THE SILENT LAND AND OTHER VERSES V BERNARD O'DOWD A uthor of ' ' Downward ? ' ' MELBOURNE T. C. LOTHIAN INSTITUTES ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED TRAVELLING LIBRARY FOR CIRCULATION AMONGST SOUTH AUSTRALIAN UTES Box No. Book No. cp6659 JAMES DALLY OLD AND RARE BOOKS Oatlands, Tasmania I eletohone f)*tt^j. on THE SILENT LAND AND OTHER VERSES All Rights Reserved. BERNARD O'DOWD Author of "Dawnward?" MELBOURNE T. C. LOTHIAN 226, LITTLE COLLINS STREET 1909 NOTE. "The Silent Land," written during 1904-5, and, in part, read before the November meeting of the Literature Society of Mel- bourne, is now printed for the first time. "Quail " (Autumn, 1905) and " Love and Sacrifice " (1903) appeared in Melbourne Tocsin during 1905. "Fallow" and "Fas" (1904-5) are now for the first time published. Four EDITION, DEC., 1905. SKCOVD IMPRESSION, JULY, 1909. Printed by BUTLER TAKNER, Frome and London. CONTENTS PAGE THE SILENT LAND Threshold Murmurs . . . . ' . .7 Motif : The Silent Roads 13 Motif : The Common Room . . . . 1 5 Motif : The Silent Great 18 Motif : The Gods 21 Motif : The Sibyl of Silence . . .26 The Tones of Silence .... .29 Evensong .... 3 1 FALLOW .... -33 FAS -37 QUAIL . 4 1 LOVE AND SACRIFICE . . . . . . . -43 2200621 A power, a thirst, a knowledge, which below All thoughts, like light beyond the atmosphere, Clothing its clouds with grace, doth ever flow, Came on us, as we sate in silence there, Beneath the golden stars of the clear azure air. SHELLEY. In the deepest and most secret recesses of mind, there is nothing hidden from the individual self, or from others, which may not be ... some time accidentally revealed ; so that it might well be that, as De Quincey surmised, the opening of the book at the day of judgment shall be the unfolding of the everlasting scroll of memory. HENRY MAUDSLEY In "Body and Mind." THE SILENT LAND THRESHOLD MURMURS ALL men live here, but know it not, Wise, foolish, leader, led, The saint, the sinner, and the sot The living and the dead. 'Tis woven with the world we hear, In subtlest tapestry : Our sounds are but translations clear Of its dumb symbolry. The dramas on its cosmic stage Are forecasts of our deeds : The storm that bids its chaos rage Our wars or panics breeds. Our half-felt sighs some tale tell true Of the Silent Land's romance, Of the Silent Me and the Silent You, Enamoured or askance. There glow the words we should have writ, The plots we might have spun, Thoughts that to deeds we should have knit, And duties left undone. Abort in life, but full-born there, These interplay with fact, Confound our courage when we dare, Baulk when we would act. THE SILENT LAND Sustaining us with baby Hopes, Begot by Seen from Hid, They cheer the path of him who gropes Up steep Doubt's pyramid. There pasture all forgotten things Ere shepherd-scouts' success Each fleecy vagrant homeward brings To the folds of Consciousness. Yea, life is thick with forms, ashine With exiled wills of men, Alert for Circumstance's sign To incarnate again. They wait the moments when we're fain For Silent Love's caress, In secret pathways of the brain, Or Reverie's recess. They linger round the Artist when With colour, sound, or word He would the petty pulse of man To cosmic throbbings chord ; In epic, as in song, intrude These rovers of the air ; And plays without an interlude By silent bards are rare ; To-day our masterpieces show The silent workmen's skill, Whom we half-heeded long ago, And thus endowed with Will. Their hints equip our eyes to gaze At a fair unwrit romance Through windows of a wayward phrase, Or a finger-mark of chance. THE SILENT LAND 9 These eerie potencies resort Where'er our leaders wait In Resolution's outer court, Dazed, indeterminate : ' Then some from you, and some from me, And some from all the host Compel them, bit by bit, to see The need, the way, the cost ; And thus on statesman, orator, Whom doubt would thwart or still, The Silent Good we've done before Imposes its good will. There we, unbaulked by mystery, Unconscious actions view, So purposeless to you and me, But not to Me and You. .. They glide about our business To prompt when we forget : The Brownies of our storm and stress Our quiet meals they set ; We lean on them in common work, We clutch at them in pain ; Distilling Sense's wort they lurk In isles of sleeping brain. Some are elusive sentinels That hint of Danger's scouts ; Some chink the scarps of principles With embryonic doubts. Through them the awkward stagger less, The wayward find their way, They steer the course of Thoughtlessness Through Night's morass to Day ; io THE SILENT LAND They build us moral archetypes, Cement Tradition's walls, Lead Inspiration's conduit-pipes From Higher Waterfalls ; They glint through rosy Fancy's sky With transient Reason's fires, Flit by the face of Reverie As callow-winged Desires ; They burn our mental garbage when The Conscience gains control ; They work our problems, guide our pen, Though strays afar the soul ; They wing us welcomes when we see Urania's ranges flame ; They glower remonstrance till we flee Pandemos' marsh of shame. To frank-eyed Conscience Silence shows The furtive face of Wrong ; And Cyrus-Innovation grows Among its mountains long ; Our Babylons of Use-and-Wont By his wild Medes are ta'en, Her poising bolts to cleanness daunt Our Cities of the Plain. Our Habits that entrap in woe, Or guide us chastened home, In still processions come and go In forms of sylph and gnome ; And many a weary mother's hand Through Winter's glades they bring The children of the Silent Land, Her thought conceived in Spring. THE SILENT LAND II In the softer gauzes of Romance The silent shuttles ply : On the cosmic loom we call them chance, Or luck, or destiny. Where partial sight coincidence Or curious fate suspects, ^5 The Seer upon the Eminence A Silent Host detects. & For in the Omnipresence nought In vanity is spent, Nor Space, nor Time, nor Act, nor Thought, Has room for Accident. They fill the blue with armies, hewn From clouds by sculptor-eyes Great portents of the sunny noon That make the reckless wise ; They chord our moods with calm and storm Till we rejoice or fear That secret good or ill we form The very seasons hear ; Whate'er our light, they tell us plain That our good or evil may Inhabit earth, for boon or bane, Instinct with us for aye. Whene'er your eyes' surprise retains Some glory wandering O'er passing face, o'er leafy lanes, You've heard a Silent Thing. 