost. Seclusion, quiet, silence, slumber, dreams, No murmur of a breath ; The same still image on the same still streams, Of Love caressing Death. THE ISLAND OF SHADOWS So let us hasten, Love ! Our steady prore Furrows the still moonlight ; The sea is merry with our plashing oar. With our quick rudder white. 32 MORE MORE TO-DAY I am a beggar poor, And pitiful to see, And take my staff across the moor, And come, dear heart, to thee, And knock at thy beloved door, What wilt thou give to me ? Take of the shining silver more I cannot give to thee. Of paltry silver, pale and poor, Give not, my Love, to me. See, here is gold, a little store, Yet will I give to thee. 'Twas not the ruddy gold could bring Me praying to thy door. Take then this little true-love ring, And ask me for no more. Fair is the dainty golden band, And yet must I implore. Then with the ring behold the hand ; How can I give thee more ? 33 BY TROPIC SHORES BY TROPIC SHORES BY tropic shores the swallow sits, Or with uneasy wing From headland unto headland flits, And chides the lagging Spring. Stream forth, thou warm south-west, and waft Us quickening breath anew, And soon the bird, a feathery shaft, Shall gleam in English blue. For greenness waits the barren grove, For warmth his sunny song The lark delays, I mine for love. How long, O Love, how long ? 34 THE LOST POETRY OF SAPPHO THE LOST POETRY OF SAPPHO TIME, I know, is ruler, and Change almighty ; Youths become the old, and the aged corpses, Corpses worms, worms dust, and the Mauso- leum's Self a tradition. Be this thought but thought, and a pallor blanches Bridal cheeks, and kisses of fire are frozen, Swiftest blood is stayed, and alone thou smilest Blithe and undaunted, Who, secluse, a serious priest of Pallas, Daily, nightly, patient accumulatest Lore on lore, with gradual toil perfecting Knowledge to wisdom. Or who, holy, chapleted, Art's disciple, Rapt in earthless glow and aspiring, ever, Building, limning, sculpturing, singing, god- like Beauty begettest. 35 THE LOST POETRY OF SAPPHO Pomp and state to billowy corn I liken, Random-sown, and reaped in its golden season, Youth to roses, are ye not, Art and Wisdom, Laurel and : Thus I spoke in fervour, insanely deeming Blunt the scythe of Time, and his gla- tarded, When, scarce breathed, stole sorrowful accents, ' Say then, Are we remembered ? We who erst, fleet-winged with desire ..tic, Fled the lips, and over the soul of Sappho Hung sublime, loud larks in the blaze of icr Panting and pouring Fiery-hearted strains, which, as eyes of eagles Gaze alone on noonday intenseness, only Gods might hear serene, nor be rapt and rave with Frenzy delicious. 56 THE LOST POETRY OF SAPPHO Tell us where thou canst not ! a youth, a maiden Plumes the eager lip with our lyric pin: ne hearts aloud in our grasp, like swallows Snatched by the falcon ? Dead the lark of Lesbos, the swan of Leucas, Chill disurned Helicon's fountain chanteth of ours no more, neither do the planes of Attica hear us. Scrolless, Museless, bodiless, lyreless, lip Empty shade are we, and an idle rumour, Rich Oblivion's trophy How then calPst and Beauty immortal ? ' Voices dear, I pray ye by Hippocrene, By the cliffs, the vines, and the rills of Lesbos, By this heart's vibration I pray ye, spare my Beautiful vision, Spare my one poor raft in a world of waters ! Changed, not silent I deem ye yet, the ample Earth your home, not scrolls, and the of Nati. Self your expression. 37 THE LOST POETRY OF SAPPHO When, each wave a separate leap of brightness, Glitters far-spread Ocean, or roaring renders Thunder dumb, or strays with a sweet en- croachment Over the beaches : When the tune of winds, and the bird's recital Blend in vale, in thicket O let me deem then Birds and winds thy harps, and that Ocean peals thy Harmony, Sappho. THE FRIEND OF GREECE THE FRIEND OF GREECE /3a/. 13, 1887. i 129 SHADOWS BEFORE SHADOWS BEFORE WHAT vague enchantment fascinates my breast ? What lure unseen decoys my steps along ? What spell of utterance faint, of influence strong, Persuades the soul to some sublimer quest ? By what new rapture shall she be possest ? Ennobled how amid the human throng ? Darling of Fortune ? minister of Song ? Or in Love's arms more exquisitely blest ? Not with the augur's science have I spied To scan what this fair mystery may mean : Knowing what Spirit alway at my side Hath stood through various life's dis- ordered scene, Meekly I follow that divinest Guide, Led by his hand as I have ever been. 130 THE SANDS OF TIME THE SANDS OF TIME CAMEST thou from the desert or the sea, Slow-raining sand, whose lapse of gleaming brown Stealeth the glassy horologe adown, Arraying Time with visibility ? Helpmate in either hath he had in thee, Tombing the pride of temple or of town, Or withering with salt waste the herbless down, As willed the varying wind's inconstancy. Thou, joyless load on earth for ever laid, Yet plaything of all breezes as they pass, Recordest here what thou depictest well : The thing like thee of streaming atoms made, Singly a nothing, measureless in mass, Mutation all, and yet unalterable ! TO AMERICA TO AMERICA AFTER READING SOME UNGENEROUS CRITICISMS WHAT though thy Muse the singer's art essay With lip now over-loud, now over-low ? 