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to read more in than anybody within fifty miles and since i gave that up there s nobody can match me in the whole county of as a yet i am doomed to live with in a miserable little hole like indeed muttered by the here reared himself up suddenly from the bowed posture he had hitherto held thrusting his shoulders so violently against s breast as to make it difficult for the old man to keep a hold on the reins people don t appreciate me here the surgeon exclaimed lowering his voice he added softly and slowly except except one a passionate soul as warm as she is clever as beautiful as she ia warm and as rich as she is beautiful i say old fellow those claws of yours clutch me rather tight rather like the eagle s you know that ate out the liver of pro pre the man on mount people don t appreciate me i say except her ah gods i am an unlucky man i she would have been mine she would have taken my name but unfortunately it cannot be so i stooped to mate beneath me and now i it the position was becoming a very trying one for and mentally he was obliged to steady with his left arm and he began to hate the contact he hardly knew what to do it was useless to with in his intellectual confusion from the rum and from the fall he remained silent his hold upon his companion however being stem rather than compassionate yoa hurt me a little farmer though i am much obliged to you for your kindness people don t appreciate me i say between ourselves i am losing my practice here and why because i see attraction where attraction is both in person and position i mention m no names so nobody will be the wiser bat i have lost her in a legitimate sense that is if i were a free man now things have come to such a pass that she could not refuse me while with her fortune which i don t for itself i should have a chance of satisfying an honorable ambition a chance i have never had yet and now never never shall have probably t his heart throbbing against the other s and his brain on fire with indignation ventured to the horse on some steps before replied because i am tied and bound to another by law as tightly as i am to you by your arm not that i complain of your arm i thank you for helping me well where are we not nearly home yet home say l it is a home i when i might have been at the other house over there in a way he flung his hand in the direction of the park i was just two months too early in committing my self had i only seen the other first here the old man s arm gave a shake what are you doing continued the latter still please or put me down i was saying that i lost her by a mere little two months there is no chance for me now in this world and it makes me reckless reckless unless indeed anything should happen to the other one she is amiable enough but if anything should happen to her and i hear she is ill well if it should i should be free and my fame my happiness would be these were the last words that uttered in his seat in front of the timber merchant unable longer to master himself the skin of his face compressed whipped away his spare arm from s waist and seized him by the collar ton heartless villain after all that we have done for ye i he cried with a quivering lip and the money of hers that you ve had and the roof we ve provided to shelter ye it is to me george that you dare to talk like that the exclamation was accompanied by a powerful from the shoulder w the man into the road hb w s fell with a heavy upon the of some which had been cat the winter preceding darling continued her walk for a few paces farther and stopped god forgive me i of what he had done he tried me too sorely and now perhaps murdered him l he turned round in the saddle and looked towards the spot on which had fallen to his great surprise he beheld the surgeon rise to his feet with a bound as if and walk away rapidly under the trees listened till the rustle of s footsteps died away it might have been a crime but for the mercy of providence in providing leaves for his fall he said to himself and then his mind to the words of and his indignation so mounted within him that he almost wished the fall had put an end to the young man there and then he had not ridden far when he discerned his own gray mare standing under some bushes leaving darling for a moment went forward and easily caught the younger animal now at its he then made the pair of them fast to a tree and turning back endeavored to find some trace of feeling that after all he had gone further than he intended with the but though he the wood hither and thither his toes after of the little that had once been leaves he could not find him he stood still listening and looking round the breeze was through the net work of boughs as through a the trunks and larger branches stood against the of the sky in the forms of men gigantic and whatever besides the fancy chose to make of them up the search came back to	45
the horses and walked slowly homeward leading one in each hand t happened that on this self same evening a boy had been returning from to little about the time of and s passage home along that a the collar that had been left at the s to be repaired was required for at fi e o clock next mornings and in consequence the boy had to fetch it he put his head through the collar and accompanied his walk by whistling the one tune he knew as an to fear the y suddenly became aware of a horse trotting rather along the track behind him and not knowing whether to expect friend or foe prudence suggested that he should cease his whistling and retreat among the trees till the horse and his rider had gone by a course to which he was still more inclined when he found how noiselessly they approached and saw that the horse looked pale and remembered what he had read about death in the revelation he therefore deposited the collar by a tree and hid himself behind it the came on and the youth whose eyes were as keen as to his great recognized the doctor as had in the darkness taken blossom for darling and he had not discovered his mistake when he came up opposite the boy though he was somewhat surprised at the of his usually placid mare the only other pair of eyes on the spot whose vision was keen as the young s were those of the horse and with that strongly objection to the unusual which animals show blossom on the collar under the tree quite invisible to exercised none of the patience of the older horse but to so second rate an as the surgeon he fell and did not move lying as afterwards found him the boy ran away his conscience for the desertion by thinking how vigorously he would spread the alarm of the accident when he got to which he did the skeleton event with a load of dramatic horrors grace had returned and the fly hired on her account though not by her husband at the crown hotel had been paid for and dismissed the long drive had somewhat revived her her illness being a feverish which had more to do with mind than body and she walked about her sitting room in something the of a hopeful mood mrs had told her as soon as she arrived that her husband had returned from london he had gone out she said to see a patient as she supposed and he must soon be back since he had had no dinner or tea would not allow her mind to harbor any suspicion of his whereabouts and her step mother said nothing of mrs s sorrows and plans of departure so the young wife sat by the waiting she had left in a turmoil of feeling after the revelation of mrs and had intended not to be at home when her husband returned but she had thought the matter over and had allowed her father s influence to prevail and bring her back and now somewhat regretted that s had preceded hers by and by mrs came up stairs with a slight air of and i have something to tell some bad news she said but you must not be alarmed as it is not so bad as it might have been has been thrown his horse we don t think he is hurt much it happened in the wood the other side of bottom where tis said the ghosts of the brothers walk she went on to give a few of the particulars but none of the invented horrors that had been communicated by the boy i thought it better to tell you at once she added in case he should not be very well able to walk home and somebody should bring him mrs really thought matters much worse than she represented and grace knew that she thought so she sat down dazed for a few minutes returning a negative to her step mother s inquiry if she could do anything for her but please go into the bedroom grace said on second thoughts and see if all is ready there in case it is serious mrs thereupon called and they did as directed supplying the room with everything they could think of for the accommodation of an injured man nobody was left in the lower part of the house not many minutes passed when grace heard a knock at the door a single knock not loud enough to reach the ears of those in the bedroom she went to the top of the stairs and said m the w faintly come ap knowing that the door stood as in houses wide open retreating into the gloom of the landing she saw rise np the stairs a woman whom at first she did not recognize till her voice revealed her to be sake in great fright and sorrow a streak of light from the partially cl door of grace s room fell npon her face as she came forward and it was drawn and pale oh miss i say mrs she said wringing her hands thb terrible news is he dead f is he very bad f tell me i couldn t help coming please f me miss mrs i would say r grace sank down on the oak chest which stood on the landing and put her hands to her now flushed face and head could she order down stairs and out of the house her husband might be brought in at any moment and what would happen but could she order this grieved woman away f there was a dead of half a minute or so till said why don t ye speak f is he here is he dead f if so why	45
can t i see him would it be so very wrong t before grace had answered somebody else came to the door below a foot fall light as a s there was a hurried tapping upon the as if with the impatient tips of fingers whose owner thought not whether a were there or no without a pause and possibly guided by the stray beam of light on the landing the new comer ascended the staircase as the first had done grace was sufficiently visible and the lady for a lady it was came to her side i could make nobody hear down stairs said with lips whose could almost be heard and panting as she stood like one ready to sink on the floor with distress what is the matter tell me the worst can he she looked at grace without perceiving poor who dismayed at such a presence had shrunk away into the shade mrs s little feet were covered with mud she was quite unconscious of her appearance now i have heard such a dreadful report she went on i came to ascertain the of it is he the she won t tell ua he s he s in that room f burst out regardless of consequences as she heard the distant movements of mrs and in the bedroom at the end of the passage where said mrs and on pointing out the direction she made as if to go thither barred the way he is not there she said i have not seen him any more than you i have heard a report only not so bad as you think it must have been exaggerated to you please do not conceal anything let me know all said you shall know all i know you have a perfect right to know who can have a better than either of you said grace with a delicate sting which was lost upon now i repeat i have only heard a less alarming account than yon have heard how much it means and how little i cannot say i pray gk d that it means not much in common humanity you probably pray the same f or other reasons she regarded them both there in the dim light a while they stood dumb in their trouble not back at her not her mood a tenderness spread over like a dew it was well very well to address either one of them in the wife s terms of virtuous sarcasm as woman creature or thing for losing their hearts to her husband but life what was it and who was she she had like the singer of the of been and all the day long but could she by words in order to please herself the individual offend against the generation as he would not he is dying perhaps putting her apron to her eyes in their gestures and faces there were anxieties affection agony of heart all for a man who had wronged them had never really behaved towards either of them anyhow but neither one but would have sacrificed half her life to him even now the tears which his possibly critical situation could not bring to her eyes over at the contemplation of these fellow women she turned to the bent herself upon it and wept the began to cry also without using her handkerchief and letting the tears run down silently while these three poor women stood together thus pitying another though most to be pitied themselves the pacing of a horse or horses became audible in the court and in a moment s voice was heard calling to his grace at once started up ran down the stairs and out into the as her father crossed it towards the door father what is the matter with him v she cried r said abruptly matter nothing what my dear and have you got home safe why you are better already i but you ought not to be out in the air like this but he has been thrown his horse i know i know i saw it he got up again and walked off as well as ever a fall on the leaves didn t hurt a fellow like him he did not come this way he added significantly i suppose he went to look for his horse i tried to find him but could not but after seeing him go away under the trees i found the horse and have led it home for safety so he must wall now don t you stay out here in this night air she returned to the house with her father when she had again ascended to the landing and to her own rooms beyond it was a great relief to her to find that both the first and the second of her had silently disappeared they had in all probability heard the words of her father and departed with their anxieties relieved presently her parents came up to grace and busied themselves to see that she was comfortable perceiving that she would prefer to be left alone they went away grace waited on the clock raised its voice now and then but her husband did not return at her father s usual hour for retiring he again came in to see her do not stay up she said as soon as he entered i am not at all tired i will sit up for him i think it will be useless grace said slowly why i have had a bitter quarrel with him and on that ac count i hardly think he will return to night the a was that after the fall seen by the boy f nodded an affirmative without taking bis eyes the candle tes it was as we were coming home together he said something had been swelling ap	45
in grace while her father was speaking how yon want to quarrel with him f she cried suddenly why could you not let him come home quietly if he were inclined to he is my husband and now you have married me to him surely you need not provoke him first you induce me to accept him and then you do things that divide us more than we should naturally be divided how can you speak so to me grace f said with indignant sorrow divide you from your husband indeed i you little think he was inclined to say more to tell her the whole story of the encounter and that the provocation he had received had lain entirely in hearing her despised but it would have greatly distressed her and he you had better lie down you are tired he said soothingly good night the household went to bed and a silence fell upon the dwelling broken only by the occasional of a in s stables despite her father s advice grace still waited up but nobody came it was a critical time in grace s life that night she thought of her husband a good deal and for the forgot how these unhappy women must have admired she said to herself how attractive he must be to everybody and indeed he is attractive the possibility is that by these ideas might have been transformed into their corresponding emotions by a show of the least in there was in truth a love bird yearning to fly from her heart and it wanted a lodging badly but no husband came the fact was that had been much mistaken about the condition of i pie do not fail headlong on of with had the old man been able to watch mo thb he would have tbat on and walking into tiie thicket he dropped blood as he went that he had not proceeded fifty yards before he showed signs of being dizzy and raising his hands to his head and fell down chapter was not the only one who watched and meditated in that night was in no mood to retire to rest at a hour and over her fire at the house she sat as motionless and in as deep a reverie as grace in her little apartment at the having ear of s intelligence while she stood on the landing at his house and been of much of her mental distress her sense of personal decorum returned upon her with a rush she descended the stairs and left the door like a ghost keeping close to the walls of the building till she got round to the gate of the through which she noiselessly passed almost before and her father had finished their discourse had thought it well to imitate her superior in this respect and descending the back stairs as descended the front went out at the side door and home to her cottage once outside s gates mrs ran with all her speed to the house without stopping or turning her head and her thin boots in her haste she entered her own dwelling as she had emerged from it by the drawing room window in other circumstances she would have felt some timidity at undertaking such an excursion alone but her anxiety for another had cast out her fear for herself everything in her drawing room was just as she had left it the candles still burning the closed and the shutters gently pulled to so as to hide the state of the window from the glance of a servant entering the apartment she had been gone about three quarters of an hour by the the clock and nobody seemed to have discovered her absence tired in body bat tense in mind she sat down round eyed bewildered at what she had done she had been betrayed by love into a visit which now that the emotion it had down under her belief that was in no danger was the surprise to her this was how she had set about doing her best to escape her passionate bondage to him somehow in declaring to and to herself the of hei she had grown a convert to its i heaven would only give her strength but heaven never one thing was indispensable she must go away if she meant to withstand further temptation the le was too too hopeless while she remained but a continual of conscience to what she dared not name by degrees as she sat s mind perhaps by the of learning that her lover was after all her fright about him grew strong in wise resolve for the moment she was in a mood in the words of mrs elizabeth to run mad with discretion and was so persuaded tiiat discretion lay in departure that she wished to set about going that very minute jumping up from her seat she b an to together some small personal scattered ia out the room to feel that preparations were really in train while moving here and there she fancied that she heard a slight noise out of doors and stood still surely it was a tapping at the window a thought entered her mind and burned her cheek he had come to that window before yet was it possible that he should dare to do so now i all the servants were in bed and in the ordinary course of affairs she would have retired also then she remembered that on stepping in by the and closing it she had not fastened the window so that a streak of light from the interior of the room might have revealed her to an observer on the lawn how all things against her keeping faith with i the tapping light as from the bill of a little bird her hope overcame her vow she went and back the to shake	45
her head at him and keep the closed what she saw might have struck terror into a heart than a helpless woman s at midnight in the centre of the lowest pane of the window close to the glass was a human face which she barely recognized as the face of it was surrounded with the darkness of the night without corpse like in its and covered with blood as disclosed in the square area of the pane it met her frightened eyes like a of the of st he moved his lips and looked at her her rapid mind together in an instant a possible of events which might have led to this issue she the with a terrified hand and bending down to where he was crouching pressed her face to his with passionate solicitude she assisted him into the room without a word to do which it was almost necessary to lift him bodily quickly closing the window and the shutters she bent over him are you hurt much she cried faintly oh oh how is this rather much but don t be frightened he answered in a difficult whisper and turning himself to obtain an easier position if possible a little water please she ran across into the dining room and brought a bottle and glass from which he eagerly drank he could then speak much better and with her help got upon the nearest couch are yon dying she said do speak to me i i am half dead said but perhaps i shall get over it it is chiefly loss of blood but i thought your fall did not hurt you said she who did this my father in law i have crawled to you more than a mile on my hands and knees god i thought i should never have got here i have come to you because you are the only friend i have in the world now i can never go back to never to the roof of the not nor will ever medicine this bitter if i were only well again the let me bind your head now that yon have rested yea bnt wait a it has stopped bleeding fortunately or i should be a dead man before now while in the wood i managed to make a of some and my handkerchief as well as i could in the dark but listen dear can you hide me till i am well whatever comes i can be seen in no more my practice is nearly gone you know and after this i would not care to recover it if i could by this time s tears began to blind her where were now her discreet plans for their lives forever to administer to him in his pain and trouble and poverty was her single thought the first step was to hide him and she asked herself where a place occurred to her mind she got him some wine from the dining room which strengthened him much then she managed to remove his boots and as he could now keep himself upright by leaning upon her on one side and a walking stick on the other they went thus in slow march out of the room and up the stairs at the top she took him along a gallery pausing whenever he required rest and thence up a smaller staircase to the least used part of the house where she unlocked a door within was a lumber room containing abandoned furniture of all descriptions built up in piles which obscured the light of the windows and formed between them and in which a person would not be discerned even should an eye gaze in at the door the articles were mainly those that had belonged to the previous owner of the house and had been bought in by the late mr at the but changing fashion and the tastes of a young wife had caused them to be to this here sat on the floor against the wall till she had hauled out materials for a bed which she spread on the floor in one of the she obtained water and a basin and washed the dried blood from his face and hands and when he was comfortably fetched food from the he ate her eyes lingered anxiously on his face following its every movement with such loving kindness as only a fond woman can show the he was now in better condition and his position with her what i fancy i said to most have been enough to any man if in cold blood and with knowledge of his presence bnt i did not know him and i was by what he had given me so that i hardly was aware of what i said weu the of that temple is rent in twain as i am not going to be seen again in my first efforts be directed to any alarm that may be felt at my absence before i am able to get clear away nobody that i have been hurt or there will be a country talk about me i must at once a letter to check all search for me i think if you can bring me a pen and paper i may be able to do it now i could rest better if it were done poor thing how i tire her with running up aod down t she fetched writing materials and held up the as a support to his hand while he a brief note to his wife the shown towards me by your father he wrote in this of is such that i cannot return again to a roof which is his even though it you a parting is as you are sure to be on his side in this division i am starting on a journey which will	45
take me a long way from and you must not expect to see me there again for some time he then gave her a few directions bearing upon his professional engagements and other practical matters concluding without a hint of his destination or a notion of when she would see him again he offered to read the note to before he closed it up but she would not hear or see it that side of his obligations distressed her beyond endurance she turned away from and sobbed bitterly if you can get this posted at a place some miles away he whispered exhausted by the effort of writing at or port or still better it divert all suspicion from this house as the place of my refuge i will drive to one or other of the places myself anything to keep it unknown she murmured her voice weight the w lain ed with vague now that the excitement of helping him had passed away told her that there was yet one thing more to be done in creeping over the fence on to the lawn he said i made the rail bloody and it shows rather much on the white paint i could see it in the dark at all it should be washed off could you do that also what will not women do on such devoted occasions weary as she was she went all the way down the rambling to the ground floor then to search for a lantern which she lighted and hid under her cloak then for a wet and next went forth into the night the white railing stared out in the darkness at her approach and a ray from the lantern fell upon the blood just where he had told her it would be found she shuddered it was almost too much to bear in one day but with a shaking hand she the rail clean and returned to the house the time occupied by these several proceedings was not much less than two hours when all was done and she had smoothed his bed and placed everything within his reach that she could think of she took her leave of him and locked him in chapter when her husband s letter reached grace s hands bearing upon it the of a distant town it never once crossed her mind that was within a mile of her still she felt relieved that he did not write more bitterly of the quarrel with her father whatever its nature might have been but the general of his communication in her the spark that events had kindled so shortly before from this centre of information it was made known in that the doctor had gone away and as none but the household was aware that he did not return on the night of his accident no excitement manifested itself in the village thus the early days of may passed by none but the m the birds and animals observed that late one evening towards the middle of the month a closely wrapped figure with a one arm and a stick in his hand crept out from across the lawn to the shelter of the trees taking thence a slow and laborious walk to the nearest point of the road the mysterious personage was so disguised that his own wife would hardly have him was a practised hand at as well she might be and she had done her utmost in and painting with the old materials of her art in we recesses of the lumber room in the highway he was met by a covered carriage which conveyed him to whence he proceeded to the nearest port on the south coast and immediately crossed the channel but it was known to everybody that three days after this time mrs executed her deferred plan of setting out for a long term of travel and residence on the continent she went off one morning as as could be and took no maid with her having she said engaged one to meet her at a point farther on in her route after that house so frequently deserted was again to be let spring had not in summer when a founded on the best of evidence reached the parish and neighborhood mrs and had been seen together in in relations which set at rest the question that had agitated the little community ever since the winter had entered the valley of humiliation even farther than grace his spirit seemed broken but once a week he mechanically went to market as usual and here as he was passing by the one day his mental condition expressed largely by his gait he heard his name spoken by a voice formerly familiar he turned and saw a certain once a promising lawyer s clerk and local who had been called the fellow in without whose brains the firm of him would be nowhere but later on had fallen into the mire he was invited out a good deal sang songs at agricultural meetings and dinners in sum the himself with spirits more frequently than was good for the clever brains or body either he lost his situation and after an absence spent in trying his powers elsewhere came back to his native town where at the time of the foregoing events in he gave legal advice for small mostly carrying on his profession on public house settles in whose recesses he might often have been overheard making country people s wills for half a crown calling with a learned voice for pen and ink and a sheet of paper on which he drew up the testament while resting it in a little space wiped with his hand on the table amid uie liquid circles formed by the cups and glasses an idea early in life is difficult to and many elderly still clung to the notion	45
that knew a great deal of law it was he who had called by name you look very down mr very if i may say as much he observed when the timber merchant turned but i know i know a very sad case very i was bred to the law as you know and am no stranger to such matters well mrs has her remedy how what a remedy f said under the new law sir a new court was established last year and under the new twenty and twenty one cap eighty five is as easy as marrying no more acts of parliament necessary no longer one law for the rich and another for the poor but come inside i was just going to have a of rum hot i u explain it all to you the intelligence amazed who saw little of newspapers and though he was a severely correct man in his habits and had no taste for entering a tavern with nay would have been quite by such a character on any other matter in the world such fascination lay in the idea of delivering his poor girl from bondage that it deprived him of the critical faculty he could not resist the ex lawyer s clerk and entered the inn here they sat down to the rum which paid for as a matter of course leaning back in the settle with a legal gravity which would hardly allow him to be the of the spirits before him though they disappeared with mysterious quickness how much of the information on the then new divorce laws which e imparted to his listener was the result of ignorance and how much of was never ascertained but he related such a plausible story of the ease with which grace could become a free woman that her father was with the project and though he scarcely his lips never knew how he came out of the inn or when or where he mounted his to pursue his way homeward but home he found himself his brain having all the way seemed to ring as a in the intensity of its stir before he had seen grace he was met by who found his face shining as if he bad like the law conversed with an angel he his horse and took by the arm to a heap of as oak was here called which lay under a hedge he said when they had sat down upon the logs there s a new law in the land grace can be free quite easily i only knew it by the merest accident i might not have found it out for the next ten years she can get rid of him d ye get rid of him think of that my friend he related what he had learned of the new legal remedy a subdued about the mouth was all the response that made and added my boy you shall have her yet if you want her his feelings had gathered volume as he said this and the articulate sound of the old idea drowned his sight in mist are you sure about this new law asked so by a gigantic exultation which loomed alternately with fearful doubt that he the full acceptance of s last statement said that he had no manner of doubt for since his talk with it had come into his mind that he had seen some time ago in the weekly paper an allusion to such a legal change but having no interest in those desperate at the moment he had passed it over but the i m not going to let tbe matter rest doubtful for a single day he continued i am going to london will go with me and we shall get the best advice as soon as we possibly can is a thorough lawyer nothing the matter with him but a fiery i knew him as the stay and refuge of in knots of law at one time s replies were of the the new possibility was almost by him at the moment he was what was called at a solid going fellow he maintained his mood not from want of but from a taught by life as he knew it but continued the timber merchant a temporary or two of anxiety those already established in his forehead by time and care grace is not at all well nothing constitutional you know but she has been in a low nervous state ever since that night of fright i don t doubt but that she will be all right soon i wonder how she is this evening he rose with the words as if he had too long forgotten her personality in the excitement of her career they had sat till the evening was beginning to the garden brown and now went towards s house a few steps in the rear of his old friend who was stimulated by the enthusiasm of the moment to the ordinary walking of he felt shy of entering grace s presence as her lover which was how her father s manner would be sure to present him before definite information as to her future state was forth coming it seemed too nearly like the act of those who rush in where angels fear to tread a chill to all the glowing promise of the day was prompt enough in coming no sooner had he followed the timber merchant in at the door than he heard inform him that mrs was still more than she had been in the morning old dr jones being in the neighborhood they had called him in and he had instantly directed them to get her to bed they were not however to consider her illness serious a feverish nervous attack the result of recent events	45
was what she was the from and she would doubtless be well in a few days therefore did not remain and his hope of seeing her that evening was disappointed even this of her morning condition did not greatly he knew he said that his daughter s constitution was enough it was only these domestic troubles that were pulling her down once free she would be blooming again rightly as parents usually do he set out for london the next morning jones having paid another visit and assured him that he might leave home without uneasiness especially on an errand of that sort which would the sooner put an end to her suspense the timber merchant had been away only a day or two when it was told in that mr s hat had been found in the wood later on in the afternoon the hat was brought to and by a piece of ill fortune into grace s presence it had doubtless lain in the wood ever since his fall from the horse but it looked so clean and the summer weather and leafy shelter having much favored its preservation that grace could not believe it had remained so long concealed a very little of fact was enough to set her fancy at work at this juncture she thought him still in the neighborhood she feared his sudden appearance and her nervous malady developed consequences so grave that dr jones began to look serious and the household was alarmed it was the beginning of june and the at this time of the summer scarcely ceased his cry for more than two or three hours daring the night the bird s note so familiar to her ears from infancy was now absolute torture to the poor girl on the friday following the wednesday of s departure and the day after the discovery of s hat the began at two o clock in the morning t with a sudden cry from one of s apple trees not three yards from the window of grace s room oh he is coming she cried and in her terror sprang clean from the bed out upon the floor these starts and continued till noon and when the doctor had arrived and had seen her and had talked the with mrs he sat down and meditated that terror it was in to remove from her mind at all and he thought how this might be done without saying a word to anybody in the house or to the waiting in the lane below dr jones went home and wrote to mr at the london address he had obtained from his wife the of his communication was that mrs should be assured as soon as possible that steps were being taken to the bond which was becoming a torture to her that she would soon be free and was even then so if you can say it at once it may be the means of much harm he said write to herself not to me on saturday he drove over to and assured her with mysterious that in a day or two she might expect to receive some assuring news so it turned out when sunday morning came there was a letter for grace from her father it arrived at seven o clock the usual time at which the passed by at eight grace awoke having slept an hour or two for a wonder and mrs brought up the letter can you open it yourself said she oh yes yes said grace with feeble impatience she tore the envelope unfolded the sheet and read when a creeping blush her white neck and cheek her father had exercised a bold discretion he informed her that she need have no further concern about s return that she would shortly be a free woman and therefore if she should desire to wed her old lover which he trusted was the case since it was his own deep wish she would be in a position to do so in this had not written beyond his belief but he very much stretched the facts in adding that the legal for her union were practically settled the truth was that on the arrival of the doctor s letter poor had been much agitated and could with difficulty be prevented by from returning to her bedside what was the use of his rushing back to had asked him the only thing that could do her any good was a breaking of the bond though he had not as yet had an interview with the the eminent they were about to consult he was on the point of seeing him and the case was clear enough thus the simple urged by his parental alarm at her danger by the representations of his companion and by the doctor s letter had yielded and sat down to tell her that she was free and you d better write also to the gentleman suggested who and the of a large practice in the case wished to commit to it to effect which he knew that nothing would be so potent as awakening the passion of grace for so that her father might not have the heart to withdraw from his attempt to make her love legitimate when he discovered that there were difficulties in tiie way the nervous impatient was much pleased with the idea of starting them at once as he called it to put his long delayed scheme in train had become a passion with him now he added to the letter addressed to his daughter a passage that she ought to begin to encourage lest she should lose him altogether and he wrote to that the path was open for him at last life was short he declared there were slips the cup and the lip her interest in him should be at once that au might be ready when	45
the good time came for them chapter at these warm words was not less dazed than he was moved in heart the novelty of the rendered what it carried with it by him in its only a few short months ago completely from this family beholding grace going to and fro in the distance clothed with the radiance of obvious superiority the wife of the then popular and fashionable hopelessly outside his social boundary down to so recent a time that flowers then folded were hardly faded yet he was now asked by that guarding father of hers the to take courage to get himself ready for the day when he should be able to claim her the old times came back to him in dim procession how he had been how had despised his christmas party how that sweet grace herself had looked down upon him and his household arrangements and poor s i well he could not believe it surely the barrier of marriage with another could not be pierced like this i it did violence to custom yet a new law might do anything but was it at all within the bounds of probability that a woman who over and above her own had been accustomed to those of a cultivated professional man could ever be the wife of such as he since the date of his he had almost grown to see the of that treatment he had said to himself again and again that her father was right that the poor would never have been able to make such a dainty girl happy yet now that she had stood in a position farther removed from his own than at first he was asked to prepare to her he was full of doubt nevertheless it was not in him to show to act so promptly as desired him to act seemed indeed scarcely wise because of the uncertainty of events knew nothing of legal but he did know that for him to step up to grace as a lover before the bond which bound her was actually dissolved was simply an ant dream of her father s mind he pitied for his almost childish enthusiasm and saw that the man must have to be weakened to this desire was far too to harbor any cynical conjecture that the timber merchant in his intense affection for grace was him now because that young lady when would be left in an position to escape which a bad husband was better than none he felt quite sure that his old friend was simply on of anxiety to repair the almost error of dividing two whom nature had to join together in earlier days and that in his to do this he was of the the cautious of his past years had itself at last hence perceived that in this new beginning the necessary care not to compromise grace by too early advances must be exercised by himself perhaps was not quite so ardent as heretofore there is no such thing as a stationary love men are either loving more or loving less but himself recognized no decline in his sense of her if the flame did indeed burn lower now than when he had fetched her from at her last return from school the marvel was he had been laboring ever since his and her marriage to reduce his former passion to a friendship out of pure regard to its and their separation may have helped him to a partial success a week and more passed and there was no further news of but the effect of the intelligence he had already upon the elastic daughter of the woods had been much what the old surgeon jones had it had soothed her spirit better than all the in the she had slept a whole night and a day the new law was to her a beneficent lately descended upon i earth that would make her as she once had been without j trouble or annoyance her position fretted her its abstract features rousing an aversion which was even greater than her aversion to the personality of him who had caused it it was productive of him she could forget her circumstances she had always with her she saw nothing of during the days of her recovery and perhaps on that account her fancy about him a more romantic than it could have done if he had stood before her with all the and inseparable from he rose upon her memory as the f and the wood god in sometimes leafy and with green as she had seen him among the boughs of the sometimes stained and with apple in the hair of his arms as she had met him on his return from making in white with his and presses beside him in her secret heart she almost to her father s enthusiasm in wish the ing to show once for all how she still regarded him the whether the future would indeed them together for life was a standing wonder with her she knew that it could not with any propriety do so just yet but reverently believing in her father s sound judgment and knowledge m d g i t remembered what he had written about her giving a hint to lest there should be risk in delay and her feelings were not averse to such a step so far as it could be done without danger it this early stage of the proceedings rom being a frail t r f her former self she returned in bounds to a condition of philosophic she again in the face in the course of a few days and was well enough to go about as usual one day mrs proposed at for a change she should be driven in the to market whither s man was going on other errands grace had no business	45
whatever in but it crossed her mind that would probably be there and this made the thought of such a drive interesting on the way she saw nothing of him but when the horse was walking slowly through the of sheep street she discerned the young man on the pavement she thought of that time when he had been standing under his apple tree on her return from school and of the tender opportunity then missed through her her heart rose in her throat she all such now nor did she forget the last occasion on which she had beheld him in that town making in the court yard of the earl of hotel while she was as a fine lady in the balcony above grace directed the man to set her down there in the midst and immediately went up to her lover had not before observed her and his eyes now looked his pleasure without the embarrassment that had formerly marked him at such meetings when a few words had been spoken she said i have nothing to do perhaps you are deeply engaged f i not a bit my business now at the best of times is small i am sorry to say the well then i am going into the abbey come along with me the proposition had suggested itself as a quick escape from for many eyes were regarding her she had hoped that time had elapsed for the of curiosity but it was quite otherwise the people looked at her with tender interest as the deserted girl wife without and without vulgarity but she was ill prepared for scrutiny in any shape they walked about the abbey and presently sat down not a soul was in the building save themselves she regarded a stained window with her head sideways and asked him if he remembered the last time they were in that town alone he remembered it perfectly and remarked tou were a proud miss then and as dainty as you were high perhaps you are grace slowly shook her head affliction has taken all that out of me she answered perhaps i am too far the other way now as there was something lurking in this that she could not explain she added so quickly as not to allow him time to think of it has my father written to you at all f yes said she glanced up at him not about me f yes his mouth was lined with which told her that he had been to take the hint as to the future which she had been to give the unexpected discovery sent a scarlet through grace for the moment however it was only who stood there of whom she had no fear and her self possession returned he said i was to sound you with a view to what you will understand if you care to continued in a low voice having been put on this track by herself he was not disposed to abandon it in a hurry they had been children together and there was between them that familiarity as to personal affairs which only such can give you know she answered speaking in a very practical tone that that is all the very well but i am in a very position at present and i cannot say anything to the point about things as those no he said with a stray air as regarded the subject he was looking at her with a curious consciousness of discovery he had not been imagining that their renewed intercourse would show her to him thus for the first time he realized an in her which after all should not have been unexpected she before him was not the girl grace whom he used to know of course he might easily have as much but it had never occurred to him she was a woman who had been married she had moved on and without having lost her girlish modesty she had lost her girlish shyness the inevitable change though known to him had not been and it struck him into a momentary the truth was that he had never come into close with her since her engagement to with the brief exception of the evening encounter on hill when she met him with his apparatus and that interview had been of too a kind for insight had advanced too he could her times had been when to a single trait in grace would have lain as far beyond his powers as to a deity this thing was sure it was a new woman in many ways whom he had come out to see a creature of more ideas more dignity and above all more assurance than the original grace had been capable of he could not at first decide whether he were pleased or displeased at this but upon the whole the novelty attracted him she was so sweet and sensitive that she feared his silence something in his brain of the nature of an enemy to her what are you thinking of that makes those lines come in your forehead she asked i did not mean to offend you by speaking of the time being premature as yet touched by the genuine loving kindness which had lain at the foundation of these words and much moved turned his face aside as he took her by the hand he was grieved that he had her the you are very good dear grace he said in a low voice ton are better better than used to be he could not very well tell her how and said with an smile yon are prettier which was not what he really had meant he then remained still holding her right hand in his own right so that they faced in opposite ways and as he did not let go she ventured upon a tender remonstrance i think we have gone	45
ready by the time you get there he said and told her the name of the inn at which the meal had been ordered which was one that she had never heard of i ll find it by inquiry said grace setting out and shall i see you again oh yes come to me there it will not be like going together i shall want you to find my father s man and the for me he waited on some ten minutes or a quarter of an the till he thought her ended and that he might fairly take advantage of her invitation to start her on her way home he went straight to the three a little tavern in a side street clean but humble and on his way he had an occasional as to whether the place had been elegant enough for her and as soon as he entered it and saw her there he perceived that he had grace was seated in the only dining room that the simple old could boast of which was also a general parlor on market a long low apartment with a floor with a a wide red window to the street and another to the garden grace had retreated to the end of the looking out upon the latter the front part being full of a mixed company which had dropped in since he was there she was in a mood of the greatest depression on arriving and seeing what the tavern was like she had been taken by surprise but having gone too far to retreat she had entered and sat down on the well settle opposite the narrow table with its knives and steel forks tin boxes blue salt and the sale of against the wall the last time that she had taken any meal in a public place it had been with at the grand new earl of hotel in that town after a two months and at the gigantic hotels of the continent how could she have expected any other kind of accommodation in present circumstances than such as had provided and yet how unprepared she was for this change the tastes that she had acquired from had been so that she hardly knew she possessed them till confronted by this contrast the elegant in fact at that very moment owed a long bill at the above mentioned hotel for the luxurious style in which he used to put her up there whenever they drove to but such is social sentiment that she had been quite comfortable under those debt impending conditions while she felt by her present situation which had paid for honestly on the nail j he had noticed in a mon ent that she shrunk from her the position and all his pleasure was gone it was the same over again which had spoiled his christmas party long ago bat he did not know that this was only the result of grace s to what she was determined to learn in spite of it a consequence of one of those sudden surprises which everybody bent upon turning over a new leaf she had finished her lunch which he saw had been a very performance and he brought her out of the house as soon as he could now he said with great sad eyes you have not finished at all well i know come round to the earl of ill order a tea there i did not remember that what was good enough for me was not good enough for you her face faded into an aspect of deep distress when she saw what had happened oh no she said with extreme pathos certainly not why do you say that when you know better you ever will me indeed that s not so mrs can you deny that you felt out of place at the three i don t know well since you make me speak i do not deny it and yet i have felt at home there these twenty years your husband used always to take you to the earl of did he not yes she reluctantly admitted how could she explain in the street of a market town that it was her superficial and taste which had been offended and not her nature or her affection or unfortunately at that moment they saw s man driving along the street in search of her the hour having passed at which be had been told to take her up hailed him and she was powerless then to the discourse she the vehicle sadly and the horse trotted away chapter all did think over that ending of a pleasant time forgetting the pleasant time itself he feared anew that they could never be happy together even she be free to choose him she was accomplished he was it was the original difficulty which he was too sensitive to as some men would have done in his place he was one of those silent beings who want little from others in the way of favor or condescension and perhaps on that very account those others behavior too closely he was not but one in whom a hope or belief which had once had its rise and decline seldom again exactly as in the breasts of more sanguine mortals he had once worshipped her laid out his life to suit her her and lost her though it was with almost the same zest it was with not quite the same hope that he had begun to tread the old tracks again and allowed himself to be so charmed with her that day move another step towards her he would not he would even her as a tribute to conscience it would be sheer sin to let her prepare a for her happiness not much smaller than the first by her into a union with such as he her poor father was	45
now blind to these which he had formerly beheld as in light it was his own duty to declare them for her dear sake grace too bad a very uncomfortable night and her embarrassment was not lessened the next morning when another letter from her father was put into her hands its tenor was an strain of the one that had preceded it after stating how extremely glad he was to hear that she was better and able to get out of doors he went on this is a wearisome business the we have to see being out of town i do not know when j get home great the anxiety in this delay is still lest you should lose i cannot rest at night for thinking that while our business is hanging fire he may become or go away from the neighborhood i have set my heart upon seeing him your husband if you ever have another do then grace give him some temporary encouragement even though it is over early for when i consider the past i do think god will forgive me and you for being a little forward i have another reason for this my dear i feel myself going rapidly and late affairs have still further helped me that way and until this thing is done i cannot rest in peace he added a i have just heard that the is to be seen to morrow possibly therefore i shall return in the evening after you get this the paternal longing ran on all with her own desire and yet in it yesterday she had been on the brink of giving while craving to be a country girl again just as her father requested to put off the old eve the fastidious miss or rather madam completely her first attempt had been beaten by the unexpected vitality of that her father on returning and seeing the trifling coolness of would be sure to say that the same which had led her to make difficulties about marrying was now her to blow hot and cold with poor if the latter had been the most subtle hand at touching the stops of her delicate soul instead of one who had just bound himself to let her drift away from him again if she would on the wind of her education he could not have acted more than he did that day he chanced to be some temporary work in a field opposite her windows she could not discover what he was doing but she read his mood keenly and truly she could see in his coming and going an air of determined of the whole landscape that lay in her direction oh how she longed to make it up with him i her father coming in the evening which meant she supposed that all would be in train her marriage and she be free to be won again how could she look him in the face if he should see them thus it was a fair green evening in june she was seated in the the garden in the chair which stood the made of oak branches that came to s premises as after barking time the mass of fall on the heights her was just swayed into faint gestures by a spent wind which even in its state did not reach her shelter all day she had expected to call to inquire how she had got home or something or other but he had not come and he still her by going and across that orchard opposite she could see him as she sat a slight diversion was presently created by bringing him a letter she knew from this that had just come from and had called as usual at the post office for anything that had arrived by the afternoon post of which there was no delivery at she pondered on what the letter might contain particularly whether it were a second for from her father like her own of the morning but it appeared to have no bearing upon herself whatever read its contents an almost immediately turned away to a gap in the hedge of the orchard if that could be called a which owing to the of the trees was little more than a bank with a bush upon it here and there he entered the plantation and was no doubt going that way homeward to the mysterious hut he had on the other side of the he sad sands were running swiftly through glass she hid often felt it in these latter days and like she felt it doubly now after the and pathetic in her father s her freshness would pass the long of might suddenly end might end that very hour men were so strange the thought took away from her all her former and made her action bold she started from her seat if the little breach quarrel or whatever it might be called of yesterday was to be healed up it must be done by her on the instant she crossed into the orchard and through the gap after just as he was to a like figure under the green and over the brown floor the grace had been wrong very far wrong in assuming that the letter had no reference to herself because had turned away into the wood after its perusal it was sad to say because the had so much reference to herself that he had thus turned away he feared that his grieved discomfiture might be observed the letter was from written a few hours later than s to his daughter it announced failure had once done that man a good turn and now was the moment when had chosen to remember it in his own way during his absence in town with the lawyer s clerk had naturally heard a	45