'Twill call you in your passions, yea, Can swerve them from their course, May burn you in their fever-day, Pour balm on their remorse, 12 THE SILENT LAND You cannot bound its kingdom here, Or predicate its powers, Its is an everlasting sphere : Yours, daily, Time devours ; It steels your will to face defeat When Victory's goal is Wrong : The martyr in the howling street Hears but the Silent Song. Each, silent Fabian leaders hath, Who steadfast onward plod, Although he wearies on the path That upward leads to God ; They help us in our apathies To reach toward the sublime : Some call them " Upward Tendencies," And some " The Stream of Time " ; They bear us on, though crossing drifts Seduce our languid barque : They give us lamps till tempest lifts, St. Elmos of our dark : Till Shame persuades the sleeping crew To man the deck again, And their self-lit path to port pursue Not cargo now, but men. Yet, lest our conscious urge to Right Indulgent guidance kill, They yield as clear or falser light According as we will. THE SILENT LAND 13 Motif: THE SILENT ROADS The living hedges cluster thick Along each Silent Street, Where Flower-things yearn for you to pick, And Fruit-things coax you eat For mystical self-sacrifice We do not understand Pervades the Thing-Souls that arise Out of the Silent Land. And there the panic's victims swirl, The playthings of emeute, Now wildered where the false fires curl, Now harried by pursuit. Of self-created dragon Fears, That facing would transform To guardians of their future years, And stillers of their storm. And weary ones, with few in life To blunt its keener goads, Find solace from the midday strife Upon the Silent Roads, Where gentle deeds of other years Their wayside tapers burn, Or till Devotion's cleansing tears Can brace them to return. 14 THE SILENT LAND Ah ! could we see those roads ashine With light not of our sun, Whose crowds through us the day divine And human highway shun ; When hunted outcaste, lonely friend, In our real eyes would peer, Less frugal love our arms would lend Their halting footsteps here. For in that eerie company Are the better selves of all Who find the strain of life so high They sway, and seem to fall ; The better selves that, undestroyed, Undying wars proclaim With grey temptations of the void We dare not even name. THE SILENT LAND 15 Motif: THE COMMON ROOM Is there behind all men that live One all-containing Soul, Whose symbols, apt for each one, give A transcript of the Whole ? A microcosmic aggregate Of all men's thoughts and forms, Where myriad shuttling loves abate Our individual storms ? It may be that whate'er you feel Vibrates to me so true, That somewhere, some time, I reveal The secret back to you ; That where a wrong is done to men, Whate'er their race or birth, The wound is felt, again, again, By every man on earth ; That when we root the choking weeds From flower-plot of a brother, We wither universal seeds Of ill in one another ; That as the starfish rays possess One storehouse for the whole, Whence each supplies its hunger's stress, So we have all one soul ! 16 THE SILENT LAND One soul to which each can retire, Fatigued in separate strife, To draw from All what we require Of universal life ! One shiner thus our millions stains, One good deed makes all good, And we are dowered with all men's brains, Sublime, aspiring, crude ! Is't thus, when miscreant rulers play Their diabolic part, The barbs of horror wing their way To every human heart ? Or thus that dainty-seeded lies From Rumour's winds are shed, * And universal fallacies In epidemics spread ? Yea, thus, when Courage pulls Despair From sheer Oblivion's verge, The thrills of those who struggle there Through every watcher surge ? And thus, that sorrow's sobbing breath O'er oceans seems to run, From distant bed of pain or death To absent daughter, son ? Our many-celled abode, mankind, Provides each unit guest With a cheery common-room behind, Where the Silent Archives rest. Was it the Incarnation's plan That we to-day who fall, On Him-Who-Is, in form of man. Within that room, may call ? THE SILENT LAND 17 Is Inspiration but the breath In one, of that full room ? Is all we hear from the dead of death Thence echoed to our gloom ? Are any dead ? or is it but Some leave that room to play At lonely games, in life's cell shut, And some prefer to stay ? i8 THE SILENT LAND Motif: THE SILENT GREAT We are not all the Self we seem ; We are twined around with men Who once performed this mortal dream, And dream in us again. We are bundles of the great and good, The wanderer, the slave ; We are thewed with ancient hardihood, We are garlands of the brave : -Our moods are racial ardours, woes ; Our prides, primeval fame Transformed into the wind that blows On an emotion's flame : Our moments, bright or sad, are ports Whereto some old ship brings A smile, a sigh from sylvan courts Of prehistoric kings. The Silent Great immense demesnes In every man enjoy : Here, Homer dowers our stolid brains With memories of Troy : There, deft Da Vinci so trepannes Another, London-blurred, What Florence would forbid, he bans, He thrills where she was stirred THE SILENT LAND 19 The groves where modern poet broods The perfect ancients haunt ; In sermon of divine intrudes A surreptitious Kant : Lo ! where a Swedenborgian walks And sees the town aflame, While every lambent house-top talks, In colours, of its shame ! New Hermit Peters speed the Russ On racial crusades : And Moscow Mirabeaus discuss " Red " Sunday's fusilades. 