'Tis but the augury that makes her so Of the high things she hath in charge to say. How shall the giantess of gold and clay, Girt with two oceans, crowned with Arctic snow, Sandalled with shining seas of Mexico, Be pared to trim proportion in a day? Thou art too great ! Thy million-billowed surge Of life bewilders speech, as shoreless sea Confounds the ranging eye from verge to verge With mazy strife or smooth immensity. Not soon or easily shall thence emerge A Homer or a Shakespeare worthy thee. 132 GARIBALDI S RETIREMENT GARIBALDI'S RETIREMENT NOT that three armies thou didst overthrow, Not that three cities oped their gates to thee, I praise thee, Chief, not for this royalty Decked with new crowns^that utterly laid low: For nothing of all thou didst forsake to go And tend thy vines amid the Etrurian Sea, Not even that thou didst this though history Retread two thousand selfish years to show Another Cincinnatus ! Rather for this, The having lived such life, that even this deed Of stress heroic natural seems as is Calm night, when glorious day it doth succeed ; And we, forewarned by surest auguries, The amazing act with no amazement read. 1860. '33 BISMARCK AND MOLTKE BISMARCK AND MOLTKE FIRE falters yet in the fatigued eyes : And now the slow blood stirs with sudden leap, And angry thunder daunts the spies that peep Exploring if the Lion lives or dies. But cold upon the sand his fellow lies, The far-flung shadow of whose dawnless sleep The many-nationed world doth overcreep ; Not solely where Rhine's torrent seaward hies. Day darkens, and uneasy Night must wake 'Neath her blue vault, new sown with baleful stars, And chains of Slav and Gaul spontaneous shake ; As anciently^at birth of Latin wars, Eager their appetite for blood to slake, Rome's weapons rattled in the fane of Mars. BUNYAN AND SPINOZA BUNYAN AND SPINOZA [AFTER DR. JOWETT'S SERMON] TOGETHER, Prophets, have ye trodden earth, Happy that neither might the other know : Else what so huge as the Homeric flow Of the great Hebrew's rich compassionate mirth At the great Tinker's frenzy ? save the dearth Of Bunyan's charity for Heaven's foe, Spilth of the Patmian's seven-vialled woe, A living death ! an inauspicious birth ! Now are the souls wrought of such diverse woof, Twin sons and saints of God acknowledged, each Straight in his love and in his scorn awry. Truer, be sure, is Verity's own speech Affirmative, than thunder of reproof; Truest, if listening Love stand smiling by. 1893. 135 AN OLD PERUVIAN BOOK AN OLD PERUVIAN BOOK PRINTED AT A MISSION STATION IN THE ANDES, l6l2 BOUGHT BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM SCREENED in the shadows Cordilleras fling, Where straining breast scarce breathes, and straining eye Sees nought 'twixt lifted sight and silent sky Save the huge Condor hung on heavy wing : Small skill, great love, there made me, light to bring Where, sunk beneath the mountain far as I Had birth aloft, the Indian's misery Plied toil unblest for Europe's profiting. The silver that his labour sunward drew Now buys me, haply, in this foreign mart Where Love and Skill and Labour bartered are, And it and I have interchanged our part : Homeward it journeys to remote Peru, Leaving me here beneath the Northern Star. 136 A DOUBTFUL PROSPECT A DOUBTFUL PROSPECT Is then the haven of my heart so near ? Or doth illusive fancy bid me mark The cot embowered beside the ample park, To me by triple pledge made triply dear ? September's scale suspends the waning year ; With mists the heights are grey, the valleys dark ; The shrouded sun seems shrunken to a spark ; And distances in dimness disappear. Nor am I rightly ware what eyes survey. Not of this region a familiar ; Yet with the eye the heart hath taken way, Both overbrimmed ; and blessing from afar I call, and to the dubious inmates say, Be ye most fortunate, whoe'er ye are ! '37 JOY JOY JOY is there made for all, transparent tide Of earth-embathing air, sun's general light, Sea, legioned stars, fields variously bright, And in a common country common pride : And joy to human multitudes denied, But solitary meed of soul of might, Pacing in lone content the silent height, Save by his own thought unaccompanied : Joy, too, not made for many or for one ; Flashing, as when the flying iron rings Sharp on smit stone beside the paven way, As Love to Love in exultation springs : As fades the star of morn in morning's sun, All rosiest rapture to such joy is grey. 138 SEA-PAGEANTRY SEA-PAGEANTRY NOT now doth Triton blow his wreathed horn, Reining his dolphin steed in mounting tide ; Not now, emergent Nereids beside, In pearly car is Amphitrite borne ; Sea moans of ancient pageant all forlorn ; Winds, clouds, and fowls of ocean com- panied Solely her recent severed from my side, Bleeding with bonds of tenderness uptorn. Methinks antique Poseidon and his train Of scaly seeming, were terrene at heart, From cove and bight irresolute to stray ; And now that man hath sounded every main, In fear and jealousy they move apart, Perceiving he hath grown more great than they. 139 THE TAPER THE TAPER THIS little light is not a little sign Of duteous service innocent of blame. Contented with obscurity till came Mandate that as a star her beam should shine. On sickness did she wait, or scribe, or shrine, The law of her beneficence the same, Somewhat to sunder from her fragile frame, Something of her own being to resign. So wasted now, that, let the lustre be Resummoned but once more, the fuel dies ; Yet virtues six adorn her brevity, Singly too seldom met of mortal eyes ; Discretion, faithfulness, frugality, Purity, vigilance, self-sacrifice. 140 SONGS OF SIGN SONGS OF SION MY harp upon the willows is not hung j Else had I anguish, dreading to forget The melody that soundeth sweetly yet. Albeit in idle hearing idly sung. Soul, if thou skillest aught of Sion's tongue, The more thou chide at Babylon's vain fret, The more thou Salem's strain must rebeget, For Sion lives where Sion's lyre is strung. To willowed brook or transitory breeze Trust nothing ; not on such impends the weight Of duty on thyself divinely bound ; Thy Mother's songs, of old thy lullabies, Not only to revere but renovate. Not only to remember but resound. 141 THE SONNET-CONCERT THE SONNET-CONCERT SONNET, not darling of one Muse alone, Not to a single art did Art enchain Thee, miniature of Poetry's domain ; Song, Dance, and Music woo thee for their own. First is the majesty of Music shown, Reverberate in resonant quatrain, In fourfold note reduplicate again Repeated by rebounding antiphone. These fail, and sudden, paired or tripleted, Dance forward sisters six, each, fleeting by, With warbling lip the arrested strain prolongs, Giving to sight the viewless melody In poetry of motion shaped and sped By poetry of rhythms and of songs. 