great deal of the timber merchant s family scheme of justice to and his communication was to inform at the earliest possible moment that their attempt had failed in order that the young man should not place himself in a false position towards grace in the belief of its coming success the news was in sum that s conduct had not been sufficiently cruel to grace to enable her to snap the bond she was apparently doomed to be his wife till the end of the chapter quite forgot his superficial differences with the poor girl under the warm rush of deep and love for her which the almost information to her forever that was then the end of it for him after all there was no longer any question about or room for on petty tastes the curtain had fallen between them she could not be his the cruelty of their late revived hope was now terrible how could they all have been so simple as to suppose this thing could be done it was at this moment that hearing some one coming behind him he turned and saw her hastening on between the he perceived in an instant that she did not know the news why didn t you come across to me she asked with arch reproach didn t you see me sitting there ever so on yes he said in unprepared tones for the her unexpected presence caught him without the slightest plan of behavior in the his manner made her think that she had been too in her speech and a mild scarlet wave passed over her as she resolved to soften it i have had another letter from my father she hastened to continue he thinks he may come home this evening and in view of his hopes it will grieve him if there is any little difference between us there is none he said sadly regarding her from the face downward as he pondered how to lay the cruel truth bare still i fear you have not quite me about my being uncomfortable at the inn i have grace fm sure but you speak in quite an unhappy way she returned coming up close to him with the most winning of the many pretty airs that to her don t you think you will ever be happy t he did not reply for some when the son shines on the north front of abbey that s when my happiness will come to me i said he staring as it were into the earth but then that means that there is something more than my offending you in not liking the three if it is because i did not like to let you kiss me in the abbey well you know that it wa not on account of my cold feelings but because i did certainly just then think it was rather premature in spite of my poor father that was the true reason the sole one but i do not want to be hard god knows i do not she said her voice and perhaps as i am on the verge of freedom i am not right after all in thinking there is any harm in your kissing me oh god said within himself his head was turned as he still resolutely regarded the ground for the last several minutes he had seen this great temptation approaching him in regular siege and now it had come the wrong the social sin of now taking advantage of the offer of her lips had a magnitude in the eyes of one whose life had been so primitive so ruled by purest household laws as s which can hardly be explained the did yoa say anything f she asked timidly oh only ton mean that it must be since my father ia coming home f she said gladly though fighting against himself all while he have protected grace s good as the apple of hu eye was a man and as said men are not gods in face of the shown by her in her school girl simplicity about the laws and he betrayed a man s weakness since it was since it had come to this that grace herself free to do it was asking him to that he loved her since he could it only too truly since life was short and love was strong he gave way to the temptation notwithstanding that he well knew her to be wedded to he cared for nothing past or future simply accepting the present and what it brought desiring once in his life to clasp in his arms her he had watched over and loved so long she started back suddenly from his embrace influenced by a sort of inspiration oh i suppose she stammered that i am really free that this is right f is there really a new law father cannot ha e been too sanguine in saying he did not answer and a moment afterwards grace burst into tears in spite of oh why does not my father come home and explain she sobbed and let me know clearly what i am f it is too trying this to ask me to and then to leave me so long in so vague a state that i do not know what to do and perhaps do wrong felt like a very over and above his previous sorrow how he had against her in not telling her what he knew he turned aside the feeling of his cruelty mounted higher and higher how could he have dreamed of kissing her he could hardly refrain from tears surely nothing more pitiable had ever been known than the condition of this poor young thing now as heretofore the victim of her father s well meant but policy even	45
in the hour of s greatest assurance had a suspicion that no law new or old ths d undo grace s marriage without her in public though he was not sufficiently sure of what might have been to destroy by his own words her pleasing idea that a mere dash of the pen on her father s testimony was going to be sufficient but he bad never suspected the sad fact that the position was poor grace perhaps feeling that she had indulged in too much for a mere kiss herself at finding how grave he was i am glad we are friends anyhow she said smiling through her tears if you had only half the boldness before i married that you show now yon would have carried me for your own first instead of if we do marry i hope you will never think badly of me for encouraging you a little but my father is ao impatient you know as his years and increase that he will wish to see ns a little when he that is my only excuse to all this was than it was sweet how could she so trust her father s conjectures t he did not know how to tell her the truth and shame himself and yet he felt that it must be done we may have been wrong he began almost fearfully in supposing that it can all be carried out while we stay here at i am not sure but that people may have to appear in a public court even under the new act and if there should be any difficulty and we cannot many after all her cheeks became slowly ob she said grasping his arm you have heard something i what cannot my father conclude it there and now i surely he has done it oh don t deceive me what terrible position am i he could not tell her try aa he would the sense of her trust in his honor absolutely him i cannot inform you he murmured his voice as as that of the leaves your f will soon be here then we shall know i wiu take you home dear as she was to him he her his arm with the most reserved air as he added i will take you at any rate into the drive thus they walked on tc grace between the happiness and it was only a few walk to where the drive ran and they had hardly descended into it when they heard a voice behind them cry take out that arm for a moment they did not heed and the voice repeated more and hoarsely take out that arm it was s he had returned sooner than they expected and now came up to them grace s hand had been withdrawn like on her hearing the second command i blame you i don t blame you he said in the weary of one broken down with but you two must walk together no more i have been surprised i have been cruelly deceived don t say anything to me but go away he was evidently not aware that had known the truth before he brought it and would not stay to discuss it with him then when the young man had gone took his daughter in doors to the room he used as his there he sat down and bent over the slope of the her bewildered gaze fixed upon him when had recovered a little he said you are now as ever s wife i was he has not done you enough harm you are still subject to his and call then let it be and never mind father she said with dignified sorrow i can bear it it is your trouble that me most she stooped over him and put her arm round his neck which distressed still more i don t mind at all what comes to me grace continued whose wife i am or whose i am not i do love i cannot help that and i have gone further with him than i should have done if i had known exactly how things were but i do not reproach you then did not tell said no said she he could not have known it his behavior to me proved that he did not know her father said nothing more and grace went away to the solitude of her chamber her heavy had many shapes and for a time the he put aside the dominant fact to think of her too free conduct towards his love making had been brief as it was sweet but would he on reflection her for how could she have been so simple as to suppose she was in a position to behave as she had done i thus she mentally blamed her ignorance and yet in the centre of her heart she blessed it a little for what it had brought her chapter xl among the people involved in these events seemed to be suppressed and hide bound for a while grace seldom showed herself outside the house never outside the garden for she feared she might encounter and that she could not bear this pensive existence of the self constituted appeared likely to continue for an indefinite time she had learned that there was one possibility in which her formerly imagined position might become real and only one that her husband s absence should continue long enough to amount to positive desertion but she never allowed her mind to dwell much upon the thought still less did she deliberately hope for such a result her r ard for had been by the shock which followed its into an ethereal emotion that had little to do with living and doing as for he was lying or rather sitting ill at his hut a feverish which had been hanging about	45
him for some time the result of a chill caught the previous winter seemed to acquire with the of his hopes but not a soul knew of his languor and he did not think the case serious enough to send for a medical man after a few days he was better again and crept about his home in a great coat attending to his simple wants as usual with his own hands so matters stood when the of grace s pool like existence was as by a she received a letter from a terrible letter it was in its import though in the language in his absence grace had grown to him with and her relation to him with till she had forgotten how trying his presence would be he wrote briefly and he made no excuses but informed her that he was living quite alone and had been led to think that they ought to be together if she would make up her mind to forgive him he therefore to cross the channel to by the steamer on a day he named which she found to be three days after the time of her present reading he said that he could not come to for obvious reasons which her father would understand even better than herself as the only alternative she was to be on the to meet the steamer when it arrived from the opposite probably about half an hour before midnight with her any luggage she might require join him there and pass with him into the twin vessel which left immediately the other entered the harbor returning with to his continental dwelling place which he did not he had no intention of showing himself on land at all the troubled grace took the letter to her father who now continued for long hours by the as if he thought it were winter the of standing beside him mostly and with a of dust after reading it he looked up you a n t go said he i had felt i would not she answered but i did not know what you would say if he comes and lives in not too near here and in a respectable way and wants you to come to him i am not sure that til oppose him in wishing it muttered myself to keep you both in a genteel and style but go abroad you never shall with my consent there the question rested t at day grace was unable to reply to her husband in the absence of an address and the morrow came and the next day and the evening on the which he had requested her to meet him throughout the whole of it she remained within the four walls of her room the sense of her doubt of what might be impending hung like a of blackness over the household they spoke almost in whispers and wondered what would do next it was the hope of every one that finding she did not arrive he would return again to france and as for grace she was willing to write to him on the kindly terms if he would only keep away the night passed grace lying tense and wide awake and her relatives in great part likewise when they met the next morning they were pale and anxious though neither speaking of the subject which occupied all their thoughts the day passed as quietly as the previous ones and she began to think that in the rank caprice of his moods he had abandoned the idea of getting her to join him as quickly as it was formed all on a sudden some person who had just come from entered the house with the news that mr was on his way home to he had been seen a carriage at the earl of hotel her father and grace were both present when the intelligence was announced now said we must make the best of what has been a very bad matter the man is the partner of his shame i hear is gone away from him to so that chapter of his life is probably over if he chooses to make a home for ye i think you should not say him nay grace certainly he cannot very well live at without a blow to his pride but if he can bear that and likes best why there s the empty wing of the house as it was before oh father i said grace turning white with dismay why not said he a little of his former returning he was in truth disposed to somewhat more towards her husband just now than he had shown formerly from a conviction that he had treated him over roughly in his anger surely it is the most respectable thing to do he continued i don t like this state that you are in neither married nor single it hurts me and it hurts the and it will always be remembered against us in there never been any scandal like it in the family before he will be here in less than an murmured the twilight of the room prevented her father seeing the misery of her face the one intolerable condition the condition she had above all others was that of s there oh i won t i won t see him she said sinking down she was almost hysterical try if you cannot he returned oh yes i will i will she went on t try and jumping up suddenly she left the room in the darkness of the apartment to which she flew nothing could have been seen during the next half hour but from a corner a quick breathing was audible from this creature who combined modem nerves with primitive emotions and was doomed by such to be numbered among the distressed and to take her to their exquisite extremity the window was open on	45
this quiet late summer evening whatever sound arose in so secluded a district the of a bird a call from a voice the turning of a wheel extended over bush and tree to unwonted distances very few sounds did arise bat as grace breathed in the brown of the chamber the small remote noise of light wheels came in to her accompanied by the trot of a horse on the road there seemed to be a sudden or pause in the progress of the vehicle which was what first drew her attention to it she knew the point whence the sound proceeded the hill top over which travellers passed on their way from the place at which she had emerged from the wood with mrs grace slid along the floor and bent her head over the window sill listening with open lips the carriage had stopped and she heard a man use words then another said what the devil is the matter with the horse she recognized the voice as her husband s the accident such as it had been was soon and the carriage could be heard descending the on the the side soon to into the lane leading out of the highway and then into the which led out of the lane to the house where she was a passed through grace the instinct strong in her as a girl had been revived by her seclusion and it was not lessened by her sentiments towards the comer and her regard for another she opened some little ivory that lay on the dressing table in pencil on one of them i am gone to visit one of my school friends gathered a few toilet necessaries into a hand bag and not three minutes after that voice had been heard her slim form hastily wrapped up from observation might have been seen passing out of the back door of s house thence she up the through the gap in the hedge and into the under the trees which led into the depth of the woods the leaves overhead were now in their latter green so that it was darker at some of the spots than in winter time scarce a existing by which a ray could get down to the ground but in open places she could see well enough summer was ending in the singing insects hung in every vegetation was heavy nightly with of dew and after showers creeping and twilight came up from the hollows the were always weird at this hour of eve more far than in the season when there were fewer masses and more minute the smooth of glossy plants came out like weak eyes there were strange faces and figures from lights that had somehow wandered into the obscurity while now and then low of the sky between the trunks were like shapes and on the tips of boughs sat faint tongues but grace s fear just now was not imaginative or spiritual and she these impressions but little she went on as silently as she could avoiding the hollows wherein leaves had accumulated and stepping upon moss and grass she paused once or twice and fancied that she could hear above the beat of her pulse the vehicle containing turning in at the gate of her father s premises she hastened on again the the woods owned by mrs were presently left behind and those into which she next were divided from the latter by a bank from whose top the hedge had long ago perished starved for want of it was with some caution that grace now walked she was quite free from any of the commonplace of her ordinary to spots she feared no lurking but that her effort would be all in vain and her return to the house rendered imperative she had walked between three and four miles when that comfort and relief to in woods a distant light broke at last upon her searching eyes it was so very small as to be almost sinister to a stranger but to her it was what she sought she pushed forward and the dim outline of a dwelling was disclosed the house was a square cot of one story only sloping up on all sides to a chimney in the midst it had formerly been the home of a in times when that fuel was still used in the county houses its only was a there being no garden the shade of the trees preventing the growth of vegetables she advanced to the window whence the rays of light proceeded and the shutters being as yet she could survey the whole interior through the panes the room within was kitchen parlor and all in one the natural floor was worn into hills and by long treading so that none of the furniture stood level and the table like a desk a fire burned on the hearth in front of which the of a rabbit suspended by a string from a nail leaning with one arm on the mantle shelf stood his eyes on the animal his face so that speculation could build nothing on it concerning his thoughts more than that they were not with the scene before him she thought his features bad changed a little since she saw them last the fire light did not enable her to perceive that they were positively haggard grace s throat a gasp of relief at finding the result so nearly as she had hoped she went to the door and tapped lightly the he seemed to be accustomed to the noises of and such small creatures for he took no notice of her tiny signal and she knocked again this time he came and opened the door when the light of the room fell upon her face he started and hardly knowing what he did crossed the threshold to her placing	45
his hands upon her two arms while surprise joy alarm sadness chased through him by turns with grace it was the same even in this stress there was the fond fact that they had met again thus they stood long tears upon their faces white with extreme sad delight he broke the silence by saying in a whisper come in no no she answered hurriedly stepping yet farther back from the door i am passing by and i have called on you i won t enter will you help me i am afraid i want to get by a way to and bo to i have a school fellow there but i cannot get to alone oh if you will only accompany me a little way don t condemn me and be offended i was obliged to come to you because i have no other help here three months ago you were my lover now you are only my friend the law has stepped in and forbidden what we thought of it must not be but we can act honestly and yet you can be my friend for one little hour i have no other she could get no further covering her eyes with one hand by an effort of she wept a silent without a sigh or sob took her other hand what has happened he said he has come there was a stillness as of death till asked tou mean this grace that i am to help you to get away yes said she appearance is no matter when the reality is right i have said to myself i can trust you knew from this that she did not suspect his treachery if it could be called such earlier in the summer when they met for the last time as lovers and in the intensity the of his for that tender wrong he determined to deserve her faith now at least and so wipe oat that reproach from his conscience come at once he said til light a lantern he a dark from a nail the and she did not notice how his hand shook with the slight strain or dream that in making this offer he was a which ill afford such self sacrifice the lantern was lit and they started chapter ths first hundred yards of their coarse lay under motionless trees whose upper foliage began to hiss with falling drops of rain by the time that they emerged upon a it rained heavily this is awkward said grace with an effort to hide her concern stopped grace he said preserving a strictly business manner which him you cannot go to to night but i must why it is nine miles from here it is almost an impossibility in this rain true she replied mournfully at the end of a silence what is reputation to me now said you won t go back to your no no no don t make me she cried then let us turn they slowly their steps and again stood before his door now this house from this moment is yours and not mine he said deliberately i have a place near by where i can stay very well her face had drooped ob she murmured as she saw the have i done there was a smell of something burning within and he looked through the window the rabbit that he had been the cooking to a weak appetite was beginning to please go in and attend to it he said do what yoa like now i leave yoa will find everything about the hut that is necessary but your supper she exclaimed an would do for me anything till to morrow at daybreak he signified a negative i tell you to go in you may catch out here in your delicate state you can give me my through the window if you feel well enough i ll wait a while he gently urged her to pass the door way and was relieved when he saw her within the room sitting down without so much as crossing the threshold himself he closed the door upon her and turned the key in the lock tapping at the window he signified that she should open the and when she had done this he handed in the key to her you are locked in he said and your own mistress even in her trouble she could not refrain from a faint smile at his as she took the door key do you feel better he went on if so and you wish to give me some of your supper please do if not it is of no importance i can get some elsewhere the grateful sense of his kindness stirred her to action though she only knew half what that kindness really was at the end of some ten minutes she again came to the window pushed it open and said in a whisper he at once emerged from the shade and saw that she was preparing to hand him his share of the meal upon a plate i don t like to treat you so hardly she murmured with deep regret in her words as she heard the rain on the leaves but i suppose it is best to arrange like this oh yes he said quickly i feel that i could never have reached it was impossible are you sure you have a snug place out there f with renewed quite have you found everything you want i am afraid it is rather rough accommodation ths can i notice defects i long passed that stage and you know it or yon to his eyes sadly contemplated her face as its pale through a crowd of expressions that showed only too clearly to what a pitch she was strung if ever s heart fretted his bosom	45
it was at this sight of a perfectly creature by circumstances he forgot his own agony in the satisfaction of having at least found her a shelter he took his plate and cup from her hands saying now push the to and you will find an iron pin on the inside which you must t into the bolt do not stir in the morning till i come and call you she expressed an alarmed hope that he would not go very far away oh no i shall be quite within hail said she bolted the window as directed and he retreated his snug place proved to be a wretched little shelter of the kind formed of four with underneath were dry sticks hay and other litter of the sort upon which he sat down and there in the dark tried to eat his meal but his appetite was quite gone he pushed the plate aside and shook up the hay and so as to form a rude couch on which he flung himself down to sleep for it was getting late but sleep he could not for many reasons of which not the least was thought of his charge he sat up and looked towards the cot through the damp obscurity with all its external features the same as usual he could scarcely believe that it contained the dear friend he would not use a warmer name who had come to him so unexpectedly and he could not help admitting so he had not ventured to ask her any particulars but the position was pretty clear without them though social law had forever their opening paradise of the previous june it was not without pride that he accepted the present trying there was one man on earth in whom she believed absolutely and he was that man that this crisis could end in nothing but sorrow was a view for a moment by this triumphant thought of her trust in him and the purity of the affection with which he responded thb to that trust rendered bim more than proof against any that him in relation to her the rain which bad never ceased now drew bis attention by beginning to drop through the meagre screen that covered him he rose to attempt some remedy for this discomfort but the trembling of his knees and the throbbing of his pulse told him that in his weakness he was unable to fence against the storm and he lay down to bear it as best he might he was angry with himself for his he who had been so strong it was imperative that she should know nothing of his present state and to do that she must not see his face by t for its color would inevitably betray him hie next morning accordingly when it was hardly light he rose and dragged his stiff limbs about the preparing for her everything she could require for getting breakfast within on the bench outside the window sill he placed water wood and other necessaries writing with a piece of chalk beside th n it is best that i should not see you put my breakfast on the bench at seven o clock he tapped at her window as he had promised retreating at once that she might not catch sight of him but from his shelter under the boughs he could see her very well when in response to his signal she opened the window and the light fell upon her face the languid of her eyes showed her sleep had been little more than his own and the of th that her waking hours had not been free from tears she read the writing seemed he thought disappointed but took up the materials he had provided evidently thinking him some way off waited on assured that a girl who in spite of her culture knew what country life was would find no difficulty in the simple preparation of their food within the cot it was all very much as he though grace had slept much loi r than he after the loneliness of the night she would have been glad to see him but his feeling when she read the she made do attempt to recall him she found abundance of provisions laid in his plan being to his battery weekly and being the day a er the van had called when the was ready put the what he required outside as she had done with the supper and notwithstanding her longing to see him withdrew from the window promptly and left him to himself it had been a leaden dawn and the rain now steadily renewed its fall as she heard no more of she concluded that he had gone away to his daily work and forgotten that he had promised to accompany her to an conclusion for he remained all day by force of his condition within fifty yards of where she was the morning wore on and in her doubt when to start and how to she lingered yet keeping the door carefully bolted lest an intruder should discover her locked in this place she was comparatively safe at any rate and doubted if she would be safe elsewhere the gloom of an ordinary wet day was doubled by the shade and of the autumn this year was coming in with rains in her enforced idleness from the one window of the living room she could see various small members of the animal community that lived there creatures of hair and scale the kind and the kind creatures and the hut under the impression that having gone away nobody was there and it with a view to winter quarters watching these neighbors who knew neither law nor sin distracted her a little from her trouble and she managed to while away some portion of the afternoon by putting s home in	45
of rain as blood from the wound to all this weather must be more or less exposed how much she did not know at last grace could hardly endure the idea of such a in relation to him whatever he was suffering it was she who had caused it he his house on account of her she was not worth such self sacrifice she should not have accepted it of him and then as her anxiety increased with increasing thought there returned upon her mind some incidents of her late intercourse with him which she had but little at the time the look of his face what had there been about his face which seemed different from its appearance as of was it not thinner less rich in hue less like that of ripe autumn s brother to whom she had formerly compared him and his voice she had distinctly noticed a change in tone and his gait surely it had been more like the gait of a weary man that slight occasional noise she had heard in the day and attributed to it might have been his cough after all thus conviction took root in her mind that was ill or had been so and that he had carefully concealed his condition from her that she might have no scruples about accepting a hospitality which by the nature of the case her my own own true my dear kind friend i she cried to herself oh it shall not be it shall not be she hastily wrapped herself np and obtained a light with which she entered the adjoining room the cot possessing only one floor setting down the candle on the table here she went to the door with the key in her hand and placed d the it in the lock before turning it she paused her fingers still clutching it and pressing her other hand to her forehead she fell into thought a on the window caused by the tree blowing against it brought her to a close she turned the key and opened the door the darkness was intense seeming to touch her pupils like a substance she only now became aware how heavy the had been and was the dripping of the like a fountain she stood listening with parted lips and holding the door in one hand till her eyes accustomed to the obscurity discerned the wild of their boughs by the adjoining trees at last she cried loudly with an you may come in there was no immediate answer to her cry and overpowered by her own grace retreated quickly shut the door and stood looking on the floor but it was not for long she again lifted the latch and with far more determination than at first she cried with the full strength of her voice and without any of the that had her first cry oh come in come in where are you i have been wicked i have thought too much of myself do you hear i don t want to keep you out any longer i cannot bear that you should suffer so gi i a reply it was a reply through the darkness and wind a voice reached her floating upon the weather as though a part of it here i am all right don t trouble about me don t you want to come in are you not ill i don t mind what they say or what they think any more i am all right he repeated it is not necessary for me to come good night good night i grace sighed turned and shut the door slowly could she have been mistaken about his health perhaps after all she had perceived a change in him because she had not seen him for so long time sometimes did his work in as she knew well she had done all she could he would not come in she retired to rest again chapter thk next morning grace was at the window she felt determined to see him somehow that day and prepared his breakfast eagerly eight o clock struck and she had remembered that he had not come to her by a knocking as usual her own anxiety having caused her to stir the breakfast was set in its place without but he did not arrive to take it and she waited on nine o clock arrived and the breakfast was cold and still there was no a that had been repeating itself a good deal on an opposite bush for some time came and took a morsel from the plate and bolted it waited looked around and took another at ten o clock she drew in the tray and sat down to her own solitary meal he must have been called away on business early the rain having cleared off yet she would have liked to assure herself by thoroughly exploring the of the hut that he was nowhere in its vicinity but as the day was comparatively fine the dread lest some stray passenger or should encounter her in such a her wish the solitude was further to day by the stopping of the clock for want of winding and the fall into the chimney corner of of loosened by the rains at noon she heard a slight rustling outside the window and found that it was caused by an which had crept out of the leaves to in the last sun rays that would be worth having till the following may she continually peeped out through the but could see little in front lay the brown leaves of last year and upon them some green ones of this season that had been blown down by the gale above stretched an old with vast and great pocket holes in its sides where branches had been in past times a black was trying to climb it dead boughs were the	45
like in a and beyond them were stems resembling old ropes from the other window all she see were more trees with and with moss at their roots were yellow f like and and tall with more stem than stool next were more trees close together for existence their branches red with wounds from their mutual and blows it was the struggle between these neighbors that she had heard in the night beneath them were the of those of the group that had been long ago rising from their setting like decayed teeth from green farther on were other of moss in islands divided by the shed leaves variety upon variety dark green and pale green moss like little fir trees like like stars like nothing on earth except moss the strain upon grace s mind in various ways was so great on this the most desolate day she had passed there that she felt it would be well nigh impossible to spend another in such circumstances the evening came at last the sun when its chin was on the earth found an opening through which to pierce the shade and stretched across the damp atmosphere making the wet trunks shine and throwing of such on the leaves beneath the that they were turned to hues when night at last arrived and with it the time for bis return she was nearly broken down with suspense the simple evening meal partly tea partly supper which grace had prepared stood waiting upon the hearth and yet did not come it was now nearly twenty four hours since she had seen him as the room grew darker and only the broke against the gloom of the walls she was convinced that it would be beyond her staying power to pass the night without hearing from him or from somebody eight o clock drew on and his form at the window did not appear the meal remained suddenly rising from before the hearth of embers where she had been crouching with her hands clasped over her knees she crossed the room unlocked the door and listened every breath of the bad ceased with the decline of day bat the rain had the steady dripping of the night before grace might have stood there five minutes when she fancied she heard that old sound a cough at no great distance and it was presently repeated if it were s he must be near her why then had he not visited her a horrid that he could not visit her took possession of grace and she looked up anxiously for the lantern which was hanging above her head to light it and go in the direction of the sound would be the obvious way to solve the dread problem but the conditions made her hesitate and in a moment a cold sweat pervaded her at farther sounds from the same quarter they were low at first like persons in conversation but gradually themselves into varieties of one voice it was an endless like that we sometimes hear from nature in deep secret places where water flows or where ivy leaves against stones but by degrees she was convinced that the voice was s yet who could be his listener so mute and patient for though he argued so rapidly and persistently nobody replied a dreadful spread through the mind o grace oh she cried in her anguish as she hastily prepared herself to go out how correct i am always too too correct propriety is killing the dearest heart that ever woman clasped to her own while speaking to herself she had lit the lantern and hastening oat without further thought took the direction whence the had proceeded the course was marked by a little path which ended at a distance of about forty yards in a small of not much larger than a shock of com such as were frequent in the woods and when the cutting season was going on it was too slight even to be called a and was not high enough to stand upright in appearing in short to be erected for the temporary shelter of fuel the side towards grace was open and turning the light upon the interior she beheld what her fear had pictured in all the way thither upon the straw within lay in his the as she had seen him during the whole of her here except that his hat was oft and his and wild both his clothes and the straw were with rain his arms were over his head his face was flashed to an unnatural crimson his eyes had a brightness and though they met her own she perceived that he did not recognize her oh my she cried what have i done to you but she stopped no longer even to reproach herself she saw that the first thing to be thought of was to get him indoors how grace performed that labor she never could have exactly explained but by dint of clasping her arms round him him into a sitting posture and straining her strength to the she put him on one of the that was loose alongside and taking the end of it in both her hands dragged him along the path to the entrance of the hut and after a pause for breath in at the door way it was somewhat singular that in his semi conscious state in all that she did but he never for a moment recognized her continuing his rapid conversation to himself and seeming to look upon her as some angel or other supernatural creature of the visionary world in which he was mentally living the undertaking occupied her more than ten minutes but by that time to her great he was in the inner room lying on the d his damp outer clothing removed then the unhappy grace regarded him by the light of the candle there was	45
in his look which her in the rush of his thoughts their speed from minute to minute he seemed to be passing through the universe of ideas like a grace s distraction was almost as great as his in a few moments she firmly believed he was dying unable to withstand her impulse she knelt down beside him kissed his hands and his face and his hair exclaiming in a low voice how could i how could i f her timid morality had indeed his chivalry till now though she knew hm w ll the purity of his th his freedom from the passions his delicacy had never been fully understood by grace till this strange self sacrifice in lonely to her own person was revealed the perception of it added something that was little short of reverence to the deep affection for him of a woman who herself had more of than of in her constitution all that a tender nurse could do grace did and the power to express her solicitude in action unconscious though the sufferer was brought her mournful satisfaction she bathed his hot head wiped his hands his lips cooled his fiery eyelids his skin and administered whatever she could find in the house that the imagination could conceive as likely to be in any way that she might have been the cause or partially the cause of all this misery with her sorrow six months before this date a scene almost similar in its mechanical parts had been at house it was between a pair of persons most intimately connected in their lives with these outwardly like as it had been it was yet infinite in spiritual difference though a woman s devotion had been common to both grace rose from her attitude of affection and her energies saw that something practical must immediately be done much as she would have liked in the emotion of the moment to keep him entirely to herself medical assistance was necessary while there remained a possibility of preserving him alive such assistance was fatal to her own concealment but even had the chance of him been less than it was she would have run the hazard for his sake the question was where should she get a medical man competent and near there was one such man and only one within accessible distance a man who if it were possible to save s life had the brain most likely to do it if human pressure could bring him that man ought to be brought to the sick s side the attempt should be made yet she dreaded to leave her patient and the minutes past and yet she postponed her departure at last when it was after eleven o clock fell into a fitful sleep and it seemed to afford her an opportunity the she hastily made him aa comfortable as she pat on her cut a new candle from the hanging in the cupboard and having set it ap and placed it so that the light did not fall his eyes she closed the door and started the spirit of seemed to keep her company and banish all sense of darkness from her mind the rains had imparted a to the pieces of and leaves that lay about her path which as scattered by her feet spread abroad like milk she would not run the hazard of losing her way by plunging into any short track through the parts of the but followed a mt re open course which eventually brought her to the highway once here she ran along with great speed animated by a devoted purpose which had much about it that was and it was with scarcely any faltering of spirit that after an hour s progress she passed over hill and onward towards that same and that same house out of which she had fled a few days before in irresistible alarm but that had happened which above all other things of chance and change could make her deliberately her plan of flight and sink all regard of personal consequences one of s was respected by grace as much as ever his professional skill in this she was right had his equalled his insight instead of being the and fitful thing it was fame and fortune need never have remained a wish with him his freedom from conventional errors and prejudices had indeed been such as to rather than his advance in and its neighborhood where people could not believe that nature herself effected and that the doctor s business was only to smooth the way it was past midnight when grace arrived opposite her father s house now again temporarily occupied by her band unless he had already gone away ever since her from the about s residence a lightness had hung in the damp autumn sky in spite of the vault of cloud that a moon of some age was shining above its arch the two white gates were distinct and the white balls on the the and the and damp left by the recent rain had a cold corpse eyed she entered bj the lower gate and crossed the to the wing wherein the apartments that had been hers since her marriage were till she stood under a window which if her husband were in the house light to his she faltered and paused with her hand on her heart in spite of herself could she call to her presence the very cause of all her foregoing troubles alas old jones was seven miles off was possibly dying what else could she do it was in a perspiration wrought even more by ness than by exercise that she picked up some gravel threw it at the panes and waited to see the result the night bell which had been fixed when first took up his residence there still remained but as it had fallen into with	45
the of his practice and his she did not venture to pull it now whoever slept in the room had heard her signal slight as it was in half a minute the window was opened and a voice said yes recognized her husband in the speaker at once her effort was now to disguise her own accents doctor she said in as unusual a tone as she could command a man is ill in one chimney hut out towards and you must go to him at once in all mercy i i will readily the alacrity surprise and pleasure expressed in his reply amazed her for a moment but in they the sudden relief of a man who having got back in a mood of from to fearful joys found the soothing routine of practice unexpectedly opening anew to him the highest desire of his soul just now was for a respectable life of if this his first summons since his return had been to attend upon a cat or dog he would scarcely have refused it in the circumstances do you know the way f she asked yes said he the one chimney hut she repeated and immediately yea yea said remained no longer she passed oat of the white gate without it and hastened on her way back her husband then had re entered her father s house how he had been able to effect a reconciliation with the old man what were the terms of the treaty between them she could not so much as conjecture some sort of must have been entered into that was all she could say but close as the question lay to her own life there was a more urgent one which banished it and she traced her steps quickly along the track ways meanwhile was preparing to leave the house the state of his mind over and above his professional zeal was peculiar at grace s first remark he had not recognized or suspected her presence but as she went on he was awakened to the great resemblance of the speaker s voice to his wife s he had taken in such good faith the statement of the household on his arrival that she had gone on a visit for a time because she could not at once bring her mind to be reconciled to him that he could not quite actually believe this comer to be she it was one of the features of s humor at this date that on receiving the explanation of her absence he had made no attempt to outrage her feelings by following her though nobody had informed him how very shortly her departure had preceded his entry and of all that might have been inferred from her after much alarm and consideration had decided not to follow her either he with her flight much as he it moreover the tragic color of the events that he had been a great means of creating checked his instinct to interfere he prayed and trusted that she had got into no danger on her way as he supposed to and thence to if that were the place she had gone to all inquiry which the strangeness of her departure would have made natural a few months before this time a performance by grace of one tenth the magnitude of this would have aroused him to unwonted investigation the it was in the same spirit that he had assented to s there the two men had not met face to face but mrs had proposed herself as an who made the surgeon s re entrance comparatively easy to him everything was and nobody asked questions had come in the performance of a plan of which had originated in circumstances hereafter to be explained his self humiliation to the very bass string was deliberate and as soon as a call reached him from the bedside of a dying man his desire was to set to work and do as much good as he could with the least possible fuss or show he therefore refrained from calling up a to get ready any horse or and set out for hut on foot as grace had done chapter she re entered the hut flung off her bonnet and cloak and approached the sufferer he had begun anew those terrible and his hands were cold as soon as she saw him there returned to her that agony of mind which the of her journey had thrown off for a time could he really be dying she bathed him kissed him forgot all things but the fact that lying there before her was he who had loved her more than the mere lover would have loved had himself for her comfort cared more for her self respect than she had thought of caring this mood continued till she heard quick smart footsteps without she knew whose footsteps they e grace sat on the inside of the bed against the wall holding s hand so that when her entered the patient lay between herself and him he stood at first noticing grace only slowly he dropped his glance and discerned who the prostrate man was strangely enough though grace s for her husband s company had amounted almost to dread and in actual at this moment her last and least feeling was personal sen the wm by and that it was a husband who stood there was forgotten the first look that possessed her face was relief satisfaction at the presence of the physician of the man which only returned in the form of a sub that did not interfere with her words is he dying is there any hope f she cried said in an indescribable than if not quite he was arrested by the spectacle not so in its character though that was striking enough to a man who called himself the husband of the s friend and	45
long and then she sat up covered poor s features and went towards the door where her husband had stood no sign of any other comer greeted her ear the only perceptible sounds being the tiny of the dead leaves which like a feather bed had not yet done rising to their normal level where by the pressure of her husband s receding footsteps it reminded her that she had been struck with the change in his aspect the extremely intellectual look that had always been in his face was wrought to a finer phase by and a care worn dignity had been she returned to s side and during her meditations another tread drew near the door entered the outer room and halted at the entrance of the chamber where grace was said grace yes i have heard said whose had lost all its under the stroke that seemed almost literally to have bruised her he died for me murmured grace heavily did not fully comprehend and she answered he belongs to neither of us now and your beauty is no more powerful with him than my i have come to help you ma am he never cared for me and he cared much for you but he cares for us both alike now oh don t don t i said no more but knelt over from the other side did you meet my mr no then what brought you here i i come this way sometimes i have got to go to the farther side of the wood this time of the year and am obliged ths w b to get there before f oar o clock in the morning to b n the oven for the early i have passed by here often at this time grace looked at her quickly then did you know i was yes ma am did you tell anybody no i knew yon lived in the that he had it np to ye and lodged out himself did you know where he lodged p no that i couldn t find out was it at f no it was not there would it had been i it would have saved saved to check her tears she turned and seeing a book on the window bench took it up look is a he was not an outwardly religious man but he was pure and perfect in his heart shall we read a over him p oh yes we will with all my heart i grace opened the thin brown book which poor had kept at hand mainly for the convenience of his upon its leather covers she began to in that rich voice peculiar to women only on such occasions when it was over said i should like to pray for his soul so should i said her companion but we must not why nobody would know grace could not resist the argument influenced as she was by the sense of making amends for having neglected him in the body and their tender voices united and filled the narrow room with murmurs that a might have envied they had hardly ended when new and more numerous foot falls were audible also persons in conversation one of whom grace recognized as her father she rose and went to the outer apartment in which there was only such light as beamed from the inner one and mrs were there i don t reproach you grace said her father with an manner and in a voice not at all like his old voice what has come upon you and us is beyond reproach beyond weeping and beyond wailing perhaps i drove you the to it but i am i am i am astonished in the face of this there is nothing to he said without replying grace turned and glided back to the inner chamber she said quickly i cannot look my father in the face until he knows the true circumstances of my life here go and tell him what you have told me what you saw that he gave up his house to me she sat down her face buried in her hands and went and after a short absence returned then grace rose and going out asked her father if he had met her husband yes said and you know all that has happened i i do forgive me grace for suspecting ye of worse than i ought to know ye better e you coming with me to what was once your home no i stay here with him take no account of me any more the unwonted relations in which she had stood to quite lately brought about by s own contrivance could not fail to soften the natural anger of a parent at her more recent doings my daughter things are bad he rejoined but why do you to make em worse what good can you do to by staying here with him mind i ask no questions i don t inquire why you decided to come here or anything as to what your course would have been if he had not died though i know there s no deliberate harm in ye as for me i have lost all claim upon you and i make no complaint but i do say that by coming back with me now you will show no less kindness to him and escape any sound of shame but i don t wish to escape it if you don t on your own account cannot you wish to on mine and hers nobody except our household knows that you have left home then why should you by a piece of bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave if it were not for my husband she b an moved by his words but how can i meet him there how can the any	45
who is not a mere man s creature join him after what has taken place f he would go away again rather than keep you ont of my house how do yon know that father we met him on onr way here and he told ns so said mrs he had said something like it before he seems very much upset altogether he declared to her when he came to our house that he would wait for time and devotion to bring about his forgiveness said her husband that was it wasn t it tes that he would not intrude upon you grace till you gave him absolute permission mrs added this in was as welcome to grace as it was unexpected and though she did not desire his presence she was sorry that by her fiction she had given him a different reason for avoiding her she made no further objections to accompanying her parents taking them into the inner room to give a last look and gathering up the two or three things that belonged to her while she was doing this the two women came who had been called by and at their heels poor forgive me but i can t rule my mourning as a man should mr he said i ha n t seen him since thursday se night and have wondered for days and days where he s been keeping there was i expecting him to come and tell me to wash out the barrels against the making and here was he well i ve him from table high i his father used to bide about upon two sticks in the sun afore he died and now i ve seen the end of the family which we can ill afford to lose wi such a scanty lot of good folk in as we ve got and now robert will be nailed up in parish boards a b and will down a sigh for he they started for home and remaining behind for a time grace and her father walked side by side without speaking it was just in the blue of the dawn aud the tone of the sky was reflected in her cold wet thb face the whole wood seemed to be a house of death pervaded by loss to its length and breadth was gone and the seemed to show the want of him those young trees so many of which he had planted and of which he had spoken so truly when he said that he should fall before they fell were at that very moment sending out their roots in the direction that he had given them with his subtle hand one thing made it tolerable to us that your husband should come back to the house said at last the death of mrs ah yes said grace slightly to the recollection he told me so did he tell you how she died it was no such death as s she was shot by a disappointed lover it occurred in germany the unfortunate man shot himself afterwards he was that south gentleman of very passionate nature who used to haunt this place to force her to an interview and followed her about everywhere so ends the brilliant once a good friend to me but no friend to you i can forgive her said grace bid tell you of this r no but he put a london newspaper giving an account of it on the hall table folded in such a way that we should see it it will be in the paper this week no doubt to make the event more solemn still to him he had just before had sharp words with her and left her he told this as nothing about him appears in the newspaper and the cause of the quarrel was of all people she we ve left behind us bo you mean grace spoke the words but for and pointed as s story was she had no heart for it now yes south persisted in his to divert her from her present grief if possible before he went away she wrote him a letter which he kept in his pocket a long while before reading he chanced to pull it out in mrs s presence and read it out loud it contained something which her very much and that thb led to tbe rapture she was following him to make it np when she met with her terrible death did not know enough to give the of the incident which was that south s letter had been concerning a certain personal common to herself and mrs her reached its at last the scene between and had been sharp as a scene can be which arises out of the mortification of one woman by another in the presence of a lover true had not effected it by word of mouth the charge about the locks of hair was made simply by reading her let ter to him aloud to in the tones of one who had become a little weary of his situation and was finding his friend in the phrase of george a he had those false with his hand many a time without knowing them to be and it was impossible when the discovery was so abruptly made to avoid being finely despite her generous disposition that was how it had begun and tragedy had been its end on his abrupt departure she had followed him to the station but the train was gone and in travelling to in search of him she had met his rival whose reproaches led to an and the death of both of that scene of passion and crime had known nothing till he saw an account of it in the papers where fortunately for himself no mention was made of his prior acquaintance with the unhappy lady nor was there any	45
allusion to him in the subsequent inquiry the double death being attributed to some gambling losses though in point of fact neither one ol them had visited the tables and his daughter drew near their having seen but one living thing on their way a which did not run up its tree but dropping the sweet chestnut which it carried cried and stamped with its hind legs on the ground when the roofs and chimneys of the began to from the screen of boughs grace started and checked herself in her abstracted advance you understand she said to her step mother some of her old returning that lam coming back the only on condition of his leaving as he promised will yoa let him know this that there may be no mistake f mrs who had some long private talks with assured grace that she need have no doubts on that point and that he would probably be gone by the evening grace then entered with them into s wing of the house and sat down in the parlor while her step mother went to the prompt obedience to her wishes which the surgeon showed did honor to him if anything could before mrs had returned to the room grace who was sitting on the parlor window bench saw her husband go from the door under the increasing light of morning with a bag in his hand while passing through the gate he turned his head the of the room she sat in threw her figure into dark relief against the window as she looked through the panes and he must have seen her distinctly in a moment he went on the gate fell to and he disappeared at the hut she had declared that another had him and now she had banished him chapter had hardly been gone an hour when grace began to the next day she kept her room old jones was called in he murmured some statements in which the words feverish symptoms occurred grace heard them and guessed the means by which she had brought this upon herself one day while she still lay there with her head throbbing wondering if she were really going to join him who had gone before came to her bedside i don t know r this is meant for you to take ma am she said but i have found it on the table it was left by i think when she came this morning grace turned her hot eyes upon what held up it was the left at the hut by her husband when he had begged her to take some drops of its contents if she wished to preserve herself from falling a victim to the malady which the had down she examined it as well as she the was of an and bore a with an inscription in italian me had probably got it in his wanderings abroad she knew bat little italian bat understand that the cordial was a of some sort her father her mother and all the household were anxious for her recovery and she resolved to obey her husband s directions the risk if any she was prepared to run it a glass of water was brought and the drops dropped in the effect though not miraculous was remarkable in less than an hour she felt calmer cooler better able to reflect less inclined to fret and and wear herself away she took a few drops more from that time the fever retreated and went out like a how clever he is i she said why could he not have had more principle so as to turn his great talents to good account f perhaps he has saved my useless life but he doesn t know it and doesn t care whether he has saved it or not and on that account will never be told by me probably he only gave it to me in the of his skill to show the greatness of his resources beside mine as drew down from heaven as soon as she had quite recovered from this attack upon her life grace went to south s cottage the current of her being had again set towards the lost she said we both loved him we will go to his grave together great church stood at the upper part of the village and could be reached without passing through the street in the dusk of the late september day they went thither by secret ways walking mostly in silence side by side each busied with her own thoughts grace had a trouble exceeding s that haunting sense of having put out the light of his life by her own hasty doings she had tried to persuade herself that he might have died of his illness even if she had not taken possession of his house sometimes she succeeded in her attempt sometimes she did not they stood by the grave together and though the sun had the gone down they could see over the for miles and down to the in which he had been to descend every year with his mill and press to make about this time perhaps grace s first grief the discovery that if he had lived he could never have claimed her had some power in softening this the second on s part there was the same consideration never would she have been his as no anticipation of gratified affection had been in existence while he was with them there was none to be disappointed now that he had gone grace was when by degrees she found that she had never understood as had done south alone of all the women in and the world had to s level of intelligent intercourse with nature in that respect she had formed the to him in the other sex had lived as his had her thought to his as a the casual	45