'Tis not wan memories we face When they their parts enact : They fit to modern time and place Their ancient thought or fact : They readjust the 6ood, the True, To lights obscurer then : They lead us to their point of view, Not memories, but men. g All ages have their bards who sing Some Silent Singer's song : Through statesman, conqueror and king Their Caesars flourish long : For Space and Time are nought to them But changing moulds of form : Upon their universal stem Our unit branches swarm. So shall Australian Spensers thread Through Faery realms, unknown To Celtic harper, and unread By Scald Tradition : 20 THE SILENT LAND Shall Homer, Virgil, Dante tell Through living phonograph What subtly varied draughts of hell Enlightened fear would quaff : Shall some evoke with chant that flows From Shakespeare's fruity mouth, Antipodean Prosperos, Mirandas of the South. THE SILENT LAND 21 Motif: THE GODS And here abide in changeless state All systems .known to man, All past, like pictures framed in fate, All future, limned in plan. Here all the gods that were pursue Their Silent destinies On still Olympus, Mount Meru, And Asgards of the skies. They fill their functions now as then, Unseen when unbelieved ; They love, they war, they mourn as when On earth they loved, fought, grieved. Men saw their awful dramas, or Their luscious dance and song So plainly once, that Higher Power Had pity on the wrong. Poor mortal youth or maid endured That they might pleasure feel, And, from our gaze, in myth obscured The Pagan Commonweal : Nay more, that man might partly bear The hid gods' usury, The Higher Power came down to share Our poor humanity. 22 THE SILENT LAND Yea, they were great, and are, and, while Earth's forces last, will be : Their Silent frown, their Silent smile Deflects our destiny : 'Tis they unleash the storm, the war, Who stars and atoms rein, Who speed Desire's unresting car Through Ecstasy and Pain : Who scavenger, with famine broom, With ruddy sluice of strife, With vulture swoop of mental gloom, The crowded yards of life : Who build the hills, who scoop the seas, Who tap the central fire, Who bid the flaunting tropic freeze And the snow's feet slow retire : Who plant the genius-moly 'mid The sorrel of the tame : Who from decadent faggots bid Renascent Virtue flame : Who carry throbbing thro' the void Auroras here to write The cipher of the plays enjoyed In the sun's halls to-night. With iron rule, within the sphere Allotted to them, they Compel our puny passions here Respect the Hidden Way. They hurl our Fancies to and fro, The spindrift of the tides That ceaseless ebb and tireless flow 'Tween Universe's sides. THE SILENT LAND 23 And one will flame our nerves to war For right, and eke for wrong, Another call our weaklings for The Bacchanalian song. And through the Silent Vacuum From pole to pole career The dancing fays who sidling come As cosmic forces here. Who may can see the gods send forth On eerie flight or chase The loves and hates of South and North In molecule and race : Can know how weirdly they control, In regions of the Night, The aberrations of the soul Athirst for elfin light : Can hear the ripple of their mirth At human pride and fear : Their faint assessment of the worth We deem transcendent here : Can watch their thunderbolts correct The cloud-kings who rebel, And the little lightnings that effect The nuptials of a cell : Can see dominions, powers, above, In them, and in the Whole The Perfect Good, Whose Law is Love, Lead all to His Great Goal. As Forces knead this world of ours To Conscious Thought's command, These Silent Demiurgic powers Work in the Silent Land. 24 THE SILENT LAND They are our senses' builders, lords, Their law deals boon and dole, But at their greatest master-words Smiles, serene, the soul : For they who read the Silences Find there symbolic writ : " Herein no good or evil is But surged from human wit. " We are upbuilt by you and you Of myriad wish and thought, Of age-long mouldings of the True In earnest anguish wrought. " Habitual Goods solidify To useful god and sprite ; But Anger, Envy, Greed, and Lie Swoop in a dark-winged flight. " Here live no entities, or can, But earth has borne or bred, For Highest Power has willed that man Shall by himself be led. " Nor, save where He Who Knows has hung On high a hint, a clue, Is vision here but late has sprung, Or long ago, from you. " These unseen gods, who through you thrill As forces that ye know, Are homely kin of the act of will That dares to love a foe." Yea, man had pieced them, in his need, From man's own power and pride, His beauty, passion, boundless greed For insight here denied. THE SILENT LAND 25 And they have served his need, but when To a higher range he plods, They linger here that younger men May fashion younger gods. Yea, in the Silence all may see That World he deems the True : The Pagan find Jove's dynasty, And Demogorgon too : The Indian happy hunting home, The Hindoo Nirvan peace, The Christian perfect Christendom, The Sadducee release : And he who calls the shades to clear The dark mist from the road, From Saul to modern table-seer, Finds each the world he sowed. Magician, alchemist, and priest Of mystic prescience, The theosophic West or East, All see full evidence : And they who love their fellows view The stream they follow mount, Through worlds of Song and Silence, to Its Ever- welling Fount. There all theologies display Their equal gift from God, The gift to raise from Night to Day, To spirit from the clod. There, great Agnostics proof demand What greater mystics show Of a Higher than the Silent Land To which all pilgrims go. 26 THE SILENT LAND Motif : THE SIBYL OF SILENCE A woman walks in the Silent Town And its cryptic