142 CAMOENS IN BANISHMENT CAMOENS IN BANISHMENT [ELEGIA in.] TAGUS, afloat between whose noble shores Swim the proud barks for Indian seas designed, Moving with motion of the gentle wind, Or showering crystal drops from cleaving oars ; Say, is there one among the band deplores The glorious peril Destiny assigned To plough the lonely azure unconfined, Parting the bitter flood that ocean pours ? I, too, whom links of bondage here constrain, In like resolved mood would wend with thee, Bound for Love's deep so sunny and so drear : But, since the body cannot now be free, Abandon it, bright River, to its chain, And speed the soul, incarnate in my tear. '43 TORCHES OF LOVE AND DEATH TORCHES OF LOVE AND DEATH To him, who symbol of his empire shows By the inverted brand's declining flame. Love, spent with wayfaring, in twilight came, And said, I weary, and would taste repose. Do thou, whose vigilant eye must never close, Governing thy viewless shafts' incessant aim, Guard me, and from thy brother's realm reclaim When bathed in orient light my planet throes. And so it was, Love slumbered and arose, But, parting,, bore his comrade's torch away; Soon in Death's numbing hand his own expired : Now earth is empty of his joys and woes, And in her sages' lore, and poets' lay, Sweet Love is disesteemed, and Death desired. 144 THE SIREN THE SIREN YOUNG moon and firstling star and rising tide Gave Sirens being ; for a spell had sway In music of the many-tinted bay. And eve's horizon doubtfully espied, Sea's spirit from sea's body to divide, And shape a tender form from snowy spray, Luring with melody of magic lay Enchanted lover to enamoured bride. Enticing distance swallowed up in night, And silver cadences made roaring noise, Legend begot in human soul anew. Men said, The Siren's arms have strangling might, Her kiss consumes, her song to death decoys, And bones of youths devoured her cave bestrew. 145 THE WORLD AND THE SEA THE WORLD AND THE SEA THE mighty world is like the mighty surge ; Billow on billow rises and retreats, Yet each the others' countenance repeats, Or doth in magnitude alone diverge. The caverned Siren tarries to emerge ; Past unattempted shores the seaman fleets ; The timorous sail in shallows tacks and beats ; The sail adventurous lessens to the verge. 'Tis wreck, if any drift of worth be spied ; If aught of verdure, 'tis but drift of weed, Disrooted in the ocean's stormy whirl. Three blissful fare the barrenness beside ; The eye that watches till the wave recede, The heart that knows, the hand that grasps the pearl. 146 THE STAR OF LOVE THE STAR OF LOVE STAR, whose fair light doth more and more excel As light grows dimmer ; but at birth of sun, O'ertaken by the flame thou didst forerun, Fadest as things obscure grow visible : Men call thee Star of Love, and name thee well, Thinking on tenderness of Love begun 'Neath throbbing Hesper, or in dawn undone At beckoning Phosphor's sign inexorable. And light of Love is like the light of thee, Paired not with peer among the immortal host, Or partner with a less transcendent flame ; Brightest when all around him darkens most j Throned o'er the land and bosomed in the sea, For from Sea's bosom anciently he came. 147 BREVITY BREVITY WINDOWS in heaven, lakes of transparency ; Eve's waning hour, of light not all undrest; The distant river's mimicry of rest ; Gleams for a moment given to the sea j The passing face that snares thee innocently ; Unbidden tears ; proud sob with pride represt ; Unlooked for look of Love ; these bring Life zest Savoury with the salt of brevity. Briefness of life doth life to Life endear ; One mortal heart for all the Gods hath room j Restriction moulds and rolls the suns aright, By circumscription of compacted sphere Welding to orbs that kindle and illume, The beamless dust of spaces infinite. 148 ENDYMION ENDYMION HE slept on Latmian pinnacle upraised 'Neath amethystine skies uncrost by cloud ; No ripple rose on sea ; no blade was bowed j Sole in the purple void Love's sapphire blazed. Selene came, stooped, rose ; he woke amazed In Moonland's fiery silence, where nor loud Or low breathes hovering wind, or billows crowd Booming from beds of oceans long erased. The sun with undeflected arrow seared The flameless crater's swart and torrid wall ; The silver raiment shrouded Earth afar : Yet nought Endymion's spirit could appal j For nought beheld he in that desert weird Save Dian's eyes, more sweet than moon or star. 149 DIAN'S WAYS BLEST who unwinds the woodland's sunny maze Dappled with lights and glooms diversified, Where beams in creviced leafage sport and glide, Turning transparent green to tender blaze. But suddenly the covert shakes and sways, And swift through crashing boughs the deer hath hied, Shunning her shaft whose eye of startled pride Launches the brighter bolt that speedier slays. Her dart the deer, her mood ungentle stays Suit that the smitten spirit should have sighed, If Body found but tongue to plead or praise, Or Soul saw not that Suit must be denied. Whence then, chaste votary of Dian's ways, This little faun that trippeth at thy side ? 150 POETS OF THE CENTURY WRITTEN IN MILES'S < POETS OF THE CENTURY' I SAW the youthful singers of my day To sound of lutes and lyres in morning hours Trampling with eager feet the teeming flowers, Bound for Fame's temple upon Music's way: A happy band, a folk of holiday : But some lay down and slept among the bowers ; Some turned aside to fanes of alien Powers ; Some Death took by the hand and led away. Now gathering twilight clouds the land with Yet, where last light is lit, last pilgrims go, Outlined in .gliding shade by dying glow, And fain with weary fortitude essay The last ascent. The end is hid, but they Who follow on my step shall surely know. OCCASIONAL POEMS THE CENTURY THE CENTURY LINES ON THE ROYAL MARRIAGE July 6, 1893 EAINT with the weary way Of nine long decades travelled since her prime. The ancient Century grey Looks backward to survey Her record on the unfolded scroll of Time. Such battle-music's beat Ne'er rang around a new, defenceless birth, Since sword and shield did meet Clashing where caves of Crete Concealed the infant Lord of heaven and earth. And still, as she did grow, Loud and more loud the warrior din became. Red ran Rhine, Danube, Po ; Vast Russia's sheet of snow Crimsoned with smoking blood and surging flame. 