glimpses which the ordinary population bestowed upon that wondrous world of sap and leaves called the woods had been with these two and a clear gaze they had been possessed of its finer mysteries as of commonplace knowledge had been able to read its as ordinary writing to them the sights and sounds of night winter wind storm amid those dense boughs which had to grace a touch of the and even the supernatural were simple whose origin continuance and laws they they had planted together and together they had together they had with the run of the years mentally collected those signs and which seen in few were of obscurity but all together made an from the light of the twigs upon their faces when brushing through them in the dark they could pronounce upon the species of the tree whence they stretched from the quality of the wind s murmur through a bough they could in like manner name its sort afar off they knew by a glance at a trunk if its heart were sound or with decay and by the state of its twigs the that had been reached by its roots the of the seasons were seen by them from the the s own point of view and not that of the spectator s he to have married you and nobody else in the world said grace with conviction after thinking somewhat in the above strain shook her head in all oar out door days and years together ma am she replied the one thing he never spoke of to me was love nor i to him yet yon and he speak in a that nobody else knew not even my father though he came nearest knowing the tongue of the trees and fruits and flowers themselves she could indulge in mournful fancies like this to but the hard core to her grief which s had not remained had she been sure that s death resulted entirely from his exposure it would have driven her well nigh to insanity but there was always that bare possibility that his exposure had only what was inevitable she longed to believe that it had not done even this there was only one man whose opinion on the circumstances she would be at all disposed to trust her husband was that man yet to ask him it would be necessary to detail the true conditions in which she and had lived during these three or four critical days that followed her flight and in withdrawing her original defiant announcement on that point there seemed a weakness she did not care to show she never doubted that would believe her if she made a clean confession of the actual situation but to the would seem like for a and that in her present frame of mind was what she did not feel the need of it will probably not appear a surprising statement after what has been already declared of that the man whom grace s fidelity could not keep faithful was stung into passionate of interest concerning her by her of the contrary he declared to himself that he had never known her full compass if she were capable of such a and melancholy as it may be to admit the fact his own hu the and regret a admiration of her he passed a month or two of great misery at the place to which he had retired quite as misery indeed as grace could she have known of it would have been inclined to inflict upon any living creature how much he might have wronged her then a sudden hope dawned upon him he wondered if her were true he asked himself whether it were not the act of a woman whose natural purity and innocence had blinded her to the of such an announcement his wide experience of the sex had taught him that in many cases women who ventured on matters did so because they lacked an imagination enough to feel their full force in this light grace s bold might merely have the desperation of one who was a child to the realities of s mental sufferings and suspense led him at last to take a melancholy journey to the neighborhood of little and here he hovered for hours around the scene of the purest experiences that he had ever known in his life he walked about the woods that surrounded s house keeping out of sight like a criminal it was a fine evening and on his way homeward he passed near mar ty south s cottage as usual she had lighted her candle without closing her shutters he saw her within as he had seen her many times before she was tools and though he had not wished to show himself he could not resist speaking in to her through the half open door what are you doing that for martyr because i want to clean them they are not mine he could see indeed that they were not hers for one was a large and heavy and another was a bill hook which she could only have used with both hands the though not a new one had been so completely that it was bright as silver somehow divined that they were s and he put the question to her she replied in the affirmative i am going to keep em the she said bnt i can t get his apple mill and press i wish i it is going to he sold they say then i will buy it for yon said that will be making you a for a kindness yoa did me his glance fell upon the rare colored hair which had grown again oh those locks of yours and that letter bat it was a kindness to send it nevertheless he added this there was confidence between them such confidence	45
as there had never been before was shy indeed of speaking about the letter and her motives in writing it but she thanked him warmly for his promise of the she would travel with it in the autumn season as he had done she said she would be quite strong enough with old as an assistant ah there was one nearer to him than you said referring to one who lived where he lived and was with him when he died then suspecting that he did not know the true circumstances from the fact that mrs and himself were living apart told him of s generosity to grace in giving up his house to her at the risk and possibly the sacrifice of his own life when the surgeon heard it he almost envied his character he expressed a wish to that his visit to her should be kept secret and went home thoughtful feeling that in more that one sense his journey to had not been in vain he would have given much to win grace s forgiveness then but whatever he dared hope for in that kind from the future there was nothing to be done yet while s memory was green to wait was imperative a little time might melt her frozen thoughts and lead her to look on him with if not with love chapter and months of for had been passed bj grace in the soothing monotony of the memorial act to which she and had devoted themselves twice a week the pair went in the dusk to great and like the two in his sad grave with their flowers and their tears sometimes grace thought that it was a pity neither one of them had been his wife for a little while and given the world a copy of him who was so valuable in their eyes nothing ever had brought home to her with such force as this death how little and culture weigh beside sterling personal character while her simple sorrow for his loss took a softer edge with the lapse of the autumn and winter seasons her self reproach at having had a possible hand in causing it knew little little occurred at during these months of the fall and decay of the leaf discussion of the almost death of mrs abroad had had had a marvellous escape from being dragged into the inquiry which followed it through the accident of their having parted just before under the influence of south s letter the tiny instrument of a cause deep in nature her body was not brought home it seemed to accord well with the fitful fever of that impassioned woman s life that she should not have found a native grave she had enjoyed but a life interest in the estate which after her death passed to a relative of her husband s one who knew not one whose purpose seemed to be to blot out every of her on a certain day in february the cheerful day of st in a letter reached mrs which had been mentally promised her for that particular day a long time before thb it that was living at some town where he had obtained a temporary practice as assistant to some local medical man whose principles were all wrong though he dared not set them right he had thought fit to communicate with her on that day of tender traditions to inquire if in the event of his obtaining a substantial practice that he had in view elsewhere she could forget the past and bring herself to join him there the practical part ended he then went on my last year of experience has added ten years to my age dear grace and dearest wife that ever man you may be absolutely indifferent to what i say but let me say it i have never loved any woman alive or dead as i love respect and honor you at this present moment what you told me in the pride and of your heart i never believed this by the way was not strictly true but even if i had believed it it could never have me from yon is there any use in telling no there is that i dream of your ripe lips more frequently than i say my prayers that the old familiar rustle of your dress often returns upon my mind till it me if you could condescend even only to see me again you would be breathing life into a corpse my pure pure grace modest as a how came i ever to possess you for the sake of present in your mind on this lovers day i think i would almost rather have you hate me a little than not think of me at all tou may call my but remember sweet lost one that nature is fine in love and where tis fine it sends some instance of itself i will not intrude upon you further now make me a little bit happy by sending back one line to say that you will consent at any rate to a short interview i will meet you and leave you as a mere acquaintance if you will only afford me this slight means of making a few explanations and of putting my position before you believe me in spite of all you may do or feel tour lover always once your husband b it was oddly enough the first occasion or nearly the first on which grace had ever received a love letter from him his courtship having taken place under conditions which rendered unnecessary its perusal therefore had a certain novelty for her she thought that upon the whole he wrote love letters very well but the chief rational est of the letter to the grace lay in the chance that such a meeting as he proposed would afford her of setting her	45
doubts at rest one way or the other on her actual share in s death the relief of consulting a skilled thb mind the one man who had seen at that time be immense as for that statement that she had uttered in her grief which at the time she had regarded as her triumph she was quite prepared to admit to him that his belief was the true one for in herself as she did when she made it she had done what to her was a far more serious thing wronged s memory without her father or any one in the house or out of it grace replied to the letter she agreed to meet on two conditions of which the first was that the place of meeting should be the top of hill the second that he would not object to south accompanying her art much or little there may haye been in s so called to his wife he felt a delight as of the bursting of spring when her brief reply came it was one of the few pleasures that he had experienced of late years at all resembling those of his early youth he promptly replied that he accepted the conditions and named the day and hour at which he would be on the spot she mentioned a few minutes before three on the appointed day found him climbing the well known hill which had been the of so many critical movements in their lives during his residence at the sight of each homely and well remembered object swelled the regret that seldom left him now whatever paths might lie open to his future the soothing shades of were forbidden him forever as a permanent dwelling place he longed for the society of grace but to lay on her altar was his first aim and until her was complete he would her in no way to return to him the least that he could make in a case where he would gladly have made much would be to let her feel herself absolutely free to choose between living with him and without him moreover a in emotions he cultivated as under glasses strange and mournful pleasures that he would not willingly let die just at present to show any thk in a to grace be to put an end to these to be the of her sweet will f oi a time he demanded no more and found solace in the contemplation of the soft miseries she caused him approaching the hill top with a mind to these notions discerned a gay procession of people coming over the crest and was not long in perceiving it to be a wedding party the wind was keen the women were in light attire and the of the men had a pleasing of pattern each of the ones clung to the arm of her partner so lightly as to have with him one step rise swing gait almost one centre of gravity in the bride recognized no other who in her light gown looked a the small husband beside her he saw to be tim could not escape for they had seen him though of all the beauties of the world whom he did not wish to meet was the chief but he put the best face on the matter that he could and came on the approaching company evidently discussing him and his separation from mrs as the couples closed upon him he expressed his congratulations wc be just walking round the to show ourselves a bit said tim first we across to then to here and from here we go to and and then round by the cross roads home home says i but it won t be that long i we be off next month indeed tim informed him that they were going to new not but that he would have been contented with but his wife was ambitious and wanted to leave so he had given way then good by said i may not see you again he shook hands with tim and turned to the bride good by he said taking her hand also i wish you and your husband prosperity in the country you have chosen with this he left and hastened on to his appointment the wedding party re formed and resumed march like the wise but in restoring his arm to tim noticed that her fall and blooming countenance had undergone a change i me dear what s the matter said tim nothing to speak o said she bat to give the lie to her assertion she was seized with that soon produced a face how what the s this about exclaimed the bridegroom she s a little bit overcome poor dear said the first her handkerchief and wiping s eyes i never did like parting from people said as soon as she could speak why him in particular well he s such a clever doctor that tis a thousand we sha n t see him any more there ll be no such clever doctor as he in new if i should require one and the thought o t got the better of my feelings they walked on but tim s face had grown rigid and pale for he recalled slight circumstances disregarded at the time of their occurrence the former boisterous laughter of the wedding party at the s jokes was heard ringing through the woods no more by this time had advanced on his way to the top of the hill where he saw two figures emerging from the on the right hand these were the expected ones grace and south who had evidently come there by a short and secret path through the wood grace was muffled up in her winter dress and he thought that she had never looked so as at this moment in the bright but sun and the keen	45
wind and the gray masses of around continued to regard the picture till at length their glances met for a moment when she sent off hers at a and gave him the benefit of her three quarter while with courteous completeness of conduct he lifted his hat in a large arc dropped behind and when held out his hand grace touched it with her fingers i have agreed to be here mostly because i wanted to ask tm you important said mr her in a direction that she had not quite wished it to take i am most attentive said her shall we take to the wood for privacy t grace and gave in and they kept the public road at any rate she would take his arm this also was gravely the refusal being audible to why he inquired oh mr how can you ask right said he his up as they walked on she returned to her inquiry it is about a matter that may perhaps be unpleasant to you but i think i need not consider that too carefully not at all said he then took him back to the time of poor s death and related the precise circumstances amid which his fatal illness had come upon him the of the shelter to which he had himself his concealment from her of the hardships that he was all that he had put up with all that he had done for her in his scrupulous the brought her to tears as she asked him if he thought that the sin of having driven him to his death was upon her could hardly help showing his satisfaction at what her narrative indirectly revealed the actual of an with her lover which had at by her own showing looked so grave and he did not care to inquire whether that had been the result of aim or of accident with regard to her question he declared that in his judgment no human being could answer it he thought that upon the whole the of turned in her favor s apparent strength during the last months of his life must have been it had often occurred that after a first attack of that disease a person s apparent recovery was a the relief which came to grace lay almost as much in sharing her knowledge of the particulars with an intelligent mind as in the assurances gave her well then the to put this case before yon and obtain your professional opinion was chiefly why i consented to come here to day said she when he had reached the for no other reason at all f he asked ally it was nearly the whole they stood and looked over a gate at twenty or thirty feeding in the grass and he started the talk again by sinking in a low voice and yet i love you more than ever i loved you in my life grace did not move her eyes from the birds and folded her delicate lips as if to keep them in it is a different kind of love altogether said he less passionate more profound it has nothing to do with the material conditions of the object at all much to do with her character and goodness as revealed by closer observation love talks with better knowledge and knowledge with dearer love that s out of measure for measure said she oh yes i meant it as a replied well then why not give me a very little bit of your heart again the crash of a tree in the remote depths of the wood recalled the past at that moment and all the homely of don t ask it i my heart is in the grave with she replied mine is with you in no less deep a grave i fear according to that i am very sorry but it cannot be helped how can you be sorry for me when you keep open the grave oh no that s not so returned grace quickly and moved to go away from him but dearest grace said he you have condescended to come and i thought from it that perhaps when i had passed through a long state of you would be generous but if there can be no hope of our getting complete ly reconciled treat me gently wretch though i am i did not say you were a wretch nor have i ever said so but you have such a contemptuous way of looking at me that i fear you think so thb grace s heart between the wish not to be harsh and the fear that she might him i cannot look unless i feel contempt she said and all i feel is i have been very bad i know he but unless yon can really love me again grace i would rather go away from you forever i don t want you to receive me again for duty s sake or anything of that sort if i had not cared more for your and forgiveness than my own personal comfort i should never have come back here i could have obtained a practice at a distance and have lived my own life without coldness or reproach but i have chosen to return to the one spot on earth where my name is to enter the house of a man from whom i have had worse treatment than from any other man all for you this was true and it had its weight with grace who began to look as if she thought she had been severe before you go he continued i want to know your pleasure about me what you wish me to do or not to do you are independent of me and it seems a mockery to ask that far be it from me to advise but i will think it over	45
i rather need advice myself than stand in a position to give it you don t need advice wisest dearest woman that ever lived if you did would you give it to me would you act upon what i gave that s not a fair inquiry said she smiling despite her gravity i don t mind hearing it what you do really think the most correct and proper course for me it is so easy for me to say and yet i dare not for it would be provoking you to knowing of course what the advice would be she did not press him further and was about to forward and leave him when he interrupted her with oh one moment dear grace you will meet me again f she eventually agreed to see him that day fortnight at the interval but the half alarmed ear the with which she entreated him not to come sooner made him say hastily that he submitted to her will that he would regard her as a friend only anxious for his reform and well being till such time as she might allow him to exceed that privilege all this was to assure her it was only too clear that he had not won her confidence yet it amazed and all his from previous experience to find that this girl though she had been married to him could yet be so notwithstanding a certain fascination that it carried with it his reflections were sombre as he went homeward he saw how deep had been his offence to produce so great a in a gentle and once soul he was himself too fastidious to care to her to be an object of or dislike to a woman who shared his home was what he could not endure the thought of life as it stood was more tolerable when he was gone joined mrs she would fain have consulted on the question of relations with her former husband as she preferred to regard him but showed no great interest in their affairs so grace said nothing they came onward and saw standing at the scene of the which had been audible to them when telling that she wished her meeting with mr to be kept private she left the girl to join her father at any rate she would consult him on the of occasionally seeing her husband her father was cheerful and walked by her side as he had done in earlier days i was thinking of you when you came up he said i have considered that what has happened is for the best since your husband is gone away and seems not to wish to trouble you why let him go and drop out of your life many women are worse off you can live here comfortably enough and he can or do what he likes for his good i wouldn t mind sending him the further sum of money he might naturally expect to come to him so that you may not be with him any more he could hardly have gone on living here without speaking to me or meeting me and that would have been very unpleasant on both sides the these remarks checked her there was a sense of weakness in them by saying that she had met her husband by appointment then you would advise me not to communicate with him f she observed i shall never advise ye again you are your own mistress do as you like but my opinion is that if you don t live with him you had better live without him and not go and playing you sent him away and now he s gone very well trouble him no more grace felt a she hardly knew why and made no confession chapter thb woods were uninteresting and grace stayed in doors a great deal she became quite a student reading more than she had done since her marriage but her seclusion was always broken for the visit to s grave with which was kept up with pious for the purpose of putting snow drops and other flowers as they came one afternoon at sunset she was standing just outside her father s garden which like the rest of the into the wood a slight foot path led here forming a secret way to either of the houses by getting through its boundary hedge grace was just about to adopt this mode of entry when a figure approached along the path and held up his hand to detain her it was her husband i am delighted he said coming up out of breath and there seemed no reason to doubt his words i saw you some way off i was afraid you would go in before i could reach you it is a week before the time said she reproachfully i said a fortnight from the last meeting my dear you don t suppose i could wait a fortnight without trying to get a glimpse of you even though you had declined to meet me would it make you angry to know that i have been along this path at dusk three or four times since our last meeting well how are you the she did not refuse her hand but when he showed a wish to retain it a moment longer than mere formality required she made it smaller so that it slipped away from him with again that same alarmed look which always followed his attempts in this direction he saw that she was not yet oat of the mood not yet to be treated and he was to her his assertion had seemed to impress her somewhat i had no idea you came so often she said how far do you come from from i always walk from for if i hire people will know that i come and my success	45
with you so far has not been great enough to justify such now my dear on s i must call you i put it to you will you see me a little oftener as the spring advances f grace into unwonted and avoiding the question said i wish you would on your profession and give up those strange studies that used to you so much i am sure you would get on it is the very thing i am doing i was going to ask vou to burn or at least get rid of all my philosophical literature it is in the in your rooms the fact is i never cared much for studies i am so glad to hear you say that and those other books those piles of old plays what good are they to a medical man f none whatever i he replied cheerfully sell them at for what they will fetch and those dreadful old french with their horrid of and and and mary and you haven t been reading them grace oh i just looked into them that was all make a of em directly you get home i meant to do it myself i can t think what possessed me ever to collect them i have only a few professional hand books now and am quite a practical man i am in hopes of having good news to tell you soon and then do you think you come to me again f i would rather you did not press me on that just now thb she replied with some feeling have said you mean to lead a new life bat i like to see yon pat it in practice for a little while before yoa address that to me besides i not with yoa why grace was silent a few i go with to s grave we swore we show him that devotion and i mean to keep it np well i t mind that at all i have no right to expect anything else and i will not wish you to keep away i liked the man as well as any i ever knew in short i would accompany you a part of the way to the place and smoke a cigar on the while i waited tiu you came back then you haven t given up smoking f well no i have thought of doing so but his extreme had disconcerted grace and the question about smoking had been to effect a diversion presently she said firmly and with a moisture in her eye that he could not see as her mind returned to poor s ghost i don t like you to speak lightly on that subject if you did speak lightly to be frank with you quite frank i think of him as my lover still i cannot help it so that it would be wrong for me to join you was now uneasy you say your lover still he rejoined when then were you to him or engaged as we common people say when you were away how could that be grace would have avoided this but her natural led her on it was when i was under the impression that my marriage with you was about to be and that he could then marry me so i encouraged him to love visibly and yet upon the whole she was right in telling it indeed his perception that she was right in her absolute sincerity kept up his affectionate admiration for her under the pain of the time had been when the that grace had deliberately taken steps to replace him would have brought him no sorrow but she m far him tl f t be could not bear to hear the her words the object of her high regard was no more it is rough upon me that he said bitterly oh grace i did not know you tried to get rid of me i suppose it is of no use but i ask cannot you hope to find a little love in your heart for me again v if i could i would oblige you but i fear i cannot she replied with and i don t see why you should mind my having had one lover besides yourself in my life when you have had so many but i can tell you honestly that i love you better than all of them put together and that s what you will not tell me i am sorry but i fear i cannot she said sighing again i wonder if you ever will he looked into her indistinct face as if he would read the future there now have pity and tell me will you try to love you again yes if you can i don t know how to reply she answered her embarrassment proving her truth will you promise to leave me quite free as to seeing you or not seeing you certainly have i given any ground for you to doubt my first promise in that respect she was obliged to admit that he had not then i think that you might get your heart out of that grave said he with playful sadness it has been there a long time she faintly shook her head but said i ll try to think of you more i can with this was compelled to be satisfied and he asked her when she would meet him again as we arranged in a fortnight if it must be a fortnight it must this time at least i ll consider by the day i see you again if i can the interval well be that as it may i shall come at least twice a week to look at your window you must do as you like about	45
that good night say husband she seemed almost to ve him the word but e the claiming no no i slipped through the and disappeared did not when he told her that he should haunt the of the dwelling but his in this course did not result in his seeing her much oftener than at the interval which she had herself marked out as proper at these times however she appeared and as the spring wore on the meetings were kept up though their character changed but little with the increase in their number the small garden of the cottage occupied by the family father son and now son s wife with the larger one of the timber dealer at its upper end and when young tim after leaving work at s stood at dusk in the little bower at the comer of his to smoke a pipe he frequently observed the surgeon pass along the outside track before mentioned always walked looking with a sharp eye into the gardens one after another as he proceeded for did not wish to leave the now absorbing spot too quickly after travelling so far to reach it hoping always for a glimpse of her whom he passionately desired to take to his arms anew now tim began to be struck with these along the garden boundaries in the and wondered what they it was naturally quite out of his power to divine the singular sentimental revival in s heart the of which could take a deep almost also an artistic pleasure in being the yearning of a woman he once had deserted would have seemed an absurdity to the young mr and mrs were separated therefore the question of affection as between them was settled but his had since that meeting on their marriage day admitted to the of his questioning a good deal concerning her past putting all things together he could hardly avoid connecting s mysterious visits to this spot with s residence under his roof but he made himself fairly easy the vessel in which they were about to sailed that month and then would be out of s way forever the the interval at last expired and the eve of their departure arrived they were pausing in the room of the cottage allotted to them hy tim s father after a day of preparation which left them weary in a comer stood their boxes crammed and their large case for the hold having already been sent away the shone upon s fine face and form as she stood looking into it and npon the face of tim seated in a corner and upon the walls of his father s house which he was beholding that night almost for the last time tim was not happy this scheme of was dividing him from his father for old would on no account leave and had it not been for s reputation and his own dignity tim would at the last moment have abandoned the project as e sat in the back part of the room he regarded her and the fire and the boxes one thing he had particularly noticed this evening she was very restless fitful in her actions unable to remain seated and in a marked degree depressed sorry that you be going after all he said she sighed involuntarily i don t know but that i be she answered tis natural isn t it when one is going away but you wasn t born here as i was no there s folk left behind that you d fain have with ee i reckon why do you think that i ve seen things and i ve heard things and i say be a good move for me to get ee away i don t mind his abroad but i do mind em at home s face was not changed from its aspect of indifference by the words she answered nothing and shortly after he went out for his customary pipe of tobacco at the top of the garden the restlessness of had indeed owed its presence to the gentleman of tim s suspicions but in a different and it must be added in justice to her more innocent sense than he supposed judging from former doings she had accidentally discovered that was in the habit of coming secretly once or twice a week to and knew a the that this evening was a one of the seven for his as she was going next day to leave the sake thought there be no great harm in giving way to a little by obtaining a glimpse of him quite unknown to himself or to anybody and thus taking a silent last farewell aware that s time for passing was at hand she thus betrayed her feeling no sooner therefore had tim left the room than she let herself noiselessly out of the house and hastened to the corner of the garden whence she could witness the surgeon s across the scene if he had not already gone by her light cotton dress was visible to tim lounging in the of the opposite comer though he was hidden from her he saw her stealthily climb into the hedge and so herself there that nobody could have the least doubt her purpose was to watch unseen for a he went across to the spot and stood behind her started having in her way forgotten that he might be near she at once descend from the hedge so he s coming to night said tim and we be always anxious to see our he is coming to night she replied with defiance and we be anxious for our then will you step in doors where your dear will soon ee we ve to monster by half past three to morrow and if we don t get to bed by eight	45
at latest our faces will be as long as clock cases all day she hesitated for a minute but ultimately obeyed going slowly down the garden to the house where he heard the door latch click behind her tim was beyond measure his marriage had so far been a total failure a source of bitter regret and the only course for improving his case that of leaving the country was a sorry and possibly might not be a very effectual one do what he would his domestic sky was likely to be to the end of the day thus he and his resentment gathered force he a means of striking one blow back at the cause of his cheerless plight while he was still on the scene of his discomfiture for some minutes method suggested itself and then he h d p idea the coming to a sudden resolution he hastened along the garden and entered the one attached to the next cottage which had formerly been the dwelling of a game keeper tim descended the path to the back of the house where only an old woman lived at present and reaching the wall he stopped owing to the slope of the ground the roof of the were here within touch and he thrust his arm up under them feeling about in the space on the top of the wall plate ah i thought my memory didn t deceive me he silently with some exertion he drew down a object curiously framed in iron which as he moved it it was about three feet in length and half as wide tim contemplated it as well as he could in the dying light of day and off the with his hand that will spoil his pretty for n i reckon he said it was a man trap chapter were the of machines to be ranged according to the excellence of their devices for producing sound artistic torture the creator of the man trap would occupy a very respectable if not a very high place it should rather however be said the of the particular form of man trap of which this found in the keeper s out house was a specimen for there were other shapes and other sizes instruments which if placed in a row beside one of the type by tim would have worn the subordinate aspect of the bears wild or wolves in a travelling as compared with the leading lion or tiger in short though many varieties had been in use during those centuries which we are accustomed to look back upon as the true and only period of merry england in the rural districts more especially and onward down to the third of the nineteenth century this model had borne the palm and had been most usually followed when the and estates re new ones the there had been the by the quite contemptible in their the jaws of these resembled the jaws of an old woman to whom time has left nothing but there were also the or half tooth sorts probably devised by the middle or those under the influence of their wires two inches of mercy two inches of cruelty two inches of mere two inches of and so on through the whole extent of the jaws there were also as a class apart the which did not the flesh but only crushed the bone the sight of one of these when set produced a vivid impression that it was endowed with life it exhibited the combined aspects of a a and a each tooth was in the form of a two and a quarter inches long which when the jaws were closed stood in from this side and from that when they were open the two formed a complete circle between two and three feet in the plate or treading place in the midst being about a foot square while from beneath extended in opposite directions the soul of the apparatus the pair of springs each one being of a to render necessary a or the whole weight of the body when forcing it down there were men at this time still living at who remembered when the gin and others like it were in use tim s great uncle had endured a night of six hours in this very trap which him for life a keeper of woods set it on the track of a and afterwards coming back that way forgetful of what he had done walked into it himself the wound brought on of which he died this event occurred during the and by the year the use of such implements was well nigh in the neighborhood but being made entirely of iron they by no means disappeared and in almost every village one could be found in some nook or corner as readily as this was found by tim it had indeed been a fearful amusement of tim and other lads especially those who had a dim sense of becoming renowned when they reached their prime to drag out this trap from its hid the ing set it and throw it with of wood were penetrated by the teeth to the depth of near an inch as soon as he had examined the trap and found that the hinges and springs were still perfect he shouldered it without more and returned with his burden to his own garden passing on through the hedge to the path immediately outside the boundary here by the help of a stout stake he set the trap and laid it carefully behind a bush while he went forward to as has been stated nobody passed this way for days together sometimes but there was just a possibility that some other than the one in request might arrive and it tim to be careful as to the identity of his victim going about a hundred yards along the	45
rising ground to the right he reached a ridge whereon a large and thick grew beyond this for some distance the wood was more open and the course which must pursue to reach the point if he came to night was visible a long way forward for some time there was no sign of him or of anybody then there shaped itself a spot out of the dim mid distance between the masses of on either hand and it enlarged and tim could hear the brushing of feet over the of sour grass the airy gait revealed even before his exact outline could be seen tim turned about and ran down the opposite side of the hill till he was again at the head of his own garden it was the work of a few moments to drag out the man trap very gently that the plate might not be disturbed sufficiently to throw it to a space between a pair of young oaks which rooted in grew apart upward forming a v shaped opening between and being backed up by bushes left this as the only course for a foot passenger in it he laid the trap with the same gentleness of handling locked the chain round one of the trees and finally slid back the guard which was placed to keep the gin from accidentally catching the arms of him who set it or to use the local and better word toiled it having completed these arrangements tim sprang through the adjoining hedge of his father s garden ran down the path and softly entered the the obedient to his order sake had gone to bed and aa soon aa he had bolted the door tim and licked off his boots at the foot of the stairs and retired likewise without lighting a candle his object seemed to be to as soon as possible before however he had completed the operation a long cry without penetrating bat indescribable what s said sake starting ap in bed sounds as if somebody had caught a hare in his gin oh no said she it was not a hare louder do ee get to sleep said tim how be you going to wake at half past three she lay down and was tim stealthily opened the window and listened above the low produced by the of the various species of trees around the premises he could hear the of a chain from the spot whereon he had set the man trap but further human sound there was none tim was puzzled in the haste of his project he had not calculated upon a cry but if one why not more he soon ceased to essay an answer for was dead to him already in a dozen hours he would be out of its for life on his way to the he closed the window and lay down the hour which had brought these movements of tim to birth had been elsewhere awaiting in her father s house the minute of her appointment with her husband grace on many things should she inform her father before going out that the of herself and was not so complete as he had imagined and deemed desirable for her happiness if she did so she must in some measure become the of her husband and she was not prepared to go so far as for him he kept her in a mood of considerate gravity he certainly had changed he had at his worst times always been gentle in his manner towards her could it be that she might make of him a true and worthy husband yet she had married him there was no getting over that and th ought she any longer to keep him at a distance his deference to her whim on the question of his and when as her lawful husband he might show a little independence was a trait in his character as unexpected as it was engaging if she had been his and he her he could not have exhibited a more sensitive care to avoid upon her against her will impelled by a remembrance she took down a prayer book j and turned to the marriage service reading it slowly through she became quite appalled at her recent off handed ness when she what awfully solemn she had made him at those steps not so very ago she became lost in long on how far a person s conscience might be bound by vows made without at the time a full recognition of their force that particular sentence beginning whom god hath joined together was a for a of strong sentiment be wondered whether god really did join them before she had done the time of her engagement drew near and she went out of the house almost at the moment that tim retired to his own the position of things at that critical juncture was briefly as follows two hundred yards to the right of the upper end of s garden was still advancing having now nearly reached the summit of the wood clothed ridge the path being the actual one which further on passed between the two young oaks thus far it was according to tim s conjecture but about two hundred yards to the left or rather less was arising a condition which he had not divined the of grace as from the upper corner of her father s garden with the view of meeting tim s intended victim between husband and wife was the trap silent open ready s walk that night had been cheerful for he was convinced that the slow and gentle method he had adopted was promising success the very restraint that he was obliged to exercise upon himself so as not to kill the delicate bud of returning confidence fed his flame he walked the so more rapidly than grace that if they continued ad	45
as they had began he reach the trap a good half before she could reach the same spot y at here a new came in to escape the of being watched or listened to by naturally curious by reason of their strained relations they had arranged that their meeting for to night should be at the tree on the ridge above named si soon accordingly as reached the tree he stood still to await her he had not paused under the foliage more than two minutes when he thought he heard a scream from the other side of the ridge wondered what it could mean but such wind as there was just now blew in an ad direction and his mood was light he set down the origin of the to one of the superstitious or between that still survived in from old english times and waited on where he stood till ten minutes had passed feeling then a little uneasy his mind to the scream and he went forward over the summit and down the incline till he reached the pair of sister oaks with the narrow opening between them stumbled and all but fell stretching down his hand to ascertain the it came in contact with a confused mass of silken and iron work that conveyed absolutely no idea to his mind at all it was but the work of a moment to strike a match and then he saw a sight which his blood the man trap was thrown and between its jaws was part of a woman s clothing a silk skirt with such violence that the iron teeth had passed through it its in a score of places he immediately recognized the skirt as that of one of his wife s gowns the gown that she had worn when she met him on the very last occasion had often studied the effect of these instruments when examining the collection at house and the conception instantly flashed through him that grace had been caught taken out by some chance and carried home some of her clothes being left behind in the the of getting her free the shock of this conviction striking into the very current of high hope was so great that he ont like one in agony and in misery bowed himself down to the ground of all the degrees and qualities of punishment that had undergone since his sins grace first began not any even in intensity to this oh my my darling i oh cruel heaven it is too much he cried and rocking himself over the sorry of her he the voice of his distress was sufficiently loud to be audible to any one who might have been there to hear it and one there was right and left of the narrow pass between the oaks were dense bushes and now from behind these a female figure glided whose appearance even in the gloom was though graceful in outline strange she was in white up to the and figured above she was in short grace his wife lacking the portion of her dress which the gin retained don t be grieved about me don t dear she exclaimed rushing up and bending over him i am not hurt a bit i was coming on to find you after i had released myself but i heard footsteps and i hid away because i was without some of my clothing and i did not know who the person might be had sprung to his feet and his next act was no less by him than it was irresistible by her and would have been so by any woman not of strength he clasped his arms completely round pressed her to his breast and kissed her passionately you are not dead i you are not hurt i thank god thank god he said almost sobbing in his delight and relief from the horror of his apprehension grace my wife my love how is this what has happened i was coming on to you she said as distinctly as she could in the half smothered state of her face against his i was trying to be as punctual as possible and as i had started a minute late i ran along the path very swiftly fortunately for myself just when i had passed between these trees i felt something clutch at my dress from behind the with a noise and the next moment i was backward by it and fell to the ground i screamed with terror thinking it was a man lying down there to murder me but the next moment i discovered it was iron and that my clothes were caught in a trap i pulled this way and that but the thing would not let go drag it as i would and i did not know what to do i did not want to alarm my father or anybody as i wished nobody to know of these meetings you so i could think of no other plan than slipping off my skirt meaning to run on and tell you what a strange accident had happened to me but when i had just freed myself by leaving the dress behind i heard steps and not being sure it was you i did not like to be seen in such a so i hid away it was only your speed that saved you i one or both of your legs would have been broken if you had come at ordinary walking pace or yours if you had got here first said she beginning to realize the whole of the possibility oh j there has been an eye watching over us to night and we should be thankful indeed he continued to press his face to hers tou are mine mine again now she gently owned that she supposed she was i	45
went along they the of the village and in a short time lighted upon the man trap its discovery simply added an item of fact without helping their conjectures but s indefinite alarm was greatly increased when holding a candle to the ground he saw in the teeth of the instrument some from grace s clothing no intelligence of any kind was gained till they met a of who said that he had seen a lady answering to the description her father gave of grace walking through the wood on a gentleman s arm in the direction of was he clutching her tight said well rather said the man did she walk lame well tis true her head hung over towards him a bit groaned not suspecting the presence of coupled this account with the man trap and the scream he could not understand what it all meant but the sinister event of the trap made him follow on accordingly they bore away towards the town shouting as they went and in due course emerged upon the highway the previous information was confirmed by other though the gentleman s supporting arm had disappeared from these later accounts at last they were so near that informed his faithful followers that he did not wish to drag them farther at so late the an since he go on alone and if the woman who had been seen were really grace but they not leave him alone in his anxiety and onward till the from the town began to their fronts at the entrance to the high street they got fresh scent of the pursued but coupled the new condition that the lady in the costume described had been going up the street alone faith i i believe she s or walking in her sleep said however the identity of this woman with grace was by no means certain but they along the street the hair who had of her was standing at his door and they duly put inquiries to him ah how s little folk by now he said before replying never have i been over there since one winter night some three year and then i lost myself finding it how can ye live in such a one eyed place great is bad enough but little the and would drive me melancholy mad it took two days to raise my to their true pitch again after that night i went there mr sir as a man s that put by money why not retire and live here and see something of the world the at last given by him to their guided them to the building that offered the best accommodation in having been enlarged with the construction of the railway namely the earl of hotel leaving the others without made prompt inquiry here his alarm was lessened though his perplexity was increased when he received a brief reply that such a lady was in the house do you know if it is my daughter asked the waiter did not do you know the lady s name of this too the household was ignorant the hotel having been taken by brand new people from a distance they knew the gentleman very well by sight and had not thought it necessary to ask him to enter his name oh the gentleman appears again now said o himself well i nt to se the lady be declared the a message was taken up and after some delay the shape of grace appeared descending round the bend of the staircase looking as if she lived there but in other respects rather ty and frightened why what the name began her father i thought you went out to get oh yes i did but it is all right said grace in a whisper i am not alone here i am here with it is entirely owing to an accident father i an accident how does he come here i thought he was two hundred mile yes so he is i mean he has got a beautiful practice two hundred miles off he has bought it with his own money some that came to him but he travelled here and i was nearly caught in a man trap and that s how it is i am here we were just thinking of sending a messenger to let you know did not seem to be particularly enlightened by this explanation you were caught in a man trap f yes my dress was that s how it arose is upstairs in his own sitting room she went on he would not mind seeing you i am sure oh faith i don t want to see him i have seen him too often already til see him another time perhaps if tis to oblige ee he came to see me he wanted to consult me about this large i speak of as it is very promising oh i am glad to hear it said a pause ensued during which the inquiring faces and brown clothes of s companions appeared in the door way then t you coming home with us he asked i i think not said grace blushing h m very well you are your own mistress he returned in tones which seemed to assert otherwise and retreated towards the door don t be angry father she said following him a few steps i have done it for the best i am not angry though it is true i a the in this however good night i must get home along he left the hotel not without relief for to he under the eyes of strangers while he conversed with his lost child had embarrassed him much his search party too had looked awkward there having to the task of investigation some in their shirt sleeves others in their leather	45
and all much stained just as they had come from their work of barking and not in their attire while with his ropes and and air of impending tragedy had added melancholy to now neighbors said on joining them as it is getting late we ll leg it home again as fast as we can i ought to tell you that there has been some mistake some arrangement entered into between mr and mrs which i didn t quite understand an important practice in the has come to him which made it necessary for her to join him to night so she says that s all it was and i m sorry i dragged you out well said the hollow here be we six mile from home and night time and not a or four footed creeping thing to our name i say we ll have a and a drop o to strengthen our nerves afore we all the way back again f my throat s as dry as a what d ye say so they all in the need for this course and proceeded to the antique and back street in which the red curtain of the three was the only radiant object as soon as they had stumbled down into the room ordered them to be served when they made themselves comfortable by the long table and stretched out their legs upon the sand of the floor himself less as usual walked to the door while he waited for them and looked up and down the street i d her a good shaking if she were my maid pretending to go out in the garden and leading folk a that have got to get up at five o clock to morrow said a bark who not working regularly for could afford to indulge in strong opinions i don t speak so warm as said the hollow the bnt if tis right for couples to make a country talk about their separating and excite the neighbors and then make fools of em like why i haven t stood upon one leg for twenty year all his listeners knew that when he alluded to his in these terms the speaker meant to be impressive and in with ah young women do wax wanton in these days why couldn t she ha with her father and been faithful poor was thinking of his old employer but this deceiving of folks is nothing unusual in matrimony said farmer i a man and wife faith i don t mind as there s no strangers here that the pair were my own relations they d be at it that hot one hour that you d hear the and the and the and the warming pan flee across the house with the movements of their vengeance and the next hour you d hear em singing the spotted cow together as as two holy yes and very good voices they had and would strike in like professional singers to one another s support in the high notes and i a woman and the husband o her went away for f our and twenty year said the bark and one night he came home when she was sitting by the fire and thereupon he sat down himself on the other side of the chimney corner wed says she have ye got any news don t know as i have says he have no says she except that my daughter by my second husband was married last month which was a year after i was made a widow by any thing else f he says no says she and there they sat one on each side of that and were found by their neighbors sound asleep m their chairs not having known what to talk about at all well i don t care who the man is said they required a good deal to talk about and that s true it won t be the same with these no he is such a you see and she is a wonderful scholar too i what women do know nowadays t observed the you can t deceive em as yon could in my time md thb what they then was not small said john always a good deal more than the men i why when i went my wife that is now the that she show in keeping me on her pretty side as she walked was beyond all belief perhaps noticed that she s got a pretty side to her face as well as a plain one i can t say noticed it particular much said the ow well not disconcerted she has jl women under the sun be prettier one side than t other as i was saying the pains she would take to make me walk on the pretty side were i warrant that whether we were going with the sun or against the sun or in wind or in that of hers was always towards uie hedge and that towards me there was i too simple to see her and and she so artful though two years younger that she could lead me with a cotton thread like a blind ram for that was in the third climate of our courtship no i don t the think women have got for they was never otherwise how many may there be in courtship mr inquired a youth the same who had assisted at s christmas party five from the to the there was five in mine can ye give us the chronicle of em mr f yes i could i could certainly but tis quite unnecessary they u come to ye by young man too soon for your good at present mrs can lead the doctor as your mis ess could lead you the hollow remarked she s got him quite tame but how	45