record reads, Who there, howe'er the wise may frown, The curious myriad leads. For she the clue from Seen to Hid Has held since man first was, And can the Silent Pageant bid Before our tumult pass. Here, sacro-sanct as prophetess, Now branded as a witch, There medium, regal sorceress, Now, gipsy of the ditch : But whether queen of a sacred host, Or to the kennels banned, She is the psycho-pomp of most Who see the Silent Land. But some aver that all may hear, When dreamily alone, Some scarce at all, some clarion-clear, A Sibyl of their own. She was the Daimon of the Greek, And Merlin felt her skill, Of her the Rabbi sages speak, And Lilith call her still : THE SILENT LAND 27 His partner in the cosmic round Ere human ties were here, She fled from sight when Adam found His gentle image near. And in the Silence some suspect She subtly prompts the throng Of the Paladins of Intellect, The Magians of Song. Did she, as Beatrice, so flaw The power of Dante's eyes That in his pictured Past he saw Hell, Limbo, Paradise ? Was Homer thus through Hades whirled ? Did Wagner Lilith wed With rites so strange that Other World In music hither sped ? Was she the woman dark who lit His inner dark so clear, That Shakespeare from its pageant writ All human Love and Fear ? Did she too pensive maids bewitch To Sibyl, Pythoness ? Or lonely Caedmon's ears enrich ? Or sightless Milton bless ? (Mayhap, as one who loved so well That all too perfect face, She yielded keys of Heaven, Hell, For scarcely-felt embrace !) Was she Tannhauser's, Ossian's queen The mother she to Faust ? Have all the vatic Andes been By the feet of Lilith crossed ? 28 THE SILENT LAND By her did Plato plummets drop Into Idea's reek ? Through her, saw Kant on steeple-top, Mirage-like, " The Critique " ? Do mystics many by her power Toward Eldorados plod ? Thus Leibnitz see Creation tower And monad mount to God ? Do fair religions ever steam From Lilith's sorceries ? Or sculptor's norm ? or painter's dream Or statesman's politics ? Yea, did her cruder pupils spin Their blasphemies of Good ? The black Necropolis of Sin ? The moaning, fiery flood ? Gloom half our human history, With fantasies of forms That lash the Silent Over-sea With evil-winged storms ? Do races, gifted with her sight, See dramas of the cloud ? And beckons she to what weird rite Her lovers thus endowed ? Is't she allures to wayward man Beliefs his feelings seek, From Hindoo fane, from old Iran, From Neo-Pagan Greek ? Ah ! strange and hard to understand (God grant us all the clue !) When runs the warp of the Silent Land The weft of Lilith through ! THE SILENT LAND 29 THE TONES OF SILENCE The Tones of Silence. interweave With active life and thought, Whene'er Emotion's billows heave Or Reason helps us not. Its Overtones, in Duty's guise, When baffled in the fen Some marshy flicker would entice, Conduct us home again. And they are graded to the place We've chosen on the stair, For overtones to homely race Are undertones to fair. Its Open Tones in burning bush, In omen, sign, event, Alike the seer and simple push From sterile self-content. Its Man-tones from our fellows warn Of wrongs we'd thought to do, Or show the lovely beings born When the Good weds the True. And when too much the lower man We let beyond our sway, Some awful undertones may plan Us dramas of decay : 30 THE SILENT LAND So when the world is full of wrong And man is each man's foe, The nations hear the demon-song, Believe the creed of woe : And when condoning slavery Our brothers we degrade, We see the Helot's furtive eye In Spartan youth and maid : Or Man-tones of the slinking gait, The double-meaning tongue, We hear too plainly indicate Some racial wrong still young. And Open Tones have spoken plain In comet, daytime gloom, Of mighty Caesar's ended reign, Of gentle Saviour's doom. And Silent Overtones compel Our sorrow or our joy Whene'er a good resolve we quell, Or an evil one destroy. Whene'er we thrill to share the fight Of feebleness with wrong : Whene'er, unheeding Custom's right, We list to Conscience' song : Whene'er we sacrifice our meed To still the weary's moans, We have obeyed, whate'er our creed, God's Silent Overtones. THE SILENT LAND 31 EVENSONG There was a time we had the power To build with Silent Thought The perfect heaven-reaching tower, As ancient seers have taught. And periods have been when all Felt subtle agencies Envelop life with gloomy pall Or glad sublimities : When each felt safe in God's own care, When eyes had farther sweep, When angels' visits were not rare, And Conscience dared not sleep : When Silent Lands, that no one heeds But sentries of the van, Displayed their good or evil deeds Before the eyes of man : When all could read the Silent Script, And ope the Temple's bars : When every blade of grass was tipped With signals from the stars. But now, for trust mayhap betrayed Or pride too loosely checked, The Silent Oracles evade Our questions too direct. C 32 THE SILENT LAND Precisian pundits bid us think The gods have never been : The daylight pales the forms that link The Silence with the Seen : Usurping Sun the sky-folk pens Unwindowed in his blue ; The trumpet blare of common-sense Our hearing deafens too : But when we bid the band retire, And the Sun unhorse his cars, We hear an empyrean choir And see the Silent Stars. FALLOW THE strenuous soil, o'ercropped too long With soldiers, has begun, In fallow-tide, to hear the song Of season and of sun. O'er many a furrowed meadow smiles Unwonted Wildness' green ; Now acres ferny, flowered miles, And shy child shrubs are seen. Nor lose the glebes of Liberty Much of their succulence, Tho' Duty drained this swamp so dry And Order traced that fence. The cooling green of Love may spring O'er Anger's bush-fire track : But fallow-time has taught us bring The green without the black. We've seen the Good, while lightning flashed In cataclysmic storm, And