155 THE CENTURY What gush of golden morn Purges Earth's purple blot and lurid hue ? Meek in the bowing corn. Glad in the grape reborn. The dead arise to mantle her anew. Scornful of shattered yoke, Swift Commerce speeds where Plenty's way hath lain. Strength to the hammer's stroke ! Hail to the heart of oak Charged with the floating treasure of the main ! What new unlooked-for page Turns sudden in the book of Destiny ? What spell of seer or mage, Thou wan expiring age, E'er summoned up a Power like theirs who bend to thee ? Behold yon vapoury sign Of fire and flood's inimical embrace. The jarring powers combine, The fleeing strength confine, Then laugh at dwindled Time and shrivelled Space. 156 THE CENTURY As yawns the riven hill, As force elastic whirls the train along, A swifter Spirit still Stands waiting on thy will, And Steam is now man's arm, and Lightning now his tongue. Hail ! Powers divinely lent As magic mail for mortal denizen ; Not plaything or portent, But Wisdom's instrument Wide lands to weld in one, and fashion Man from men. As in old days divine Ere all Night's arch to glowing stars was given, A space was left to shine For prince and heroine Exalted at Jove's beck, and planted in his heaven. So, though some vein that ran With human life in every floweret smiles. For westward-wending man Remains the prairie's span, And sea's uncounted multitude of isles. 157 THE CENTURY *O ye by brains and hearts Elected shapers of the coming State, Not mines alone, nor marts, But let laws, manners, arts, Approve ye Fortune's friends, and worthy of your fate ! And thou who glidest by With step unstayed, departing Century ; Lives no divining eye The issue to descry Of this great stream whose fount arose in thee ? Not studious lamp, or blaze Of altar deep Futurity illume ; Nor doth the golden maze Of winding starry ways Throb with the secret of the coming doom. Yet Heaven's allotment dread Haply may be by gentlest signs foreshown ; As by each herb we tread Some riddle may be read, And somewhat of Earth's mystery be known, 158 THE CENTURY Be then the maiden's brow With scented wreaths of southern blossom crowned. And let the bridal vow, Serenely said, and low, Be heard, though nations' plaudits peal around. Be homes of men to-night With glowing globes and flaming cressets gay. And be men's memories bright With the auguster light That streams from fifty years of stainless sway. Frail though these omens be As the sea-rainbow flying with the foam ; Yet part in peace and glee Thou fading Century ; The bow is in the cloud, thou bear'st a pro- mise home. LINES AT BOSCOMBE LINES AT BOSCOMBE So, Florence, you have shown to me All your wild region by the sea > The pines, mysterious to us both, Distorted with a sidelong growth Of boughs irregularly spread, And rough trunks ivy-garlanded ; The pathways indistinct and brief Littered with droppings of the leaf; The bents' precarious and scant Life on the mounds extravagant Of sand towards the abysmal sea Crumbling for ever silently j The rain-worn gully ; the embrowned Curve, sweeping half the horizon round, Of low beach smooth to the content Of the caressing element ; The glad waves' unconstrained advance, And simultaneous resonance, 1 60 LINES AT BOSCOMBE And silvery flash, the roving skiff, And Bournemouth's pier, and Swanage cliff, Dulling its line of keenest white In the warm prevalence of light ; And now we sit, you smile, I sigh ; What think we, Florence, you and I ? This vision to my fancy brought Another, Florence, I have thought Of a remote, more azure sea, Ship-bringer unto Italy : Not where the sullied wave reflects The smoke Vesuvius ejects, Or ripplings wreathe their radiant smiles Under Ligurian campaniles, Or where the classic waters bring Music around the ruining Of the lost Baiae they inter Blithely, or are the theatre Where marvelling Messina sees Morgana's airy witcheries : But where forlorner floods have placed Salt lips against the Pisan waste Of sand the dry sirocco has Heaped lavishly, and reeds and grass Fed by lagoons and swampy chains Of ponds, where sole the heron reigns, L 161 LINES AT BOSCOMBE Till wroth and dissonant he goes. Scared by the charging buffaloes, Yet almost everywhere you see The violet's blue fragility Nestling her little store of sweet 'Mid the stained sheddings at the feet Of the old pine-trees that appear As universal there as here. What welds the subtle link between The English and the Tuscan scene ? Not merely their accordant mood Of independent solitude ; Not only that the eye might scan, Ranging the realm Etrurian, In pine, and knoll, and sand, and sea, Almost this region's mimicry ; But that one Spirit doth efface The differences of either place, Making of each the same obscure Ground of one radiant portraiture That soul of planetary birth, Tempered for some more prosperous Earth, Haply by error or by guile Rapt from the star most volatile That speeds with fleet and fieriest might Next to the kernel of all light, 162 LINES AT BOSCOMBE Fallen unwelcome, unaware On this low world of want and care, Mistake, misfortune, and misdeed, Passion and pang, where not indeed Ever might envious daemon quell The ardour indestructible ; The mood scarce human or divine, Angelic half, half infantine ; The intense unearthly quivering Of rapture or of suffering ; The lyre, now thrilling wild and high, Now stately as the symphony That times the solemn periods, Comings and goings of the Gods, And smitten with as free a hand As if the plectrum were a wand Gifted with magic to unbar The silver gate of every star : And truly, Shelley thine were strains Tuned for thy spirit's old domains, Breathed less intelligibly for The duller earthly auditor. Yes, Shelley loved the forests dim By Pisa's coast, here they love him ! Italian shades could only give A refuge to the fugitive, 163 LINES AT BOSCOMBE Whom these retreats, where never came His wandering foot, and with his name Only fortuitously blent, Own as their boast and ornament : These woods, dark borderers of the wave From Percy's shrine to Mary's grave, Whose sombre and perennial woof Screens from the spray the cheerful roof O'er high saloons and galleries spread, The relic-chambers of the dead. There, Florence, like a daisy's bloom Fair on some old heroic tomb In modesty and ignorance, The sweetness of your sunny glance Descries, untutored to discern, The secret of the silver urn Shrining the ashes chill and grey Of the rich heart that glowed alway, The shredded locks all trifles else Where worth Affection only tells j With her still count of all the most, Those drops from the heart's innermost Shed on the scrawled and blotted page, Which when at last its spells engage The free enthusiastic mood And poetry of maidenhood 164 LINES AT BOSCOMBE Then shall not even this meaner chant Be ineffectual ministrant To wing the spirit, taught its strength With aspiration, till at length Another look shall occupy The brown arena of the eye Fixed on me now with half distress And wonder at my pensiveness. 