leave room for a new handling of the theme which should re the features of this influence in their true proportion and accordingly on a day about six years back the following play was to be taken up now and then at wide ever since it may i think claim at least a tolerable fidelity to the facts of its date as they are preface vii given in ordinary records whenever any evidence of the words really spoken or written by the characters in their various situations was as close a has been aimed at as was with the form chosen and in all cases outside tradition accessible scenery and existing relics my for detail to the abundant pages of the historian the and the english and foreign has been of course continuous it was thought proper to introduce as supernatural spectators of the drama or called spirits they are intended to be taken by the reader for what they may be worth as of the fancy merely their doctrines are but and are advanced with little eye to a philosophy to lift the of the mystery of this unintelligible world the chief thing hoped for them is that they and their may have dramatic enough to procure for them in the words of that it is intended to give a list of the chief authorities at the end of the third part the of for die the wide of the of die forbade in die of divine personages from any antique as ready made sources or channels of even in verse and excluded the celestial machinery of say paradise s as that of the at the and the of the masculine in allusions to the first or energy seemed a necessary and logical consequence of the long by of the conception of the same these are divided into groups of which one only that of the to the universal sympathy of human nature the spectator of the greek chorus the remainder being chosen whose may be readily discerned in point of literary form the scheme of contrasted and other of this external feature was shaped with a single view to the modern expression of a preface ix modern outlook and in frank from classical and other dramatic precedent which ruled the ancient of ancient it may hardly be necessary to inform readers that in this chronicle piece no attempt has been made to create that completely structure of action and closely development of character and motive which are demanded in a drama strictly self contained a show like the present is a series of historical to use a term in the subject is familiar to all and is assumed to fill in the curves required to combine the whole gaunt into an artistic unity the spectator in thought becomes a whenever called upon and cheerfully makes the utility man of the should he refuse to do this a historical on an plan in the number some hundreds exclusive of crowds and armies becomes in his individual case in this assumption of a completion of the story by those to whom the drama is addressed it is interesting if unnecessary to name an as old as whose x the plays are as professor reminds us scenes from stories taken as known and would be unintelligible without scenes of the imagination readers will readily discern too that the is a play intended simply for mental performance and not for the stage some critics have that to declare a drama as being not for the stage is to make an announcement whose subject and each other the question seems to be an unimportant matter of cast in this shape were without doubt originally written for the stage only and as a consequence their of act scene and the like was drawn directly from the vehicle of representation but in the course of time such a shape would reveal itself to be an eminently one moreover by the theatre altogether a freedom of treatment was in this form that was denied where the material possibilities of had to be remembered with the careless of human speech the of practical were retained in these introduction to the preface xi productions when they had ceased to be concerned with the stage at au to say then in the present case that a writing in play shape is not to be played is merely another way of stating that such writing has been done in a form for which there chances to be no brief definition save one already in use for works that it but not entirely whether mental performance alone may not eventually be the fate of all drama other than that of contemporary or frivolous life is a kindred question not without interest the mind naturally flies to the triumphs of the and theatre in exhibiting scenes laid far in the and asks why they should not be repeated but the meditative world is older more more nervous more than it once was and being unhappily perplexed by of death never knew may be less ready and less able than and old england were to look through the and often grotesque substance at the thing signified the in respect of such plays of and dream a practicable compromise may result taking the shape of a delivery of dreamy conventional gestures something in the manner maintained by the old christmas the curiously of whose style that of persons who spoke by no will of own will be remembered by all who ever experienced it or to outlines might still further shut off the actual but with this branch of the subject we are not concerned here t h the part first contents of the first part pack preface v characters xix fore scene the i act first scene i a ridge in ii paris office of the minister of marine	45
iii london the old house of iv the harbour of v london the house of a lady of quality vi the cathedral act second scene i the ii iii the camp and harbour of south an open down v the same b xv xvi the act third scene i the ch at ii the of upper and loi iii the st road act fourth scene i king george s watering place south ii before the city of iii within the city iv before the same day v the same the vi london spring gardens w act fifth scene i off cape the combined ii the same the quarter deck of the victory iii the same the iv the same the of the victory v london the vi an inn at vii king george s watering place south act sixth scene i the field of the french position contents act sixth continued scene ii the same the russian position i the same the french position iv the same the russian v the same near the of vi house near bath vii paris a street leading to the viii green house characters of part first i phantom the ancient spirit op the years chorus op the years spirit op the chorus op the spirits sinister and op sinister and spirits the spirit op rumour chorus op the shade op the earth spirit m angels i ii persons of th drama the names printed in are those of mute figures only men the third the duke of fox and fuller lord earl of lord another cabinet minister lord another noble lord rose grey speaker bishop of sir walter count other ministers ex ministers members parliament and persons f quality hardy secretary scott dr dr dr alexander scott lieutenant another lieutenant a another captain ram and other english naval officers major and i persons of the drama xxi staff and other officers of the english army a company of soldiers of the english army and sailors and a if the lord mayor and of london a gentleman of fashion a country gentleman a two citizens and coach and other highway passengers messengers servants and n s a philosopher other french a sub officer flag captain lieutenant lieutenant de head of staff captain other french naval officers and petty officers of the french and spanish of the french army officials pages etc attendants french citizens cardinal priests and italian doctors and of institutions citizens the emperor francis the emperor alexander the prince john of prince the another general two prince count count count and of the army of the russian army women queen english ladies of the english court lady a lady lady lamb mrs and other english ladies the and ladies s court seven ladies city and towns country women a s wife a street woman ship servants fore scene the enter the ancient spirit and chorus of the years the spirit and chorus of the the shade of the earth the spirits sinister and with their spirit messengers and angels shade of the earth what of the will and its designs f spirit of the years it works unconsciously as heretofore eternal in circumstance whose patterns wrought by seem in themselves its single aim and not their consequence chorus of the music thus still thus ever unconscious i b the fore scene an sense why or whence then be the inevitable y as of although that so it be we dare not hold spirit of the years hold what you fond tou cannot the of which thinking on yet weighing not its thought y its clock like laws spirit sinister aside as before my little engines then will still have play spirit of the why doth it so and and ever this y of the wheel spirit of the years as one sad story it its heed to other worlds y being wearied out with this wherefore its of earthly woes have told at that its its this planet lost when in her early growth and by bad mad acts of men working such by their own device at so stands it in some though not in mine n the t spirit of the meet is none the to bear in thought that though its consciousness may be engrossed afar or sealed may wake its watch anon f spirit of the years nay in the even to the of nothing appears of shape to indicate that has things or will such is my thinking in my span rather they show that like a whose fingers play in skilled the will has woven with an absent heed since life first was and ever will so spirit sinister hence rare going more so since it its web in that spirit of the years well no more thus on what no mind can our scope is but to register and watch by means of this great gift accorded us the free of our the scene spirit of the on things then i would say that though the human news wherewith the stirred us may please thy temper tears better far such deeds were and this strange man s career wound as making in her creation whose meek we know the more that he turned man of mere traditions now profits naught for the large into his to throne fair liberty in privilege room are taking and sink to common plots for his own gain shade of the earth and then cordial one substitute for this chorus of the music would establish those of build in fair skilled men of deep art in life development and of thy varied lands men of laying heavy hands upon the innocent the mild the	45
fragile the obscure content among the of thy family pore the those j who love the true the excellent and make their daily moves a melody shade of the earth they may come will they i am not averse yet know i am but the ineffectual shade of her the herself a to it in all her labour and spirit of the years shall such be now already change hath played strange since first i here but old laws operate yet and phase and phase of and imperial shape on accustomed lines though as for me i care not how they shape or what they be spirit of the tou seem to have small sense of mercy spirit of the years mercy i view not urge nor more than mark what your titles good and iii tis not in me to feel or against these flesh its hand to click off its laws the fore but only through my centuries to behold their aspects and their movements and their mould spirit of the they are shapes that mere or no and each has parcel in the total will spirit of the years which them as a whole its parts in other spirit sinister aside limbs of itself each one a of it in quaint disguise f r ii fear all men i spirit of the go to let this tragedy spirit nay comedy spirit of the let this earth tragedy whereof ye afford a spectacle forthwith than your custom is spirit of the years how does it stand f to a angel open and chant the page fore scene the lately writ that sums these in brief of their instant points by us amid our converse here from a book in now mellow ed peace is made captive and vengeance is to deal forth its on the with sword and with spear are busy with of and battle and visions of shock and disaster rise red on the year the ruler sits wistful and tense he to the king to the west his borders in front and in rear while one they eye y flushed from his ranks around him to shake the neighbour nation and close her career i of music o woven winged of and fellows of wait j wait for a wind and draw westward ere be near the fore for he reads not your force or your of warriors fell handed or when they will join for the or whither they steer ii o so zealous a through months long of thy foes may thee a moment put fort h and get clear and straightway with spain s and hasten to head of frontier spirit of the years too much assurance your note on secrets in my gentle but it may serve our thought being now to forces on this english it us to enter scene by scene and watch the spectacle of europe s moves in her as they were self according to the and liberal creed of our hear ted young forgetting the prime of the gear as him who the strings fork scene the ton ii mark the of this as he with other figures his until he him into his lonely grave also regard the frail ones that his have made like in pools hence to the then and count as to the ton of smitten cloud so may ye judge s to be not by one but function free the sky opens and europe is disclosed as a prone and figure the like a and the mountain chains like ribs the of spain forming a head broad and stretch from the north of france across russia like a grey green garment hemmed by the mountains and the glistening ocean the point of view then sinks downwards through space and draws near to the surface of the countries where the distressed by events which they did not cause are seen crawling heaving and in their various cities and spirit of the years to the spirit of the as key scene to the i first lay bare the of thy fearful questioning for know that of my antique privileges this gift to the mode is one though by strain and effort only see j and ere my power pass again lo the scene a new end penetrating light on the spectacle men and things with a seeming and exhibiting as one the of life and movement in all humanity and matter included in the display spirit of the after a pause amid this scene of bodies strange waves i sight like winds grown visible which bear forms on their and round and through also threads like except in being irresistible which with some and balance au spirit of the years these are the prime veins will nerves f and of the cause that heave throughout the their sum is like the of a brain always that it not of a brain whose whole the everywhere and whose may but be discerned by phantom eyes like ours the while un guessed of those it j who even as ye do dream their motions free their supreme each life apart from each with power to its own measures balanced self complete fork the though they but of the one through all from none but this no further now deem yet man s deeds self one the of the will general chorus of music we ll close up time as a bird its van ll space as spirits can link severed by and bring into touch with so that the far off consequence appears prompt at the heel of cause the willed ere was whose brain perchance is space whose thought its laws j which we as threads and streams discern we may but muse on never learn end of the fore scene act first scene i england a ridge in the time is	45
in good news i hope an attendant enters attendant a sir show him in straightway the attendant goes out the act i from the emperor as i expected a is admitted who a and yours alone sir for your own hand thanks be in waiting near the s reads i am resolved that no wild dream of ind and what we there might win or of the west and bold re conquest there of and other dutch along those or british islands nigh shall draw me now from piercing into england through as lined in my first plan if i do strike i strike to which feat there s but one way planting a mortal wound in england s heart the very english land whose insolent and cynical reply to my well based complaint on breach of faith concerning as at pledged scene ii the has lighted up anew such flames of ire as may involve the world now to the case our naval forces can be all assembled without the foe s or by these rules following to whose text i ask your application and when that you stand by word and word making no question of one therein first then let wait a wind for process westward swift to the english after join him there and which once all our now nigh to sixty sail regain the while the linger in the west at hopeless fault having them thus our boats over the army and in the twinkling of a s eye all london will be ours in secrecy this to shape let never an admiral or captain know save and and pen each charge with your own the to them i start for italy and there as engrossed in and rites the act i abide till at the need i reach and head the napoleon and turns to write spirit of the more ills how is ordained to move spirit of the years he sets him to the work first to his comrade and his friend now lingering at he swift lines y then duly to they are sealed and break not until at sea boisterous singing is heard in the street spirit of the hear confused and sounds without those which thrill the at when spirit of the years they but proclaim the crowd which sings and shouts its hot for this dead ripe design on england s shore till the persuasion of its own plump words acting upon makes hope as prophecy our emperor scene ii the show himself say they in this keen and irresistible as is the lightning our vast have been embodied as by soldiers made and the ports transformed to rocking cities with guns against these balance england s means raw merchant fellows from the counting raw from the fields who thumb for arms clumsy hurriedly and fancy them their their flying carriages their shall profit and in one summer night we ll find us there angel and is this prophecy true spirit of the years occasion will reveal shade of the earth what boots it to down this set that one up panting to the thereof make here my fruit maintain it there and hold me through years in vain and monotony f r the act i when all such tedious could be by wise the of these wisdom his who should have ruled they had not been spirit of the years nt y something hidden urged the giving matter motion and these maybe y good as any spirit of the but why any f spirit of the years of y ask the i am but an of its works whom chance has rendered conscious and at most figure as witness of its laws spirit of the how ask the aim of in its purpose to f if thy words y ancient token true spirit of the years thou weu but cease to ask of me meanwhile the proceeds we turn here scene iii the change our and observe forthwith how the high influence the english realm and how the click out their there the cloud curtain draws scene iii london the old house of a long chamber with a gallery on each side supported by thin columns having gilt three round headed windows are at the further end above the speaker s chair which is backed by a huge structure in white and gilt surmounted by the lion and the the windows are one being open through which some boughs are seen waving in the midnight gloom without wax candles burnt low wave and in a brass which hangs from the middle of the ceiling and in branches projecting from the galleries the house is sitting the benches which extend round to the speaker s elbows being closely packed and the galleries likewise full among the members present on the government side are and other ministers with their including lord c w rose best and the general body of the party on the opposite side are noticeable fox grey t earl temple g and h north and speaker the chair the act i spirit of the years to two angels as to the scene j as means to aid our younger comrades in its pray your scripture y and in brief the here of late to whose effects words of to night form the angels chant their books in a minor angel i music framed dull sat in the halls of the kingdom s high whence the grey of a ed despondency as with winter the national mind angel ii england stands forth to the sword of napoleon not an ally in support of her men and dispersed projects of range and scope poorly defined angel i once more doth deem the land crying loud to him frail though and spent and an for once more he dead to y aims to slack efforts to bind	45
scene iii the angel ii ere the first fruit thereof voices grow audible holding as his dream of home y earnestly shouting it y and designed angels i and ii so to in the old hear them gravely those with gay midst their little how scarlet the that the years wiu spirit of the to the spirit of the years let us put on and suffer for the feverish of humanity y and join the pale here so may thy soul be won to sympathy by their poor mould spirit of the years ril humour though my essence could not change did i in of all mankind the act i spirit tv j to make every little dog in england run to to hear this sung so be the third of the on the chance of having the tune played the other way spirit sinister and i the fourth there s sure to be something in my line toward where are gathered together the four enter the gallery of the house in the disguise of ordinary strangers rising the bill i would have leave to introduce is framed sir to last s act by party a provision for this isle s proper guard but elsewhere known as mr s new patent parish laughter the countenances i mark to dazed surprise at my straight motion why passes sane conjecture it may be that with a haughty and faith in their own of argument scene iii the they deemed our and and sunk to hope s sheer bottom whence a miracle was all could friend and at us or maybe they are amazed at our rude in making mockery of an english law sacred from the king s own s brain i hear them but let them at my duty must be done shall be done quickly by some few facts an act for our defence it not and france s and his this moment know it and can our people know it too those who can peer behind the scenes of this poor painted show called the act has failed must fail as my right honourable friend well proved when speaking t other night whose by his right honourable a was of the genuine sort and like the their shaped all and no harm laughter the act in brief effects this much that the whole force of england is strengthened by eleven thousand men the act i so that the british are now eight hundred less than heretofore in ireland where the influence of the right gentleman with magic might eleven men have been and in the port towns where he is held in absolute veneration his method has so quickened martial fire as to bring in one man o would that man might meet my sight i laughter a no doubt a god like from this act who th his single arm will overthrow all s i ere their have scraped one of our shores such is my motion sir and such my mind he sits down amid cheers the candle go round and rises during the momentary pause before he speaks the house an attentive stillness in which can be heard the rustling of the trees without a horn from an early coach and the voice of the watch crying the hour not one on this side but those mental gems and airy flashed by the honourable gentleman who shines in them by each device scene iii the of he has to or up from others who have shaped it that are the of the moment or and by sleeping on dry in his book of commonplace stored without of toil through days and months he heaps into one mass and lights and as fuel for his flaming eloquence mouthed and without a thought or care if to the theme or not at all now vain indeed it were should i to match him in such sort for sir alas to use imagination as the ground of chronicle take and merry tale as for prophecy is not my gift being but a person with simple fact by art but to the thing the preparations of the enemy bent to desolate our land advance with a sustained activity they are seen they are known by you and by us all but they no clear eyed in of the threat whose coming off ay years may yet whereby the act will far him and the thousands called duly to join the ranks by its provisions in process sure if slow will the lines the act i of english r cool resolved to glorious length and firm and why then should we dream of its ere by its advantages must the house listen to such words as this proposal at the very hour when the act s finds its ordered and circles into full utility the motion of the honourable gentleman reminds me of a who should when mixing s past and quick taste the and shake his head and cry in voice the ale is new old you cast this away i cheers but gravely sir i would conclude and as a serious man on serious things i now speak here i pledge myself to this and magnificent as were our in the previous war our efforts in the present shall them as men will learn such are not sized by this light measuring rule my critic here i scene iii the from his pocket like a clerk o works and war s details must be and too must be their criticism not in a moment s stroke the strange that haunts the times wherein our lot is cast has no example times are they with peril trouble gloom we have to mark their and to face them sir reading thus the full significance of these big days large though my be can any hold of	45
those who know my past that i of all men slight our no by all honour no were i convinced that such could be the mind of members here my would doubly shade the shade on england now so i do trust all in the house will take my word and credit my here to night that in this vital point of watch and ward against the from yonder coast we stand prepared and under providence shall whatever hid or open stroke a foe may deal he sits down amid loud cheers with symptoms of great exhaustion the question that the house to night is not of differences wit and wit the act i but if for england it be well or no to the present act as one for setting up with speed and hot effect the red machinery of desperate war whatever it may do or not tis this a s raw experiment if ill shall more experiments and more be tried in face of that makes demand for of proceeding must this house exchange safe action based on practised lines for yet more into risks unknown to gratify a quaint s whim while enemies hang grinning round our gates to profit by mistake r my friend who spoke found comedy in the matter as it may be in and feature most grave and tragic in its consequence this act may prove we are moving we precious brief life saving time on idle guess fail the measure must nay failed it has already and should stir resolve in its himself to move for its cheers i rise but to a phrase or two to those of my right honourable friend sc iii the i too am one who reads the present danger as passing all our risks of heretofore for why our bold and reckless enemy not his plans has gained him time to mass his monstrous force on all the from which our coast is most ay even afloat his work two vast united of his sail move at this moment on the seas v their whereabouts will not be known to us till some black blow be struck by them in some of quarter to end our rule that we are reasonably secured by such an act is but a madman s dream a so cries aloud for more far greater measures end an act in heaven s name then which only can the of a plan for building up an army cheers sir the point to any sober mind is bright as noon whether the act should have trial or be condemned at sight i firmly hold the latter rank one task the act i is theirs who would inter this corpse cold act so deemed to bring to light a substitute sir they have none they have given no thought to one and thus their deeds disclose their intention and most secret aim with them the question is not how to frame a finer scheme to foes but who shall be the future ministers to whom such scheme against foes whatever it may prove shall be they even ask the country gentlemen to join them in this plot but god be praised those gentlemen are sound and of their names their property their character their numbers their and their blood opposition cheers them from an on an act for ends so sinister and palpable cheers fuller i of of this act all who can entertain such hostile thought would swear that black is that night is day no honest man will join a reckless crew who d overthrow their country for their gain i laughter scene iii the it is incumbent on me to declare in the last speaker s face my censure based on grounds distinct and constitutional an act it is that labours to create a standing army large and permanent which kind of force has ever been beheld with jealous in this house it makes for sure oppression binding men to serve for less than service proves it worth by no penalty for these and late spoke reasons then i say let not the act the book but blot it out forthwith hear hear fox rising amid cheers at this late hour after the fire the act has drawn on t my words shall hold the house the while too obvious to the most unwilling mind it grows that the existence of this law experience and reflection have condemned to do much it makes for nothing as assuring all it comforts none not only so while feeble in it shows it vicious in its principle engaging to raise men for the common it sets a and unequal tax the act i on our the annals of a century fail to show more cases of than those this works to which like all bills this favoured frames and clothes with of their real web of commonplace though held as shaped for english breathes in its heart the perverse schemes of party and instincts toward power the many to relieve the few cheers whatever breadth and sense of inform the methods of this minister those qualities nigh always trace their root to measures that his wrought and ere his government can dare assert superior claims to england s confidence they owe it to their honour and good name to furnish better proof of such a claim than is revealed by the of this thing called an act for our defence to the great gifts of its no member of this house is more disposed to yield full recognition than am i no man has found more reason so to do through the long roll of years wherein we have stood opposed but if one single fact could counsel me hi the to entertain a doubt of those great gifts and faith in his capacity that fact would be the vast shown in like	45
his on such an act as he has offered us so in principle so poor in fruit sir the achievements and effects thereof have furnished not one fragile argument which all the partiality of friendship can to consider as the mark of a clear vigorous freedom mind he sits down amid cheers from the opposition my summary shall be brief and to the point the said right honourable prime minister has thought it proper to declare my speech the of an words from a person who has never read the act he claims him urgent to such and as he them he as gathered from long stored up with cruel care to be discharged with sudden blaze of art on the devoted gentle shrinking head of the right honourable gentleman laughter but were my humble solemn sad laughter indeed such rattle as he it the act is it not strange and passing precedent that the illustrious chief of government should have with such speed and replied he sir knows well that vast and luminous talents like to his could not have been demanded to choke off a marked by nothing more of weight than ignorant and so and so is a well worn whose close fit none will perceive more clearly in this than its deity opposite laughter his answer thus him moreover to top all the while replying he still thought best to leave the reasons on which my blame was founded thus then stands my motion clearly of dire that capacity we formerly admired cries of oh oh this minister whose never whose fail to this at secret known to all this darling of the aristocracy laughter oh oh cheers and cries of divide has brought the millions to the verge of ruin hi the by them to continental quarrels of which we see no end cheers the members rise to divide spirit of the me that they thus should tea and nay as though a power lay in their if each decision work unconsciously and would be though were a single lip spirit of rumour there may on things some influence from these and even on that whose we all are spirit of the years i more boots it to remind the younger here of our ethereal band and of that this parliament whose moods we watch so un ideal may figure forth in sharp and lines to eyes of the foregoing is an attempt to give the of the memorable debate which took place on the evening represented bnt reports in some particulars the act i and print its legend large on history far one cause if i read the signs aright to appearance of its minister in the assembly of his long time sway is near his last and to night launched forth take a from that memory when men recall the scene and circumstance that hung about his but no more the of each party is not one vote or prejudice the ministers their retain and ins as and as remain spirit of the meanwhile what of the vast array that wakes these tones f spirit of the years abide the events young shade soon stars will shut and show a spring eyed dawn and fountain forth that will arouse those forming bands to full activity an honourable member reports that he strangers a token that we here we now cast off these mortal and speed us the four vanish from the gallery the members file out to the the house and westminster into the of night and the point of observation rapidly across the channel scene iv the scene iv the harbour of a morning radiant with early sunlight the french army of invasion is disclosed on the hills on either side of the town and behind appear large military formed of timber huts lower down are other of more or less permanent kind the whole affording accommodation for one hundred and fifty thousand men south of the town is an extensive basin surrounded by the heaps of fresh soil around showing it to be a recent from the banks of the the basin is crowded with the consisting of hundreds of vessels of sundry kinds flat with guns and two boats of one mast carrying each an two guns and a two horse box with three low and long narrow arranged for many oars timber saw mills and new cut spread in profusion around and many of the town are seen to be adapted for and dumb show moving in this scene are countless companies of engaged in a practice of and and of horses into the vessels and landing them again bearing provisions of many sorts load and before the temporary further off on the open land bodies of troops are at field other bodies of soldiers half stripped and with mud are as in the an english of about twenty sail the act i a or two of the line and the busy spectacle from the sea the show presently and anon a of over it scene v london the house of a lady of quality a fashionable crowd is present at an evening party which the of and lords and with their ladies also lady anne mrs lady lamb and many other a gentleman his snuff box so then the treaty anxiously between ourselves and frosty is duly signed a cabinet minister was signed a few days back and is in force and we do firmly hope the loud pretensions and the from new by france s chief now daily heard these exertions may keep in that ere our land its leaves beneath the the independence of the continent may be assured and all the flags v the of famous so rudely extend their honoured hues as heretofore gentleman so be it yet this man is a and tis by god choked have ere now	45
turned to a lady comes up and his arm lady what s the news the of moves is london all the world knows here are born all of the continent gentleman ay now abound i lady nay but your looks are grave that measured speech matter that will us is it some cruelty of his or other horror from abroad the packet has brought in gentleman the treaty s signed the act i minister whereby the parties agree to knit in union and in general league all outraged europe lady such knitting close sounds well but how its not minister well by the terms there are among them these five hundred thousand active men in arms shall strike supported by aid in vessels men and money to free north germany and from foes deliver the republic of the dutch in the king make sword proof un french italy from shore to shore and thoroughly a settled order to the divers states thus in each realm against the thrust of his hand spirit of the years they not what is the while they talk thus stoutly v the spirit of rumour bid me go and join them and all them by bringing ere material can a new surprise spirit of the years for a moment the spirit of rumour enters the apartment in the form of a personage of newly arrived he advances and addresses the group spirit the treaty moves all tongues to night hay well so much on paper gentleman what on land and sea you look old friend full with latest thence spirit this the italy our mighty from the french and makes haste to crown him i turning from he toward there to glory him the act i in second by the pope and set upon his irrepressible brow s iron crown the spirit of rumour with the throng moves away and lady fair italy alas alas lord yet thereby english folk are freed him faith as ancient people say it s an ill wind that blows good luck to none minister who is your friend that drops so this precious pinch of salt on our raw skin gentleman why you know well enough minister nay twas not he of course i know i thought him for a moment but lady but i well him twas lord for said i to myself o quaint old beau scene v the to sleep in black silk sheets so that is if the town rumour on t be true lord my wig ma am no twas a much younger man gentleman but let me call him monstrous silly this that i don t know my friends they look around the gentleman goes among the and guests makes inquiries and returns with a perplexed look gentleman they tell me sure that he s not here to night minister i can well swear it was not twas some lively buck who chose to put himself in and enter for a whim i ll tell our host meantime the absurdity of his report is more than manifested how knows he the plans of by lightning flight before another man in england knows the act i lady something s in it all if true good lord the gives me a sudden sweat that fairly makes my linen stick to me minister ha ha tis excellent but we ll find out who this was they look for the stranger and speak of the incident to others of the crowded company spirit of the years now let us vision onward till we sight s of marble sun and there behold the the confused tongues of the assembly waste away into distance till they are heard but as the of the sea from a high cliff the scene becoming small and indistinct this passes into silence and the whole scene vi the cathedral ft the interior of the building on a sunny may day the walls arches and columns are draped in silk fringed with gold a gilded throne stands in front of the high altar a closely packed assemblage in every variety of rich costume waits in breathless expectation vi the dumb show from a private corridor leading to a door in the aisle the enters in a shining costume and diamonds that collect rainbow colours from the sunlight piercing the windows she is preceded by princess and surrounded by her ladies a pause follows and then comes the procession of the consisting of pages de camp of institutions officers of state bearing the of the empire and of italy and seven ladies with the emperor himself is in royal robes wearing the imperial crown and carrying the he is followed by ministers and officials of the household his gait is rather defiant than dignified and a his face he is met by the cardinal and the clergy who burn incense before him as he proceeds towards the throne rolling notes of music burst forth and loud applause from the congregation spirit of the is the creed that these rich rites disclose spirit of the years a local thing called christianity which the wild drama of the with divers other in dim and brief beyond whose the systems of the go sweeping on with all their many planet train in roll the act i spirit of the did not recognize it here though in its early days of gracious purpose it was much to me addressing with that and right which imperial majesty you acceptance of the that we the clergy and the were proud to offer when your entrance here streamed radiance on our ancient capital please then to the boon to day beneath this holy roof so soon to thrill with solemn strains and lifting such a hour and bend a tender regard on this assembly now at one with me to the author of all good that he your most imperial	45
with all his force j what may he not achieve if swift his course spirit of the years ru call in who has stepped ashore for the first time these thrice and and with him one whose insight has alone pierced the real project of napoleon enter and who pace up and down spirit of the note worn out features much has he suffered from anxiety in short dear the letter which you wrote me had so much that i was fain to see you for i am sure that you indeed divine i the i the true intent and compass of a plot which i have in vain i weighed it thus their flight to th indies being to draw us off that and no more and clear these of us the standing obstacle to his device he cared not what was done at or where provided that the general end should not be that is to say the s quick return and once back to europe can make raise there the then haste to there to relieve and next with four or five and fifty sail bear down upon our coast as they see fit i read they aim to strike at ireland still as formerly and as i wrote to you so far your thoughtful and sagacious words have hit the facts but tis no irish bay the aim to drop their in my word for it they make the shore and this vast handled by the act n is meant to cloak the passage of their strength in those we being kept elsewhere by forces good god g i must be gone yet two more days remain ere i can get away i must be gone wherever you may go to my dear lord you carry victory with you let them your name will blow them back as sou west the that beat against them from the shore good i know you trust in me but ships are ships and do not kindly come out of the slow of the like when they are whistled for and there s a damned of force which means tough work awhile for you and me the spirit of the years whispers to and i have that my effective hours are here i the strange now and then as within me which though i fear them not i recognize however by god s help i ll live to meet these foreign yea i ll finish them and then well death may finish me view not your life so gloomily my lord tis charmed a needed purpose to fulfil ah lead bullets are not all that wound i have a feeling here of dying fires a sense of much and deep censure which about my private life makes all my service in my own eyes i fear i am much condemned for those dear and days and her who was the sunshine of them all he who is with himself dissatisfied though all the world find satisfaction in him is like a rainbow coloured bird gone blind that gives delight it shares not happiness it s the philosopher s stone no the act n shall light on in this world i am weary of smiling i d pass to my long home to morrow could i with honour and my country s gain but let s i waste your hours ashore by such ill timed they pass oat of sight and the scene closet scene ii off the french and spanish combined on board the french admiral s flag ship is discovered in his cabin writing a letter spirit of the he pens in fits with pallid restlessness like one who sees misfortune stalk the wave and can nor face nor flee it spirit of the years he to his long friend the minister words that go heavily writing i am made the in vast designs whereof i see black do i this or do i that success that loves to her anxious for some careless blade scene ii the will not reward me for if i must pen it past prayer is the marine bad bad bad officers bad men we cling to naval long and time and opportunity do not avail me to take up new i have long suspected such but till i saw my helps the spanish ships i hoped somewhat is my port yet if so will ag n attack now by or and my whole fleet shall i admit that my true inclination and desire is to make straightway and not r alas thereby i fail the emperor but shame the navy less your friend general enters admiral my to the emperor which i shall speed by special from this near eve runs thus and thus s ships in here at hand but by a temporary wind are all we now await g with these we sail to there promptly give battle and release thence all united bearing the act n a step that sets in motion the first wheel in the proud project of your majesty now to be to the very close to wit that a french fleet shall enter in and hold the channel four and twenty hours such clear assurance to the emperor that our intent is on his will i hasten to to him forthwith yes i sign to every word goes out remains at his table in reverie spirit of the years we may impress him under visible shapes that seem to shed a silent doom he s such an one as can be so impressed and this much is among our privileges well bounded as they be let us draw near him the spirits of the years and of the take the form of white sea birds which alight on the of s ship immediately	45
outside his cabin window after a while lifts his eyes and sees the birds through this of the writer hat in the main followed whose access to documents would seem to his details of the famous scheme for england s ruin scene ii the my apprehensions even their cause as though some influence smote through yonder pane a pause why dared i not disclose to him my thought as nightly by the whistling that will never see our to north in pomp of to take the lead in this red pilgrimage if so it were now that i d screen my skin from risks of bloody business in the my acts could scarcely wear a yet i would die to morrow not so far removed is care from me tis for no self these apprehensions spring but for the cause yes rotten is our marine which while i know the emperor knows not and the pale secret though some there be would beard and all i ll not command a course so rather i ll stand and face napoleon s rage when he shall learn what mean the lines that facts have forced from me the act n spirit of the to the spirit of the years o eldest born of the unconscious cause if such thou as i can fancy thee dost thou rack him thus might be preserved and yet his doom remain his courage is without reproach tis but his temper to be spirit of the years say as i have said long heretofore i know but narrow freedom thou not ive are in its handy as he here as elsewhere ive do but as we may no further dare the birds disappear and the scene scene iii the camp and harbour of the english coast in the distance near the tour d stands a hut with and outside s temporary lodging when not at his at the of de two miles inland dumb show a arrives with and enters the emperor s quarters whence he and goes on with other to the hut of s lower down comes out from his hut with a paper iii the in his handy and proceeds towards an eminence commanding the sea along the shore below are forming in a far reaching line more than a hundred thousand on the downs in the rear of the fifteen thousand cavalry are their flashing in the sun like a school of the lies in and around the port alive with moving figures with his head forward and his hands behind him the emperor these animated proceedings in detail but more frequently turns his face towards the telegraph on the cliff to the south west erected to signal when and the combined shall be visible on the west horizon he summons one of the who to the hut of comes out from his hut and to join the emperor dumb show ends and s advance to the of the scene this action with sir robert three weeks ago whereof we dimly heard and dear details of which i have just is on the whole for our plan it seems that twenty of our ships and spain s none over eighty and some far less engaged the english off cape with fifteen vessels of a hundred each we coolly fought and orderly as they and but for mist we had closed with victory two english were much hit some spanish the act n and then drew his two and spain s in tow we giving chase forthwith not him our admiral having the coast clear for his purposes entered and found orders there to open the port of and come on hither thus die moment when the double fleet of and of should appear he looks again towards the telegraph with hesitation and should they not appear your majesty napoleon not but they will and do it early too there s nothing them my god they must for i have much before me when this stroke at england s dealt i learn from that preparations threaten hot while russia s hostile schemes are and shortly must be met my plan is fixed i am prepared for each alternative if come i brave the british coast g the land with fear tis even now so far that cast about to find new modes of warfare yea design to transport their scene iii the once on the english soil i hold it firm descend on london and the while my men salute the dome of paul s i cut the knot of all s setting free from bondage to a cold caste a people who await it they stand and regard the cliffs of england till should it be even that my fail to keep the a thing scarce when all s i strike this camp cross germany with these two hundred thousand men and pause not till within s walls i cry next too being taken and s other down that way the also driven from italy i strike at each in turn you note ere they can act report to me what has been to day upon the main and on your passage down request them there to send this way the act h s as he the emperor can be sanguine scarce can i his letters are more promising than mine alas alas my dear old friend why do you pen me this at such a time he reading a letter the emperor walks up and down till his private secretary him come quick sit down upon the grass and write whilst i am in mind first to i trust vice admiral that before this date your fleet has opened and gone if not these lines will reach you there but pause not pray waste not a moment sail away once bring my coupled and england s	45
soil is ours all s ready here the troops alert and every store embarked hold the nigh sea but four and twenty hours and our vast end is gained now to my will have made known to you my object and desire to be but this that you forbid to lose an hour in getting fit and putting forth to sea scene iv the to profit by the fifty first rate craft wherewith i now am quickly weigh and steer you for the channel with all your strength i count upon your well known character your your vigour to do this sail hither then and we will be for centuries of despite and a fair be made forthwith this moment and the will depart and travel without pause goes to his office a little lower down and the emperor on the looking through his glass the point of view across the channel the cliffs sinking behind the water line scene iv south an open down near the coast a wide view over the english channel in front including the isle of and its where men of war and are the hour is ten in the morning and the sun upon a large military round about the and the stone field walls that take the place of hedges here the n and are up for review under the or mad officers of die a vast military which extends three and as far as the downs are in the centre bj the royal standard appears king on and his in a coach drawn by six cream coloured with three in another carriage with four horses are two more there are also present with the royal party the loan lord and many other of fashion and influence the review proceeds in dumb show and the din of many bands with the cheers the turf behind the point is crowded with carriages and on foot a spectator and youve come to sec the sight like the king and myself well one fool makes many what a o folk it is here to day and what a time we do live in between wars and the ghost o and king george in flesh and blood second spectator yes i wonder king george is let venture down on this coast where he might be snapped up in a moment like a by a her n so near as we be to the field of s he s as like to land here as anywhere lodge could be surrounded and iv the george and carried off before he could put on his hat or she her red cloak and third spectator be no such joke to em as you think look at the down there every night they are drawn up in a line across the mouth of the bay almost touching each other and ashore a double line of well with beer and one at the water s edge and the other on the stretch along the whole front then close to the lodge a guard is mounted after eight o clock there be on all the hills at the harbour mouth is a battery of twenty four and em a dozen six and several and next look at the size of the camp of horse and foot up here first spectator everybody however was fairly this week when the king went out meaning to be back for the theatre and the time passed and it got dark and the play couldn t begin and eight or nine o clock came and never a sign of him i don t know when a did land but twas said by all that it was a pleasure to take the act h fourth spectator he a very obstinate and old gentleman and by all account a wouldn t make port when asked to second spectator if a were it wouldn t make a deal of difference we should have nobody to to and play single stick to and grin at through horses that s true and nobody to sign our few documents but we should rub along some way first spectator step up on this you can see better the now passing are the york foreigners to a man except the officers the same regiment the two young belonged to who were shot here four years ago now come the light what a time they take to get all past see the king turns to speak to one of his well well this day will be recorded in history second spectator or another soon to follow it i he over the channel there s not a speck of scene v the an enemy upon that shiny water yet but the fleet is said to have put to sea to act in concert with the army crossing from and if so the french will soon be here when god save us all i ve took to drinking neat for says i one may as well have his burnt out as shot out and tis a good deal pleasanter for the man that owns em they say that a cannon ball knocked poor jim s right up into the at the where a hung like a out to dry much good to him his obeying his old mother s wish and refusing allowance o rum the bands play and the review continues till past eleven o clock then follows a sham fight at noon precisely the royal carriages draw off the ground into the highway that leads down to the town and lodge followed by other in such numbers that the road is blocked a multitude comes after on foot presently the manage to proceed to the watering place and the troops march away to the various as a sea mist the perspective scene v the same don heath night in mid august a lofty ridge of itself dimly in an abrupt slope at the summit of	45
you a word or two on t it is about his they say that he lives upon human flesh and has o baby every morning for breakfast for all the world like the giant in old ancient times second old man ye can t believe all ye hear private i only believe half and i only own such in my character that perhaps he do eat pagan when he s in the desert but not christian ones at home oh no tis too much woman whether or no i sometimes god me laugh wi horror at the o t till i am that weak i can go round house he should have the washing of em a few times i warrant a wouldn t want to eat babies any more a silence during which they gaze around at the dark dome of sky v the second old man there ll be a change in the weather soon by the look o t i can hear the cows in valley as if i were close to em and the lantern at is shining quite plain first old man well come in and taste a drop o got here that will warm the of your heart as ye we eighty here last night for them that shan t be named landed at the night afore though they had a narrow with the riding officers this run they make towards the hut when a light on the west horizon becomes visible and quickly second old man he s come first old man come he is though you do say it this then is the beginning of what england s for second old man just what you was thanking god for private the act n private my meaning was woman oh that i hadn t married a fiery to make me bring children into the world all through his dreadful calling why didn t a man of no content me i feel as if i were smote hip and in first old man his we can t heed your innocent any longer good neighbours being in the king s service and a hot invasion on fall in fall in mate straight to the box quick march i the old men hasten to the hut and are heard striking a flint and steel returning with a lit lantern they a of and with this set the first of fuel in a blaze the private of the and his wife hastily retreat by the light of the flaming under which the purple of the heath show like bronze and the like the eye of a skull spirit sinister this is and blood to the chorus of the years assume that it means to let us carry out this invasion with pleasing slaughter y so as not to disappoint my hope scene v the i of the years music we carry out nay but should we what is to be ii the that all rules what may or may not befall i i ere were and lit the of the race were writ ii and wasting by land and sea like all else i spirit sinister well be it so my argument is that war makes rattling good history but peace is poor reading so i back for the reason that he will give pleasure to posterity spirit of the gross chorus of the years we comprehend him not the act u the day breaks over the on which the is still burning the morning the white surface of a highway which coming from the royal watering place beyond the hills stretches towards the outskirts of the heath and passes away eastward dumb show moving figures and dot the surface of the road all in one direction away from the coast in the the shapes appear as those of mostly on foot but many in and s carts and on horseback when they reach an hill some pause and look back others enter on the next decline without turning their heads from the opposite horizon numerous companies of in the local uniform of red with green are moving in companies as are also irregular bodies of without uniform while on the upper slopes of the downs towards the shore of the line are visible with cavalry and all passing over to the coast at a signal from the chief two of rumour enter on the highway in the garb of country men first phantom to whither so fast good neighbours and before breakfast too empty be bad to on these historic which i believe won for the local old th regiment the of green have been changed for no apparent reason scene v the first laden with a pack and speaking he s landed westward out by s beach and if you have property you ll save it and yourselves as we are doing second all yesterday the firing at was like the seven heard in heaven when the fierce angel spoke so did he draw men s eyes that way the while his thousand boats full flat for the shore dropped down to west and crossed our here seen from above they the as will a flight of towards dim eve descending on a smooth and stream to seek some s second phantom we are sent to you and ease your souls even now a to the port to check the scare the act first to second these be inland men who i warrant ee don t know a from a lighter let s take no heed of such comrade and hurry on first phantom will you not hear that what was seen behind the midnight mist their oar blades tossing to the moon was but a fleet of fishing by reason of the of their haul first hey and d ye know it now i look back to the top o the folk do	45
seem as come to a pause there be this true never again do i stir my for any alarm short of the day of judgment nine has my rest been broke in these last three years by hues and cries of upon us od rot the now he s made a fool of me once more till my inside is like a wash tub what wi being so and running so but how if you be one of the enemy sent to sow these so to speak it these false tidings and us into a fancied safety hey neighbours i don t after all care for this story scene v the second again if s come tis best to be away and if he s not why we ve a holiday the spirits of rumour vanish while the scene seems to become involved in the smoke from the and slowly the of the lonely hut occupied by the consisting of some half buried and a little mound of overgrown with moss are stiu visible on the elevated spot referred to act third scene i the at de a room in the ch which is used as the imperial quarters the emperor napoleon and m the and philosopher seated at breakfast enter the officer in attendance officer the admiral a moment s audience with your majesty or now or later on bid him come in at once at last e has raised the enter what of the movements good opened and all sailing like into a creek at feeding time f act iii ne i the s such news was what i d hoped your majesty to send across this daybreak but events have proved it seems of late and hence i haste in person to report the facts that just have dashed my napoleon darkening weu s at the very e when the sailed out from fever raged aboard l and later on mischief assailed our spanish comrades ships several ran foul of neighbours whose new hurts being added to their innate gave hap the upper hand and in quick course the whole until judging that now with rode and of disaster if he pushed on in so a trim bowed to the inevitable and thus leaving to other opportunity and the channel scheme with vast regret into the act m napoleon having risen from the table what i is then my scheme of years to be and dashed by this s like a wretched moral coward whom you must needs on me as one fit for full command in enterprise aside i m one too many here let me step out till this black blows over poor would that this precious project from naval of king louis reign had ever lingered where twas found exit napoleon to help a friend you foul a country s fame not only chose you this but you have nourished secret sour opinions akin to his and thereby helped to le tax de u napoleon il marine louis xiv de le plan de d et de la en se an de la marine u et empire scene i the as based a project as this s e has to ever the french marine have you ever contrived to bring despair into the fleet why this your man this rank this traitor of whom i asked no more than fight and lose provided he detained the enemy a is too great for his command what shall be said of one who at a breath when a few casual sailors find them sick when falls a broken boom or sail when rumour hints that s and s may join and bob about in company is straightway and back on all his plans bring him ay hale him out from compel him up the channel by main force and having him his supreme command give the united to your majesty while by an event my tongue dragged dry to tell makes my hard situation over hard by your to the actors in t of motives such and such tis not for me to answer these reproaches and ask the act m why years long of france s fame in things marine should win no confidence i speak but am unable to convince true is it that this man has been my friend since boyhood made us and i say that he would yield the heel drops of his heart with joyful readiness this day this hour to do his country service no less is it his that he sees too far and there are times when a shorter sight charms fortune more a certain sort of bravery some people have to wit this same lord which is but faith in one s own star to the very verge of disguised as putting trust in god a habit with these english folk whereby a blindness to carries the actor on and serves him well in some nice issues clearer sight would mar such bravery has not but he is no coward napoleon weu have it so what are we going to do my brain has only one wish to succeed scene i the deck is my voice weaker with you is yet these few words as minister of marine ru venture now my process would be thus our projects for a of the being well discerned and read by every eye through long england is prepared i would them later in the year form sundry of this massive one the english till the winter time then at where leave half to catch the enemy s eye and call their while scotland with the other half you make the channel by the eastern strait g ver the passage of our army boats and plant the blow napoleon and what if they perceive our route and meet us i have thought of it and	45