shipwrecked nations' breakers crashed, Write on the sky " Reform ! " But simple Zephyr-tunes reveal Its equal Power at work : Its glories through the gala steal, In pools of home-life lurk. 33 34 FALLOW And we, whose indignation cast At Wealth the thunderbolt When he the tilth of Hope would blast, Or baulked him with Revolt, Can hail him brother of our breed When he devotes his skill To hearten woe, bind limbs that bleed, And his trust from God fulfil. The rebel has his right, and so His tyrants we pursue ; But it is fitting he should know He has his duty too. And 'mong the thralls that Mammon leads Unthinking in his train, Are many whom he ne'er succeeds In hardening to pain : Or who with silent help requite The hate and envy we At random hurl in the troubled light Of a dim democracy. In fallow-time the fields that bore But coarse and scanty shoots, Respond to sun's embrace with more Than mortal flowers and fruits ; Religion yearns where Nescience was, And the fallow-lounger hears The messages that, crowding, pass From the furrows to the spheres : Sees ladders scale Infinitude Whose rungs are silent love, And, o'er yon poor street-preacher, brood Ineffably, a Dove : FALLOW 35 Hears prayers, that once he thought the squeal Of craven 'neath the rod, Robust from His co-workers' peal, Their answering calls to God ; Then, common scenes and sounds rehearse, With hourly smiles or moans, The secrets of the universe In mute or open tones. They hint that he who tills to-day With worthy plough and hoe, To-morrow on the cosmic way The seedling stars will sow : That boundless Space is our domain, And endless Time its term, That Power unending all shall gain, Already here in germ : The power to serve, the power to love, In base or architrave, As ions, or where seraphs move And in the High Tide lave. Though stoutly on the Road of Stress Our jousts of War we play, There's more to win, and more to bless Upon the Gentle Way. The non-resistance that appears So feebly walled, when move On man his tyrant's powers, God rears, Impregnable, on Love. Love will respond, nor count the cost, As they will own, who choose Unto the Camp-fires of the Lost To send a flag of truce. 36 FALLOW The Lost are but the overflow Of our selfish passions, when We leave them to some outer Woe, Objectified in men : They are the vigour of our nerve, The fuel of our life, In us great genii to serve, In others, imps of strife : Whene'er we hate we strengthen them, Whene'er we rob endow, Till scarcely human power can stem Their retribution now : Yet if the tasks of love, for those Of sorest wrongs, we ply, Due credit 'gainst the debit shows In God's Economy ; For never has a loving thought To man or things been sent, But fruited glories has it brought From whitherward it went. Ah, fallow-tide, when maiden-hair, And " harbingers of spring," And dancing grass-seeds everywhere, Their adorations sing. May we remember, should we sow The battle-seed again, That all the squadrons of the foe Are God-created men ! FAS WITH no small compass in His blue Did God our circle plot, For man may do what he dare do, Except what He would not. The heights and depths we may not reach Are rarer than the rocs, Yet man has sometimes uttered speech That tampered with their locks. Then by the rash one clear are seen The fines he may not pass, For awful chasms yawn between The Nefas and the Fas. Miraculous impressions guide, A dormant eyesight sees, The Laws of Nature stand aside, Ancestral error flees. For down the ages Errors murk The atmosphere of all, And only patient hero-work Can dissipate their pall : Their clouds around us, thicker curled As old we grow, assume Such glows reflected from the world, As almost to illume : 38 FAS Reflected from the earth-oil lamps We science, reason, call, They serve our need when on the ramps Of Fate we else would fall : Tho' fit for groping trodden roads Accustomed goals to seek, Too dim the sheen when High Abodes Attract our footsteps weak ; Or when, deflected from our route By chance of errant star, We shrink from Evil's stark pursuit, Or on the Dark Ways are. Then 'yond where the scouts of Space rehearse The monologue of Time, The Helpers of the Universe Flash here their rays sublime : They roll the foolish clouds aside That blur the Heaven's glass : They show the raven Nefas tide Encroaching on the Fas : They hint to Free Will's arrogance The awful sanctions, clear To every cosmic mind but man's, That it may Wisdom hear. Once heard, the Fas he walks again, And knows as ne'er man knew, That, spite of Error's wind and rain, Above's a sky of blue ! So to the cerulean Way The Helpers bid him pass, That leads unerring to the Day Where nothing is but Fas. FAS 39 He who has uttered vetoed words, Or found forbidden keys, Seen fords tabooed, or eerie birds On charmed brooks or trees. (As in the curious Present oft), Will learn at last, and know, Where'er he stand, half-high, aloft, Man may not look below. QUAIL IT seems so strange that man, full-blooded man, With trained eyes and nerves that never fail In dainty sock, and tunic toned to veil His dawn-time sacrilege, with studied plan Of fifty autumn paddocks, hounds in van For ages bred to silent sleuth, and hail Of hell-tube, should not hear his angel ban The ruth that dares for sport destroy the quail. 'Tis well that Hunters of the Universe, Tho' grisly garbed to our myopic sight, With tubes of Force, and Silent Hounds at call, Must scour the finite grass, where we rehearse At storm or pain's approach the quail's affright, Beneath His eye Who heeds the sparrow's fall. LOVE AND SACRIFICE CAN we not consecrate To man and God above This volume of our great Supernal tide of love ? 