1860. 165 WITH AN INDIAN LAMP WITH AN INDIAN LAMP LAMP, fitly rendered at her shrine Whose soul so oft hath lighted mine, I would Aladdin's spell were thine. Not that thou shouldst enact the part Alluring to the vulgar heart ; Raise in an hour a sumptuous dome For her who seeks a simple home ; Heap gold unwelcome on the spot Where only it is valued not ; Deck with the grace of pearl and gem The grace that hath no need of them j But by thy power that bridged might be The weltering waste of weary sea, O'erleapt the desert's searing space ; That instantaneous thou might'st place The wanderer frail where Ganges laves The palm whose fellowship she craves ; And when her foot forgot to roam, O better far ! might'st bear her home. 166 WITH AN INDIAN LAMP Yet, though the Efreet now no more Speed at thy bidding as of yore, Spirit more exquisite may be Swayed by a subtler sorcery. When the fierce days desired decline Kindles thy brilliance vespertine, And the pure beam, thy quivering soul, Simple yet ample, floods her scroll, Tell her who keep remote and fain Vigil beside the flickering twain Of Earth's dim lamps that dimmest be; Fond Hope and pallid Memory. 167 A WELCOME A WELCOME WHOSE bark from Baltic isles to ours Do friendly breezes bring ? 'Tis hers, companion of the flowers, Forerunner of the spring. On our soil her foot is set With the firstling violet, 'Mid happy trees displaying Themselves in new arraying. Spring's bird, that with adventurous flights Thy ocean way dost trace, Mark where the herald footstep lights, And follow to the place. Through our isle's fair compass be Made the merry melody Of sky and air repeating The gladness of our greeting. 1 68 A WELCOME All hail ! fair stranger, gentle bride, Before whose face this day A mourning robe is cast aside, A cloud is rolled away. Come with birds and blossoms bright, Genial warmth and lengthening light, And round thy path assemble All things thou dost resemble ! Feb. 1863. 169 MEMORIAL VERSES MEMORIAL VERSES BIRTH-CHAMBER. SHRINE of the dawning speech and thought Of Shelley, sacred be To all who bow where Time has brought Gifts to Eternity. ii FOR A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF ISANDHLANA STAND proud and sad, memorial Urn, To bid him know who draweth near, Triumph did ne'er more honour earn Than dark Disaster gathered here. 170 MEMORIAL VERSES III ALFRED LORD TENNYSON, 1809-1892 WOULD'ST know my place and stature among men ? Answered be thou as he who asks of Wren, And reads engraven on the hallowed ground, c Seeker, thou needest but to look around.' Thou, though with sight discomfited, survey The various vision of Victoria's day ; New thoughts, new arts, new laws, new lore behold, Yet the same mind indwelling as of old ; All in my song's vast harmony embraced, The new enthroned, nor yet the old displaced ; P'ields to thy view by hosts contending trod Calm unto mine as to the eye of God : Set then my soul that spacious scene beside, And by its measure mine be certified : I through the Spirit of that world alone, He through me only truly to be known. 171 MEMORIAL VERSES IV FOR THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE c ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS ' Segnius irritant animos demhsa per aurem Quam qua sunt oculls subjecta fidettbus. IF old Experience stand on Flaccus' side, Lending his lore new warrant day by day, Let Clio's page for mine be cast aside, For I can show what she can only say. v AN EPITAPH Death's due demanded and Life's task achieved, I greet the home I sought not nor did shun : Thankful for the great good I have received, More thankful for the little I have done. 172 OF THE "NIVERSfTYJ Or Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE Printers to Her Majesty By the same Author. THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. To be obtained of ELKIN MATHEWS and Jonx LAM:. Price 35. 6d. net. ' Mr. Garnett proves himself to be an artist in literary satire. He has exceeding culture, a wide range of sympathy, the rare faculty of serene irony, and a style at once delicate and vigorous, concise, and yet vividly illus- trative. ' Academy. ' There is nothing exactly like them anywhere else, and you wish there were more.' National Observer. ' In our opinion this volume takes rank, for imagination and delicate humour, above most of the literary work of recent years. Every tale is crackling with wit, and if imagination and style compose the true elixir of literary life, The Twilight of the Gods should live.' British Weekly. ' A volume of stories possessing a curiously blended ilavour of scholarship, quaint fancifulness, and almost grim satire. The literary workmanship is characteristically graceful and finished.' Scottish Leader. List of Books in Belles Retires '893 f fin /Pant: antnors Cfioict&J&art Stations in Mfftsftftw. a 9. I t ALL BOOKS IN THIS CATALOGUE ARE PUBLISHED AT NET PRICES Telegraphic Address ' BODLEIAN, LONDON ' ' A WORD must be said for the manner in which the publishers *. have produced the volume (i.e. "The Earth Fiend"), a sumptuous folio, printed by CONSTABLE, the etchings on Japanese paper by MR. GOULDING. The volume should add not only to MR. STRANG'S fame but to that of MESSRS. ELKIN MATHEWS AND JOHN LANE, who are rapidly gaining distinction for their beautiful editions of belles-lettres.' Daily