planned a h the act m i ll write the scheme more clearly and at length and send it hither to your majesty napoleon do so forthwith and send me in exit re our break t to day has been cut short and those on the ancient tongues wherein you shine must yield to modern nay hasten not away though feeble wills ay in some who to serve the cause of france do make me other than myself just now ah here s nice bit leave sit down and write yes here at once this room will me now what think you eh has just turned t l and run to so quite postponed perhaps even my lot project yonder shore scene i the as a s snow built device but made for melting think of it dam my god my god how can i talk a plan well judged well well to end in nothing sit you down and write walks up and down and after a silence write this a face tis indeed write write holding pen to paper i wait your majesty napoleon first yes moves out from through upon and the from holland bears along the and at and while these prepare their the army here will turn its back on britain s tedious shore and closing up with at set out full force due eastward k loo the act m by the black forest a straight attack the while our purpose is to skirt its left meet in and the somewhat down from the columns by their rear surround them take them march upon where settled i engage the while in italy the charles such might shape each high and by way to the hence i have of late had measured and judged such spots as for chosen and marked each regiment s daily pace and writ for ready reference all which are sent so shall i crush the two gigantic sets upon the empire now grown imminent let me reflect first but nay the to must go first well well the order of our march from hence i will advise my knock at george s door with bland inquiries why his royal hand withheld due answer to my friendly lines and tossed the irksome business to his clerks the loi is thus delayed but not for long instead of crossing i go by contrivance not less sure ru bring the writing to your majesty and go out chorus of the years music trace this bold campaign his thought has spun one that bids fair for immortality among the immortal deeds may be ascribed to so and transient a race it will be called in and rhyme y as son to a model for the of all time the great of eighteen by millions of mankind not yet alive scene ii the of upper and a view of the country from mid air at a point south of the river inn which is seen as a silver thread winding northward between its with the and the i i the act m and the boundaries of the two the shows itself as a satin stretching from left to right in the far of the picture the inn its waters into the larger er dumb show a vast army along the in the form of detached masses and columns of a cast the draw nearer to each other and are seen to be m the east upon the banks of the inn a angel in ms movement as of on a leafy which from our here we afar is one conducted by the famous to napoleon still believed to be intent on england from and heedless of such in his rear enterprise is now to cross beneath us stretched in summer peace as field unwonted for these ugly and seize on past there outraged in at down behind us and torn between his fair s hate of france and his own to at bluff for riding through his territory from this to that the while time iii the the eastward streaming of napoleon s host as soon we see the silent insect creep of the columns towards the banks of the inn continues to be seen till the view to and scene iii the st road it is a morning at the end of august and the road stretches out of the town eastward the divisions of the army for england are making preparations to march some portions are in marching order bands strike up and the start on their journey towards the and and his officers watch the movements from an eminence the soldiers as they pace along under their with beaming eyes sing le chant du depart and other martial songs shout i and of repeating the days of italy egypt and napoleon to england afterwards chorus of music as it may he i the scene as it the gradual of the troops along the roads through the august landscape and the disappearance of each marching mass over the eastern horizon act fourth scene i s watering place south a sunny day in autumn a room in the red brick royal residence known as lodge at a front triple lighted window stands a on a through the open middle is visible the curved expanse of the bay as a sheet of brilliant green on which ride vessels of war at anchor on the left hand white stretch away till they in st s head and form a background to the level water line on that side in the centre are the open sea and blue sky a near rises on the right surmounted by a battery over which appears the bald grey brow of the isle of in the yellow sands spread smoothly whereon there are sundry temporary	45
the folk four the prize for the man who breaks most heads afterwards there is to be a grinning match through horse a very humorous sport which i must stay here and witness for i am interested in whatever my subjects not one in all the land but knows it sir king now mr you must require repose consult your own convenience then i beg on when you leave i thank your majesty he as one whose purpose has failed and the scene the act it scene ii before the city of a prospect of the from the east showing in the a low lying country bounded in mid distance by the banks of the which bordered by and flows across the picture from the left to the bridge near the right of the scene and is backed by irregular heights and of vines between these and the river stands the city crowded with old houses and surrounded by walls and a ditch all the being by the and tower of the huge on the most prominent of the heights at the back the to the upper right of the view is the mass of the army amid advanced posts of the same are seen south east of the city not far from the advanced corps of the french grand army under and which occupy in a the whole breadth of the flat landscape in front and extend across the river to higher ground on the right hand of the heavy mixed of rain and snow are descending on the french and on the the nearly out the latter on the hills a chill october wind across the country and the yield to the dumb show are busily at work the heights of the position in the face of the scene m the enemy vague companies of above and of the french below and indistinct in the thick atmosphere come and go without apparent purpose near their respective lines closer at hand napoleon in his familiar blue grey overcoat rides hither and thither with his familiarly the bodies of as he passes them and observing and pointing out the disposition of the to his companions thicker sheets of rain fly across as the of evening which at length entirely the prospect and its lights and fires scene iii within the city the interior of the on the following morning a tempest raging without general haggard and anxious the prince general and other field officers discovered seated at a table with a map spread out before them a wood fire between tall in a yawning fireplace at every more than usually boisterous gust of wind the smoke into the room the accursed cunning of our adversary all of honourable war which ever have held as granted that the track of armies bearing hither from the i the act iv whether in peace or invasion should pierce the and through and meet us in our front but he must wind and round where foot of man can scarce find pathway stealing up to us by our back door i nevertheless if english war be abreast as these tell and ripe to land there it to pack him back across the again we ve but to wait and see him go but who shall say if these bright tales be true even then small matter your imperial the near us daily and must soon ay far within the eight days i have named be to this knot if we hold on conjectures these no more i stomach not such waiting neither hope scene iii the has in it i and my cavalry with caution when the shadows fall to night an bore e hole in t his the gate north east join general and somehow cut our way wards tis worth the hazard in our case firmly the body of our force stays here with me and i am much surprised your much you mark not how destructive tis to part i if we wait on for certain we should wait in our full strength by such as your plans there s truth in urging we should not divide but more closely yet why stay at all there s but one sure salvation left to wit that we march and with much towards the the subtle often rack their wits in vain whole magazines of to ill deemed when simple souls by stumbling up find the grim shapes but air but let us grant ii the act iv that the french so ring us in as to leave not a span for such then go we throw ourselves upon their steel and through or die what say you speak your minds i pray i favour marching out the way best the route is open my course is chosen tis a black campaign which s alarmed pricked us to ail any risk for me rather than court humiliation here has risen during the latter remarks walked to the window and looked out at the rain he returns with an air of embarrassment to it is my privilege firmly to submit that your imperial undertake no into risks unknown iii the assume that you as you have proposed with your light and the yourself from us to a way by through the and into reports all point that you will be attacked enveloped borne on to what worse can happen here remember the emperor me should such a clash arise as has arisen to exercise supreme authority the honour or our arms our race demands that none of your imperial line be prisoner by this vulgar foe who is not france but an adventurer imposing on that country for his gain i amply recognize the disgrace if this chief should of his cunning seize and hold in a royal son whose ancestors root on the rocks of history spirit note that	45
five years and brethren they this treasure and the man i the act iy bat it seems dear to me that here is full as like to compass our surrender as moving hence and ill it therefore suits the mood of one of my high temperature to pause while await me means of desperate cure for these so desperate ills the goes out a troubled silence follows during which the call into the chimney and spit on the fire the bears him in this course we may as well look matters in the face and that we are and is most clear clear is it too that but a miracle can work to loose us i have stoutly held that this man s three years scheme to fling his army on the tempting shores of our the english was a well scarce other than a trick of to still us into false security well i know nothing none needs list to me iii the but on the whole to southward seems the course for plunging all in force immediately another pause spirit sinister the will throws again in agitation tis good what hill say now spirit ot the nay hard one nay the clouds weep for him spirit sinister if he must he must and as good at a vacant time goes to the door and is heard pacing about the and questioning the and other officers gathered there a general he like this smoke wreath that now north now south as the storm currents rule returning bring that hither once again i the act iv a french soldier is brought in and guarded the is removed well tell us what he says an officer after speaking to the p in french he still that the whole body of the british strength is even now descending on and that self preservation must of need clear us from ere many days who even now is moving still retain him he walks to the fire the soldier is taken out bending over the map in argument with i much prefer our self won information and if we have at here which seems to be the truth despite this man and hard upon us at with not far from somewhere here or further down the river lurking our game s to draw off southward if we can the i have it this we ll do you unite with s troops at to off mischief there and you will make your utmost haste to occupy the bridge and upper ground at and all along the left bank of the stream till you observe whereon to and their connections i couch here and hold the city till the come a general in a low voice seems of all worst if any stay then stay should every man gather and close up hip to hip pf fl n h the conference is ended friends i say and orders will be issued here forthwith guns heard an officer surely that s from the above us never care here we stay in five more days the hail and we regain our the act it scene iv before the same day a high wind and ia torrents an elevated terrace near forms the dumb show from the terrace and operations against the heights of the that rise in the middle distance on the right above die city through the of descending waters the french can be discerned climbing to the attack under they slowly advance re advance halt a time of suspense follows then they are seen in a state of irregular movement even confusion but in the end they carry the heights with the below the spot whereon and his staff are gathered glistening wet and with mud on the left the village of now in the hands of the french its white walled its bridge over the recently broken by the enemy under wear a look and the stream which is swollen by the and by the storm seems to anon shells are dropped by the french from the they have gained into the city below a from an battery falls near and in bursting raises a fountain of mud the emperor with his officers to a less conspicuous position meanwhile advances from a position near on till his columns reach the top of the hard by the united corps of and the descend on the inner slope of the heights towards the city walls in the rear of the retreating one of the french columns scales a but napoleon orders the assault to be and with the of day the spectacle scene v the same the a chilly but noon three days later at the back of the scene northward rise the heights below stretches the of the city and the on a secondary eminence forming a spur of the upper hill a fire of logs is burning the foremost group beside it being on and his staff the latter in gorgeous uniform the former in his shabby and plain turned up hat walking to and fro with his hands behind him and occasionally stopping to warm himself the french are drawn up in a dense array at the back of these the whole garrison of out of the city gate opposite napoleon general is at the head followed by and many other officers who advance to and deliver their swords behold me the unfortunate i war general ever has its and downs and you must take the better and the worse the act iv as chance or destiny come near and warm you here a glowing fire is life on these moist days of smitten leaves down dropping and like the lungs of men to his them to stand to right and left of me the officers arrange themselves as directed and the body of the now file past their conqueror laying down their arms as they approach some with angry	45
gestures and words others in moody silence listen i pray you gathered here i tell you frankly that i know not why your master wages this wild war with me i know not what he seeks by such injustice unless to give me practice in my that of a soldier i was i deemed he my craft might dip from me let him now own me still a therein permit me your imperial majesty to speak one word in answer which is this no war was wished for by my emperor russia constrained him to it i h the napoleon if that be you are no more a european power i would point out to him that my resources are not confined to these my here my prisoners of war in route for france will see some marks of my resources there two hundred thousand right fit will join my standards at a single nod and in six weeks prove soldiers to the bone s can scarce become sound warriors in long years but i want nothing on this continent the english only are my enemies ships colonies and commerce i desire yea to advantage you as me let me then charge your emperor my brother to turn his feet the shortest way to peace all states must have an end the weak the strong ay even may fall the of i the past and laying down of arms by the army continues with monotonous regularity as if it would never end napoleon in a murmur after a while well what cares england i she has won her game i have to threaten her from the act iy her gold it is that forms the of this fair of armies here likewise of russia s drawing steadily nigh but they may see what these see by and by spirit of the years so let him speak the we clearly sight him moved like a figure on a lantern slide which much amazing eyes the all crystal pane but whither the wills spirit and ye t my friend the will itself might smile at this of s men at so done even in your the of the slide might smile at his own art chorus of the years music no ah no i it is as snow within the great these painted shapes awaken a lesser thrill than doth the gentle lave of yonder bank by s wandering wave within the heights that give it flow i scene vi the spirit of the but o the intolerable of making feel spirit logic s in that it does not i must own quite play the game chorus of spirits music and this day wins for a shady fame which centuries shall not from her old name the procession of continues till the scene is hidden by clouds scene vi london spring gardens before lord s house on a sunday morning in the same autumn pause and gather in the background enters and meets lord good day ay these leaves that the ground with withered voices hint that is well nigh past and so the game s begun the act it between him and the russian force as second movement in the from shore with which he has us what has been heard on t have they as yet the emperor francis partly at my instance has thrown the chief command on general a man most capable and far of sight he by the bank at a town well walled and firm for leaning on to the french in their advance from the black forest towards the russian troops approaching from the east if sustain his at the break neck speed that all report they must have met ere now there is a rumour which i don t believe you still have in as there have been doubts of his far hastily i know i know i am calling here at s at a somewhat time to ask his help to this dutch print scene vi the the post has brought is great at dutch learning it long at years ago he draws a newspaper from his pocket it and glances it down there s news here unintelligible to me upon the very matter you ll come in they call at lord s he meets them in the hall and them with an apprehensive look of pardon this early call the packet s in and brings me this dutch paper so as the offices are closed to day i have brought it round to you handing the paper what does it say for god s sake read it out you know the tongue th hesitation i have glanced it through already more than once a copy having reached me too just now we are in the presence of a great disaster see here it says that in k the act iv by from four sides closing round and with all his force laid down his arms before his conqueror changes a silence outrageous by god my lord these statements must be false these foreign prints are as cheap jack at a country fair i heed no word of it impossible what eighty thousand nigh in touch with russia s that leads to lay down arms before the war s b un tis too much but i fear it is too true note the source of the report one beyond thought of of mock tales the writer adds that military wits cry that the little now makes war in a new way using his soldiers legs scene vi the and not their arms to bring him victory ha ha the joke must sting the s foes after a pause o i had she moved had she but planted one foot firmly down all this had been averted i must go tis sure tis sure i	45
into her simultaneously from the the and the u table when the smoke the victory s with and a quantity of is seen to hare fallen her wheel to be shot away and her deck with dead and wounded men tis well but see course is and still they near in clenched audacity this column bears upon our ship will pierce us that s the aim ma gen die which mm brave o the most him to see how he strains that on his fall blows that were destined for his admiral this the french ship ti moving forward to itself between the approaching victory nd the now comes it i the the old s hard sides and ours will take the of this blow your and your boarding ho the act v wc throw our eagle on the english deck and swear to fetch it crew aye we swear long live the emperor but the victory suddenly to the rear of the and crossing her stern waters a into her and the the point of view changes scene ii the same the quarter deck of the victory the van of each division of the english fleet has drawn to the side of the combined of the enemy and broken their order the victory being now parallel to and alongside the the t m taking up a station on the other side of that ship the and the become together a little way ahead a smoke and din of prevail amid which the sail are shot away scott the captain of the marine and other officers are on or near the i ii the see there that noble fellow g how straight he his ship into the fire now you ll haste back to yours to we must henceforth trust to the great of events and justice of our cause leaves the battle grows a double headed shot cuts down seven or eight on the victory s captain part those of yours and hasten to them round the ship your place is down below not up here ah yes like david you would see the battle a heavy discharge of shot comes from the tops of the and fall another of is down by chain shot scott my lord i use to you the utmost prayers that i have liberty to shape in words remove your stars and orders i would beg that shot was aimed at you they were to me as an honour and shall i do despite to those who prize me the act v and slight their gifts no i will die with them if die i must he walks up and down with hardy at least let s put you on your old my lord the air is keen cover all so while you still retain your you these deadly aims thank ee good friend but no i haven t time i do assure you not a to spare as you well see a few minutes later scott falls dead a bullet having pierced his skull immediately after a shot passes between the admiral and the captain tearing the of hardy s shoe and striking away the they shake off the dust and scattered over them glances round and what has happened to his secretary poor scott too carried off warm work this hardy too warm to go on long ii the hardy i think so too their lower ports are blocked against our and our charge now is less each shot so near sets their old wood on fire ay rotten as what s that i think she has struck or pretty nigh a of hardy not yet those small arm men there in her tops thin our crew fearfully now too our guns have to be dipped full down or they would the there on the other side true while you deal good measure out to these keep at those giants over here the i mean and the to win ard swelling up so the hardy i ll see no shall be shown that way they part and go in their respective directions naked to the waist and with sweat are now in swift action on the several decks and carry of water hither and thither the killed and wounded around and are being lifted and examined by the and meet again bid still the bring more and dash the water into each new hole our guns have in the or we shall all be set together hardy let me once more advise entreat my lord that you do not expose yourself so clearly those fellows in the top up there are round you quite now hardy don t offend me they can t aim they only set their own rent sails on fire but if they could i would not hide a button to save ten lives like mine i have no cause to prize it i assure ee ah look there one of the women hit and badly too scene the poor let some one take her quickly down hardy my lord each on the seas dock lame man bowed sees it as policy to shield his life for those dependent on him much more then should one upon whose presence here such issues hang so many lean use average at an hour so critical for us all ay ay yes yes i know your meaning hardy and i know that you disguise as policy what really is your honest love of me but faith i have had my day my work s nigh done i serve all interests best by it here with the commonest ah their heavy guns are silenced every one thank god for that hardy tis so they only use their small arms now he goes to to see what is	45
on that side between his ship and the l the act v officer to a seaman down stairs the mess of blood about makes em so slippery that one s like to fall in carrying the wounded men below while captain is still a little way ofi lord turns to walk aft when a ball from one of the in the top of the enters his left shoulder he falls upon his face on the deck hardy looks round and sees what has happened hardy hastily ah what i feared he goes towards who in the meantime has been lifted by major and two hardy i think they ve done for me at last hardy i hope not yes my is shot through i have not long to live the men proceed to carry him below those ropes they ve shot away get instantly repaired scene ii the at sight of him borne along wounded there is great agitation among the crew cover my face there will no good be done by drawing their attention off to me bear me along good fellows i am but one among the many darkened here to day he is carried on to the over the crowd of dead and wounded to the doctor i m gone i am good for none but you hardy remaining behind hills go to and let him know that we ve no admiral here he passes on a lieutenant now quick and pick him off who did the deed that white man there in the a shooting no sooner s d than done a pretty aim the frenchman falls dead upon the the spectacle seems now to become enveloped in smoke and the point of view changes the act v scene iii the same on board the the of the french admiral s ship is stuck fast in the stem gallery of the the side of the being shattered by shots from two english three which are her on that hand the is also reduced to ruin by two other english ships that are attacking her from behind on the quarter deck are admiral the flag and others anxiously occupied the whole crew is in desperate action of battle and stumbling among the dead and dying who have fallen too rapidly to be carried below we shall be crushed if matters go on thus direct the to let her drive that this foul may be loosened dear it has been tried sir but she cannot move then signal to the hero that she strive once more to drop this way scene iii the we may make signs but in the air what signal s marked tis done however the and victory there they grip in dying something s amiss on board the english ship surely the admiral s fallen a petty officer sir they say that he was shot some hour or half ago with raised to pitch he stalked the deck in all his and so was hit then fortune turns her face we have england in him yes he commands no more and seeing is taking steps to board look are laid and his best men are mounting at his heels a crash is heard the act v ah god he is too late whence came that stroke of heavy the smoke prevents my seeing but at brief the boarding band has fallen fallen almost to a man twas well that s from their whose vicious has cleared poor decks and too i see him no more there his red show three hundred dead if one now for ourselves four of the english three have gradually closed round the whose still sticks fast in the gallery of the a comes from one of the english in worse on the the main and of the latter fall and the boats are beaten to pieces a fire of follows from the attacking ships to which the continues still to keep up a reply captain falls wounded his place is taken by scene iii the now that the smoke has lessened the upon our only mast and tell the van at once to wear and come into the fire aside if it be true that as he success demands of me but cool audacity to day shall leave him to desire continues falls he is removed his post being taken by another crash comes and the deck is suddenly with there goes our how for now to try that longer is in vain upon this haggard and her decks all with such shows her side in rents her stem nigh gone how does she keep afloat o unlucky good old ship my part in you is played ay i must go i must tempt fate elsewhere if but a boat can bear me through this to the van the our boats are stove in or as of holes as the cook s from their cursed balls s head of staff falls wounded and many additional men glances from ship to ship of his fleet how hideous are the waves so pure this dawn red and friends and foes all mixed therein can we in some way h l the and get a boat from her they attempt to attract the attention of the by shouting impossible as well try to the so here i am the bliss of s end will not be mine his full eve becomes my midnight well the shall see that i can yield my cause with dignity the strikes her flag a boat then puts off from the english ship conqueror and having surrendered his sword is taken out from the but being unable c e iv the co regain her own ship the boat is picked up by the and the french admiral is received aboard her the point of view changes scene iv the	45
battle s done i d see to it but here i am stove in iv the i i all and done for done ay done i returning from the other wounded my lord i must you to lie calm you what at best may not be long exhausted i know i know good thank you well hardy i was impatient now i am still sit here a moment if you have time to spare and the others stand back and the two abide in silence except for the overhead and the from adjoining is apparently in less pain seeming to suddenly what are you thinking that you speak no word hardy waking from a short reverie thoughts all confused my lord their needs on deck your own sad state and your past mixed up with flashes of old things afar old childish things at home down way in the snug village under hill where i was born the tumbling stream the garden the placid look of the grey dial there m the act marking unconsciously this bloody hour and the red apples on my father s trees just now full ripe ay thus do little things steal into my mind too but ah my heart knows not your calm philosophy there s one come nearer to me hardy one of all as you well guess my memory now she and my daughter i speak freely to you twas good i made that this morning that you and now she rests safe on the nation s honour let her have my hair and the small things i owned and take care of her as you care for me hardy promises in a murmur does love die with our frame s i wonder or does it live on ever a silence hardy now leave see if your order s gone and then return scene v the symptoms of death beginning to change his face yes hardy yes i know it you must go here we shall meet no more since heaven that care for me should keep you idle now when all the ship demands you too go to the others who lie bleeding there them you can aid to me you can give none my time here is the if i live but long enough anchor but too late my s elsewhere ordered kiss me hardy hardy over him i m satisfied thank god i have done my duty hardy his eyes with his hand and to go above pausing to look back before he finally watching ah hush around he s sinking it is but a trifle now of minutes with him stand you please aside and give him air the act the the steward and attendants continue to regard at his watch two hours and fifty minutes he fell and now he s going they wait dies yes he has to there s no more sea we ll let the captain know who will confer with at once i must now turn to these he goes to another part of the a to the deck and the scene chorus of the music his thread was cut too slowly when he and bade his fame farewell he might have passed and his long drawn endured in vain in vain spirit of the years spirits be not critical of that which was before and shall be after you iv the spirit of the but out of tune the mode and that sense in shapes whom thou hast said a life there was among these self same frail ones who it too clearly even the while he the will the gods truly said he such gross injustice to their own creation burdens the time with for us and for themselves with things by and set to would in a rule and of sweet be no pain whose would abide with that which holds responsibility or chorus of the music tea yea yea thus would the pay the score each owes the reap what his contrivance why make life when it did not buy why wound so keenly right that it would die track i the spirit of the years nay blame not for what judgment can ye blame in that immense mind is shown one far above a that knows not what it yet works the ye life s doom to if i report it came emerging with blind from by random tragic chance if ye will call it so twas needed not in the economy of vitality which might have ever kept a sealed as doth the will itself chorus of the years music tea yea yea tour hasty judgments stay until the have crowned the last of time o heap not blame on that in brooding will o pause j till all things all their days fulfil v the scene v london the a crowd of citizens has gathered outside to watch the carriages as they drive up and deposit guests invited to the lord mayor s banquet for which event the hall is brilliantly lit up within a cheer rises when the of any popular personage arrives at the door first citizen well well is the man who ought to have been to night but he is coming to town in a coach different from these second citizen will they bring his poor body home first citizen yes they say he s to be in marble at st paul s or westminster we shall see him if he in state it will make a patriotic spectacle for a fine day boy how can you see a dead man father after so long the first citizen they ll him my boy as they did all the great egyptian boy his lady will be handy for that won t she first citizen don t ask awkward questions second citizen	45
through the canvas from inside a i i the act vi voice of napoleon soldiers the of now face you to mend the overthrow at but how so are not these the self same bands you met and swept aside at and whose retreating forms dismayed to flight your feet pursued along the here our own position strong and menacing is rich in chance for attack for say they march to cross and turn our a course almost their need their stretching flank will us from points now voice of a shows it your majesty the that marks your usual far eyed policy to openly your thus some twelve hours ere their form can voice of napoleon the zest such knowledge will impart to all is worth the risk of to secretary j write on the resumed soldiers your columns i myself shall lead but ease your minds who would against my undue if your zeal sow hot confusion in the hostile ranks as your old manner is and in our strength we mingle with our foes i ll use fit care nevertheless should issues stand at pause but for a moment that time you will see your emperor the foremost in the shock taking his risk with every here for victory men must be no thing as that which may or may not beam on us like sunshine on a mom it must be sure the honour and the fame of france s gay and gallant so dear so cherished all the empire through us to compass it i maintain the ranks let none be by impulse or excuse of bearing back the wounded and in fine be every one in this conviction firm that tis our sacred bond to overthrow these of a country not their own yea england s they a realm stiff in hatred of our land and hopes the campaign with this victory and we return to find our standards joined the by vast new armies forming now in france forthwith peace establish we worthy of you the nation and of me to his so shall we prostrate these paid slaves of hers england s i mean the root of all the war voice of the further details sent of are not assuring voice of what may the details be voice of we learn that six and twenty ships of war during the fight and after struck their flags and that the gale throughout the night gave fearful finish to the english rage by luck their s gone but gone withal are twenty thousand prisoners taken off to their finger nails in british of our vast of the summer time but rags and now remain poor quitted him v l the thus are my projects for the navy damned and england to yet more well well i can t be everywhere no matter a victory s here as these water rats may in their and welcome tis not long they ll have their way ships can be wrecked by land another voice and how by land your majesty if one may such voice of napoleon i ll bid all states of europe shut their ports to england s slowly starve her and monstrous trade till all her lie in their and her grey island eyes in vain shall seek one jack of hers upon the ocean plains voice of a few more master strokes your majesty must be dealt to compass such voice of napoleon god yes even here s guineas are the foes the tis all a this and me more than russia s host and s flower i everywhere to night around me feel as from an unseen monster haunting nigh his country s hostile breath but come to choke it by our to morrow s which now in brief i first will move to forward the grand project of the day namely ascend in right to front with s men and those of saint s division somewhere further back nearly i place my finger here to be there by to the left here on the road supported by mm at s whole cavalry while in reserve here are the of the corps of and the imperial guard voices tis as we understood and have ordered but day to light our victory voice of napoleon now let us up and ride the round and note positions ere the soldiers sleep omit not from to morrow s home scene i the direction that this blow of be hushed in all the news sheets sold in france or if reported let it be as a rash fight we came not worst but were so broken by the boisterous eve that england claims it as her victory there from the tent napoleon and the who all mount the horses that are led up and proceed through the frost and towards the at the emperor s approach to the nearest they spring up soldiers the emperor he s here the emperor s here an old approaching napoleon familiarly we ll bring thee russian guns and flags to thy day they gather into the straw hay and other litter on which they have been lying and these at the dying fires wave them as this is repeated as each fire is reached till the whole french position is one wide illumination the most enthusiastic of the soldiers follow the emperor in a throng as he and his whereabouts in the vast field is by their cries chorus of the music strange pull of personality i the chorus of spirits his projects they his grin chorus of the their loyal hearts say blindly he the night shades close over scene ii the same the russian position midnight at the quarters of field at an inner apartment is discovered roughly adapted as a council room on a table with candles is unfolded a large	45
map of and its the are assembled in consultation round the table pointing to the map and standing by bending over the map indifferently walking up and down old and weary with a face and only one eye is seated in a chair at the head of the table nodding waking and nodding again some officers of lower grade are in the background and horses in waiting are heard and outside general t name should it b said be in three nearly bv sky scene ii the referring to the nearest candle and moving it from place to place on the map as he proceeds now here our right along the road will march and the french division there them from the hill and thence advance direct to you heed me the cavalry will occupy the plain our centre and main strength you follow me count with and now on the heights will down and cross the seize and nigh turn the french right move onward in their rear cross hold the great road so with the nightfall centre right and left will beneath the walls of taking a pinch of snuff good general very good if will kindly stand and let you have your way but what if he do not if he these sound slow movements mount the hills i the act vi when we descend fall on our rear forthwith while we go crying for his rear in vain waking up ay ay that s the question eh impatiently if had meant to up there being one so and so he would have set about it ere this eve he has not troops to do so i say his utmost strength is forty thousand men then if so weak how can so wise a brain court ruin by abiding calmly here the of a force so large as ours he may be mounting up this very hour what think you general i what s the use of thinking when tomorrow will tell us with no need to think at all at this moment he his fires are dark all sounds have ceased that way save voice of owl or there l i m scene ii the but were he nigh these movements i detail would knock the bottom from his rising well well now this being ordered set it going one here shall make fair copies of the notes and send them round colonel von toll i ask to part it grows full late and half a dozen hours of needed sleep will aid us more than maps we now and luck attend us all good night the and other officers go out such plans are paper only to morrow s light the true to my sight he out with his hand all the candles but one or two slowly walks outside the house and on the high ground in the direction of the french lines are heard shouts and a wide illumination grows and but the hollows are still in fog are these the signs of out of heart and beating backward from an enemy he remains pondering on the heights immediately in front there begins a movement among the that the act vi the plan which desertion of that is about to be put in force noises of drunken singing arise from the russian lines at various points elsewhere re enters his quarters with a face of thb night shades involve the whole scene iii the same the french position shortly before dawn on the morning of the nd of december a white frost and fog still prevail in the low lying but overhead the sky is clear a dead silence n on a grey horse closely attended by and surrounded by and their de camp all is in the gloom riding down from the high ground before on which they have to the village of on the stream quite near the front of the russian position of the day before on the crest the emperor and his companions come to a pause look around and upward to the hills and listen their fires that lit the top last night are all extinct in this scene the writer like others hat followed without question the ms of quoted by m but the singular of the count s own opinion in the consultation as recorded suggests that it may have been somewhat strengthened on paper at the expense of that of his companions iii the and hark you i catch a sound which if i not means the thing we have hoped and hoping feared fate would not yield napoleon my god it surely is the tramp of horse and of cannon downward from the hill towards our right here by the lakes that face thus as i they work yes they already move upon on leave them alone nor stick nor stone we ll stir to interrupt them that we can scheme will help us like their own let them get down to those white there and so far plunge in the level that no skill when sudden vision flashes on their fault can help them though despair stung to regain the key to mastery held at meantime move onward these divisions here o the under the fog s kind descend the slope and cross the stream below the russian lines there halt concealed till i send down the word napoleon and his staff retire to the hill east of as the day tis good to get above that cloak and air it chilled me through when they reach the summit they are over the fog and suddenly the sun breaks forth to the left of the the ash face of and the faces of those around him all eyes are turned first to the sun and thence to look for the dense masses of men that had occupied the the	45
night before i see them not the seems deserted napoleon gone verily ah how much will you give an hour hence for the abandoned now the battle s ours it was then their rash march downwards to and the before dawn that we heard no hurry enjoy this sim that rests its upon the plain and its beard v iii the across the peering beneath our hat shade how long hence to win the top some twenty minutes or less your majesty our troops down there still by the mist are half upon the way napoleon good i set forthwith and saint to mount the slopes firing begins in the marsh to the right by and the pools though the thick air yet hides the operations o there you are blind achieve your worst will hold you firm the head of an de camp rises through the fog on that side and he up to n and his companions to whom the officer what has happened rides off disappearing legs first into the white that covers the attack and you have concern enough here on the left with prince and all the russian cavalry the haste off the victory promising to lay will like a thunder clap conclude the war the with their gallop away towards their respective divisions soon the two divisions under are seen ascending in close column the of the height thereupon the heads of the russian centre columns disclose themselves breaking the sky line of the summit from the other side in a desperate attempt to regain the position by the russian left a fierce struggle there between s divisions and these who despite their attempt to recover the lost post of are pressed by the french off the slopes into the i of the music o great heed us now if it indeed must he that this day smoke with the issue as thou how and dull to suffering those whom it to quit their in a flesh that i ii if it be in the future human story to lift this man to yet in glory let the he done with the least or none to his kind at whose expense such height is won spirit of the years again ye the world way that i so long have told then note anew sc n iii the since ye forget the ordered of it the eternal pressing change on change at once as earlier a clearness possesses the atmosphere of the battle field in which the scene becomes and the living masses of humanity transparent the will appears therein as a brain like of currents and tions and thrusting hither and thither the human forms i of spirits music o y can ye forget that things to be were shaped and set ere mortals and this planet met ii stand ye that working all works but like some sublime at i heaving throughout its vast content with bent though of its aim ii could ye have seen its early deeds te would not cry as one who for quarter when a europe the i ere ye young had from out the where mortals moan against a ruling not their own ii he of the tears beheld and we creation s express in forms that now i dreams from day to day its types re the clay in some more way ii beheld the wrecked whole nigh species slain by those that scarce could boast a brain i saw growth add or sane or mad in round of good and bad ii heard at the which tortured to the eternal quick quivering hearts in v iv the chorus us then it ill to when slaughter s this field of shade of the earth pain not their young compassion by such but hold you mute and read the battle yonder the moment marks the day s catastrophe scene iv the same the russian position it is about noon and the vital spectacle is now near the village of the fog has dispersed and the sun shines clearly though without warmth the ice on the pools gleaming under its radiance general and his de camp have up and remain at pause on a the general watches through a glass his which are still the village suddenly approach down the track from the of large companies of russian count is beheld to be retreating with them and soon pale and agitated he up to general whose face is flushed while they re upon us you stay idle here i s column is and rent the act and more than half my own made captive yea carried and hemmed the enemy s whole strength will greet you soon you seem to see the enemy everywhere you cannot see them be they here or no i only wait s corps to join s to them here they come supported by and having cleared and secured the height his are perceived descending from it on this side behind s division so placing the latter between themselves and the pools you cannot tell the from ourselves these are the ah lost s troops are seen to be retreating towards the water the stand in painful iv the tell to save him as he may we count must gather up our shaken men and hurry by the road through s and the remains of s are rallied and collected and they retreat by way of the hamlet of as they go over the summit of a hill looks back s columns which were behind his own have been cut off by s division coming down from the this and some from s column rush towards the lake and endeavour to cross it on the ice it cracks beneath their weight at the same moment on and his brilliant staff appear on the top of the the emperor watches the scene with a smile and a battery	45
near at hand to fire down upon the ice on which the are crossing a ghastly crash and follows the discharge the shining surface breaking into pieces like a mirror which fly in all directions two thousand are and their groans of despair reach the ears of the like a general flight of the russian army from wing to wing is now disclosed in its current the and the francis with the reserve who are seen towards endeavouring to rally their troops in vain they are swept along by the disordered oa the act vi scene v same n ar thb of the mill is about seven miles to the southward between the french advanced posts and the a fire is burning in grey overcoat and hat turned up front and back rides to the spot with and his and he walks to and fro complacently meditating or talking to two groups of officers one from each army stand in the background on their respective sides napoleon what s this of alexander weep did he like his old but for cause ha ha berth i r tis told your majesty that colonel toll one of field prince s staff in the retreating of overthrow found alexander seated on a stone beneath a roadside apple tree out here by on the way his coal black and snowy his face his grey eyes mourning in tears the fate of his brave troops all flying southward save the steadfast slain v the poor devil but he ll soon get over it sooner than his ha this will make friend and england and cloud somewhat their an open carriage approaches from the direction of accompanied by a small escort of guards on walks forward to meet it as it draws up and the emperor who he is wearing a grey cloak over a white uniform carries a light walking cane and is attended by john op and others his fresh coloured face strangely with the of napoleon s but it is now thin and anxious they formally embrace prince john and the rest retire and the two are left by themselves before the fire on here on the ground do i receive you my only mansion for these two months past francis your thereof has brought such fame that it must needs be one which charms you good now this war it has been forced on me the act just at a crisis most when all my energies and arms were bent on teaching england that her watery walls are no defence against the wrath of france aroused by breach of solemn francis i had no zeal for peace till ominous events in italy revealed the gloomy truth that france to conquest there and undue since when mine eyes have seen no sign to signify a change of napoleon yet there were terms distinctly to general in november past whereon i d gladly fling the sword aside to wit in order that hot jealousy stir us no more rule i d take the river as our bounds francis that i all and how may stand your views as to the russian forces here scene v the you have all to lose by that alliance leave russia let the emperor alexander make his own terms whereof the first must be that he retire from territory i ll grant an anon ril treat with him to a lasting peace based on some simple chief that russian armies keep to russian soil and that moreover every english be locked out from the ports of his n meanwhile to you i ll tender this good word keep to herself to russia bound you pay your own costs with your provinces and alexander s likewise francis i see as much and long have seen it and standing here the let me own what happier issues might have left long long i have lost the wish to bind myself to russia s and russia s risks little do i count these with powers that have no substance as they they walk away o the act n officer o strangest scene of an life that i witness here to day an emperor in whose veins and the proud line claim yet to live and those scarce less renowned the hold g of gallantry so great in fame one thousand years to bend with deference and manners mild in talk with this raised but by above the common herd another officer ay there be and heights in royal lines as here at the again draw near francis then to this which shall be called immediately at all points i agree and pledge my word that my august ally accept it likewise and withdraw his force by daily measured march to his own realm a i v the napoleon for him i take your word and pray believe that rank are your own not mine that though i have as your enemy and likewise alexander s we are one in interests have in all things common cause one country these europe through by her of false england who to her name her influence and her schemes to the whole world s trade and and the folk of other lands her rock situation walls her oflf like a slim selfish in its shell j from the wide views and fair which on the we and spurs her search for profit in our woes francis i am not competent your majesty to estimate that country s conscience now nor to engage on my s behalf that english ships be shut from russian trade but joyful am i that in au things else my promise can be made and that this day our conference ends in friendship and esteem o the act ti napoleon i will send at to morrow s and make all to the emperor for i wholly can as mine the cordial spirit of your majesty	45
here a wandering whose life has not been spent the act vi this side the though i can speak the tongue woman your air has truth in t but your state is strange had i a husband he should tackle thee spirit thou hast had more than she if now thou hast not one woman wilt take the situation from this hour spirit thou know st not what thy asks good dame woman well learn in small the emperor s chronicle as from what my soldier husbands say some five and forty standards of his foes are brought to paris borne triumphantly in proud procession through the streets ever as of fame to shine aloft in dim lit halls and city i l scene vii the spirit fair with as there he somewhat and was met by the gay your here there too woman napoleon s he spirit received for gift the hand of fair princess daughter of forced from her to heir to complete his was hailed successor to the throne of italy woman how know you ere this news has got abroad spirit channels have the common people lack there y on the the prince was joined to her who stands as daughter to the man we some say as more i the woman they do then such not i gin revolution s dr so soil thy soul that thou doubt the eldest son thereof tis dangerous to nowadays spirit right i lady many more charity in thee than in some ones who would not name thee with their tongues enough i am one whom thou know my thou would st not grudge a claim to speak his mind woman a thousand sir spirit resume thy tale if so thou wishes t woman nay but you know t the spirit how progress through crowds have marked his journey home how town him like the rest how would here have welcomed him had not his speed intelligence now will a glimpse of him repay thee hark shouts arise and increase in the distance announcing s approach has revived by but not by sea on that element never will he his dream and float as master woman what shall hinder him spirit that which has england so to speak woman but she s in straits she s lost her now a worthy man he loved a woman well the act vi george and in a darkened room her heaven bom minister all the emperor s way spirit tales have two sides sweet lady up news may reach thee here that was none but would it shock thy to know that the true measure of this utter defeat ay france s naval your emperor bade be hid woman the s gift has never endowed me mr as in appearance you but to sense things seem as stated spirit we ll let be but know these english take to liquid life right nursed in infancy by and rains which creep into their blood till like seeks like the sea is their dry land and as on you they way fare there scene vii the woman heaven prosper then their water if they ll leave us the land the imperial carriage appears the emperor long live the emperor he s the best by land s carriage arrives without an escort the street lamps shine in and reveal the seated beside him the of the people grow boisterous as they hail him victor of the more run after the carriage which turns in from the st honor to the and thence into the court of the woman may all success attend his next spirit namely to put the knife in england s trade and teach her treaty manners he can i woman i like not your queer knowledge man there s in your i d call you ghost had not the goddess reason laid all such past mother church s cunning to restore the act ti adieu m not be yours to night starve first she the crowd away and the spirit scene viii green house s from the landing without it is afternoon at the back of the room as seen through tl e doorway is a bed beside which a woman sits the lady bending over a table at the front of the room is sir walter the physician the footman and another servant are near the door bishop of enters in a subdued voice i grieve to call your up again but symptoms lately have disclosed themselves that mean the to the frail life in him and whatsoever things of gravity it may be needful to communicate let them be spoken now time may not serve if they be much delayed the ah stands it thus the name of his disease is i his brow s inscription has been from that dire morning in the month just past when tongues of rumour the word across from its hid nook on the plains and yet he might have borne it had the weight of been even partly from his limbs last when that despairing journey to the king at lodge by shore was made to beg such but relief the king refused why want you fox what and his friends he you are sufficient without these rather than fox why give me civil war and fibre that would rather snap than shrink held out no longer now the lady turns her head and comes forward the cr vi lady i am grateful you are here again good friend i he s sleeping at this moment but once more has asked for tidings of lord and murmured of his mission to as europe s forlorn hope if sure it be that any hope remain there s no news yet these several days while i have been sitting by him he has inquired the	45