'Twere wrong its wealth to waste On merely me and you, In selfish touch and taste, As other lovers do. This love is not as theirs : It came from the Divine, Whose glory still it wears, And print of Whose design. The world is full of woe, The time is blurred with dust, Illusions breed and grow, And eyes' and flesh's lust. The mighty league with Wrong And stint the weakling's bread ; The very lords of song With Luxury have wed. Fair Art deserts the mass, And loiters with the gay j And only gods of brass Are popular to-day. 43 44 LOVE AND SACRIFICE Two souls with love inspired, Such lightning love as ours, Could spread, if we desired, Dismay among such powers : Could social stables purge Of filth where festers strife : Through modern baseness surge A holier tide of life. Yea, two so steeped in love From such a source, could draw The angels from above To lead all to their Law. We have no right to seek Repose in rosy bower, When Hunger thins the cheek Of childhood every hour : Nor while the tiger, Sin, 'Mid youths and maidens roams, Should Duty skulk within These selfish cosy homes. Our place is in the van With those crusaders, who Maintain the rights of man 'Gainst despot and his crew. If sacrifice may move Their load of pain from men, The greatest right of Love Is to renounce It then. Ah, Love, the earth is woe's And sadly helpers needs : And, till its burden goes, Our work is where it bleeds. Printed by BUTLER & TANNER, Frome and London. A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THOMAS C. LOTHIAN, 226, Little Collins SI., MELBOURNE. All prices in this Catalogue are Net. JUNE, 1909. THOMAS C. LOTHIAN, MELBOURNE THE NUGGET BOOKLETS. 3 Series of Reprints from the World's Literature. Daintily printed, generally in two colours, with attractive art covers, gd. each. Also bound in enduring green ooze leather, zs. 6d. * Postage id. " Are daintily printed and intelligently compiled." The Bulletin. "The handy and neat Nugget Booklets." The Register. 1. MAXIMS AND MORAL REFLECTIONS OF THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (from the French). 2. AT THE SIGN OF THE GOLDEN CALF. A book of Witty Thoughts. 3. NAKED TRUTHS AND VEILED ALLUSIONS. Touching the passions, the tastes, the humours, and the weaknesses of men and women. On Australian-made paper. 4. OMAR KHAYYAM, translated by EDWARD FITZGERALD. With introduction. On Australian-made paper. This edition contains those stanzas that Swinburne declared were " the Kernel of the Whole." " A booklet which will be welcome to many." The Herald. "To be preferred to English editions." The Bookfellow. 5. UNTO THIS LAST, by JOHN RUSKIN. With Introduction by Mr. H. H. Champion. 6. SWEETHEARTS AND BEAUX, wherein you may learn what tricks the Archer plays, and so, being fore-armed, grow Wise. 7. THE WISDOM OF THE FOOLISH AND THE FOLLY OF THE WISE, Criticising the Fads and Follies of Society. " Got up and printed in the usual attractive manner." The Gadfly. 8. NEW THOUGHTS AND OLD NOTIONS. A pocket-book of cheerful wisdom. Get one, and be happy. 9. THE SUPREME LITERARY GIFT, by T. G. TUCKER, Litt.D., Professor of Classical Literature in University, Melbourne. The principles of Literary Criticism, a contribution to the foundation of a correct taste. "T.iis masterly treatise." The Register. " A valuable and stimulating contribution."- The Woman. 10. THE MAKING OF A SHAKESPEARE, by T. G. TUCKER, Litt.D., Professor of Classical Literature in University, Melbourne. HOW TO HANDLE A CUSTOMER, AND OTHER HELPS TO MODERN BUSINESS, by " One Who Knows." Uniform with Nugget Booklets. Price gd. ; postage id. THOMAS C. LOTHIAN, MELBOURNE Recommended for use by the Educational Departments of Victoria and Tasmania. THE USEFUL BIRDS OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA, by R. HALL, F.L.S. Crown 8vo, full of illustrations, 312 pages. Price 35. 6d. ; postage 5^. A comprehensive and popular book on the haunts and habits of Australian birds. An ideal book to place in any boy's hands. " Mr. Hall's careful treatment of the subject." Nature. " A useful book on an important subject." The Zoologist. GLIMPSES OF AUSTRALIAN BIRD LIFE, being a dainty booklet of 31 original and unique photographs taken from actual birds in their native haunts by A. C. MATTINGLEY and others. Descriptive notes by ROBERT HALL, F.L.S. Price is. ; postage id. Third thousand. " An excellent souvenir to send to naturalists in other lands." Vic. Naturalist. " Unique camera work." The Emu. KEY TO THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA, by ROBERT HALL, F.L.S. A scientific work dealing clearly with the classification and geographical distribution of Australian species. Price 55. ; postage 6d. Recommended by the Educational Department of New South Wales. A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF AUSTRALIAN BUTTERFLIES, by W. J. RAINBOW, F.L.S., F.E.S., Entomologist to the Australian Museum, Sydney. 300 pages Crown 8vo, over 250 illustrations, and a fine three- colour frontispiece (reproduced direct from four brilliant Butterflies). Price 35. 6d. ; postage 6d. A thoroughly scientific, yet popular work for all who desire a knowledge of Australian Rhopaloceran Fauna. " An Australian scientific classic." The Register. " A model of arrangement and sound work." Publisher's Circular. " A useful little book . . . Very well executed." Nature. MOSQUITOES : THEIR HABITS AND DISTRIBUTION, by W. J. RAINBOW, F.L.S., F.E.S., Entomologist to the Australian Museum, Sydney. A neat booklet of 64 pp., well illustrated, dealing with this interesting pest and its extermination. Price is. 6d. ; postage id. " A valuable contribution to nature study." The Herald. VICTORIAN HILL AND DALE : A Series of Geological Rambles, by T. S. HALL, M.A., D.Sc., Lecturer in Biology in the University of Melbourne. 208 pages, with 40 origiaal photographs. Price 35. 6d, ; postage 6d. This is a most interesting and unique volume and one that will appeal to and stimulate all readers. The matter is fresh and clearly written. No geological knowledge is pre-supposed, and only popular terms are used, THOMAS C. LOTHIAN, MELBOURNE THE ELEMENTS OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY, by W. A. OSBORNE, M.B., D.Sc., Professor of Physiology in the University, Melbourne. 