Chronicle, Sept. 24, 1892. Referring to MR. LE GALLIENNE'S ' English Poems ' and ' Silhouettes ' by MR. ARTHUR SYMONS : ' We only refer to them now to note a fact which they illustrate, and which we have been observing of late, namely, the recovery to a certain extent of good taste in the matter of printing and binding books. These two books, which are turned out by MESSRS. ELKIN MATHEWS AND JOHN LANE, are models of artistic publishing, and yet they are simplicity itself. The books with their excellent printing and their very simplicity make a harmony which is satisfying to the artistic sense.' Sunday Sun, Oct. 2, 1892. ' MR. LE GALLIENNE is a fortunate young gentleman. I don't know by what legerdemain he and his publishers work, but here, in an age as stony to poetry as the ages of Chatterton and Richard Savage, we find the full edition of his book sold before publication. How is it done, MESSRS. ELKIN MATHEWS AND JOHN LANE? for, without depreciating MR. LE GALLIENNE'S sweetness and charm, I doubt that the marvel would have been wrought under another publisher. These publishers, indeed, produce books so de- lightfully that it must give an added pleasure to the hoarding of first editions.' KATHARINE TYNAN in The Irish Daily Independent. To MESSRS. ELKIN MATHEWS AND JOHN LANE almost more than to any other, we take it, are the thanks of the grateful singer especially due ; for it is they who have managed, by means of limited editions and charming workmanship, to impress book- buyers with the belief that a volume may have an aesthetic and commercial value. They have made it possible to speculate in the latest discovered poet, as in a new company with the difference that an operation in the former can be done with three half-crowns.' St James 's Gazette. September 1893. List of Books TN BELLES LETT RES (Including some Transfers} PUBLISHED BY Elkin Mathews and John Lane %ty BoDlep !geaD VI GO STREET, LONDON, W. N. B. The A uthors and Publishers reserve the right of reprinting any book in this list if a second edition is called for, except in cases where a stipulation has been made to the contrary, and of printing a separate edition of any of the books for America irrespective of the numbers to which the English editions are limited. The numbers mentioned do not include the copies sent for review or to the public, libraries. ADDLESHAW (PERCY). POEMS. I2mo. 55. net. [In preparation. ALLEN (GRANT). THE LOWER SLOPES : A Yolume of Verse. 600 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 55. net. [Immediately. ANT^US. THE BACKSLIDER AND OTHER POEMS. 100 only. Small 410. 75. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. BEECHING (H. C), J. W. MACKAIL, & J. B. B. NICHOLS. LOVE IN IDLENESS. With Vignette by W. B. SCOTT. Fcap. 8vo, half vellum. I2s.net. \_Veryfewremain. Transferred by the Authors to the present Publishers. THE PUBLICATIONS OF BENSON (ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER). POEMS. 550 copies. I2mo. 55. net. BENSON (EUGENE). FROM THE ASOLAN HILLS : A Poem. 300 copies. Imp. i6mo. 55. net. [ Very few remain. BINYON (LAWRENCE). POEMS. I2mo. 55. net. [In preparation. BOURDILLON (F. W.). A LOST GOD : A Poem. With Illustrations by H. J. FORD. 500 copies. 8vo. 6s. net. [ Very few remain. BOURDILLON (F. W.). AILES D'ALOUETTE. Poems printed at the private press of Rev. H. DANIEL, Oxford. 100 only. i6mo. 1, IDS. net. [Very few remain. BRIDGES (ROBERT). THE GROWTH OF LOVE. Printed in Fell's old English type at the private press of Rev. H. DANIEL, Oxford. 100 only. Fcap. 410. 2, 125. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. COLERIDGE (HON. STEPHEN). TH R SANCTITY OF CONFESSION : A Romance. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 35. net. [A few remain. CRANE (WALTER). RENASCENCE: A Book of Verse. Frontispiece and 38 designs by the Author. Imp. i6mo. 7s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. Also a few fcap. 410. i, is. net. And a few fcap. 410, Japanese vellum. 1, 155. net. CROSSING (WM.). THE ANCIENT CROSSES OF DARTMOOR. With n plates. 8vo, cloth. 45. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. ELKIN MATHEWS &> JOHN LANE DAVIDSON (JOHN). PLAYS : An Unhistorical Pastoral ; A Romantic Farce ; Bruce, a Chronicle Play ; Smith, a Tragic Farce ; Scaramouch in Naxos, a Pantomime, with a Frontis- piece, Title-page, and Cover Design by AUBREY BEARDSLEY. 500 copies. Small 410. 7s. 6d. net. [Immediately. DAVIDSON (JOHN). FLEET STREET ECLOGUES. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo, buckram. 55. net. DAVIDSON (JOHN). A RANDOM ITINERARY: Prose Sketches. With a Ballad. Fcap. 8vo. Uniform with 'Fleet Street Eclogues.' 5s.net. [Immediately. DAVIDSON (JOHN). THE NORTH WALL. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. Ttufe^v remaining copies transferred by the Author to the present Publishers. DE GRUCHY (AUGUSTA). UNDER THE HAWTHORN, AND OTHER VERSES. Frontis- piece by WALTER CRANE. 300 copies. Crown 8vo. 55. net. [ Very few remain. Also 30 copies on Japanese vellum. 155. net. DE TABLEY (LORD). POEMS, DRAMATIC AND LYRICAL. By JOHN LEICESTER WARREN (Lord De Tabley). Illustrations and Cover Design by C. S. RICKETTS. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. DIAL (THE). No. i of the Second Series. Illustrations by RICKETTS, SHANNON, PISSARRO. 200 only. 410. i t is. net. [ Very few remain. The present series will be continued at irregular THE PUBLICATIONS OF EGERTON (GEORGE). KEYNOTES : Short Stories. Crown 8vo. 33. 6d. net. FIELD (MICHAEL). SIGHT AND SONG. (Poems on Pictures.) 400 copies. 121110. 5s.net. [Very few remain. FIELD (MICHAEL). STEPHANIA: A Trialogue in Three Acts. 250 copies. Pott 4to. 6s. net. [ Very few remain. GALE (NORMAN). ORCHARD SONGS. Fcap. 8vo. With Title-page and Cover Design by WILL ROTHENSTEIN. 55. net. Also a Special Edition limited in number on small paper (Whatman) bound in English vellum. i, is. net. GARNETT (RICHARD). A VOLUME OF POEMS. 