ve sir william alexander from ra chorus from the tragedy of the editor i t and a c lines on the in westminster by song from the maid s tragedy by the from the faithful by the river g d to from the same the from the same song from the two noble song from song to from the same to sleep from the same song from the queen of song from the nice thomas w content from patient from the same the praise of fortune from old rustic song from the sun s darling john ford iv s dying song from the broken heart s from the same awakening song from the lover s melancholy william w t from s and the river god the scented grove the music lesson the hunted a the poet s ambition the praise of a lament for his friend contents vii pa b the praise of a colour passage the description of the song of so the of pan z the song of a a comparison song from minor poems the charm from the inner temple george w t weakness from and from the shepherd s hunting the author s resolution in a from love poems from the mistress of a christmas from when we are upon the seas loi for summer time the i yer of old age j w christ s victory in heaven sir henry j iv the character of a happy life on his mistress the queen of z thomas w in song a prayer to the wind the cruel mistress a from love disdain returned singing the lady to her servant a pastoral dialogue extract from the rapture on the lady mary song the in praise of his mistress contents robert w the argument of the when he would have his verses read s going a the rock of eve the night piece to the to blossoms to filled with morning dew to meadows a to god the mad maid s song upon s clothes delight in disorder art above nature cherry ripe the bride cake his prayer to ben an for ben to the same to the wake to robin red breast to the lark to the rose the bag of the bee to the duke of york the grace for a child the of s daughter to porter what love is upon his maid the white island music s feast to william s w t to roses in the bosom of to upon a in s cheek contents u page the description of to in a trance to upon the death of a lady against them who lay to the sex of women to of true delight sir john w a ballad upon a y truth in love the dance song in song the song in the sad one constancy richard w going to the wars the rose to from prison the to lord of an upon a question moved whether love should continue for ever upon her g a george from the upon i george the collar the misery love the employment the world richard i is i so wishes to his supposed mistress ao the flaming heart description of a religious house y x contents rage henry the retreat the burial of an infant the world beyond the veil james w a from the triumph of beauty a the garden from poems the might of death from and death a a from the of and thomas w to master extract from the a pastoral courtship to ben william i i i a iv ward on his majesty s recovery from the small a new year s gift to lord bishop of to a virtuous young that died suddenly the editor extract from poetical a wish from the of wit on the death of mr william the chronicle a ballad on the death of mr from drinking the swallow from the mistress the spring the wish from to mr from verses written on several occasions from the h to light extract from the to the royal society extract from by way of essays on solitude b j contents xi z iv on a song extract from his majesty s escape at st s to one who wrote against a lady the bud the marriage of the extract from the battle of the summer s islands john w view of london from s hill praise of the thames against love song the extract from the on thomas w the tomb sir william w extract from song on the of the of a john milton mark an on the admirable dramatic poet william shakespeare l n extract from on his being arrived at the age of twenty three on his blindness on the late in to the lord general from paradise lost book i book iv from paradise regained book i book iii extract from smith the garden a drop of dew xii contents the young love a upon s return from ireland on milton s paradise lost samuel butler w e from the new light the muse of	45
ap martial music honour ap night morning spiritual marriage from an apology for upon the weakness and misery of man ap and from and the earl op w t extract m the essay on translated verse the earl of w song written at sea a songs sir charles w song love still has something of the sea song from the garden ah song is my only joy mrs w song from ax the dream si on the death of the earl of iv song my dear mistress constancy the bowl song from song when on those lovely looks song absent from thee i still on ii t contents xiii page w extract from the poet s complaint of his muse a w ward the from the second satire upon them the domestic from a satire addressed to a friend john a w ward verses to her royal the of york from the attempt at the fire of london from and the and from tradition from laid from the hind and the the private judgment the unity of the catholic church the to or the great to the pious memory of mrs anne a song for st s day alexander s feast or the power of music lines printed under the portrait of milton to my friend mr and to my honoured john creator ben bom educated at westminster school and according to fuller at st john s college cambridge after a brief with the trade of his step father a master he served as a in the low countries and settled in london as a not later than his first important comedy every man in his humour was acted his first tragedy his chiefly belong to the reign of james i more especially to its earlier part he wrote nothing for the stage from to after this he produced a few more plays without permanently securing the favour of the public of these plays the last but two was the new inn the complete failure of which on the stage provoked s longer to himself he enjoyed however in his later years besides a court patronage the general homage of the english world of letters as its chief he died in london august the first edition of his works published in x included the book of and the and gathered under the heading the forest in the same the second published in contained the larger and as its name collection called by its author though the readers of ben are few there is no fame in our literature than his he lived long and ended his days in a very different world of letters as well as of politics from that upon which after his return from military service in the he had launched the earliest of his great in his old age when he had survived both the heat of the quarrels in which he had and the fulness of the popularity which he had when his powers were declining and his troubles increasing he was generally acknowledged as the chief of his art his society was by grave and by youthful to literary honours while by an inner circle of he was as their in poetry and honoured after death with a collection of such as even in that age of would have the remembrance of any other man during the vol vl b the english poets restoration period his reputation as an english was still second to none so far as critical opinion was concerned but a poet s name is not kept green by critical opinion and the name of a dramatic poet perhaps least of all in his old age as informed king charles i the ess poetic boys had judged parts of him decayed to posterity he gradually came to seem over full and over difficult and thus in the end his inability or often expressed with unnecessary frankness to come to terms with the larger public has itself by his writings having been long and neglected to sink irresistibly into the souls of men or lightly to move the mirth of the multitude was and is beyond the power of his poetic genius to its in or to satisfy coarse with the of its fruits was with the character of his mind no writer was ever at once so varied and so serious so and so conscientious few have been so careful about what they wrote before publication and so careless about it afterwards he thought that he could trust his reputation to the judgment of those who can understand and define what merit is and upon the whole it may be said that both the audience to which he appealed and that whose opinion he professed neither to love nor to fear have taken him at his word his fame as a on which his general fame will always essentially depend must therefore remain within the keeping of those who are sealed of the tribe of ben but of these the succession is certain to remain unbroken one quite special cause has in the course of time not less than unfortunately interfered with the popularity of ben not only has his poetic fame as was inevitable been by that of but he was long believed to have entertained and to have taken frequent opportunities of expressing a jealousy of one both greater and more successful than himself this rather	45
charge was examined and by s editor to whose efforts on this head nothing remains to be added though perhaps here and there something may with advantage be taken away from them with pen and with tongue ben was always or unconsciously his critical faculty and like his great of the century who in many respects not including gifts so strangely him he loved to measure and even the praise which came ben from his heart in order to judge of his feelings towards and his opinion of s genius it to read with as well as care the famous lines included in the following selection if the constitution of the writer s mind and the circumstances of the writing be taken into account it may be said with truth that few at once so generous and so have ever been committed to posterity by one great poet concerning another at au events it should not be overlooked that the praise which from heaviest the praise of s art was precisely that of which many generations in the poet s native wild failed to understand the meaning as a matter of course is chiefly remembered as a though his labours as such very far from exhausted his extraordinary powers of work and though for ten years beginning with that of s death he never wrote for the stage at all indeed though he declared his profits as a to have been extremely small it seems to have been necessity rather than choice which turned his efforts in this direction in the spirited to himself pi the date is uncertain but which probably belong to some time near as well as in the lines to he makes no secret of his longing for what seemed to him nobler because forms of poetry but though he not long afterwards told of in one of his famous conversations that he had an intention to perfect an poem entitled of the of this country roused by fame and to it to his country nothing came of the project nor would it appear that the burning of his library for which he the lame lord of fire in a series of his favourite heroic consumed together with the ms of his english grammar and of his notes for his translation of s art of poetry any original poem of special length or importance exclusively therefore of his and and of a few from the latin poets to be nothing more than such s poetical remains consist only of the three mentioned at the head of this notice h w far the last of these the which and of various kinds was prepared or even designed for publication by is unknown the in s are extremely few as becomes a b the poets who as he rather too expresses it strove not only to set words above action but matter above words indeed with the exception of two or three pretty song of which one exquisitely rendered from a latin original and another afterwards in an enlarged form in the are to the light touch at the command of s not always laborious fingers none of these often charming and always disturbing obstacles to dramatic interest interfere with the steady progress of his plays the stately in the tragedy of stand on a different footing from that of more or less songs even in s a form of poetry which owes to him not indeed its origin but its establishment as a species in our literature though the element necessarily forms an part of the composition yet the importance attached to it by the author is secondary nor is the reason of this far to seek from one point of view indeed it is right and proper to insist upon the essential differences between a and a drama and upon the consequent absurdity of applying the same standards of criticism to both from another point of view it is equally true that it is the dramatic element or the element of action in the as treated by which the difference between it and a mere a difference which in the case of earlier had no existence at all according to his wont was above all anxious to furnish the inward parts of the and other com posed by him and in an age when by the caprice of fashion and according to the inevitable law of change a taste for these devices had largely the love of the drama to offer nothing that was not both and sound hence whether it was a invention in the strand to the body of which he had to his soul or a hint of the queen s which he had to as ladies hints sometimes require his aim was chiefly to give something of dramatic life as well as of deeper meaning to his occasional pieces not only was he resolved that so far as in him lay painting and should not be as he thought jones strove to make them the soul of but even the songs and dances indispensable though they were in one sense were in another to be so to speak thus while his contain more dramatic life than those of any of his and reveal more poetic ben pose than those of any other english writer except milton the part of them though always adequate rarely special admiration the extract in heroic from the a typical instance of the thought expended by upon what in most other hands would have been a mere conventional the short from the fortunate shows how fully competent he was to marry words to the required movement of dance or song a longer extract from pleasure reconciled to virtue would have been necessary to bring into fullest relief what was owed to by the writer of the greatest without rival or parallel of all english is it inconceivable that our poets should	45
less than they have hitherto done to a poetic form so peculiarly suitable for giving expression to the more varied intellectual life of these latter times as was that which secured to our literature among his detached pieces the were the of honest ben himself the as he them of his studies it is unnecessary to point out though the poet had to do so in the admirable lines addressed to his mere english critic that his conception of the forms and functions of an the wider one entertained by the and that therefore his purpose in the large majority of these poems is not to work rapidly up to a point at the dose if this be borne in mind the of these ns and of those pieces in the which belong to the same class will not be denied the admiration which it deserves some are witty in the sense of the term nearly all in the broader their sarcasm where they contain such itself against various types of men and women among them much to s credit rather against those whom he might have been expected to flatter than those whom he might have been expected to but the fastidious were as genuine an to ben as the zeal of the land and this though he to some extent depended for his bread as well as for his sack upon the good will of the court and and it may be said in passing that though like all his brother he was devoted to the crown he was free spoken even to the most august of his and constantly to the commonplace but wholesome that it is the he has been but with the of the national the english poets love not the fear of his subjects upon which a monarch ought to rely but s are both less effective and less elaborate than those of a directly opposite tendency few of our or poets have equalled him in of whether his theme was the praise of like the elder or the younger or of men of letters varying in kind and degree from whom he as monarch of letters to the poet s fellow nor was he less happy when the object of his poetic homage was a gentle woman like the of celebrated in the lines below and his among which room could only be found here for two of the most pathetic remain not only for a force which we are accustomed to find in but also for a tender grace which he is not so usually supposed to have possessed in the collection called the forest small as it is has done the greatest justice to the variety of poetic of which in addition to the dramatic he was capable he here excuses himself for not writing of love partly on the favourite poets plea of growing age and in truth his muse was comparatively a stranger to yet the little of to put together by in and inserted in the and some charming original and translated pieces to be found elsewhere show him not only to have written graceful love poetry himself but to have furnished examples of it to his younger was in his way almost as much indebted to as milton was in his as a or of classical was in his element his re of favourite gems from and others were doubtless true labours of love for the as his delighted to be justified in calling him had the early of a scholar and through life he remained deeply grateful to the famous his master at westminster that among the latin poets should have specially attracted him is easily to be accounted for in some of his original he has all the brightness and all the of his roman model in the fine included in the forest he rises to a moral dignity beyond the reach either of or of his later for not even a slight summary like the present should from mention among s characteristics the firm and steady tone of his morality in his earlier manhood he twice changed his faith without the faintest suspicion of interested motives ben to his and in his later days he seems to have remained a close student of now to those wiser guides whom fashion had not drawn to study sides but to a conscientious desire for truth he added a humility of soul towards things divine which stands in strange and touching contrast to the high and quick temper of his bearing in most other matters critics have been known to cry out against having to hear too much about the of ben but his is inseparable from him and as the lines to heaven show he was not ashamed even of his piety a w ward the english poets echo s lament of from acted act i sc i slow slow fresh keep time with my salt tears yet slower yet o faintly gentle springs list to the heavy part the music bears woe out her division when she sings and flowers fall grief in showers our beauties are not ours o i could still like melting snow upon some hill drop drop drop drop since nature s pride is now a withered song from v or acted act i sc come my let us prove while we can the sports of love time will not be ours for ever he at length our good will spend not then his gifts in vain that set may rise again but if once we lose this light tis with us perpetual night why should we our joys fame and rumour are but toys cannot we the eyes of a few poor household or his easier ears thus removed by our i compare v the allusion not taken from in the concluding lines is to a famous law ben tis no sin	45
love s fruits to steal but the sweet to reveal to be taken to be seen these have crimes accounted been song from or tht silent woman act i sc i still to be neat still to be as you were going to a feast still to be powdered still lady it is to be presumed though art s hid causes are not found all is not sweet all is not sound give me a look give me a face that makes simplicity a grace robes loosely flowing hair as free such sweet neglect more me than all the of art they strike mine eyes but not my heart triumph one of the ten pieces forming a in the last two are sung or said by in the devil is an ass acted act ii sc see the chariot at hand here of love wherein my lady i each that draws is a swan or a dove and well the car love g as she goes all hearts do duty unto her beauty and do wish so they might but enjoy such a sight that they still were to run by her side through swords through seas whither she would ride a translation from the latin of the en poets do but look on her eyes they do light all that love s world do but look on her hair it is bright as love s star when it do but mark her forehead s than words that soothe her and from her arched brows such a grace sheds itself through the face as alone there to the life all the gain all the good of the elements strife have you seen but a bright lily grow before rude hands have touched it have you marked but the fall o the snow before the soil hath it have you felt the wool of or swan s down ever or have smelt o the bud o the or the in the fire or have tasted the bag of the bee o so white o so o so sweet is she i truth from or and at the marriage of the earl of upon her head she wears a crown of stars through which her hair waves to her waist by which believing mortals hold her fast and in those golden are carried even till with her breath she blows them up to heaven she wears a robe with eyes to signify her sight in mysteries upon each shoulder sits a milk white dove and at her feet do witty move her spacious arms do reach from east to west and you may see her heart shine through her breast her right hand holds a sun with burning rays her left a curious bunch of golden keys with which heaven s gates she and ben a crystal mirror at her breast by which men s are searched and on her coach wheels lies and eyed with backed her bright eyes bum to dust in which shines fate an angel her triumphant gait whilst with her fingers of stars she and with them beats back error clad in mists eternal unity behind her shines that fire and water earth and air her voice is like a trumpet loud and shrill which bids all sounds in earth and heaven be still the holiday or th holiday first thus thus begin the yearly rites are due to pan on these bright nights his mom now and to sports to dances and delights all envious and profane away this is the holiday second the glad and smiling ground with every flower yet not confound the drop the spring s own bright day s eyes and the lips of cows the garden star the queen of may the rose to crown the holiday third drop drop you change your hues now red now pale as lovers use and in your death go out as well as when you lived unto the smell that from your all may say this is the holiday the english poets song before the entry of the from t tm fortunate and union spring all the graces of the age and all the loves of time bring all the pleasures of the stage and of rhyme add all the of courts the looks the and the sports and mingle all their sweets and that none may say the triumph to himself written after the failure of the comedy new inn never acted hut most played by some the king s servants and more beheld and by others the king s subjects come leave the stage and the more age where pride and impudence in knit the chair of wit and every day something they call a play let their fastidious vain commission of the brain run on and rage sweat censure and condemn they were not made for thee less thou for them say that thou pour st them wheat and they will eat simple fury still to waste on such as have no taste to offer them a of pure bread whose are dead no give them their fill to drink or if they love and leave the wine envy them not their s with the swine ben no doubt some tale like and stale as the s and nasty as his fish scraps out of every dish thrown forth and into the common tub may keep up the play club there do as well as the best ordered meal for who the relish of these guests will fit needs set them but the basket of wit and much good do t you then brave and velvet men can feed on and safe in your stage clothes dare quit upon your oaths the and the stage too your of your large ears with their foul comic wrought upon twenty blocks which if they are torn and turned and patched enough the share your gilt and you their	45
stuff leave things so and take the or thine own or s warm thee by s fire and though thy nerves be shrunk and blood be cold ere years have made thee old strike that heat throughout to their defeat as curious fools and envious of thy strain may blushing swear no s in thy but when they hear thee sing the glories of thy king his zeal to god and his just awe o er men they may blood shaken then feel such a flesh to possess their powers as they shall cry like ours the poets in sound of peace or wars no harp e er hit the stars in forth the acts of his sweet reign and raising charles his chariot his song to from th drink to me only with thine eyes and i will pledge with mine or leave a kiss but in the cup and not look for wine the thirst that from the soul doth rise doth ask a drink divine but might i of jove s sup i would not change for thine i sent thee late a rosy wreath not so much thee as giving it a hope that there it could not withered be but thou only breathe and sent st it back to me since when it grows and smells i swear not of itself but thee to my mere english to thee my way in seems new when both it is the old way and the true thou that cannot be for thou hast seen and and the best have been and mine come nothing like i hope so yet as theirs did with thee mine might credit get from the prose love of the younger about a d author of the of folly monuments if thou but use thy faith as thou then when thou wont f admire not censure men believe still and not judge so t thy faith is all the knowledge that thou hast on court worm all men are worms but this no man in silk twas brought to court first and white as milk where afterwards it grew a butterfly which was a so die to fool or thy praise or is to me alike one doth not stroke me nor the other strike on op this morning with holy fire i thought to form unto my zealous muse what kind of creature i could most desire to honour serve and love as poets use i meant to make her fair and free and wise of greatest blood and yet more good than great i meant the day star should not brighter rise nor lend like influence from his seat i meant she should be courteous sweet that solemn vice of greatness pride i meant each virtue there should meet fit in that softer bosom to reside only a learned and a manly soul i her that should with even powers the rock the and the control of destiny and spin her own free hours such when i meant to and wished to see my muse bade write and that was she censure compare pope s wife of edward third earl of she was also by and daniel the english poets an on a child of queen elizabeth s chapel weep with me all you that read this little story and know for whom a tear you shed death s self is sorry twas a child that so did in grace and feature as heaven and nature seemed to strive which owned the creature years he numbered scarce thirteen when turned cruel yet three filled had he been the stage s jewel and did act what now we moan old men so duly as the thought him one he played so truly so by error to his fate they all consented but him since alas too late they have repented and have sought to give new birth in to steep him but being so much too good for earth heaven vows to keep him on elizabeth l h thou hear what man can say in a little reader stay underneath this stone doth lie as much beauty as could die which in life did harbour give to more virtue than doth live these children called in the next reign children of her majesty s were trained up to act before the queen had acted in two of s plays in and in when he is supposed to have died ben if at all she had a fault leave it buried in this vault one name was elizabeth the other let it sleep in death where it died to tell than that it lived at all farewell an to himself from where dost careless lie buried in ease and knowledge that sleeps doth die and this security it is the common that eats on wits and arts and that them both are all the springs dried up lies waste doth harp want strings that not a now sings or they as disgraced to see their seats and by chattering if hence thy silence be as tis too just a cause let this thought thee minds that are great and free should not on pause crown enough to virtue still her own applause what though the greedy be taken with of and think it they die with their and only piteous scorn upon their folly that vol il c the english poets then take in hand thy strike in thy proper strain with s line s chariot for new fire to give the world again who aided him will thee the issue of jove s brain and since our dainty age cannot endure reproof make not a page to that the stage but sing high and aloof safe from the wolf s black jaw and the dull ass s to the of my beloved master william and what he hath left us printed by in hut really from	45
the first edition of to draw no envy oh thy name am i thus ample to thy book and fame while i confess thy writings to be such as neither man nor muse can praise too much tis true and all men s age but these ways were not the paths i meant unto thy praise for ignorance on these may light which when it sounds at best but echoes right or blind affection which doth ne er advance the truth but and all by chance or malice might pretend this praise and think to ruin where it seemed to raise these are as some infamous or should praise a matron what could hurt her more but thou art proof against them and indeed above the ill fortune of them or the need son of ben i therefore will begin soul of the age the applause delight the wonder of our stage my rise i i will not lodge thee by or or bid lie a little further to make thee a room thou art a monument without a tomb and art alive still while thy book doth live and we have wits to read and praise to give that i not mix thee so my brain excuses i mean with great but for if i thought my judgment were of years i should commit thee surely with thy and tell how far thou our or sporting or s mighty line and though thou small latin and less greek from thence to honour thee i would not seek for names but call forth ring and to us him of dead to life again to hear thy tread and shake a stage or when thy were on leave thee alone for a comparison of all that insolent greece or haughty rome sent forth or since did from their ashes come triumph my britain thou hast one to show to whom all scenes of europe homage owe he was not of an age but for all time and all the still were in their prime when like he came forth to warm our ears or like a to charm nature herself was proud of his designs and to wear the dressing of his lines in allusion to w s on beginning lie a thought more nigh to learned and rare lie a little nearer to make room for in your tomb c the english poets which were so richly spun and woven so fit as since she will no other wit the merry greek neat witty now not please but and deserted lie as they were not of nature s family yet must i not give nature all thy art my gentle must enjoy a part for though the poet s matter nature be his art doth give the fashion and that he who casts to write a living line must sweat such as thine are and strike the second heat upon the turn the same and himself with it that he thinks to frame or for the laurel he may gain to scorn for a good poet s made as well as bom and such thou look how the father s face lives in his issue even so the race of s mind and manners brightly shines in his well turned and true d lines in of which he seems to shake a lance as at the eyes of ignorance sweet swan of what a sight it were to see thee in our waters yet appear and make those flights upon the banks of thames that so did take and our james but stay i see thee in the advanced and made a there shine forth thou star of poets and with rage or influence or cheer the drooping stage which since thy flight from hence hath mourned like night and day but for thy volume s light that that man ben on the of from underneath this lies the subject of all verse s sister s mother death ere thou hast slain another d and fair and good as she time shall throw a dart at thee an on master philip gray from reader stay and if i had no more to say but here doth lie till the last day all that is left of philip gray it might thy patience richly pay for if such men as he could die what o life have thou and i from the forest not to know vice at all and keep true state is virtue and not fate next to that virtue is to know vice well and her black spite which to effect since no breast is so sure or safe but shell procure some way of entrance we must plant a guard of thoughts to watch and ward mary sister of sir philip who wrote his for her and mother of william earl of she died in and is buried in cathedral the following is only the earlier general part of this fine sung to deep ears the english poets at the eye and ear the ports unto the mind that no strange or unkind object arrive there but the heart our spy give knowledge instantly to reason our affections king who in th examining will quickly taste the treason and close the close cause of it tis the policy we have to make our sense our slave but this true course is not embraced by many by many scarce by any for either our affections do rebel or else the that should ring to the heart doth sleep or some great thought doth keep back the intelligence and they are base and idle fears whereof the loyal conscience so thus by these subtle trains do several passions the mind and strike our reason blind to heaven from the good and great god can i not think of thee but it must straight my melancholy be is it interpreted in me disease that laden	45
with my sins i seek for ease o be thou witness that the reins dost know and hearts of all if i be sad for show and judge me after if i dare pretend to aught but grace or aim at other end as thou art all so be thou all to me first midst and last converted one and three i my faith my hope my love and in this state my judge my witness and my advocate i ben son where have i been this while from thee and whither now thou but stoop st to me dwell dwell here still o being everywhere how can i doubt to find thee ever here i know my state both full of shame and scorn conceived in sin and unto labour bom standing with fear and must with horror fall and destined unto judgment after all i feel my too and there scarce is ground upon my flesh t inflict another wound yet dare i not complain or wish for death with holy paul lest it be thought the breath of discontent or that these prayers be for weariness of life not love of thee william of was bom at the of near on december and died there december his chief poetical works are tm tht death of prince henry poems forth a to the king s most flowers the entertainment of the high and mighty monarch charles of the sir alexander knight besides these he wrote innumerable political c and a considerable historical work more important are his well known conversations with ben of which an copy was by mr david i ing and printed by him in a a unique copy of the poems printed on one side of the paper only and containing s is in the library it most curiously from the later the interest of lies chiefly for a modem reader in the circumstances of his life he is one of the earliest instances in our literature of the man of letters pure and simple of the man who writes neither for his bread like the great his nor to adorn the leisure moments of an active life like and sir philip but who when his fortune allows him to choose his career to write for the sake of writing it is true he travelled both as a very young man and later he regularly with his friends at the courts of james and charles especially with sir william alexander earl of the poet and he took part in such royal as a rare chance might bring to he keenly felt and sharply the course of public affairs but for all this his centre and his home was the beautiful house on the bank of the into the of which even the din of wars could scarcely penetrate other poets are known by their names alone we talk of and of and but is for all time of of his did not till lately do much honour to at the end of the century that by which his name was chiefly kept alive was a poem which modem criticism to attribute to his hand in bishop sage and the thomas published s works in prose and verse but this volume though it still the only edition that contains his prose as well as his poetry is and is a tribute to rather as a than as a poet fifty years ago however mr david to whom literature and history owe so much and set in order the mass of manuscript which the last representative a the poet had given to the society oi of scotland forty years before then followed the club edition of his poems and then in our own day came profess m with a characteristic volume doing for after his kind what the same had long been doing for milton after his kind setting him rich background of the circumstances of his time the impression which we derive from professor s book is an impression of in his relation to public events of the and bom to unhappy times and dying days writing at intervals turning his skill in verse to the service of the court when occasion served but brooding in discontent for the most part silent over the slow but certain triumph of and his yet though this element is essential to our understanding of there are other elements in him that have also to be taken into account he has had a love story as sweet while it lasted and as pathetic in its end as any that ever inspired a poet it is the memory of the fair mary of who died on the eve of their wedding that keeps him unmarried till nearly fifty and at least till the political clouds dose round him he is as we said a man of letters the friend of and sir william alexander and the of ben is a literary and even learned poet with alexander he deliberately preferred to write english as it was spoken in england rather than his native scotch his wealth and his leisure enabled him to surround himself with books he was familiar with both ancient and modem literature an interesting gift of bis to the newly founded university of has the english poets preserved for us a selection of the very volumes that he read english poetry and prose including works of bacon and of and of ben and shakespeare latin french italian volumes in great numbers moreover among the from his papers which mr printed we find exact lists of the books that he read from period to period the year s task sometimes extending to forty or fifty separate writers some of them of the dimensions of s history of the and s and s and and de like every other cultivated man of his day he had read and his copy of is his favourite forms of	45
verse are the of the rather than the true italian type and a short song or the and the ten lines in a very happy way but he also uses other such as the heroic and now and then upon a difficult experiment as in his two and his one attempt in the matter of his verse is described by himself on the title page of his first miscellaneous volume of poems the pastoral being of little account and the neither better nor worse than the average of their class what are really interesting in the poetry that he published during his life are the and songs directly inspired by mary and songs that ring true and contrast with the cold of such poems as the of s friend lord and the grave flowers among the poems also are some that are noticeable one or two genuine cries of anguish at what the author thought to be the evil of the times and a few hymns such as the hymns for the week following the order of the days of creation fit to rank with many of those that have become classical good as are some of the love and is best where he is most serious his deepest interests are and religious he is for ever taking refuge from the ills of the present in meditations on death eternity the christian doctrine the universe this all as he calls it that conception of the earth with its which belonged to the older is an idea on which he dwells in almost monotonous fashion the finest of all his writings the prose tract called the grove is a discourse upon death reminding us as mr well says of the best work of sir thomas of the most striking of his poems are certainly those where as in the for the he presents in his own rich language the portions of the christian history or the inexhaustible theme of the and the mystery of life what him from becoming wearisome is partly the nobility of his verse at its best its and music partly his evident sincerity and his speaking generally from the evil influences that were creeping in to corrupt english poetry at that time his where he in them are bad indeed the sun to him is of all the stars with silver bright who moon of the flowers the waves that toss the boat that holds his love have their ready explanation and yet huge waves arise the is this that ocean with forth the boat to kiss but these are the accidents of his poetry and his theory and practice are better learnt from such words as those he sent at an uncertain date to dr arthur a writer of latin verse well known in his day he says by herself and after one and continuance her beauty to all ages in vain have some men of late of everything consulted upon her and endeavoured to abstract her to ideas and her of her own habits and those ornaments with which she hath amused the world some thousand years is not a thing that is yet in the finding and search or which may be otherwise found out such is the mature view of the view of a man who has read the best that the poets of all ages have made has enjoyed it has it and not allow himself to be drawn away from the main current by the fashion of the day it is difficult to withhold admiration from a poet who in the first half of the century had studied and yet kept himself for the most part free from and if we turn from his poetry to his life it is difficult to withhold sympathy from a man whose private happiness was ruined by a fatal blow and whose public hopes were wasted in witnessing the steady upward progress of a cause which he regarded with editor the english poets from the in my first years and prime yet not at height when sweet my wits did entertain ere beauty s force i knew or false delight or to what oar she did her chain led by a sacred troop of tr n i began to read then d to write and so to praise a perfect red and white but god not what was in my brain love d to see in what an awful guise i d those of the age of gold and that i might more mysteries behold he set so fair a volume to mine eyes that i d which dead dead sighs but breathe joy on this living book to read my death then is she gone o fool and coward o good occasion lost ne er to be found what fatal chains have my dull senses bound when best they may that they not fortune try here is the flow ry bed where she did lie with roses here she the ground she fix d her eyes on this yet smiling pond nor time nor courteous place seem d ought deny too long too long respect i do embrace your counsel of threats and sharp disdain disdain in her sweet heart can have no place and though come there must straight retire again henceforth respect farewell i oft hear told who lives in love can never be too bold of if with all be my poor life if one short day i never spent in mirth if my with itself holds lasting strife if sorrow s death is but new sorrow s birth if this vain world be but a stage where slave bom man plays to the stars if youth be toss d with love with weakness age if knowledge serve to hold our thoughts in wars if time can close the hundred mouths of fame and make what long since past like to be if virtue	45
only be an idle name if i when i was bom was bom to die why seek i to these days the fairest rose in shortest time thou window once which served for a sphere to that dear planet of my heart whose light made often blush the glorious queen of night while she in thee more did appear what mourning weeds alas now dost thou wear how to mine eyes is thy sad sight how poorly look st thou with what heavy cheer since that sun set which made thee shine so bright unhappy now thee close for as of late to ring eyes thou a paradise of her who made thee fortunate a gulf thou art whence clouds of sighs arise but unto none so as to me who see my murder d joys in thee the poets here she stay d among these pines sweet she did alone repair here did she spread the treasure of her hair more rich than that brought from the mines she her by these the happy place the print seems yet to bear her voice did here thy sugar d lines to which winds trees beasts birds did lend their ear me here she first perceived and here a mom of bright did o her face here did she sigh here first my hopes were bom and i first got a pledge of d grace but ah what d it to be happy so passed pleasures double but new woe the heaven doth not contain so many stars so many leaves not prostrate lie in woods when autumn s old and sounds his wars so many waves have not the ocean floods as my rent mind hath all the night and heart sighs when brings the light why should i been a partner of the light who in birth by bad aspects of stars have never since had happy day nor night why was not i a liver in the woods or citizen of crystal floods than made a man for love and fortune s wars i look each day when death should end the wars wars sense and reason s light my pains i count to mountains and floods and of my sorrow partners make the stars all desolate i haunt the woods when i should give myself to rest at night of with watchful eyes i ne er behold the night mother of peace but ah to me of wars and queen like shining through the woods when straight those lamps come in my thought whose light my judgment dazzled passing brightest stars and then mine eyes en isle themselves with floods turn to their springs again first shall the floods clear shall the sun the sad and gloomy night to dance about the pole cease shall the stars the elements renew their ancient wars shall first and be d of place and light ere i find rest in city fields or woods end these my days of the woods take this my life ye deep and raging floods sun never rise to clear me with thy light horror and darkness keep a lasting night me care with thy wars and stay your influence o er me bright stars in vain the stars of the woods care horror wars i call and raging floods for all have sworn no night shall dim my sight song arise and paint the skies with white and red rouse s mother from her s bed that she thy may with roses spread the thy coming each where sing make an eternal spring give life to this dark world which dead spread forth thy golden hair in larger locks than thou wont before printed in the copy elsewhere or the english poets and emperor like with of pearl thy temples fair chase hence the ugly night which serves but to make dear thy glorious light this is that happy mom that day long wished day of all my life so dark if cruel stars have not my ruin sworn and not hope betray which only white deserves a diamond for ever should it mark this is the mom should bring unto this grove my love to hear and my love fair king who all preserves but show thy blushing beams and thou two sweeter eyes shalt see than those which by streams did once thy heart surprise nay which shine as clear as thou when two thou did to rome appear now deck in fairest guise if that ye winds would hear a voice surpassing far s your stormy stay let only breathe and with her play kissing sometimes these purple ports of death the winds all silent are and in his chair sea and air makes vanish every star night like a beyond the hills to his flaming wheels the fields with flowers are in every hue the clouds with bright gold their here is the pleasant place and every thing save her who all should grace of to from and see how the clouds in the lists and how with each hill his giant forehead jove in the air the air grown great with rain now seems to bring s days again i see thee come let us home repair come hide thee in mine arms if not for love yet to greater to sir w al the love did to bear shall witnessed be to all the woods and plains as singular renown d by neighbouring that to our relics time may rear those we sung amidst our flocks with guarded from s beams on near s streams are by in the rocks of foreign bent to try the states though i world s guest a vagabond do stray thou that store which i esteem survey as best acquainted with my soul s whatever fate heavens have for me designed i trust thee with the treasure of my mind vol il the poets from flowers o sion look how	45
the flower which doth fade the morning s darling late the summer s queen spoil d of that which kept it fresh and green as high as it did raise bows low the head right so my life being dead or in their but only seen with speed than it spread and scarce now shows what it hath been and doth the pilgrim therefore whom the night by darkness would on his way think on thy home my soul and think aright of what yet rests thee of life s wasting day thy sun posts westward passed is thy mom and twice it is not given thee to be bom for the the last and greatest herald of heaven s king with rough skins to the deserts wild among that savage brood the woods forth bring which he than man more harmless found and mild his food was and what young doth spring with honey that from virgin d d body hollow eyes some uncouth thing made him appear long since from earth d there burst he forth all ye whose hopes rely on god with me amidst these deserts mourn repent repent and from old errors turn who listen d to his voice d his cry only the echoes which he made rung from their marble repent repent i of to the sweet bird that sing st away the early hours of past or coming void of care well pleased with delights which present are fair seasons sweet smelling flowers to rocks to springs to from leafy thou thy creator s goodness dost declare and what dear gifts on thee he did not spare a stain to human sense in sin that what soul can be so sick which by thy songs d in sweetness sweetly is not driven quite to forget earth s and wrongs and lift a eye and thought to heaven sweet thou my mind dost raise to airs of yes and to lays this world a hunting is the prey poor man the fierce is death his speedy are lust sickness envy care strife that ne er falls amiss with all those ills which haunt us while we breathe now if by chance we fly of these the eager chase old age with stealing pace casts up his and there we panting die d the english poets to sir w alexander to tht though i have twice been at the doors of death and twice found shut those gates which ever mourn this but a is ta en to breath for late bom sorrows fleet return amidst thy sacred cares and toils when thou shalt hear ring fame tell death hath o er my mortal spoils and that on earth i am but a sad name if thou e er held me dear by all our love by all that bliss those joys heaven here us gave i thee and by the maids of jove to grave this short remembrance on my grave here lies whose songs did sometime grace the murmuring may roses shade the place sir william alexander earl of or bom about of a family which had for some time owned in in early life he travelled and on his return or during his absence wrote first the author s a small volume of and songs to a real or imaginary lady called he became a in and followed james to london in he published at o in he it adding ths and to prince henry in he the two and added e tragedy and under the joint title of four he helped king james in his version of the in and made secretary of state for scotland in he was raised to the as canada in and created earl of he printed a edition of his and of the religious poem of in and died mr in his life of a severe judgment over the grave of s friend sir william alexander earl of there he lies i suppose to this day vaguely remembered as the second rate of an and the author of a large quantity of and stately english verse which no one reads he certainly played no very glorious part in the attempts of james and charles to impose on scotland unconscious all the while that he was one of those who were preparing the way for a as terrible as any of the four that he had put into verse that the bulk of his poetry deserves that neglect which as mr truly says has befallen it is not likely to be disputed by those who have tried to read it the solemnity of his all written before his year is too much for the modem reader however successfully it may have commended the poet to the literary confidences of his master with all the and wave like beat of their they are the english poets mere they miss the genuine philosophic note of the somewhat similar plays of alexander s older contemporary the and of lord still lord was an interesting man both in his life and in his writings and he deserves to be not quite excluded from a collection of english poems his time admired his work his books sold daniel and many other poets praised him above all he was the close friend of the to the of his century of lack indeed the reality and the music of the best of s and his is a vague and shadowy goddess but the two that we quote will show that had reason for calling him that most ingenious knight and the that follows though by one or two with the of the tragic chorus in a way that is not altogether commonplace editor s h william alexander from i envy not now no more nor all the happiness his sleep did yield while as through the field d from his sleep seal d lips for her sore whilst i embraced the	45
shadow of my death i dreaming did far greater pleasure prove and d with sugar d draughts of love then jove like feeding on a d breath now judge which of us two might be most proud he got a kiss yet not d it right and i got none yet tasted that delight which on once bestow d he only got the body of a kiss and i the soul of it which he did miss love swore by while all the depths did tremble that he would be of my proud heart who to his deity base impart and would in that s resemble then straight his rebel in a rage he by all means for to betray me and gave full leave to any for to me that he might by my his wrath a that longed to finish s toils chanced once to spy me come in beauty s bounds and straight o me with a world of wounds then unto did transport my spoils thus thus i see that all must fall in end that with a greater than themselves contend the english poets from the tragedy of chorus time through jove s judgment just huge alteration brings those are but fools who trust in things whose tails bear mortal which in the end will wound and let none think it strange though all things earthly change in this inferior round what is from ruin free the elements which be at as we see each th other doth confound the earth and air make war the fire and water are still at debate all those through cold and heat through and moisture jar what wonder though men change and fade who of those changing elements are made how dare vain of fortune s goods not lasting evils which our wits to loss and wasting lo we to death are whilst we those things discuss all things from their beginning still to an end are running heaven hath ordained it thus we hear how it doth thunder we see th earth burst asunder and yet we never what this to us sir alexander these fearful signs do prove that th angry powers above are d to indignation against this wretched nation which they no longer love what are we but a puff of breath who live assured of nothing but of death who was so happy yet as never had some cross though on a throne he sit and is not vexed with loss yet fortune once will toss him when that least he would if one had all at once precious stones and yellow gold the oriental treasure and every earthly pleasure even in the greatest measure it should not make him bold for while he lives secure his state is most when it doth least appear some heavy plague near destruction to procure world s glory is but like a flower which both is bloom d and in an hour in what we most repose we find our comfort light the thing we lose that s precious in our sight in honour riches might our lives in we lay yet all like flying shadows or flowers meadows do vanish and decay the english poets long time we toil to find these of the mind which had we cannot bind to bide with us one day then why should we presume on treasures that difficult to obtain difficult to retain a dream a breath a which vex them most that them possess who starve with store and with excess and john was bom in december at in where his father who ultimately became bishop of london was minister he was admitted at college cambridge in and little is known of his life between this date and the period of his connection with francis was the son of sir f of grace in and was bom at that place probably in he resided for a short time at hall now college oxford and was entered of the inner temple in not many years after this we may suppose the friendship between the two poets to have begun they lived together on the bank side in not far from the play tiie globe and wrote for the theatre the most celebrated of their joint productions were composed probably between and but the common life which has been described by and is itself almost a poem if partly a comic one must have been disturbed in when married in the spring of he died so far as is known remained single till his death which took place in august wished that and had written poems instead of it was a bold wish though not an one but perhaps we should be to echo it if had spoken of rather of poems generally the longer poems of which remain to us are on the whole not remarkable he composed a free of s and printed as early as when he was probably seventeen years old is chiefly on that account in this poem written in the same as s hero and and founded on a passage in s y there is plenty of and facility but also a of mere description and of some of s memorial poems are marked by an almost incredible want of taste but the case is very different with the letter to ben in which heir merry the english poets meetings at the are described with great animation and doubtless with truth by there are but three poems but each has an interest of its own two of them are addressed to the true master in his art and his worthy friend ben and the other upon an honest man s fortune is more than worthy of its place at the end of the comedy which bears that name in it we seem to come nearer than usual to the poet himself who probably knew too much of want the curse of man but	45
never lost heart or belief in himself and who has here described with admirable strength what afterwards felt so keenly the self of the mind and its superiority to fortune man is hb own star and the that can render an honest and a perfect man commands all light all influence all fate nothing to him falls or too late our acts our angels are or good or ill our fatal shadows that walk by us still these are fine lines and there are others in the poem as good yet we should hardly be willing to exchange one of the best of the plays for them but when we come to the purely poems the songs from the and the speeches from the faithful we feel that we are standing on different ground of the passages here selected some belong to alone and one certainly the to alone the great lines on the in westminster are written in the common of four accents which have been so and so used in english poetry it was a favourite of s too and it is interesting to compare the difference of its effect in the hands of the two poets there is a grave strength in s verse and a concentrated vigour of imagination in such lines as here are sands things from the ruin d sides of kings which hardly belongs to s lighter nature on the other hand all the qualities of his dramatic verse its delightful ease and grace and its overflowing come out in the speeches of the faithful milton himself though he put a greater volume of imagination and sound into the measure never gave it such an airy lightness and we must look and to s to for an echo to these still sweeter than their and to his music when soft voices die for a fellow to weep no more there is the same grace in s songs and something more in that age of songs many a could produce a or two of the stamp which seems to have been lost since but songs seem to flow by nature from s pen in every style and on every occasion and to be always right and beautiful if he wants a drinking song he can rise to god ever young or can produce what on a much lower level is hardly less perfect the drink to day and drown all sorrow of the bloody brother the wonderful verses on melancholy which suggested and are hardly surpassed by it come as easily to his call as the mad laughing song of the same play sad songs like that quoted from the queen of like the come you whose loves are dead of the knight the burning or the lay a on my prayers to hymns to pan each has its own charm and is as ready with his beggars or man s songs or even with a dramatic battle like the tumultuous arm aim arm arm of the mad lover some of the best of these occur indeed in plays of which was the joint author but a comparison of those which belong to each poet alone is perhaps enough to convince us that was the author of lay a on my if not also of come you whose loves are dead probably however he has touched his highest point in the song from hear ye ladies that despise here the reader will observe what applies also to another fine song from the same play now the spring is seen that the exactly in the two without at all interfering with the spontaneous effect of the whole was the sole author of the faithful the of milton s and we may safely assume that no one of the which follow is a joint production of the two poets but this is not the case with their dramatic works so complete was their poetical union that it is impossible in the absence of external evidence to say with any certainty what part of those plays which belong to both is due to each or even to describe their separate characteristics an old tradition contrasted the judgment of the younger poet who was s intimate friend with the fancy and facility of the elder that i the english poets possessed the latter qualities is certain but we have no reason to attribute to any of the which the faint praise of judgment might seem to imply the opening song of the two noble has been included in this selection although it is difficult to attribute it to any one but shakespeare on the other hand take oh take those lips away the first of which occurs in measure for measure has been excluded a c and lines on the in westminster by behold and fear what a change of flesh is here i think how many royal bones sleep within this heap of stones here they lie had and lands who now want strength to stir their hands where from their seal d with dust they preach in greatness is no trust here s an acre sown indeed with the richest st seed that the earth did e er in since the first man died for sin here the bones of birth have cried though gods they were as men they died here are sands things from the ruin d sides of kings here s a world of pomp and state buried in dust once dead by fate from the maid s tragedy by and lay a on my of the dismal maidens willow branches bear say i died true my love was false but i was firm from my hour of birth upon my buried body lie lightly gentle earth the english poets from the faithful by i i i the here be grapes whose blood is the learned poet s good sweeter yet did never crown the head of nuts more brown	45