152 pages, 64 illustrations. Price 6s. ; postage ^d. In this book an attempt has been made to give an elementary account of physiology from the standpoint of the mammal and with special reference to man and the domestic animals. It is hoped that it may function as a text-book intermediate between the primer and the special manual of human or veterinary physiology, and therefore be of use to students of medicine, veterinary science, and agriculture. As the techni- cal terms employed are all defined, and as no presumption is made that the reader has studied chemistry or physics, the book, it is also hoped, may- be read with profit by others who may not be entering upon a definite course of professional study. In the appendix a number of biochemical data are given for the sake of those who have some chemical knowledge. A CHARN1NG BOOK TOR NATURE LOVERS. FROM RANGE TO SEA : A Bird Lover's Ways, by CHARLES BARRETT. With a special preface by DONALD MACDO.VALD. A beautiful booklet, dealing in a sympathetic manner with Nature as seen and felt by the author on his rambles. Printed on art paper, and illustrated by 40 original photographs taken by Mr. A. H. E. MATTINGLEY. Price is. ; postage id. Australian ooze calf, 35. 6d. " A harmonious soliloquy among the birds . . . contains a good deal of valuable material." Museum Journal (London). ROUND THE WORLD, by an Australian Native. Price is.; postage, id. An instructive and fresh account of an Australian's trip round the world. 64 pages, art paper, with nearly fifty photographs. A book to be read by all. " A chatty and interesting one." Western Mail. " An informative account of a bushman's trip." The Bulletin. GOOD POETRy B7 AUSTRALIAN POET5. THE SILENT LAND " AND OTHER VERSES, by BERNARD O'DowD, Author of " Dawnward ? " " Dominions of the Boundary." A neat booklet of 64 pages, antique paper. Price is. ; postage id. " The most arresting work of the younger generation is that of Mr. Bernard O'Dowd." The Times (London). DOMINIONS OF THE BOUNDARY," by BERNARD O'Dou'D. 64 pages, art cover. Price is. ; postage id. " Mr. Bernard O'Dowd stands alone among modern Australian poets." The Spectator (London). 4 THOMAS C. LOTHIAN, MELBOURNE " DAWNWARD ? " by BERNARD O'Dowo, Author of " The Silent Land " and " Dominions of the Boundary." Price zs. 6d. ; postage $d. "The best book of verses yet produced in Australia." T. G. TUCKER, Litt.D., Professor of Classical Literature, University of Melbourne. " THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS," a sonnet series. By BERNARD O'Dowo. Price 35. 6d. ; postage zd. " THE LABORATORY " AND OTHER VERSES, by W. A. OSBORNE. Small Quarto, Antique paper, printed in two colours. Price zs. 6d. ; postage 2d. A small collection of fugitive verses by one who is occupied in scientific pursuits. " Technique almost perfect, a command of varied styles, grace, restraint." The Register. "THE WAYS OF MANY WATERS" AND OTHER VERSES, by EDWIN J. BRADY. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. Illustrated through- out by ALEX. SASS. Price 35. 6d. ; postage 4^. A reprint of this breezy volume of Sea Verse and Chanteys which have won such favourable notice. " POEMS OF LOVE, LIFE, AND SENTIMENT," by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. A large Crown 8vo volume, containing the best poems written by this wonderful American. Handsome two-colour cover. Price is. 6d. ; postage 2d. Also bound in attractive cloth. Price zs. 6d. ; postage $d. " LYRICS IN LEISURE," by DOROTHY FRANCES MCRAE (Mrs. C. E. PERRY). Antique paper, 84 pages, white art cover. Price is. ; postage id. A delightful and dainty volume of poems that will charm and greatly delight all its readers. "THE LAMP OF PSYCHE," by JOHANNES ANDERSON. 120 pp., Crown 8vo. Antique paper, art paper cover. Price 2s. 6d. ; postage zd. " I consider that ' The Lamp ' is a lofty, inspiring, gently harmonious, and well- sustained piece of work, and a welcome addition to good Australian poetry." BERNARD O'Dowo in The Socialist. "MOODS AND MELODIES," SONNETS AND LYRICS, by MARY E. FULLERTON. An attractive booklet of 64 pages. Antique paper. Price is. ; postage id. " Cultured, artistic and neatly turned lyrics . . . sonnets always skilfully wrought and fine in feeling." Scotsman. " Contain many striking lines." Spectator (London). AUSTRALIAN TALES AND VERSES, by P. STEWART. Second edition now ready. Art paper cover, price is. ; cloth cover, price zs. 6d. " The book right through is of a lofty tone. Mr. Stewart has evidently set before him a high ideal, and he has attained it." Review of Reviews, THOMAS C. LOTHIAN, MELBOURNE 1 SEA AND SKY," by J. LE GAY BRERETON. Small Quarto. Edition limited to 500 copies. Price 35. 6d. " One of the most purely poetical volumes yet produced in Australia." The Worker. " Such careful work, so delicately done, is a rare portent in our vague Australian sky." The Bulletin. " There is nothing whatever in it about horses . . . rejects no little credit upon the condition of poetical culture in Melbourne, and should be read with a hearty interest by lovers of poetry anywhere." The Scotsman. 'EGMONT," by HUBERT H. CHURCH. Crown 8vo, price 35. 6d. " The real thing is there, speaking direct from the heart of the writer to the heart of the reader . . . originality as well as charm. . . . He is a real poet with a poet's insight, and a poet's faith in the great things of the Unseen." Otago Daily Witness. " True poetry . . . deep earnest thought ... in him New Zealand possesses a poet of whom she may well be pleased." New Zealand Times. " A real poet ... to be judged by high standard." Adelaide Register. ' " Melodious and sincere."