350 copies. Crown 8vo. With Title -page designed byj. ILLINGWORTH KAY. 55. net. [Immediately. GOSSE (EDMUND). THE LETTERS OF THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES. Now first edited. Pott 8vo. 55. net. [Immediately. GRAHAME (KENNETH). PAGAN PAPERS : A Volume of Essays. Fcap. 8vo. 53. net. [Immediately. GREENE (G. A.). ITALIAN LYRISTS OF TO-DAY. Translations in the original metres from about thirty-five living Italian poets, with bibliographical and biographical notes. Crown 8vo. 55. net. ELKIN MATHEWS & JOHN LANE HAKE (DR. T. GORDON). A SELECTION FROM HIS POEMS. Edited by Mrs. MEYNELL. Crown 8vo. 55. net. [Immediately. 1IALLAM (ARTHUR HENRY). THE POEMS, together with his essay ' On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry and on the Lyrical Poems of ALFRED TENNYSON.' Edited, with an Introduction, by RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. 550 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 55. net. [ Very few remain. HAMILTON (COL. IAN). THE BALLAD OF HADJI AND OTHER POEMS. Etched Frontispiece by WM. STRANG. 550 copies. I2mo. 35. net. Transferred by tlie Author to the present Publishers. HAYES (\LFRED). THE VALE OF ARDEN AND OTHER POEMS. With Title- ptge and Cover Design by LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Fcap. 8vo. 55. net. [In preparation. 1IICKEY (EMILY H.). VERSF TALES, LYRICS AND TRANSLATIONS. 300 copies. Inp. i6mo. 55. net. HORNE (HERBERT P.). DiVERSl COLORES : Poems. With ornaments by the Author. 250 copies. i6mo. 55. net. IMAGE SELWYN). CAROLS AND POEMS. With decorations by H. P. HORNE. 250 copies. 55. net. [In preparation. JAMES (W. P.). ROMANTIC PROFESSIONS : A Volume of Essays. Crown 8vo. 55. net. [Immediately. JOHNSON (EFFIE). IN THE FIRE AND OTHER FANCIES. Frontispiece by WALTER CRANE. 500 copies. Imp. i6mo. 35. 6d. net. THE PUBLICATIONS OF JOHNSON (LIONEL). THE ART OF THOMAS HARDY: Six Essays. With Etched Portrait by WM. STRANG, and Bibliography by JOHN LANE. Crown 8vo. 55. 6d. net. Also 150 copies, large paper, with proofs of the portraL i, is. net. \Vn-yshortly. JOHNSON (LIONEL). A VOLUME OF POEMS. I2mo. 5s.net. {In preparation. KEATS (JOHN). THREE ESSAYS, now issued in book form for ths first time. Edited by H. BUXTON FORMAN. With Life-mask by HAYDON. Fcap. 4to. los. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. LEATHER (R. K.). VERSES. 250 copies. P'cap. 8vo. 35. net. Transferred by the Author to the present Publish)-*. LEATHER (R. K.), & RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. THE STUDENT AND THE BODY-SNATCHER AND OTHER TRIFLES. 250 copies. Royal i8mo. 33. net. Also 50 copies large paper. 75. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). PROSE FANCIES. With Cover Design and Tit.e-page by WILL ROTHENSTEIN. 55. net. Also a limited large paper edition. i2S.6d.net. [/ Reparation. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). THE BOOK BILLS OF NARCISSUS. An Account rendered by RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. Second Edition, Crown 8vo, buckram. 35. 6d. net. ELK1N MAI Hl.NVS & JOHN LANE LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). ENGLISH POEMS. Second Edition, I2mo. 55. net. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). GEORGE MEREDITH: Some Characteristics. With a Biblio- graphy (much enlarged) by JOHN LANE, portrait, etc. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 55. 6d. net. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). THE RELIGION OF A LITERARY MAN. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. Also a special edition on hand-made paper. IDS. 6d. net. , \_l3iitncdiatcly. LETTERS TO LIVING ARTISTS. 500 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 35. 6d. net. Very few remain, MARSTON (PHILIP BOURKE). A LAST HARVEST : LYRICS AND SONNETS FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE. Edited by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. 500 copies. Post 8vo. 55. net. Also 50 copies on large paper, hand-made. los. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. MARTIN (W. WILSEY). QUATRAINS, LIFE'S MYSTERY AND OTHER POEMS. i6mo. 2s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. MARZIALS (THEO.). THE GALLERY OF PIGEONS AND OTHER POEMS. Post 8vo. 4s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers. MKVNELL (MRS.), (ALICE C. THOMPSON). POEMS. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. A few of the 50 large paper copies (First Edition) remain. 12*. 6d. net. THE PUBLICATIONS OF MEYNELL (MRS.). THE RHYTHM OF LIFE, AND OTHER ESSAYS. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 33. 6d. net. A few of the 50 large paper copies (First Edition) remain. 125. 6d. net. MURRAY (ALMA). PORTRAIT AS BEATRICE CENCI. With critical notice containing four letters from ROBERT BROWNING. 8vo, wrapper. 2s. net. NETTLESHIP (J. T.). ROBERT BROWNING : Essays and Thoughts. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s.6d.net. Half a dozen of the Whatman large paper copies (First Edition) remain, i y is. net. NOBLE (JAS. ASHCROFT). THE SONNET IN ENGLAND AND OTHER ESSAYS. Title- page and Cover Design by AUSTIN YOUNG. 600 copies. Crown 8vo. 55. net. Also 50 copies large paper. 125. 6d. net. NOEL (HON. RODEN). POOR PEOPLE'S CHRISTMAS. 250 copies. i6mo. is. net. [ Very few remain. OXFORD CHARACTERS. A series of lithographed portraits by WILL ROTHENSTEIN, with text by F. YORK POWELL and others. To be issued monthly in term. Each number will contain two portraits. Part I. ready Sept. 1893, will contain portraits of SIR HENRY ACLAND, K.C.B., F.R.S., M.D., and of Mr. W. A. L. FLETCHER, of Christ- church, President of the University Boat Club. 350 copies only, folio, wrapper, 55. net per part ; 50 special copies containing proof impressions of the portraits signed by the artist, los. 6d. net per part. PINKERTON (PERCY). GALEAZZO: A Venetian Episode and other Poems. Etched Frontispiece. i6mo. 55. net. [ Very Jew remain. Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers. ELKIN MATHEWS 5^ JOHN LANE RADFORD (DOLLIE). SONGS. A New Volume of Verse. [In preparation. RADFORD (ERNEST). CHAMBERS TWAIN. Frontispiece by WALTER CRA.NF. 250 copies. Imp. i6mo. 55. net. Also 50 copies large paper. los. 6d. net. [ Very few remain, RHYMERS' CLUB, THE BOOK OF THE. A second series is in preparation. SCHAFF (DR. P.). LITERATURE AND POETRY : Papers on Dante, etc. Portrait and Plates, 100 copies only. 8vo. los. net. SCOTT (WM. BELL). A POET'S HARVEST HOME : WITH AN AFTERMATH. 