days while as a he took part with professional in the composition of various occasional stage productions he first appeared in print as a dramatic author with s in his subsequent plays were published at intervals up to ford was not one of the herd of and he lost no opportunity of letting the world know that he cared not to please many his poetry was the fruit of leisure moments he wrote for his own satisfaction and the enjoyment of his equals in condition genial sentiment joyful of the ordinary virtues the exaltation of common was not to be expected in plays that bore upon their title pages such an of proud reserve ford would not walk in beaten dramatic paths his pride lay in searching out strange of tragic passion the heart is not and by his it is surprised stunned perplexed passion speaks in his verse with overpowering force but though he shows profound art in tracing the most monstrous of love jealousy and revenge to a natural origin in strangeness of temper the sense of strangeness is left in the preface to the broken heart the names of the are explained as being fitted to their qualities and from this one might carelessly rush to the conclusion that the strangeness of ford s characters is due to their being extravagant of single attributes and not types of real men and women but his art was much too profound his mastery of thought and emotion much too living for any such mechanical his are not figures the pulse of life beats in them the secret of their strangeness seems to lie in a certain intensity and of nature a john ford hardness and strength of fibre which will not where once it has taken hold the of passion to insanity is strongly suggested by ford s plays we seem to have before us men and women with a fixed delusion on some one point impressed upon them not by the force of circumstances but by some vicious in their own nature in shakespeare s plays men are driven into tragic error by the conspiracy of forces outside themselves in ford s plays fatal false steps are made from mere of character in the one case we are struck with the of the victims of passion to our common humanity in the other their from common motives is bewildering the strangeness of the passions which ford brings into conflict the effect of his two great as artistic we do not turn from them with hearts full of subdued fear and wonder they leave us dissatisfied tortured bewildered if these plays were all that were left to us by which to judge of the age they would justify all that m has said about its ferocity of spirit in the play that bears the harsh and mocking title tis pity she s a y we feel as if we were present at a of passion there is no relief to its horrors except the exultation of brother and sister in their guilty love the of the low comedy scenes is not a relief but a sickening addition to the chaos ford is not a poet who appears to advantage in charles lamb says truly of him that he sought for not by in or visible images but directly where she has her full residence in the heart of man the to which his own gloomy austere temper directed him was the of resolution the heroism of will even his are not of the soft and tender type which his delighted to paint they are as firm and resolute in their purposes as the men whom they love the sorrowful though she to her brother s will so far as to marry a husband of his choice all the prayers of her discarded lover to prove and with silent and secret determination herself to death his flower of beauty bears stroke after stroke of appalling misfortune without betraying to the vulgar world one sign of the grief which is breaking her heart she falls dead without a tear when she has set the affairs of her kingdom in order it is on the supreme force and patient com the english poets with which he has displayed such stem and passionate natures that ford s title to a high place among poets must rest there is no great charm in his verse it is an admirable vehicle for the expression of intense restrained passion word following word with severe dear cutting emphasis but without a knowledge of the character and situation one cannot feel the force by which it is animated even in his songs with all the softness of their music we are conscious of the same severely taste all his few songs are of a sad strain but they are not filled with the ecstasy of grief their music is and subdued w ford s dying song from a i ff ar oh no more no more too late sighs are spent the burning of a life as as fate pure as are papers are burnt out no heat no light now remains tis ever night love is dead let lovers eyes locked in endless dreams th extremes of all extremes no more for now love dies now love dies love s must be ever ever s from ik broken heart glories pleasures delights and ease can but please outward senses when the mind is or by peace refined crowns may flourish and decay beauties shine but fade away youth may yet it must lie down in a bed of dust earthly honours flow and waste time alone doth change and last sorrows mingled with contents prepare rest for care love only in death though art can find no comfort for a broken heart the english poets awakening from t u t fly hence shadows that do keep watchful sorrows charmed in sleep though the eyes	45
be overtaken yet the heart doth ever thoughts chained up in busy of continual woes and cares love and are so as they rather sigh than rest fly hence shadows that do keep watchful charmed in sleep william william was bom at in and died probably in the year he went to oxford as a member of college entered the inner temple in published his on prince in a volume along with another by d in the first book of his in the same year his s pipe in and the second book of his in the year of the death of the third book of was unknown till when it was published for the society from a manuscript in the cathedral library at the most complete edition of is that published in the library bj mr w in was fortunate in liis friends his life at the inner temple brought him into contact not only with his intimate friend and charles but also a man as who wrote verses to the first of his he was too apparently one of that of brilliant young men who called themselves the sons of ben and there are some interesting verses of warm j et not extravagant praise by ben to the second of the same poem with he appears to have been on cordial and intimate terms some verses by are to the second edition of the and some of the most charming verses that were ever written were by in honour of too the learned shepherd of fair hill was as more than one indication sufficiently proves intimate with our poet and was not only familiar with his friend s and but also we may be very sure knew well that golden book of poetry the hero and vol ii f the english poets with such contemporary influences and with the fullest of and reverence for such of his as and had every advantage given to his genius and every help to enable him to float in the full and central stream of poetic tradition was apparently a student of our early poetry in his pipe he gives in full a long story from a poet about whom probably at the time he wrote no one but himself knew anything whatever he though he nowhere to him by name had undoubtedly studied to some purpose the following passage as when some judged to die for his offence his execution nigh his sight on states unlike to his and his ill by other s happiness its origin at once to anyone familiar with the tale the description of the cave of famine again is studied from s description of the temple of though s poverty in what the critics of the last century called invention makes him compare ill with his in passages of this kind still more familiar to than the tales were s plays and poems reminiscences of might easily be pointed out in his heroic verse and a still closer study is apparent in certain of the songs scattered about his the two poets however to whom owed most and whose praises he has most gratefully recorded are and the influence of the former s as well as of the upon s style and manner is very perceptible for he had that enthusiastic and affectionate reverence which was commonly felt by ail the poets of that time for the poet and the author of the defence of the passages on and are besides their literary interest of poetic value in themselves and will therefore be found among the following between and there existed a very intimate friendship and in s youth their work ran to a certain extent upon the same lines the hand of the author of the hunting can apparently be traced in several passages of the pipe and in his own poems speaks in the most and respectful terms of the singer of the western main william of s possible relation to milton it is unnecessary to speak at length milton certainly had read s poems and read them carefully and it is interesting to compare the inner temple with and the contained in the and the pipe with the little song entitled the in the former poem bears a strong likeness as has pointed out to a well known passage and the general design of the two poems is similar enough to excite attention but while it is right to think of as a friendly reader of poet it would be a mistake to to any great share in his poetic development what is certain is th t both poets felt and showed in different ways the combined and influences of classical and is at once a pagan and a there is another english poet of a later day with whom may fairly be brought into sort of comparison that poet is it is to say that is a poet of a quite different and lower rank but he is like k ts in being before all things an artist he has the same intense pleasure in a fine line or a fine phrase for its own sake and he further in possessing ry little pure or narrative power one thinks of passing a fine phrase over his mental with an almost pleasure i look upon fine phrases like a lover he himself says in one passage and in a lesser degree one can much the same of there is one passage which is here quoted the value of which depends almost wholly on the use of proper names their beauty of sound and delicate to the place they occupy in the line and such like being freely employed help out tile historical and literary which make such names as or in themselves poetical so in what may be called a colour passage a rare control of the resources of our tongue and a rare feeling for	45
and in shades of colour go to make up a description of real beauty and power is something of a literary and however feeble or may be his narrative of events he rarely gives us a line which has not been tried and allowed by a taste far more delicate than common it is consistent with this that he should be a warm of poetry a quotation from s to his own f the english poets tis not the of a heart that can the excellence of art he says in one passage and how easily one might fancy to the age of james i the author of these most characteristic lines in of hounds that make the wooded hills talk in a thousand voices to the like of a line struck by ike f the sacred nine s natural tendency is to be copious and glowing in description and his warm fancy is always tending to run away with him he wants to be and sweet so he appeals to the blessed dwell on my lines and till the last sand fall hand in hand with my weak pastoral cause every flow in and fill the world with envy of such kisses make all the beauties of our that a sweet look on my younger rhyme to linger on each line s graces as od their lover s lips and embraces but with all this he feels strongly the force of the flowing tide and spoils his poetry here and there as never does by his resolution to improve the occasion is a and uses plain language about and spain and rome all this does his poetry no good we can imagine him passionate and powerful enough if he had lived a generation earlier as it is one has the feeling in reading him that he is living between two worlds of poetry without vital hold on either his is neither the ardent muse of the young nor the pure august muse of the great poet who was to follow him the rare qualities of s work cannot blind us to the fact that he is almost destitute of or narrative power as a narrative poem is deplorable the reader is perpetually passing from the woes of one fair one to those of another and has great difficulty in making it clear to himself at any given time whether he is reading about or or william the third book ends without any particular conclusion and there is no reason why should not have gone on in the same strain for half a dozen books more on the other hand as pastoral poetry the work is not without peculiar it is true that the attempts to keep up the pastoral illusion are some times of a desperate character as for instance when the poet addresses his readers as but s very accurate knowledge of his native county and his loving enthusiasm for it give his work a special value and stamp much of it with the character of a direct personal impression the allusions to are innumerable had a peculiar love for his native streams and the waters of his own are ever murmuring through his song just as said that he had made thousands of verses as he strolled by his beloved so speaks of s stream to whom i owe more strains than from my pipe can ever flow the little has inspired some of his most charming lines he in old local words like and and he calls the the shoots with whom is he is enthusiastic about the heroes his knowledge of the country is and he himself as passing like a youth nor could i wish those golden hours wherein my fancy led me to the woods and soft lays of rural merriment of shepherd s love and never resting floods we owe to this knowledge and love of the country those pictures of the shepherd his early way to his day s work of the shepherd boy sitting alone on the fell top and as he watches his sheep a charming mixture the whole passage of literal fact and classical of the country maid through the fields to make her of the boys searching the woods for bird s eggs or hunting the from tree to tree it is in such pictures that the reader of s finds his chief pleasure cannot be said to have overcome the inherent difficulties of pastoral poetry but his genuine delight in country sights and sounds makes him the english poets less unreal than any other english poet if we except perhaps who has tried this form of composition he again like must be read in if he is to be read with enjoyment but in his best passages and they are not few he will send to the listener of pure and delightful music as the young figure steps across the did w t william s book i song i and the river god the fall of her did make the god below starting to wonder whence that noise should grow some in spite did fling a lamb fall n into his spring and if it were he solemnly then swore his spring should flow some other way no more should it in wanton manner e er be seen to in knots or a gown of green unto their meadows nor be seen to play nor drive the mills that in his way the made but rather for their lot send them red water that their sheep should rot and with such springs embrace their field that it should but moss and rushes yield upon each where the merry boy sits in the shades his notes of joy he d show his anger by some flood at hand and turn the same into a running sand thus the god but when as in the water the corpse	45
came sinking down he the matter and catching softly in his arms the maid he brought her up and having gently laid her on his bank did presently command those waters in her to come forth at hand they straight came out and did contest which chiefly should obey their god s this done her then pale lips he straight did and from his silver hair let fall a drop into her mouth of such an excellence that called back life which grieved to part from thence being for d that than this one she ne er ss d a fair br a the poets then did t god her body forwards steep and cast hei for a while into a sleep sitting still by her his view take of nature s master piece here for her sake my pipe in silence as of right shall mourn till from the watering we again return book i song the scented then walked they to a grove but near at hand where fiery had but small command because the leaves kept his beams for fear of when he s in extremes the under flowers which did the ground with sweeter than in found the earth doth yield which they through earth s best of th like to that smell which oft our sense within a field which long lies somewhat before the setting of the sun and where the rainbow in the horizon doth pitch her tip or as when in the prime the earth being troubled with a long time the hand of heaven his clouds doth strain and throws into her lap a shower of rain she up conceived from the sun a sweet perfume and not all the brought from isle nor from the of seven headed nor that brought whence have nor wild vine flowers nor that of nor roses oil in nor that of nor of that ever from the isle of came nor these nor any else though ne er so rare could with this place for sweetest smells compare william book i song the music lesson as when a maid taught from her mother wing to tune her voice unto a silver string when she should run she rests rests when should run and ends her lesson having now begun now she her stop then in her song and doing of her best she still is wrong begins again and yet again strikes false then in a her and yet within an hour she tries anew that with her daily pains art s due she gains that charming skill and can no less tame the fierce of the wilderness than that for whose lay with hunger and left their prey so riot when he to climb the hill here haste and there long still now up a step then falls again yet not despairing all his nerves doth strain to up anew then slide his feet and down he comes but gives not over yet for with the maid he hopes a time will be when merit shall be linked with industry book l song the hunted then as a from the wood the hedges for his food sits on a bough his brown nuts and from the shell the sweet white taking till with their and bags a sort of boys to share with him come with so great a noise that he is forced to leave a nut nigh broke and for his life leap to a neighbour oak the english poets i i t thence to a thence to a row of ashes whilst through the and red water the boys run thorough thick and thin one tears his another breaks his this torn and d hath with much got by the and that hath lost his shoe this drops his band that headlong falls for haste another cries behind for being last with sticks and stones and many a sounding hollow the little fool with no small sport they follow whilst he from tree to tree from spray to spray gets to the wood and hides him in his book l song a and as a lovely maiden pure and with naked ivory neck and gown within her chamber when the day is fled makes poor her garments to her bed first puts she off her lily silken gown that for sorrow as she lays it down and with her arms a waistcoat fine embracing her as it would ne er her hair the she next to wave about her shoulders and though she cast it back the silken slips still forward steal and hang upon her lips she sweetly angry with her up the wanton locks in curious traces whilst twisting with her joints each hair long as loth to be but with her fingers then on her head a dressing like a crown her breasts all bare her slipping down and all things off which rightly ever be called the foul fair marks of our misery except her last which doth seize her lest any eye partake with it in pleasure william for sweetest rest while greet her and the down bed to meet her so by degrees his shape all wild fell from him as loose skin from some young child in whereof a man like shape appears and gallant youth scarce skilled in twenty years so fair so fresh so young so admirable in every that since i am not able in words to his picture gentle recall the praises in my former strains and know if they have any limb i only lent it those but stole t from him book l song the ambition a truer love tjie never sung nor happier e er a golden tongue they are better fitting his sweet who on the banks of his pipe or rather for that learned whose lays with or any one sent from the sacred well the soul of these these in lines	45
might write this story and make these loves their own eternal glory whilst i a as weak in years as skill should in the valley hear them on the hill yet when my sheep have at the been and i have brought them back to the green to miss an idle hour and not for with relish shall mine reed record their and though in accents rare miss the glory of a charming air my muse may one day make the on the music of the plains and as upon a hill she bravely sings teach humble to weep in crystal springs the english poets book ii song u the praise of all their pipes were still and began to tune his with such deep art that every one was given to think newly slid from heaven had ta en a human shape to win his love or with the western for glory strove he sung th heroic knights of land in lines so elegant of such command that had the played but half so well he had not left in hell but ere he ended his melodious song an host of angels flew the clouds among and this swan from his attentive mates to make him one of their associates in heaven s fair where now he sings the praise of him that is the first and last of days st heaven bred happy muse i would any power into my brain thy worth or all that poets had before i could not praise till thou st no more i i i book ii song i j a lament for his friend glide soft ye silver floods and every spring within the shady woods let no bird nor from the grove a dove be seen to couple with her love but silence on each and mountain dwell whilst bids his friend and joy farewell william i l but of great train ye fair that on the shores do plain your sea green hair as ye in knit your locks weep ye and so enforce the rocks in heavy murmurs through the broad shores tell how bade his friend and joy farewell cease cease ye murmuring winds to move a wave but if with troubled minds you seek his grave know tis as various as yourselves now in the deep then on the shelves his coffin tossed by fish and fell whilst and bids all joy farewell had he like been judged to drown he on his could strike so rare a sown a thousand would have come and strive to bring him home but he on died by sickness fell since when his paid all joy farewell great hear a i his coffin take and with a golden chain for pity make it fast unto a rock near land where ev ry mom stand and ere one sheep out of my fold i tell sad s pipe shall bid his friend farewell the english poets book it song ttie praise of ere their arrival had done his shepherd s lay yet of the admired mirror glory of our isle thou far far more than mortal man whose style struck more men dumb to to thy song than harp or s golden tongue to him as right for wit s deep for honour virtue excellence be all the crown his tomb with bay who as much as e er our tongue can say he sweetly touched what i harshly hit yet thus i glory in what i have writ began and if a wit so mean may taste with him the of i sung the pastoral next his muse my and on the plains many a pensive lover shall sing us to their loves and be my humble lines the more for thee thus we shall live with them by rocks by springs as well a by the of kings book ii song a colour passage as in the rainbow s many coloured hue here see we deepened with a blue there a dark with a purple yellow and flame with streaks of green a bloody stream into a blushing run and ends still with the colour which drawing the deeper to a lighter stain bringing the to the deep st again with such rare art each with his fellow the blue with green and red with yellow like the changes which we daily see about the dove s neck with variety where none can say though he it strict here one begins and there the other ends so did the maidens with their various flowers deck up their windows and make neat their using such cunning as they did dispose the ruddy with the lighter rose the s with the and the white the blue the flesh like with sweet that far off the eye could not the manner of their book ii song the description of a green silk frock her comely shoulders clad and took delight that such a it had which at her middle gathered up in a love knot willing bondage threats nor held a piece nor that which the fairest flower of greece down to her waist her mantle loose did fall which as afraid still played withal and then d up somewhat below the knee showed searching eyes where s s be the inside lined with rich silk and in the midst of both lawn white as milk which white beneath the red did seem to as s beauty through a blushing cloud about the edges curious to behold a deep fringe hung of rich and twisted gold so on the green of a crystal brook a thousand yellow flowers at fishes look and such the beams are of the glorious sun that through a of grass dispersed run upon her leg a pair of white studded with pearl and o the poets and like her mantle d with gold and green fairer yet never wore the forest s	45
queen knit close with of a party hue a knot of crimson and a of blue nor can the in his spotted train so many pleasing colours show again nor could there be a mixture with more grace except the heavenly roses in her face a silver quiver at her back she wore with and arrows for the and but in her eyes she had such again could conquer gods and wound the hearts of men her left hand held a bow whose strength with tears she made the red deer know so clad so armed so dressed to win her will never trod on hill the fairest that haunts the woods beloved of and floods for whom the pine with whose fine foot the of whom sweet birds their move the earth s delight and s love book ii song the song of as careful merchants do expecting stand after long time and merry of wind upon the place where their brave ship must land so wait i for the vessel of my mind upon a great adventure is it bound whose safe return will valued be at more than all the wealthy which have crowned the golden wishes of an age before out of the east jewels of wealth she brings th d diamond of her sparkling eye wants in the treasure of all europe s kings and were it mine they nor their crowns should buy william i the on her panting breast run as rich veins of ore about the mould and are in sickness with a pale so true for them i should gold the melting on her cherry lip are of such power to hold that as one day flew thirsty by he stooped to and fastened there could never get away the sweets of are no sweets to me when hers i taste nor the of price d from the happy shrubs of as her sweet breath so powerful to oh hasten then and if thou be not gone unto that wished traffic through the main my powerful sighs shall quickly drive thee on and then begin to draw thee back again if in the mean rude waves have it it shall suffice i ventured at the best book ii song ttie complaint of pan what boot is it though i am said to be the worthy son of winged that i with gentle in forests high kissed out the sweet time of my infancy and when more years had made me able grown was through the mountains as their leader known that high where i was bred and stony hills not few have honoured me as protector by the hands of whose sheep retire there from the open plains that i in shepherd s cups gold of milk and honey measures eight times told have offered to me and the ruddy wine fresh and new pressed from the bleeding vine vol il o the english poets that hunters pleased with their sport with sacrifices due have thanked me for t that patient standing all the day near to some shallow or deep bay and whose have drawn to land a so great it hides the sand for such success some s head thrust at by waves hath known me worshipped but to increase my grief what profits this since still the loss is as the is book iii song i the song of s gone and now sit i as on a thorn turned out of nature s livery alone and all forlorn only she sings not while my sorrows can breathe forth such notes as suit a dying swan so the her leaves at the departure of the sun i so from the honey the bee goes when the day is done so sits the when she is but one and so all woe as i since she is gone to some few birds kind nature hath j made all the summer as one day which once enjoy d cold winter s wrath as night they sleeping pass away those happy creatures are they know not yet the pain to be deprived or to forget i oft have heard men say there be some that with confidence profess the art of memory but could they teach forgetfulness i d learn and try what further art could do to make me love her and forget her too william sad melancholy that men from themselves to think they be or other body s shades hath long and dwelt with me for could i think she some idea were i still might love forget and have her here but such she is not nor would i for twice as many more as her company hath brought to those i felt before for then no future time might hap to know that she d or i did love her so ye hours then but as minutes be though so i shall be sooner old till i those lovely graces see which but in her can none behold then be an age that we may never try more grief in parting but grow old and die book iii song a comparison as when a on the where daily the sad sweet would count his herd more more rush from the and put him from his tale or some way man when morning would tell the sweet notes in a at every foot a new bird lights and sings and makes him leave to count their so when my willing muse would gladly dress her several graces in immortal lines plenty her every golden each little every glance that shines as radiant as i confess my skill too weak for so admired designs for whilst one beauty i am close about millions do newly rise and put me out g the poets song from minor welcome welcome do i sing far more welcome than the spring he that from you never shall enjoy a spring	45
for even love that to the voice is near breaking from your ivory pale need not walk abroad to hear the delightful welcome welcome then i sing far more welcome than the spring he that from you never shall enjoy a spring for ever love that looks still on your eyes tho the winter have begun to our shall not want the summer s sun welcome welcome a love that still may see your cheeks where all still is a fool if e er he seeks other lilies other rose welcome welcome c love to whom your soft lip and your breath in kissing j all the of the fields never never shall be missing welcome welcome c love that question would anew what fair was of old let him rightly study you and a brief of that behold welcome welcome c william the inner temple the charm son of and night hie away and aim thy flight where none other fowl than the bat and sullen owl where upon thy grass and with like not a few hang for ever drops of dew where flows without softly like a stream of oil hie thee hither gentle sleep with this greek no longer keep thrice i charge thee by my thrice with from my hand do i touch eyes and with the then arise greek fairest when by the rules of you took my hand to try if you could guess by lines therein if any there be ordained to make me know some happiness i wished that those characters could explain whom i will never wrong with hope to win or that by them a copy might be seen by you o love what thoughts i had within but since the hand of nature did not set as loth to have it known the means to find that hidden mine eyes shall be th alone by them conceive my thoughts and tell me fair if now you see her that doth love me there george george was at in june ii and died in the year his literary achievement both in verse and prose being to his length of years the dates of his chief works are as follows the on prince henry and and shepherd s hunting to the same year must also be ascribed his share in s pipe the motto the mistress of the hymns and songs of the church britain s the above list is very far indeed from the complete catalogue of s works he was an ardent and in the stirring times of the civil war was perpetually pouring forth songs and in justification of the cause he had taken up probably no library in england possesses an absolutely complete collection of s works certainly the british museum and the do not the rev t of stand near is said to have had the fullest collection in existence but that has been since dispersed the poems have been collected by the society but it is a matter for regret that they are not to be had in a more generally accessible form it is one of the most striking of collection that is absolutely ignored in it of modem of portions of his works the chief is sir who the shepherd s hunting and the at the beginning of this century and also gave long from s other poems in his the hymns and songs of the and the were for smith in and in having written almost all his good work within a period of a few years that period is from to the great exception is the a collection of sacred poems in which are some beautiful things written as late as on the whole however the collection of s poems entitled contains nearly all his best writing the enthusiasm with which he threw himself into politics his george genius his nature was not large enough to pour itself with equal power into the two channels of art and practical life he became an eager and retaining that moral elevation and dignity which ever him but losing all sense of and measure perhaps indeed deliberately them as things indifferent it is then to the early part of his life that we have to attend and here we must remember his two years at oxford where he was a member of college two happy years he himself has told us which were unfortunately cut short by his sudden from the university in he went up to s inn and there became acquainted with who was at that time a member of the inner temple the friendship was a very important one for the two wrote in friendly and often in intimate co and we shall hardly in laying great stress upon s influence during the first period of s poetry was a bom artist if ever there was one and his example the naturally and genius of into pleasanter paths for a while in later life expresses most unnecessary repentance for his early poems he had no such reason for feelings of the kind as perhaps had not a single line of his poetry is really corrupt or to the writer but he was young then and could write of love and the beauty of nature and the beauty of woman with a pen and an ardent delight in the fulness of his life and the power of his art which seemed no doubt profane and dangerous trifling to the captain of the civil war but even in his youth life did not altogether smile upon him his very harmless published under the title and in were rewarded by imprisonment in the as lamb says it is wonderful that such perfectly general of the ordinary vices of vanity and the rest of it in the abstract should have seemed to any human being but the cap fitted some one in high place and had to his plain by a confinement after	45
his he renewed more intimately than ever his friendship with and in wrote in with him the pipe his own which he in prison see the extract here given and which contains perhaps his very best work appeared in the same year to this date also must be assigned the first edition of his a poetical the english poets from a forsaken fair one to her lover at the end of this first edition of is printed that famous song shall i wasting in which will always keep s memory green even if all else of his poetry is forgotten the motto followed in and met at once with great success the poem is an performance but the is as charles lamb said of a sort which no one can resent the motto is and the poem is divided into three parts one treating of another of and the third of in a preface addressed to anybody he makes a statement which perhaps no one would wish to the language is but indifferent for i affected matter rather than words the method is none at all for i was to make a business of a it is worth noticing that in the preface he to the episode which in spite of its and exaggeration is perhaps the most amusing part of his in very terms the foolish tale in my of vanity which i am now almost ashamed to read over even that hath been by some praised for a witty passage whenever gives himself liberty and has his fling he is sure not long afterwards to repent in appeared his first serious attempt at sacred poetry in the shape of his hymns and songs of the church great part of this collection consists of of the and song of solomon but there are also some hymns the inspiration of which is due to no one but himself such are the hymn for all saints day and the hymn for the author which are not only interesting in themselves but because a close comparison with the form in which these same poems appeared in the collection entitled nearly twenty years afterwards the notable fact that was one of the very few poets who improved his work by it and that his second thoughts were always his best i give nothing from his britain s or from his the former seems to me a rather tedious political poem and the latter is merely a collection written to order as text for a certain number of dutch it is true that there are one or two of these latter poems which show qualities of thought and not to be disregarded but on the whole i do not think he reaches his best anywhere in the collection shows that great part of his old power still the is and musical in a very high degree clothing the george thought sometimes as in the poem on all saints day in a form of subtle beauty and strangeness in other poems as in the verses for those at sea moving with a grand and rapidity which the theme the verses on a dear friend deceased are of exquisite tenderness and beauty they are written from the heart and to the heart and affect us as they must have affected the writer himself has the same rare power of pathos that was possessed also by his friend the limits of our space prevent us quoting even all of the few poems that we have specially named but it is hoped that our selection will still be fairly representative of a poet who is certainly much less known than he deserves to be wrote in and long may england s springs be known by lovely and by but the wish has hardly been fulfilled and there are few readers who would not be a little surprised by the epithet here applied to the poet no real lover of poetry will however grudge it him he is one of the few masters of verse in our language lamb has dwelt lovingly on its curious and for compass and variety it would not be easy to name its superior it is the one form of verse pre eminently suited to who has achieved no such triumphs with the heroic but it is not only for beauty of poetic form that deserved s enthusiastic epithet like the of s dialogue he has what is much more important a beautiful soul never was there a purer or more honourable spirit or one which kept closer to the best it knew and as has revealed himself in his works in a way in which few poets have done it is natural to read him not only with admiration but with sympathy w t go the english poets weakness from and this in defence of to say i am compelled because that of this day weakness and ignorance have wronged it sore but what need any man therein speak more than divine hath already done for whom though he deceased ere i begun i have oft sighed and my fate that brought me forth so many years too late to view that worthy and now think not you daniel johnson how long to see you with your fellow glory of these years i hitherto have only heard your and know you yet but by your works and names the little time i on the earth have spent would not allow me any more content i long to know you better that s the truth i am in hope you ll not disdain my youth for know you not a fellowship amongst you for to have oh no for though my ever willing heart have vowed to love and praise you and your art and though that i your style do now assume i do not nor i will not so presume i claim not that too worthy name of	45
poet it is not yet deserved by me i know it grant me i may but on your tend and be their servant or their friend and if desert hereafter worthy make me then for a fellow if it please you take mc george from tht hunting never did the nine impart the sweet secrets of their art unto any that did scorn we should see their worn therefore unto those that say were they pleased to sing a lay they could do t and will not tho this i speak for this i know none e er drunk the spring and knew how but he did sing for that once d in man makes him t do what he can nay those that do only or but e en their fingers dip in that sacred poor of that brood will themselves yea in hope to get them fame they will speak though to their shame let those then at thee that by their wits measure thine needs those songs must be thine own and that one day will be known that poor too i myself do undergo but it will appear ere long that twas envy sought our wrong who at twice ten have sung more than some will do at cheer thee honest then and begin thy song again fain i would but i do fear when again my lines they hear the english poets if they yield they are my they will some other crimes and tis no safe venturing by where we see lie for do what i can i doubt she wiu pick some quarrel out and i oft have heard said is soon see st thou not in days oft thick cloud heaven s rays and that which do breathe from the earth s gross beneath seem not to us with black to the sun s bright beams and yet vanish into air leaving it d fair so my shall it be with s breath on thee it shall never rise so high as to stain thy as that sun doth oft from each rotten so sometime gross from muddy brains mists of envy of spite men s judgments and her light but so much her power may do that she can them if thy verse do bravely tower as she makes wing she gets power yet the higher she doth she s still the more till she to the high st hath past then she rests with fame at last let therefore thee but make forward in thy flight george for if i could match thy rhyme to the very stars climb there begin ag n and fly till i reach d eternity but alas my muse is slow for thy place she flags too low yea the more s her fate her short wings were of late and poor i her fortune am myself put up a but if i my cage can rid fly where i never did and though for her sake i m though my best hopes i have lost and knew she would make my trouble ten times more than ten times double i should love and keep her too spite of all the world could do for though banish d from my flocks and confined within these rocks here i waste away the light and the sullen night she doth for my comfort stay and keeps many cares away though i miss the fields with those sweets the though i may not see those groves where the shepherd s chant their loves and the more than the sweet d though of all those pleasures past nothing now remains at last but remembrance poor relief that more makes than my grief she s my mind s companion still envy s evil will whence she should be driven too were t in mortal s power to do the english poets she doth tell me where to borrow comfort in the midst of sorrow makes the place to her presence be a grace and the to be pleasing ornaments in my former days of bliss her divine skill taught me this that from everything i saw i could some invention draw and raise pleasure to her height through the meanest object s sight by the murmur of a spring or the least boughs by a whose leaves spread shut when goes to bed or a shady bush or tree she could more in me than all nature s beauties can in some other wiser man by her help i also now make this place allow some things that may gladness in the very of sadness the dull the black shade that these hanging have made the strange music of the waves beating on these hollow this black den which rocks overgrown with eldest moss the rude that give light more to terror than delight this my chamber of neglect about with from all these and this dull air a fit object for despair she hath taught me by her might to draw comfort and delight george therefore thou best earthly bliss i will cherish thee for this thou sweet st content that e er heaven to mortals lent though they as a trifle leave thee whose dull thoughts cannot conceive thee though thou be to them a scorn that to but earth are bom let my life no longer be than i am in love with thee though our wise ones call thee madness let me never taste of gladness if i love not thy mad st fits more than all their greatest wits and though some too seeming holy do account thy folly thou dost teach me to what makes and fools of them the author s resolution in a shall i wasting in because a woman s fair or make pale my cheeks with care cause are be she fairer than the day or the in may if she not well of me what care i how she	45
be shall my heart be pin d cause i see a woman kind or a well disposed nature with a lovely feature be she kinder than dove or if she be not so to me what care i how kind she be the english poets shall a woman s move me to perish for her lore or her make me quite forget mine own be she with that goodness which may merit name of best if she be not such to me what care i how good she be cause her fortune seems too high shall i play the fool and die she that a noble mind if not outward she find thinks what with them he do that without them dares her woe and that i see what care i how great she be great or good or kind or i will ne re the more if she love me this i will die ere she shall grieve if she slight me when i woe i can and let her for if she be not for me what care i for whom she be i have this song t for it is too not to be given as it first saw the light from the original edition of in which it first appeared mr w c in his to early english literature the existence of an edition in before the well known second edition in the later part of the same year hut adds this first edition is supposed to have been privately printed no copy is at present m there is however a copy of this treasure in the library as i write the title page of it is before me london printed by george love poems from th mistress of i and her lips that no full are in the meanest fulness those the leaves be whose brings sweet pleasures to beholding for such pearls they do disclose both the indies match not those yet are so in order placed as their whiteness is more each part is so well disposed and her dainty mouth composed so as there is no that sweet proportion when her ivory teeth she her two there appear such pleasures hidden as might tempt what were forbidden if you look again the she doth part those lips in smiles tis as when a flash of light breaks from heaven to glad the night oft have the of greatest worth made suit my songs to hear as oft when i have sighed forth such notes as were alas said they poor gentle heart er that shepherd be none of them my smart nor thinks it me when i have reached so high a strain of passion in my song that they have seen the tears to rain and my cheek along vol h the english instead of sigh or weeping eye to with me h were he once in love they cry how moving would he be i oh pity me you powers above and take my skill away or let my hearers think i love and fain not what i say for if i could disclose the smart which i unknown do bear each line would make them sighs impart and every word a tear her true beauty leaves behind apprehensions in my mind of more sweetness than all art or inventions can impart thoughts too deep to be and too strong to be which oft my to so heights that i fear some shallow brain thinks my do but sure he wrongs them if he do for could i have reached to so like strains as these you see had there been no such as she is it possible that i who scarce heard of should a mere idea raise to as true a pitch of praise as the learned poets could now or in the times of old all those real beauties bring honoured by their having arts and too more t encourage what they do george no if i had never seen such a beauty i had been in the country shades to the homely maids for a country s cream and bread cheese i no skill in numbers had more than every shepherd s lad till she taught me strains that were pleasing to her gentle ear her fair splendour and her worth from drew me forth and because i had no muse she herself to all the skill by which i climb to these praises in my rhyme which if she had pleased to add to that art sweet had or that happy that shall sing s pastoral or to theirs whose verse set forth and s worth they had doubled all their skill gained on s hill and as much more set her forth as i m short of them in worth they had unto heights might have justly been admired and in such brave strains had moved as of all had been approved a christmas so now is come our feast let every man be jolly each room with ivy leaves is and every post with h loo the english poets though some at our mirth round your drown sorrow in a cup of wine and let us all be merry now every lad is wondrous trim and no man minds his labour our have provided them a bag pipe and a young men and maids and girls and boys give life to one another s joys and you anon shall by their noise perceive that they are merry rank now do their hall of music and dogs thence with whole shoulders run so all things here the country folk themselves advance for mutton s come out of france and jack shall pipe and shall dance and all the town be merry ned hath fetched his bands from and all his best apparel brisk hath bought a of lawn with of the barrel and those that	45
hardly all the year had bread to eat or rags to wear will have both clothes and dainty fare and all the day be merry the with their about the street are singing the boys are come to catch the the wild mare in is bringing george loi our kitchen boy hath broke his box and to the dealing of the ox our honest neighbours come by flocks and here they will be merry then wherefore in these merry days should we i pray be no let us sing our to make our mirth the fuller and thus inspired we sing let all the streets with echoes ring woods and hills and every thing bear witness we are merry when we are upon the seas from on those great waters now i am of which i have been told that thither came should wonders there behold in this unsteady place of fear be present lord with me for in these depths of water here i depths of danger see a stirring now i sit a i ride that and upon the bit which his lofty pride the whistling of the winds doth make him gallop fast and as their breath increased he finds the more he haste take thou oh lord the reins in hand assume our master s room thou at our to stand and pilot to become i the english poets trim thou the sails and let good speed accompany our haste sound the channels at our need and anchor for us cast a fit and favourable wind to further us provide and let it wait on us behind or by our side from sudden from storms from sands and from the raging wave from rocks and hands men goods and vessel save preserve us from the wants the fear and sickness of the seas but chiefly from our sins which are a danger worse than these lord let us also safe arrive where we desire to be and for thy let us give due thanks and praise to thee for summer time now the glories of the year may be viewed at the best and the earth doth now appear in her fairest garments dress d sweetly smelling plants and flowers do perfume the garden hill and valley wood and field mixed with pleasure profits yield much is found where nothing was herds on every mountain go in the meadows grass makes both milk and honey flow now each orchard every hedge with fruit and on every and tree useful or be george walks and ways which winter d by the winds are swept and dried grounds are now so hard that on them we safe may ride warmth enough the sun doth lend us from his heat the shades defend us and thereby we share in these safety profit pleasure ease other blessings many more at this time enjoyed may be and in this my song therefore praise i give o lord i to thee grant that this my free may have gracious and that i may well employ everything which i enjoy the prayer of old age third part of as this my robe grows old soil d rent and worn by length of years let me on that by faith lay hold which man in life immortal wears so my days behind so let my manners be refined that when my soul and flesh must part there no terrors in my heart so shall my rest be safe and sweet when i am lodged in my grave and when my soul and body meet a joyful meeting they shall have their essence then shall be divine this muddy flesh shall shine and god shall that fresh youth restore which will abide for born about died victory and triumph in heaven and earth over and after death was published in the brother of and cousin of john is one of the chief poets of what may be called the school which flourished in the first quarter of the century and were the supreme names in poetry till milton arose and in the period the poet was by the and thus it was that the lesser poetic spirits of the age looked up to as their master and upon their writings his influence is deeply impressed amongst these of must be counted milton when yoimg before he had developed his own style and become himself an original power himself a master and not the least of the interests that distinguish and his fellow is that milton extended to them the study and attention which he gave with no ordinary sympathy to our sage and serious whom i dare be known to think a better teacher than and these words of milton s suggest some leading characteristics of the school too proposed to be sage and serious it inclined indeed to be in that notorious production the purple island we have in fact a lecture on more commonly its purpose was directly and it must be allowed that the artist is at times lost in the is eminently a religious poet in the sense of the word as happily also in the more general sense he with christian christ s victory in heaven christ s victory on earth christ s triumph over death christ s triumph after death and it is his special distinction that in handling such he does not sink into a mere but writes with a genuine enthusiasm and joy for certainly what has commonly been written for religious poetry has been religious rather than poetical its may have been but no less so its how few hymns are worthy of the name of poems the cause of this frequent failure is probably to be looked for in the writer s relation to his subject it is not and cannot be one of sufficient freedom his mind is in a sense subdued and by the very conditions of	45
the case he is dealing with a certain definite interpretation of profound mysteries and the mysteries themselves are such as to and the free movement of his intelligence how can he sing at ease he is like one with a lesson set him which he must as best he may it is rather his faith and his memory that are called into action than his imagination at all events his imagination has an inferior part assigned her she is not to create but rather to and what is created to worship and and love these are real movements and impulses of the poet s mind and may have and have had their expression in that may be fully divine but when the details of a creed are celebrated then for the most part the sweet enthusiasm dies away out of the poet s eyes the rapture and and we are reminded of the thirty nine articles rather than of the vision s success as a religious poet so far as he is due first to the selection of which he makes and secondly to the genuine religious that inspired him he delighted to contemplate the career of the central hero of his christian faith and love his self sacrifice his leading captive his complete and triumph that career he conceived and beheld vividly and intensely with a pure acceptance it thrilled and inspired him with a real passion of worship and delight so and what else could he sing of his heart was hot within him while he was musing the fire burned then he with his tongue it was the tongue of one highly and accomplished of ai rich and clear imagination with a natural gift of eloquence with a fine sense of melody and skill to express it john w i the english poets christ s victory in heaven but justice had no sooner mercy seen the wrinkles of her father s brow but up she starts and throws her self between as when a from a meeting with fresh that but now open d the world which all in lay doth n s bright face of his and the smiling of the springing day she was a virgin of austere regard not as the world her deaf and blind but as the eagle that hath oft d her eye with n s so and more brightly d her sight for she the same could wind into the solid heart and with her ears the silence of the thought loud speaking hears and in one hand a of even scales she wears no riot of affection kept within her but a still possessed all her which softly slept securely without tempest no sad cry her pity but wrong d poverty sending her eyes to n swimming in tears with hideous ever struck her ears the blazing sword that in her hand she bears the winged lightning is her and round about her mighty sound impatient of himself lies by pale sickness with his d head and thousand attend her round but if her cloudy brow but once grow foul the do melt and rocks to water roll and airy shake and shadows howl famine and care and bloody war want and the want of knowledge how to use abundance age and fear that runs afar before his fellow grief that aye his winged steps for who would not refuse company a dull and that the cheeks and the sight the cheerful breast of all delight before this cursed throng goes ignorance that needs will lead the way he cannot see and after all death doth his flag advance an in the midst strife still would be whose ragged flesh and clothes did well agree and round about amazed horror flies and all shame his guilty eyes and underneath hell s hungry throat still yawning lies upon two stony tables spread before her she lean d her bosom more than stony hard there slept th judge and strict of wrong or right with pain or with reward there hung the score of all our debts the card where good and bad and life and death were painted was never heart of mortal so but when that was read with thousand terrors fainted witness the thunder that mount heard when all the hill with fiery did flame and wandering with the sight blinded with seeing not touch the same but like a wood of shaking leaves became on this dead justice she the living law bowing herself with a majestic awe all n to hear her speech did into silence draw sir henry born died how happy is he bom and taught said to have been printed in see poets it was quoted to by ben in or sir edward henry s verses of a happy life he hath by heart you beauties of the night printed with music in est s sixth set of books it was probably written a few years before in sir henry a highly accomplished gentleman and distinguished in his day is now best known to us personally through the affectionate of his humble friend and fellow i w and the kindly interest he showed in milton whose had excited his warm admiration he was well bom well bred and one of the most cultivated men of his time but in politics and society he found but little leisure for the studies he loved till his appointment to the of in when he was some years of age all the middle period of his life from he was occupied with affairs not without peril as when he was one of the of the earl of his fellow secretary was hanged not without much vexation as when his famous definition of an public attention being called to it eight years after it was entered in s at brought him for a time into disgrace with james i of poetry he wrote but little but	45