- Argus. "... his masculine intellectual strength is making his work memorable." Christ- church Press. THE HEART OF THE ROSE. An Illustrated Quarterly for those who love inspiration and imagination in literature. The first number appeared on December 9, 1907, entitled " The Heart of the Rose," and was quickly bought up. This number is now sold at an advanced price. No. 2, " The Book of the Opal," appeared on March 9. The third number is entitled " The Shadow on the Hill," and No. 4, " Fire o' the Flame," is now on sale at all booksellers. The four numbers, price 55. post free. " One finds in the little magazine- many things of interest, and some things of real beauty . . . thislatestof Melbourne magazines deserves a warm welcome." " Elzevir," The Argus. ROSEMARY, THAT'S FOR REMEMBRANCE, of ELENOR MORDAUNT, Author of " The Garden of Contentment." Crown 8vo, 204 pages. Price 35. 6d. ; postage \d. THE ENEMIES OF LITERATURE, by WALTER MURDOCH. A delight- ful Literary Essay given to the Literature Society of Melbourne by the President. Price is. ; postage id. " Will deserve the wider publicity it will now receive." Advertiser, S.A. ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, M.A. A reprint of an address given to the Australian Literature Society by HENRY GYLES TURNER. Price is. ; postage id. An attractive booklet of 36 pages, art cover. "Sympathetic and tender." The Woman. A VOLUME OF CLEVERNESS. JETSAM, by EMMIE ROBB. A dainty and fresh booklet, printed in two colours on art paper, tied with silk ribbon. A charming produc- tion. Price is. ; postage id. " Marked by originality, and its form is charming." The Herald. 6 THOMAS C. LOTHIAN, MELBOURNE A COP1PLETE COURSE IN H7PNOTI5P1. PRACTICAL LESSONS IN HYPNOTISM, by Dr. W. W. COOK, A.M., M.D., containing Complete Instructions in the Development and Practice of Hypnotic Power, including much valuable information in regard to Mental Healing, Mind Reading, and other kindred subjects. The chapters include : Philosophy of Hypnotism Qualifications of a Hypno- tist Qualifications of a Subject Favourable and Unfavourable Influ- ences Precautions to be observed How to Hypnotise Degrees of Hypnosis Clairvoyance Self-Hypnotism and Auto-Suggestion Acci- dental Development of Hypnotic Power The Hypnotist's Secret Developing a Subject Animal Magnetism and Magnetic Healing Overcoming Habits by Hypnotism Criminal Hypnotism Hypnotism and Disease Anaesthesia during Hypnosis Hypnotism and the Insane Hypnotising Animals Hypnotism in Business and Society Hypno- tism in the Professions General Hypnotic Influence Post-Hypnotism Awakening a Subject Mind Reading and Telepathy Hypnotic Miscellany Self-Anaesthesia Method of Producing Hypnosis, etc., etc. All complete in one illustrated book. Price 55.; postage \d. AN INDISPENSABLE BOOK FOR EVERY BUILDER, CONTRACTOR, OR ARCHITECT. AUSTRALIAN BUILDING ESTIMATOR. A Text Book of Prices, by WALTER JEFFRIES. 320 pages, strongly bound in cloth, Crown 8vo, with full tables and index. 7s. 6d. ; postage 5^. This book is written by a practical man, who has had wide and varied experience in the build- ing world of more than one Australian State. The volume is most com- prehensive and complete. His own knowledge of the requirements of the trade is supplemented on many points by the advice and assistance received from many specialistic and professional friends, making the book one that no Builder, Contractor^ or Architect can afford to be without. A POPULAR VOLUNE OF AUSTRALIAN STORIES. QUINTON'S ROUSEABOUT AND OTHER STORIES, by EDWARD S. SORENSON. Crown 8vo, 280 pages, cloth ; with attractive wrapper, by ALEX. SASS. Price 35. 6d. ; postage \d. A volume of 18 original, fresh and breezy Australian stories that are worth reading. CLARKE'S ELOCUTION INSTRUCTOR, a large volume giving in a thoroughly practical manner the latest and best methods of becoming a successful Elocutionist. Many and varied exercises are contained in the course. The author, ARTHUR CLARKE, is well known as a most successful teacher, and it is anticipated that his system of training will be largely adopted. Price 35. 6d. ; postage 6d. THOMAS c. LOTHIAN, MELBOURNE THE SECRET OF OPTIP1I5P1. EATING FOR HEALTH, by Dr. ABRAMOWSKI, M.D. (Berlin) of Mildura- Victoria. 142 pages, with two photographs. Price is. 6d. ; postage 2d. Australia too long has obeyed the conventions of the old world and has suffered in consequence. She forgets that a new climate has to be considered. She forgets that harmony with surroundings is the basis of happiness. This book is written from actual personal knowledge and experience. It is the evolution of a common-sense idea of disease and a natural system for its Prevention and Cure. It is as interesting as a novel. Send for a copy and benefit yourself. CONTENTS : Eating for Disease. Experiments in Eating. The Influence of Fruit Diet on Myself. Influence of Natural Diet on my Family. Influence of Natural Diet in Disease : Typhoid Diseases of the Digestive Organs Chronic Rheumatism Acute Rheumatism Pleurisy Cancer Affections of the Lungs Colds. Eating for Death. Eating for Life. What Shall we Eat ? What Shall we Drink ? Humanity v. Alcoholic Stimulants.' Humanity v. Alcohol The Defence. Alcohol and the Medical Profession. How to Eat. When Shall we Eat ? How Often Shall we Eat ? Sum- mary. A NEW THING IN BOOKS. FROM THE OLD DOG Letters on Politics from an ex- his Nephew. By FRANK FOX. Being a Series of Letters on Politics from an ex-Prime Minister to his Nephew. BRIGHT, WITTY, HUMOROUS, INSTRUCTIVE. A TEXT BOOK OF WHITE AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. " It is a book that should prove of value to the young liberal aspirant for political honours." The Age. " The matter is good and so is the style." The Adelaide Register. " It is full of gaiety and wise humour, and more absorbingly interesting than most present-day novels. Amuses and interests in every line." Ballarat Courier. Price 2s. 6d. Cloth Edition, 35. 6d. Postage 3