300 copies. I2mo. 5s.net. [Very few remain. *** Will not be reprinted. STODDARD (R. H.). THE LION'S CUB; WITH OTHER VERSE. Portrait. 100 copies only, bound in an illuminated Persian design. Fcap. 8vo. 55. net. [ Very few remain. SYMONDS (JOHN ADDINGTON). IN THE KEY OF BLUE, AND OTHER PROSE ESSAYS. Cover designed by C. S. RICKETTS. Second Edition. Thick Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. net. THOMPSON (FRANCIS). * A VOLUME OF POEMS. With Frontispiece, Title-page and Cover Design by LAURENCE HOUSMAN. 500 Copies. Pott 4to. 55. net. [In preparation. TODHUNTER (JOHN). A SICILIAN IDYLL. Frontispiece by WALTER CRANE. 250 copies. Imp. i6mo. 55. net. Also 50 copies large paper, fcap. 410. IDS. 6d. net. \Vtryfno remain. THE PUBLICATIONS OF TOMSON (GRAHAM R.). AFTER SUNSET. A Volume of Poems. With Title-page and Cover Design by R. ANNING BELL. I2mo. 5s. net. Also a limited large paper edition. 125. 6d. net. [In preparation. TREE (H. BEERBOHM). THE IMAGINATIVE FACULTY : A Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution. With portrait of Mr. TREE from an unpublished drawing by the Marchioness of Granby. Fcap. 8vo, boards. 2s. 6d. net. TYNAN HINKSON (KATHARINE). CUCKOO SONGS. With Title-page and Cover Design by LAURENCE HOUSMAN. 500 copies. 55. net. [In preparation. VAN DYKE (HENRY). THE POETRY OF TENNYSON. Third Edition, enlarged. Crown 8vo. 55. 6d. net. The late Laureate himself gave valuable aid in correcting various details. WATSON (WILLIAM). THE ELOPING ANGELS : A Caprice. Second Edition. Square 161110, buckram. 35. 6d. net. WATSON (WILLIAM). EXCURSIONS IN CRITICISM : being some Prose Recrea- tions of a Rhymer. Second Edition. I2mo. 5s.net. WATSON (WILLIAM). THE PRINCE'S QUEST, AND OTHER POEMS. With a Bibliographical Note added. Second Edition. I2mo. 45. 6d. net. WEDMORE (FREDERICK). PASTORALS OF FRANCE RENUNCIATIONS. A volume of Stories. Title-page by JOHN FULLEYLOVE, R.I. Crown 8vo. 55. net. A few of the large paper copies of Renunciations (First Edition) remain, los. (>d. net. ELKIN MATHEWS <^ JOHN LANE 13 WICKSTEED (P. II.). DANTE. Six Sermons. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. net. WILDE (OSCAR). THE SPHINX. A poem decorated throughout in line and colour, and bound in a design by CHARLES RICKETTS. 250 copies. 2, 2s. net. 25 copies large paper. ;5, 55. net. [In preparation. WILDE (OSCAR). The incomparable and ingenious history of Mr. W. H., being the true secret of Shakespear's sonnets now for the rirst time here fully set forth, with initial letters and cover design by CHARLES RICKETTS. $00 copies. IDS. 6d. net. Also 50 copies large paper. 2is.net. [In preparation. WILDE (OSCAR). DRAMATIC WORKS, now printed for the first time with a specially designed Title-page and binding to each volume, by CHART. ES SHANNON. 500 copies. 75. 6d. net per vol. Also 50 copies large paper. 155. net per vol. Vol. i. LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN : A Comedy in Four Acts. Vol. n. A WOMAN OF No IMPORTANCE : A Comedy in Four Acts. Vol. in. THE DUCHESS OF PADUA : A Blank Verse Tragedy in Five Acts. [In preparation. WILDE (OSCAR). SALOME : A Tragedy in one Act, done into English. \Vith ii Illustrations, title-page, and Cover Design by AUBREY BEARDSLEY. 500 copies, i5s.net. Also ioo copies, large paper. 305. net. [In preparation. WYNNE (FRANCES). WHISPER. A Volume of Verse. With a Memoir by Katharine Tynan and a Portrait added. Fcap. 8vo, buckram. 2s. 6d. net. Transferred fry the Author to the present Publishers. i 4 PUBLICATIONS OF ELKIN MATHEWS &> JOHN LANE The Hobby Horse A new series of this illustrated magazine will be published quarterly by subscription, under the Editorship of Herbert P. Home. Subscription i per annum, pest free, for the four numbers. Quarto, printed on hand-made paper, and issued in a limited edition to subscribers only. The Magazine will contain articles upon Literature, Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and the Decorative Arts; Poems ; Essays ; Fiction; original Designs; with reproduc- tions of pictures and drawings by the old masters and contemporary artists. There will be a new title- page and ornaments designed by the Editor. Among the contributors to the Hobby Horse are : The late MATTHEW ARNOLD. LAWRENCE BINYON. WILFRID BLUNT. FORD MADOX BROWN. The late ARTHUR BURGESS. E. BURNE-JONES, A.R.A. AUSTIN DOBSON. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. A. J. HIPKINS, F.S.A. SELWYN IMAGE. LIONEL JOHNSON. RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. SIR F. LEIGHTON, Bart., .P.R.A. T. HOPE MCLACHLAN. MAY MORRIS. C. HUBERT H. PARRY, Mus. Doc. A. W. POLLARD. F. YORK POWELL. CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. W. M. ROSSETTI. JOHN RUSKIN, D.C.L., LL.D. FREDERICK SANDYS. The late W. BELL SCOTT. FREDERICK J. SHIELDS. J. H. SHORTHOUSE. JAMES SMETHAM. SIMEON SOLOMON. A. SOMERVELL. The late J. ADDINGTON SYMONDS. KATHARINE TYNAN. G. F. WATTS, R.A. FREDERICK WEDMORE. OSCAR WILDE. ETC. ETC. Prospectuses on Application. THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO STREET, LONDON, W. ' Nearly every book put out by Messrs. Elkin Mathews & John Lane, at the Sign of the Bodley Head, is a satisfaction to the special senses of the modern bookman for bindings, shapes, types, and papers. They have surpassed themselves, and registered a real achievement in English bookmaking by the volume of " Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical, "of Lord DeTabley. ' Newcastle Daily Chronicle. ' A ray of hopefulness is stealing again into English poetry after the twilight greys of Clough and Arnold and Tennyson. Even unbelief wears braver colours. Despite the jeremiads, which are the dirges of the elder gods, England is still a nest of singing-birds (teste\.\\t Catalogue of Elkin Mathews and John Lane).' Mr. ZANGWILL in Pall Mall Magazine. Edinburgh : T. and A. CONSTABLE Printers to Her Majesty UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW ttt \t" JJVN7 30w-l,'15 181605 257n-4,'15 YC158190 v