our pain could we the fortress win the happy lover sure should gain a paradise within i thought love s like only to fright us at the gate but i did enter and enjoy what happy lovers prove for i could kiss and sport and toy and taste those sweets of love which if they had a lasting state or if in breast the force of love might not jove were too mean a guest but now her breach of faith far more than did her scorn before hard fate to have been once possessed as victor of a heart achieved with labour and and then forced to depart if the stout foe will not resign when i a town i lose but what was never mine but he that is cast down from enjoyed beauty feels a woe only kings can know il the english poets disdain returned he that loves a rosy cheek or a coral lip or from star like eyes doth seek fuel to maintain his fires as old time makes these decay so his flames must waste away but a smooth and steadfast mind gentle thoughts and calm desires hearts with equal love combined never dying fires where these art not i despise lovely cheeks or lips or eyes no tears now shall win my resolved heart to return i have searched thy soul within and find but pride and scorn i have learned thy arts and now can disdain as much as you that think love can convey no other way but through the eyes into the heart his fatal dart close up those and but hear this sing and on the wing of her sweet voice it shall appear that love can enter at the ear then your eyes behold the curious mould where that voice dwells and as we know when the crow thomas ii we freely may gaze on the day so may you when the music s done awake and see the rising sun the lady to her servant when on the altar of my hand with many a kiss and tear thy now heart did stand an humble martyr thou swear thus and the god of love did hear by those bright glances of thine eye unless thou pity me i die when first those lips of thine with sighs did seal their faith on mine from the soft bosom that did heal thee thou my melting heart steal my soul with thy false breath poisoned with kisses sucked in death yet i nor hand nor lip will move revenge or mercy to procure from the offended god of love my curse is fatal and my pure love shall beyond thy scorn endure if i the gods they ll find thee too ungrateful me too kind a pastoral dialogue shepherd chorus this bank they pressed that aged oak did the happy pair all night from the damp air here let us sit and sing the words they spoke till the day breaking their embraces broke the english poets see love the of the mom appear and now she hangs her store robbed from tlie eastern shore in the s bell and roses rare sweet i must stay no longer here those streaks of doubtful light not day but show my sun must set no mom shall shine till thou return the yellow and the grey dawn shall attend thee on thy way if thine eyes my paths they may forbear their useless shine my tears will quite their faint light those drops will make their beams more clear love s flames will shine in every tear they kissed and wept and from their lips and eyes in a mixed dew of sweet their joys and sorrows meet but she cries out shepherd arise the sun us else to the winged hours fly fast whilst we embrace but when we want their help to meet they move with leaden feet then let us time and chase the day forever from this place hark ay me i stay forever no arise we must be gone my nest of my soul i my paradise i neither could say farewell but through their eyes grief interrupted speech with tears supplies from the rapture meanwhile the stream shall court the shore the wood choir shall in varied tunes the deity of love the gentle of western winds shall move thomas care iv the trembling leaves and through their close boughs breathe still music while we rest ourselves beneath their dancing shade till a soft murmur sent from souls in rouse us and shoot into our veins fresh fire till we in their sweet t c hath broke her bark and that swift foot which th angry gods had fastened with a root to the fixed earth doth now run to meet the embraces of the youthful sun she hangs upon him like his her kisses blow the old and breathe new fire full of her god she sings inspired lays sweet of love such as deserve the which she herself was next her lies in s learned arms drying those eyes that did in such sweet smooth paced numbers as made the world of his woe these and ten thousand beauties more that died slave to the tyrant now enlarged his laws and for their time pay into love s double rent on the lady mary the lady mary lies under this stone with weeping eyes the parents that first gave her birth and their sad friends laid her in if any of them reader were known unto thee shed a tear or if possess a as dear to thee as this to them though a stranger to this place in theirs thy own hard case for thou perhaps at thy return may st find thy darling in an urn the english poets would you know what s soft i dare not bring you to the down or air nor to	45
stars to show what s bright nor to snow to teach you white nor if you would music hear call the to take your ear nor to please your sense bring forth bruised or what s more worth or on food were your thoughts placed bring you for a taste would you have all these in one name my mistress and tis done the no more shall be with flowers nor sweetness dwell in rosy nor on branches spring nor birds delight to sing nor april paint the grove if i my s love the fish shall in the ocean bum and fountains sweet shall bitter the humble oak no flood shall know when floods shall highest hills o black shall oblivion leave if e er my i deceive love shall his bow and shaft lay by and want wings to fly the sun to show his light and day shall then be turned to night and in that night no star appear if once i leave my dear thomas love shall no more earth nor lovers more shall love for worth nor joy above in heaven dwell nor pain torment poor souls in hell grim death no more shall horrid prove if ere i leave bright s love in praise of his mistress you that will a wonder know go with me two in a heaven of snow both burning be all they fire that do but eye them yet the snow s by them leaves of crimson met guide the way where two rows be set as white as day when they part themselves asunder she breathes of wonder all this but the is which contains such a jewel as to miss endless pains that s her mind and they that know it may admire but cannot show it robert robert was bom in in august and died at dean prior in on the th of october he published one volume containing p rides dated and noble numbers dated among the english pastoral poets takes an and as a generally he is scarcely except by no other writer of the century approached him in abundance of song in sustained exercise of the purely musical and gifts of poetry milton and perhaps surpassed him in the passion and elevated harmony of their best pieces as they easily him in the wider range of their genius and the breadth of their accomplishment but while these men exercised their art in all its branches confined himself very narrowly to one or two and the freshness of his inspiration flowing through a long life in so a channel enabled him to such a wealth of purely poetry as no other englishman has produced his level of performance was very high he seems to have preserved all that he wrote and the result is that we possess more than twelve hundred of his little poems in at least one out of every three of which we may find something charming or characteristic of all the is the only one that followed the bent of his genius undisturbed and lived a genuine artist s life n consequently while we have to lament in the case of or a constant waste of energy and drain of poetic power in all is wisely and we feel satisfied that we possess the best that he could produce his life was an ideal one so far as quiet and retirement went to fourteen years of seclusion at cambridge there succeeded twenty years of unbroken repose in a and it was not till the desire to rhyme had left him that the poet was brought rudely face to face with the robert x and vexation of political thus he was preserved from that public riot and constant disturbance of the which did its best to drown the voice of every poet from to which drove away to madness and death which made harsh the liquid of milton which the promise of and broke the heart of from all this disturbance and discord was fortunately free and we may look in vain through his pastoral and of verse to discover a trace of the frantic times he lived in the one book which has to us is filled with short poems thrown together without any attempt at arrangement either of subject or time of composition they range between and of five or six pages and of a single in preparing the for the press it would seem as though the english poet took for his model the works of the latin martial there is however a resemblance between the two writers than is to be found in the mere outward arrangement of their works the successive of have noted what they conceive to be his likeness to but this is hardly critical he prominent qualities of s verse are not passion so much as reverie not fire so much as light not the music of the so much as of the and fiddle in all these respects he is far enough from resembling but very near to martial who moreover alone among the latin poets has that minute of detail and delight in the of life which we admire in moreover it must be frankly admitted that in his tendency to and jest and in his radical of fancy the english poet follows happily at a great distance the of the but was not indebted solely to martial or to his imagination was in antique literature and whether he was a greek scholar or no he contrived to into his work more of the temper of and of the of the than any english writer of the century the atmosphere is greek though we find little that shows direct study perhaps with the tact of a poet he extracted the and of ancient verse without understanding it very well just as dreaming above the ms of that he could not read divined the place that greek was destined	45
to take in the revival of culture was a pagan and a and it was natural that the english poets his mind should with extreme longing to the primitive of europe he dreamed himself to be a priest in some past age of or earnestly in the of a god that could be with flowers or in a of wine and he was quietly contented with the physical fulness of life around him without caring to define with much what the age was or what the worship so little had he of the in his constitution that he brought these genial rites in fancy to the doors of his and raised the underneath his roof while the roses reigned around and his locks were shining with and there were at dean prior wakes and and gaily to his antique dream these pleasant pastoral the may pole as though it were the tipped rod of and pouring over the clumsy dances of his the ideal grace of some round of and his classic fancy is brighter and his vision more amply sustained than in the poems of those of his who affected the same sentimental even ben when he was most latin was but a in a but if not bom a greek as was might yet claim to be the of those italian of the early who completely themselves of all trace of in saying this no harsh judgment is passed upon s performance of those duties or poetical which his position as a clerk of the english church demanded from him he preached sermons or wrote noble numbers with zeal and sincerity but these were not the product of the native spirit of the man he was an exile from all his days walking through our sober modem life without revolt or passion but always conscious that he had seen more glorious sights and walked through a land much more eminent for luxury and beauty in the sense of bodily loveliness was acute but his good sense and artistic tact to restrain it within bounds and thus confined it simply served to redeem his verse from the errors of his and to it with melody and colour what did not from the he gathered at the feet of ben he was the greatest and the most in the group of youths of genius who formed the school robert and boasted of being the sons of the great tragic master but in temper and bent of mind few writers could naturally have less in than and and it is therefore not surprising that we find but one section of the older poet s work an influence over the younger how wide and was the genius of ben is but little known to those who study him only as a his and the beautiful collection called the forest display him to us as one of the graceful and original of and it was at this point that fell under his inspiration it has been that first became acquainted with the author of the on the memorable occasion of the first performance of that comedy in when the young man was in his nineteenth year it was in that same year that published the fairy prince a peopled by the gay assemblage of and which afterwards adopted as his own peculiar property and full of classical allusions and strains of light in the spirit of the it is here and in the other and songs of that we must look for the immediate inspiration of much that afterwards adorned and made his own there is not a book in the world than the to open it is to enter a rich garden on a summer afternoon and to smell the perfume of a wealth of flowers and warm and fruits the poet sings in short flights of song of all that makes life gay and luxurious of the freshness of a field of the and heat of harvest of the and of an orchard all the innocent of the people find a in him his muse no circumstance of rural holiday and is more than ready to accompany him to country wakes and races to the riot of the hay field and the may pole to the village and to the crowning of the cart she with him at the mixing of a wedding cake or of a and her presence to the of the rites of rural superstition has up the subject of his book very neatly in its opening which also form the to our present selection but his verse is not all so as he to the observation of nature and the praise of enjoyment in others he adds copious reflection on the construction of his own mind and body and his experiences with a charming no more is to be found in literature the english poets he away with child like simplicity about his hopes of pleasure and his fears of death his loves and his companions even about his food and the various creature comforts of his he tells us that he is anxious for fame and again that he is confident of securing it he gives us a list of his domestic and we see them pass before us his goose his lamb his his cat his learned pig we sit with him beside the fire so quietly that we see the brisk mouse come out to feed herself with till or the green eyed comes t is this happy and personal frankness which in with that fancy of which we have already spoken combine to give the poetry of such an intimate at once strange and familiar like that of the more dramatic passages in there is no strain on the feelings no rage or all is quiet picturesque and penetrating and the poet is so in describing his that it seems to us while we listen to him that we have lived there	45
all our lives air of reality which clothes the of should by make his careful in accepting too exactly all that he says about himself little can be gained by his various loves or by attempting to from or from these were probably mere artist s studies for which some or milk maid of dean prior sat quite unconsciously only in the description of we may detect more individuality and personal presence and the poems which are to her probably date from the years preceding the poet s acceptance of holy orders we must not forget that before he left cambridge he was years of age the first fever of the blood was and without doubt the warmest verses of the his wild were the production of his youth sacred poetry of is weak as might be expected from a point of view and success rather in spite of the author s aim than through it is very genuine in his devotion as far as it goes but his pagan temperament leaves him rather and we have none of the spiritual elevation of none of the conscience searching and holy of sings in church but he sings to the old heathen tunes and even at his prayers his spirit is and not filled with heavenly things he best where he himself to adorn a celestial theme with the picturesque detail of his t ex poems he is happy if he be allowed to crown the infant with or pin a rose into his his longer and owe their interest to no divine but to the bright and fantastic touches to the introduction of flowers and and to the luxury and pomp of must ever be regarded as an alien in the choir of divine singers which the century produced he has something of their character but in spirit he is divided from them by a barrier that neither a genuine piety nor a desire to could over step his best religious pieces are the the daughter both of them given in our selection and the of a poem containing some grotesque passages but many of extraordinary felicity we have no means of discovering or even of by what steps arrived at the mastery over the part of poetry which we discover in the it was characteristic of the fashion of the day to invent verse forms of great and difficulty the beauty of which was of less import to the writer than the had set the example of these fantastic and the wanton way in which they were employed soon drove men of taste to the rigid use of the heroic only however avoided this capital offence against artistic harmony his measures are many of them his own and show great ingenuity but they are all or almost all justified by their inherent beauty he attempted a great variety of experiments mainly with a view to and the of rhyme some of these are scarcely successful because the language is not enough for such de force but the experiments themselves are not contrary to the principles of the of are very and liquid in their flow of language he is not a passionate writer and we always miss even in his best work that mounting and piercing melody which goes straight to the heart and which and give us each in his own way in his as in everything else is excessively too easily satisfied with the sincere and exquisite expression of a common thought to care about the uncommon and hence it is that with all his wonderful art and skill he is never named among the few english poets of the first class but always as pre eminent among those of the second class w vol ii k i the english poets the argument of the i sing of of blossoms birds and of april may of june and july flowers i sing of may poles carts wakes of bride and of their cakes i write of youth of love and have access by these to sing of i sing of of rains and piece by piece of of oil of and i sing of times shifting and i write how roses first came red and lilies white i write of groves of and i sing the court of and of the fairy king i write of hell i sing and ever shall of heaven and hope to have it after all when he would have his verses read in sober mornings do not thou the holy of a verse but when that men have both well drunk and fed let my then be sung or read when laurel i th fire and when the hearth smiles to itself and the roof with mirth when up the is raised and when the sound of sacred flies around around when the rose and locks with shine let rigid read these lines of mine v i s going a get up get up for shame the blooming mom upon her wings presents the god see how throws her fair fresh colours through the air get up sweet a bed and see the dew and tree t each flower has wept and bow d toward the east above an hour since yet you not nay not so much as out of bed when all the birds have said and sung their thankful hymns tis sin nay to keep in a thousand on this day spring sooner than the lark to fetch in may rise and put on your foliage and be seen to come forth like the spring time fresh and green and sweet as take no care for jewels for your gown or hair fear not the leaves will gems in abundance upon you besides the childhood of the day has kept against you come some pearls come and receive them while the light hangs on the dew locks of the night and on the eastern hill	45
himself or else stands still till you come forth wash dress be brief in praying few beads are best when once we go a come my come and coming mark how each field turns a street each street a park made green and d with trees see how devotion gives each house a bough or branch each porch each door ere this an ark a is made up of white thorn neatly as if here were those cooler shades of love can such delights be in the street and open fields and we not see t come well abroad and let s obey the made for may and sin no more as we have done by staying but my come let s go a k the english ts there s not a boy or girl this day but is got up and gone to bring in may a deal of youth ere this is come back and with white thorn laden home some have d their cakes and cream before that we have left to dream and some have wept and d and and chose their priest ere we can cast off many a green gown has been given many a kiss both odd and even many a glance too has been sent from out the eye love s many a jest told of the keys betraying this night and locks pick d yet we re not a come let us go while we are in our prime and take the harmless folly of the time i we shall grow old and die before we know our liberty our life is short and our days run as fast away as does the sun and as a or a drop of rain once lost can ne er be found again so when or you or i are made a fable song or fleeting shade all love all liking all delight lies drown d with us in endless night then while time serves and we are but come my come let s go a the rock of some ask d me where the grew and nothing i did say but with my finger pointed to the lips of some ask d how pearls did grow and where then spoke i to my girl to part her lips and me there the of pearl robert eve down with the and down with the instead of now up raise the box for show the hitherto did sway let box now until the dancing day or s eve appear then youthful box which now hath grace your houses to renew grown old surrender must his place unto the when is out then comes in and many flowers beside both of a fresh and fragrant kin to honour green rushes then and sweetest with cooler boughs come in for comely ornaments to re adorn the house thus times do shift each thing his turn does hold new things succeed as former things grow old the night piece her eyes the glow worm lend thee the shooting stars attend thee and the also whose little eyes glow like the sparks of fire thee no will ow mis light thee nor snake or slow worm bite thee but on on thy way not making a stay since ghost there s none to thee the english poets let not the dark thee what though the moon does slumber the stars of the night will lend thee their light like clear without number then let me thee thus thus to come unto me and when i shall meet thy silvery feet my so ul pour into thee to the gather ye rose while ye may old time is still a flying and this same flower that smiles to day to morrow will be dying the glorious lamp of heaven the sun the higher he s a getting the sooner will his race be run and nearer he s to setting that age is best which is the first when youth and blood are warmer but being spent the worse and worst times still succeed the former then be not but use your time and while ye may go marry for having lost but once your prime you may for ever to blossoms fair of a fruitful tree why do ye fall so fast your date is not so past but you may stay yet here a while to blush and gently smile and go at last robert what were ye born to be an hour or half s delight and so to bid good night twas pity nature brought ye forth merely to show your worth and lose you quite but you are lovely leaves where we may read how soon things have their end though ne er so brave and after they have shown their pride like you a while they glide into the grave to filled with morning dew why do ye weep sweet can tears speak grief in you who were but bom just as the modest mom d her refreshing dew alas you have not known that shower that a flower nor felt th unkind breath of a wind nor are ye worn with years or d as we who think it strange to see such pretty flowers like to young to speak by tears before ye have a tongue speak and make known the reason why ye and weep is it for want of sleep or childish or that ye have not seen as yet the violet or brought a kiss from that sweet heart to this no no this sorrow shown the english poets by your tears shed would have this lecture read that things of greatest so of meanest worth conceived with grief are and with tears brought forth to fair we weep to see you haste away so soon as yet the early rising sun has not attained his noon stay stay until the	45
day has run but to the even song and having pray d together we will go with you along we have short time to stay as you we have as short a spring as quick a growth to meet decay as you or any thing we die as your hours do and dry away like to the summer s rain or as the pearls of morning s dew ne er to be found again to meadows ye have been fresh and green ye have been with flowers and ye the walks have been where maids have spent their hours you have beheld how they with did come to kiss and bear away the richer home t ck youve heard them sweetly sing and seen them in a round each virgin like a spring with crown d but now we see none here whose silvery feet did tread and with hair d this like having spent your stock and grown you re left here to lament your poor estates alone to god lord thou hast g ven me a cell wherein to dwell a little house whose humble roof is weather proof under the of which i lie both soft and dry where thou my chamber for to ward hast set a guard of harmless thoughts to watch and keep me while i sleep low is my porch as is my fate both void of state and yet the threshold of my door is worn by th poor who thither come and freely get good words or meat like as my parlour so my hall and kitchen s small a little and therein a little bin which keeps my little loaf of bread the en poets some sticks of thorn or make pie a fire close by whose living coal i sit and glow like it lord i confess too when i dine the pulse is thine and all those other bits that be there placed by thee the the and the mess of water which of thy kindness thou hast sent and my content makes those and my to be more sweet tis thou that crown st my glittering hearth with mirth and st me to drink to the brink lord tis thy plenty dropping hand that my land and st me for my sown twice ten for one thou st my hen to lay her each day besides my to bear me each year the while the of my run cream for wine all these and better thou dost send me to this end that i should render for my part a thankful heart which fired with incense i resign as wholly thine but the acceptance that must be my christ by thee robert the mad maid s song good morrow to the day so fair good morning sir to you good morrow to mine own torn hair with the dew good morning to this too good morrow to each maid that will with flowers the tomb wherein my love is laid ah woe is me woe woe is me and well a day for pity sir find out that bee which bore my love away ril seek him in your bonnet brave ril seek him in your eyes nay now i think they ve made his grave i th bed of i ll seek him there i know ere this the cold cold earth doth shake him but i will go or send a kiss by you sir to awake him pray hurt him not though he be dead he knows well who do love him and who with green rear his head and who do rudely move him he s soft and tender pray take heed with bands of bind him and bring him home but tis that i shall never find him upon s clothes in my goes till then how sweetly flows that of her clothes the english poets next when i cast mine eyes and see that brave each way free o how that glittering delight in disorder a sweet disorder in the dress in clothes a a lawn about the shoulders thrown into a fine distraction an lace which here and there the crimson a and thereby ribbons to flow a winning wave deserving note in the a careless shoe string in whose tie i see a wild civility do more me than when art is too precise in every part art above nature when i behold a forest spread with silken trees upon thy head and when i see that other dress of flowers set in when i behold another grace in the ascent of curious lace which like a doth the top and the top gallant too then when i see thy bound into an oval square or round and knit in knots far more than i can tell by tongue or true love tie next when those i see play with a wild civility robert and all those airy to flow me and tempting so i must confess mine eye and heart less on nature than on art cherry ripe cherry ripe ripe ripe i cry full and fair ones come and buy if so be you ask me where they do grow i answer there where my s lips do smile there s the land or cherry isle whose fully show all the year where grow the bride cake this day my thou must make for mistress bride the wedding cake but the and it will be to of d by thee or kiss it thou but once or twice and for the bride cake be his prayer to ben when i a verse shall make know i have pray d thee for old religion s sake saint ben to aid me make the way smooth for me when i thy thee on my knee offer my the english poets candles give to thee and a new altar and thou saint	45
ben shalt be writ in my an for ben ah ben say how or when shall we thy guests meet at those made at the sun the dog the triple where we such clusters had as made us nobly wild not mad and yet each verse of thine out did the meat out did the wine my ben i or come again or send to us thy wit s great but teach us yet wisely to husband it lest we that talent spend and having once brought to an end that precious stock the store of such a wit the world should have no more to bid me to live and i will live thy to be or bid me love and i will give a loving heart to thee a heart as soft a heart as kind a heart as sound and free as in the whole world thou that heart give to thee robert bid that heart stay and it will stay to honour thy decree or bid it quite away and t shall do so for thee bid me to weep and i will weep while i have eyes to see and having none yet i will keep a heart to weep for thee bid me despair and despair under that tree or bid me die and i will dare e en death to die for thee thou art my life my love my heart the very eyes of me and hast command of every part to live and die for thee to now is the tune when all the lights wax dim and thou must withdraw from him who was thy servant dearest bury me under that holy oak or gospel tree where though thou see st not thou may st think upon me when thou yearly go st procession or for mine honour lay me in that tomb in which thy sacred shall have room for my sweetest there will be no wanting when i m laid by thee to ah my dost thou grieve to see me day by day to steal away from thee age calls me hence and my gray hairs bid come and haste away to mine eternal home not be long after this that i must give thee the kiss the english poets dead when i am first cast in salt and bring part of the cream from that religious spring with which wash my hands and feet that done then wind me in that very sheet which thy smooth limbs when thou the gods protection but the night before follow me weeping to my turf and there let fall a and with it a tear then lastly let some weekly wings be devoted to the memory of me then shall my ghost not walk about but keep still in the cool and silent shades of sleep the wake come let us two go to feast as others do and and cakes are the still at wakes unto which the tribes resort where the business is the sport dancers thou shalt see too in and a to devise many grinning properties players there will be and those base in action as in clothes yet with they will please the villages near the dying of the day there will be a play where a will be broke ere a good word can be spoke but the anger ends all here d in ale or drown d in beer happy best content with the merriment and possess no other fear than to want the wake next year t to robin breast laid out for dead let thy last kindness be with leaves and moss work for to cover me and while the wood my cold corpse inter sing thou my sweet i for in foliage next write this here here the tomb of robin is to the lark good speed for i this day my sa c because i do begin to sweet singing lark be thou the clerk and know thy when to say amen and if i prove in my love then thou shalt be high priest to me at my return to incense burn and so to love s and my sacrifice to the rose song go happy rose and with other flowers bind my love tell her too she must not be longer flowing longer free that so oft has d me vou ii l the english poets say if she s i have bands of pearl and gold to bind her hands tell her if she struggle still i have rods at will for to tame though not to kill take thou my blessing thus and go and tell her this but do not so lest a handsome anger fly like a lightning from her eye and bum thee up as well as i the bag of the bee about the sweet bag of a bee two fell at odds and whose the pretty prize should be they to ask the gods which hearing thither came and for their boldness them and taking thence from each his flame with rods of them which done to still their wanton cries when quiet grown she d seen them she kiss d and wiped their dove like eyes and gave the bag between to the duke of york may his pretty duke ship grow like to a rose of sweeter far than ever yet showers or sunshine could may the graces and the hours his hopes and him with flowers and so dress him up with love as to be the of jove t may the thrice three sisters sing him the sovereign of their spring and none to be prince of but he may his soft foot where it gardens thence produce and and those meadows full be set with the rose and violet may his ample name be known to the last succession and his actions high be told through the world but	45
writ in gold the in the hour of my distress when temptations me and when i my sins confess sweet spirit comfort me when i lie within my bed sick in heart and sick in head and with doubts sweet spirit comfort me when the house doth sigh and weep and the world is drown d in sleep yet mine eyes the watch do keep sweet spirit comfort me i when the doctor sees no one hope but of his and his skill runs on the sweet spirit comfort me i when his and his has or none or little skill meet for nothing but to kill sweet spirit comfort l the english poets when the passing bell doth toll and the in a come to fright a parting soul sweet spirit comfort me when the now bum blue and the are few and that number more than true sweet spirit comfort me when the priest his last hath pray d and i nod to what is said cause my speech is now decay d sweet spirit comfort me when god knows i m about either with despair or doubt yet before the glass be out sweet spirit comfort me when the me th with the sins of all my youth and half me with sweet spirit comfort when the flames and cries fright mine ears and fright mine eyes and all terrors me surprise sweet spirit comfort me i when the judgment is reveal d and that open d which was seal d when to thee i have sweet spirit comfort me grace for a child here a little child i stand heaving up my either hand cold as though they be here i lift them up to thee for a to fall on our meat and on our all amen robert the of s daughter o thou the wonder of all days o and pearl of praise o virgin martyr ever above the rest of all the maiden train i we come and bring fresh to thy tomb thus thus and thus we compass round thy harmless und ground and as we sing thy we will the and other flowers lay upon the altar of our love thy stone thou wonder of all maids here of daughters all the dearest dear the eye of nay the queen of this smooth green and all sweet from whence we get the and the violet too soon too dear did buy by thy sad loss our liberty his was the bond and yet thou paid st the debt lamented maid he won the day but for the conquest thou pay thy father brought with him along the olive branch and victor s song he the we know but to thy woe and in the purchase of our peace the cure was worse than the disease i the english poets for which obedient zeal of thine we offer here before thy shrine our sighs for tears for wine and to make fine and fresh thy cloth we will here four times thee every year receive for this thy praise our tears receive this offering of our hairs receive these crystal with tears from eyes to these we bring each maid her silver to thy tomb besides these these ribbons and these falls these wherewith we use to hide the bride when we conduct her to her groom all all we lay upon thy tomb no more no more since thou art dead shall we e er bring to bed no more at yearly we balls or chains of shall make for this or that occasion s sake no no our maiden pleasures be in the winding sheet with thee tis we are dead though not i th grave or if we have one seed of life left tis to keep a lent for thee to fast and weep sleep in thy peace thy bed of and make this place all paradise may sweets grow here and smoke from hence fat let and send their scent from out thy maiden monument t ck i ft i may no wolf howl or owl stir a wing about thy no boisterous winds or storms come hither to starve or thy soft sweet earth but like a spring love keep it ever flourishing may all shy maids at hours come forth to thy tomb with flowers may when they come to mourn male incense bum upon thine altar then return and leave thee sleeping in thy urn to porter not all thy flushing are set as yet nor doth this far drawn frown and look sullen everywhere days may conclude in nights and may rest as dead within the west yet the next mom the fragrant east alas for me that i have lost e en all almost sunk is my sight set is my sun and all the loom of life undone the staff the elm the the wall whereon my vine did crawl now now blown down needs must the old stock fall yet porter while thou keep st alive in death i and like a re from out my and funeral fire and as i prime my youth so i do how i could die when i had thee my chief by the english ts i m up up and bless that hand which makes me stand now as i do and but for thee i must confess i could not be the debt is paid for he who doth resign thanks to the generous vine fresh grapes to fill his press with wine what love is love is a circle that doth restless move in the same sweet eternity of love upon his maid in this little urn is laid once my maid from whose happy spark here let spring the purple violet the white island tn this world the isle of dreams while we sit by sorrow s streams tears and terrors are our but when once from hence we fly	45
more and more approaching nigh unto young eternity in that island where things are sincere here and lustre there there no monstrous fancies shall out of hell an horror call to create or cause at all t there in calm and sleep we our eyes shall never steep but eternal watch shall keep attending pleasures such as shall pursue me and you and fresh joys as never too have ending music charm me asleep and melt me so with thy delicious numbers that being d hence i go away in easy ease my sick head and make my bed thou power that from me this ill and quickly still though thou not kill my fever thou sweetly convert the same from a fire into a gentle flame and make it thus then make me weep my pains asleep and give me such that i poor i may think thereby i live and die roses fall on me like a silent dew or like those maiden showers which by the peep of day do a o er the flowers the english poets melt melt my pains with thy soft strains that having ease me given with full delight i leave this light and take my flight for heaven s feast to thee the fairy state i with discretion because thou things that are curious and take first the feast these dishes gone well see the fairy court anon a little table spread after short prayers they set on bread a moon d grain of purest wheat with some small ring to eat his choice bits with then in a they make a feast less great than nice but all this while his eye is served we must not think his ear was but that there was in place to stir his the the merry fly the for and now we must imagine first the present to his thirst a pure seed pearl of infant dew brought and d in a blue and violet which done his eyes begin to run quite through the table where he the horns of of which he eats and tastes a little of that we call the s robert i a little ball stands by yet not by his hands that was too coarse but then forthwith he boldly on the of sugar d rush and eats the and well bees sweet bag his with some store of s eggs what would he more but of a s d a and a fly with the red worm that s shut within the of a nut brown as his tooth a little late d in a piece of cloth with d ears eyes to these the slain s tears the dew of a the broke heart of a o in music with a wine ne er d from the flattering vine but gently from the soft side of the most sweet and dainty bride brought in a dainty which he fully up to his blood to height this done commended grace by his priest the feast is ended to live live with me and thou shalt see the pleasures i ll prepare for thee what sweets the country can afford shall bless thy bed and bless thy board the soft sweet moss shall be thy bed with crawling over spread by which the silver shedding streams shall gently melt thee into dreams thy clothing next shall be a gown made of the purest down the english poets the tongues of shall be thy meat their milk thy drink and thou shalt eat the of for thy bread with cream of thy table shall be hills with spread and where thou shalt sit and red breast by for meat shall give thee melody give thee chains and of and a bag and bottle thou shalt have that richly wrought and this as brave so that as either shall express the s no mean at times and yearly wakes when his makes there thou shalt be and be the wit nay more the feast and grace of it on when meet to dance the with feet thou shalt come forth and then appear the queen of roses for that year and having danced all the best carry the from the rest in baskets maids shall bring to thee my dearest the blushing apple and shame faced all ring there walk in the groves and thou shalt find the name of in the of every straight and smooth skin tree where kissing that twice kiss thee to thee a sheep hook i will send be d with to this end this this hook might be less for to catch a sheep than me thou shalt have fine not made of ale but wine to make thy maids and self free t all sitting near the ring hearth thou shalt have roses rings gloves stockings shoes and strings of winning colours that shall move others to lust but me to love these nay and more thine own shall b if thou wilt love and live with me william william was born at hall near in and died his alone preserves his name from oblivion but he also wrote a comedy entitled the of acted in and completed a history edward iv which had been set in hand by his father the first edition of was published in second in and the third enlarged and in the form in which we now possess the poems in the poems have been by in in mr in the centre alike of s life and of his poetry is the lady whom he has sung under the fanciful name of she was daughter of william lord rather above her lover in rank and wealth as his own verses plainly show but as is not less obvious at no time indifferent to his courtship what obstacles were interposed by her parents and relatives yielded to their mutual constancy and was allowed to carry	45
off his bride to his country house at in a house which as he tells her doth not want extent of though not magnificent to give free welcome to content there they seem to have lived a happy life together as many of his poems to his wife as to his mistress and in them reaches a higher level of poetic accomplishment than he elsewhere it is pleasant to contemplate the happy course of this pure and honourable affection and it is impossible not to feel a kind of liking for so constant a so good a friend and so upright a man we must not complain if like seems to have gone through the civil war without taking a decided part one way or the other the man was no hero nor bom to shine in public life what political william sympathies his writings reveal were strongly he himself came of an old catholic stock and was educated at st and we may be sure that as far as he took any side at all he took part against those whom he would regard as and as revealed to us by his own verses was something of a something of an something even of a his was just the sort of life and character which could live through as not of them the din and turmoil and passion of those stirring years he was not of those who are great among the sons of men nevertheless the interest that his work is likely rather to increase than for though narrow in scope it is intense in feeling and though in parts feeble and one sided it is as a whole made vital by the impress of a distinct and original personality it is not altogether easy to gather from s poems in what relation he stood to previous or contemporary singers the one fact is his devotion to a sentiment he shares in common with all the poets of that time on whom the and made the most marked impression of his few to other poets the first occurs in a poetical account of his own youthful years which he gives in tlie holy man grown elder i admired our poets as from heaven inspired what i fit for s art and s wit but sober soon i found fame but an idle sound another mention of occurs in a s and s while our famous thames doth whisper s to her streams there are also two passing of and and an interesting allusion to s reverend ashes lying rudely mingled in the vulgar dust there are no allusions to such poets as whose genius was in some respects akin to his own but this is easily explained by the difference between the two men s religious opinions is divided into three by some into four parts there are at any rate four distinct the mistress the wife i o the english poets the friend and the holy man it is by his love verses that is best known though some of his most powerful and deeply felt work is to be found in the other sections a feature which strikes the reader of these verses is their almost exaggerated purity of tone is never tired of assuring us of the of his affection and the reader of the monotony of which might very well be taken for granted in one passage he says scornfully of other poets yoa who are earth and cannot rise above sense the envied wealth which lies bright in your mistress lips or eyes betray a pitied eloquence it is only fair however to say that all made s poems are often sweet and enough and show real warmth of feeling and delicacy of sentiment the verses on his and a nephew of the earl of who died young also contain some fine passages but more characteristic and less agreeable features of the writer s mind come out in the holy man there are some exceedingly powerful and sombre verses in this collection but the tone of them is more than catholic in parts is revealed an almost of speaks as in duty bound as a good catholic and that the holy man is necessarily of his own creed faith is the foundation on which he religion knowing it a to build in the of a private spirit or on the sands of any new this is as it should be one him for his sturdy maintenance of opinions but it is not easy equally to with his description of his god who without passion provide to punish treason and death in hell and who when he as your judge appears in vain you ll tremble and lament and hope to soften him with to no advantage penitent but gloomy as his may be it is yet the natural of that intense and narrow spirit and some of the lines in this section have a searching penetrating power such as is not often found in or other religious poets more widely famous is terribly in earnest he has forgotten his love for his william l l mistress and his friend as he draws on in life the element which betrayed itself in him from the first gains in strength he throws this life scornfully behind him and his thoughts fasten themselves more and more exclusively upon death and immortality from a purely literary point of view only rarely reaches high water mark in poetry there are no glaring faults in his verse and few the mass of his work is ingenious tolerable poetry it does not often attain to the inner music which can only proceed from a bom singer or to the expression of a noble thought perfect literary tact does not possess he will follow up a fine with a lame and halting one apparently without sense of the it takes a to him	45
wholly and keep him at a high level throughout an entire poem however short he greatly sometimes in single lines or he now and then surprises us with expressions like the weeping magic of my verse or so a line as and keep strayed honour in the true way or a delicious commencement of a poem which falls off as it proceeds such as where the north wind when the south life in the spring and into the scattered or a strange and impressive thought like that comparison of virtue which lost to the world by his friend s death only lives still in some solitary s cell so mid the ice of the far northern sea a star about the circle may than ours yield clearer light yet that j ut shall serve at the frozen pilot s funeral it is quite consistent with this that the which a poem are with him sometimes vigorous and happy in more than one case this final line or the entire value of the poem take this for instance and thus there will be left no bird to sing farewell to the waters welcome to the spring or this ah her vows religious be and her love she vows to me vol ii m t the english poets or this but virtuous love is one sweet endless fire or this the bad man s death is horror but the just keeps something of his glory in his dust but his inadequate sense of poetic form does not allow him often to attain to a perfect whole he is too fond of awkward and to force more into a line than it will fairly hold his one or two of which rank among the best efforts are formally speaking not at all but strings of seven he does not sufficiently know he has not sufficiently at the business of his art on en dire la po est un art qui s qui a m son point et son l inspiration un par ne is one of the many english poets whose imperfect of this aspect of the truth has left their achievement inferior to their talent w t william to roses in the bosom of ye blushing happy are in the of her breasts for he d profane so a fair who e er should call them s nests thus how bright ye grow how rich a perfume do ye yield in some close garden so are sweeter than i th open field in those white live secure from the rude of wanton breath each hour more innocent and pure till you shall into death then that which living gave you room your glorious shall be there wants no marble for a tomb whose breast has marble been to me to upon a in s cheek boy in thy warm flight what cold tyrant thy sight had st thou eyes to see my fair thou would st sigh to air fearing to create this one nature had herself undone but if you when this you hear fall down murdered through your ear beg of jove that you may have in her cheek a grave lily rose and violet shall the beset while a sheet of lawn o er the wanton corpse is drawn and all lovers use this breath here lies in death m l the english poets the description of like the violet which alone in some happy shade my lives unknown to no eye betrayed for she s to her self who delights i th public view such is her beauty as no arts have enriched with borrowed grace her high birth no pride for she in her place folly a glorious blood she is noblest being good cautious she knew never yet what a wanton courtship meant nor speaks loud to boast her wit in her silence eloquent of her self survey she takes but men no difference makes she with speedy will her grave parents wise commands and so innocent that ill she nor acts nor understands women s feet run still astray if once to ill they know the way she sails by that rock the court where oft honour her mast and thinks the port where her fame may anchor cast virtue safely cannot sit where vice is for wit william she holds that day s pleasure best where sin waits not on delight without mask or ball or feast sweetly a winter s night o er that darkness whence is thrust prayer and sleep oft lust she her throne makes reason climb while wild passions captive lie and each article of time her pure thoughts to heaven fly all her vows religious be and her love she vows to me to in a trance me not so soon stay and as i break the prison of my clay fill the canvas with my breath and sail with thee o er the vast main of death some thus as we pass shall play go happy of love the courteous sea shall smooth her wrinkled brow the winds shall sleep or only whisper music to the deep every rock shall melt away the sing to please not to betray the indulgent sky shall smile each contend which shall afford the brighter fire while love the pilot his course so even ne er to cast anchor till we reach at heaven to upon the death of a lady weep not tho her tomb appear sometime thy grief to answer with a tear the marble will but wanton with thy woe death is the sea and we like rivers flow to lose ourselves in the main whence rivers may she ne er return again the english poets nor grieve this crystal stream so soon did fall into the ocean since she d all the banks she past so that each neighbour field did sweet flowers cherished by her watering yield which now adorn	45
her the violet there on her pale cheek doth the sad livery wear which heaven s compassion gave her and since she cause clothed in purple can no be as incense to the tomb she gives her breath and fading on her lady waits in death such office the egyptian did great when she dying the s slow trembling she should be by fate d even of that black victory the flowers instruct our sorrows come then all ye beauties to true beauty s funeral and with her to increase death s pomp decay since the supporting fabric of your clay is fallen how can ye stand how can the night show stars when fate puts out the day s great light against them who lay to the sex of women they meet but with springs and which are they hear but when the sings and only see the falling star who ever dare affirm no woman and fain go cure your and you say the dog days not all the year in copper mines no longer stay but travel to the west and there the right ones see and grant all gold s not what madman cause the glow worm s flame is cold there s no warmth in fire cause some make of their name and slave themselves to man s desire shall the sex free from guilt damn d to the bondage be nor grieve though t were frail thy virtue then would brighter shine when thy example should prevail and every woman s faith be thine and were there none tis majesty to rule alone to of true delight why doth the ear so tempt the voice that the air why doth the buy the choice delights o th sea to her fare as soon as i my ear obey the echo s lost even with the breath and when the takes away i m left with no more taste than death be curious in pursuit of eyes to new loves with thine makes dense despise what superstition thought divine quick fancy how it delight as we conceive things are not such the is as warm as bright till the flame we touch when i have sold my heart to lust and bought repentance with a kiss i find the malice of my dust that told me hell contained a bliss the english poets the rose her sweet lost in the fold of lovers wreaths the violet the scent when early in the spring she breathes but winter comes and makes each flower shrink from the pillow where it grows or an cold hath power to scorn the perfume of the rose our senses like false glasses show smooth beauty where brows wrinkled are and makes the d fancy glow virtue s only true and fair when i survey the bright celestial sphere so rich with jewels hung that night doth like an bride appear my soul her wings doth spread and heaven ward flies the almighty s mysteries to read in the large volumes of the skies for the bright shoots forth no flame so silent but is eloquent in speaking the creator s name no star its light into so small a character d far from our human sight but if we steadfast look we shall discern in it as in some holy book how man may heavenly knowledge learn william it tells the conqueror that far stretched power which his proud dangers traffic for is but the triumph of an hour that from the farthest north some nation may yet issue forth and o er his new got conquest some nation yet shut in with hills of ice may be let out to his sin till they shall equal him in vice and then they likewise shall their ruin have for as yourselves your fall and every kingdom hath a grave thus those celestial fires though seeming mute the of our desires and all the pride of life for they have watched since first the world had birth and found sin in itself accursed and nothing permanent on earth sir john was bom at in and committed in paris in a he published daring his life time the drama of in and the ballad of a wedding in his other works were first collected in under the title of it is impossible to consider the poems of without regard to his career no english poet has lived a life so public so adventurous and so full of as his nothing short of an irresistible bias towards the art of poetry could have induced so busy and so fortunate a man to write in verse at all beautiful and vigorous in body educated in all the accomplishments that grace a gentleman endowed from earliest youth with the of a soldier and a popular his enormous wealth enabled him to indulge every whim that a fondness for what was splendid or eccentric in dress architecture and could devise such a life could present no void which literary ambition could fill and s scorn for poetic fame was well known to his at the age of nineteen he went away to continent and wandered through france italy germany and spain for four years seeking adventure he offered his sword to the king of fought in command of a troop in front of and of performed of in and returned before the battle of simply because his imperious fancy began to find the great war a tedious he proceeded to london and lived for six years in a style of such gorgeous profusion that at last he contrived to one of the fortunes of that age he retired for a while enough into a literary seclusion at bath taking the with him as a sort of during this brief time no doubt his were composed the king however sm john fretted for his return and he emerged as the leader of the party in its earliest troubles	45
after the crisis fled to france and thence to spain at he fell into the of the and horrible he escaped to paris with a mind probably by these for he poisoned himself in his thirty fourth year such was the career of a man whose light verses carelessly thrown off and half forgotten have the pomp and public glitter of his famous adventures by which he now seems to us rather and injured than exalted written under such circumstances and preserved in a state by friends it would be surprising if the poems of presented any great finish or completeness in point of fact they display to us but the ruins of his genius a ballad of wonderful brightness and sweetness half a dozen songs full of the most and grace these alone of all he has left behind him are in any sense worthy of their author s splendid fame his and the men of the next generation remembering his shining qualities of personal presence his wit his fancy and perhaps many fine poems that we shall never see spoke of him as an epoch making writer in terms that we reserve for of whom they never speak his name still lives in the popular ear as the names of poets far greater than he will never live his figure takes a place in poetic literature which the student fresh from his pages is apt to consider high and which his golden fragments scarcely seem to justify but the instinct of the people in this as in so many other cases is probably right and though the of his poems may cloud it there is no doubt that his genius existed it shows itself even more in his than in himself his manner of writing affected the course of english literature and showed its strength less in his own than in the fact that for the next fifty years no one could write a good love song without more or less reminding the reader ot to the very end of the century natural easy was the type of literary elegance to the and lady of fashion his existing works consist of a slender collection of and complimentary poems and of four plays one of them who had a creditable adoration for shakespeare in none of his dramatic genius a worse is scarcely to be found even in that miserable period among the the english poets and a monster of tedious was arranged with a tragic and a comic ending according to choice but this was not so unique as has been supposed for we find the silly contrivance in s virgin and in the of sir william the only drama of s which is at all is which is enough but does contain some fine tragic writing the only real merit of these plays however consists in the beautiful songs they harbour the pieces of s which were collected under the title of present considerable difficulty to the critic never was a volume of poems so unequal in merit presented to the public side by side with songs that will be enjoyed as long as the english language exists we find which it is impossible either to or to and which would disgrace the poet s comer of a provincial newspaper the famous of the one of those pieces which were most admired in the age that saw its production is full of of style that fairly astonish the modem reader such a for instance as that to and along with a strangely gait the first that broke silence was good old ben prepared before with wine and he told them plainly he deserved the for his were called works while others were but plays in the case of other poems in which we find awkward and confused passages we may suppose that left the verse confused or and that the text suffers from but the of the poets is one of the few pieces published in his life time and we are therefore inclined to suppose that he was but little affected by errors of style that are palpable to us when however he is at his best he throws off all awkwardness and obscurity his becomes liquid and and in one instance the famous ballad upon a he has contrived to keep up his tone of airy vivacity through twenty two verses but as a rule his flights are his songs owe their special charm to their gallantry and impudence their manly and their audacity the temper expressed in why so pale and wan fond lover was in sympathy with the age and gave a delight which seems to us extravagant s admiration for shakespeare not pre sir john him from being one of the chief of the poetry of the restoration he sings like a gentleman he leaves the weaving of to learned such as and he a most straightforward expression of fancy and discontent this is in his songs only in his moral pieces such as that beginning my dearest rival lest our love should with eccentric motion move he is as quaint and conceited if not so ingenious as the best of the poets once called his great praise is his after all the who for a century had been their mistress and the most abject deference the attitude of with his impudent smiling face through the of ladies struck the contemporary mind as refreshing and a new fashion in gallantry set in what had been good sense in soon however became in and in and the base feast to which the poets of the restoration sat down we feel to have been a sorry exchange for the diet of the even here also there was some brisk music of a gallantry not wholly base and for this we have to thank and his mood w the english poets a ballad upon a wedding i tell thee dick where i have	45

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