1054

A

THE DREAM

CHANGE came o'er the spirit of my dream.

The Boy was sprung to manhood: in the wilds of fiery climes he made himself a home, and his soul drank their sunbeams: he was girt with strange and dusky aspects: he was not himself like what he had been; on the sea and on the shore he was a wanderer; there was a mass of many images crowded like waves upon me, but he was a part of all; and in the last he lay reposing from the noontide sultriness, couch'd among fallen columns, in the shade of ruin'd walls: where by his sleeping side stood camels grazing, and some goodly steeds were fastened near a fountain: and a man clad in a flowing garb did watch the while, while many of his tribe slumbered around : and they were canopied by the blue sky, so cloudless, clear and purely beautiful, that God alone was to be seen in Heaven.

LORD BYRON

1055

MEROPE

FAIN

AIN would I fade away, as I have lived,
without a cry, a struggle, or a blow,

all vengeance unattempted, and descend
to the invisible plains, to roam with thee,
fit denizen, the lamp-less underworld-

but with what eyes should I encounter there
my husband, wandering with his stern compeers?
No, something must be dared; and, great as erst
our dastard patience, be our daring now!
Come, ye swift Furies, who to him ye haunt
permit no peace till your behests are done :
come Hermes, who dost watch the unjustly killed,
and can'st teach simple ones to plot and feign;
come, lightning Passion, that with foot of fire
advancest to the middle of a deed

almost before 'tis planned; come, glowing Hate;

1056

come, baneful Mischief, from thy murky den
under the dripping black Tartarean cliff
which Styx's awful waters trickle down
inspire this coward heart, this flagging arm—
and ye, keep faithful silence, friends, and mark
what one weak woman can achieve alone.

M. ARNOLD

OF FACTION

KINGS had need beware how they side themselves,

and make themselves as of a faction or party;

for leagues within the State are ever pernicious to monarchies; for they raise an obligation paramount to obligation of sovereignty, and make the king tanquam unus ex nobis; as was to be seen in the league of France. When factions are carried too high and too violently, it is a sign of weakness in princes, and much to the prejudice both of their authority and business. The motions of factions under kings ought to be like the motions (as the astronomers speak) of the inferior orbs, which may have their proper motions, but yet still are quietly carried by the higher motion of primum mobile.

F. BACON

1057

Rod.

STRIFE

RODERICK-ADOSINDA

A hath been commenced, the which from this day

forth

permits no breathing-time, and knows no end

till in this land the last invader bow

his neck beneath the exterminating sword.

Ado. But who art thou who now hast sworn with me, my first confederate in this holy bond?

Tell me thy name.

Rod. Ask any thing but that. My name was lost

when from the Goths the sceptre past away.

The nation will arise regenerate;

strong in her second youth and beautiful,
and like a spirit which hath shaken off

the clog of dull mortality, again

1058

1059

arise in glory. But for my good name

no resurrection is appointed here..

Let it be blotted out on earth: in Heaven

there shall be written with it such good deeds
wrought in atonement as my soul this day
hath sworn to offer up.

R. SOUTHEY

PHILIP VAN ARTEVELDE TO ELENA

HEN am I doubly hopeless. What is gone

THEN

nor plaints nor prayers nor yearnings of the soul nor memory's tricks nor fancy's invocations— though tears went with them frequent as the rain in dusk November, sighs more sadly breathed than winter's o'er the vegetable dead,— can bring again; and should this living hope, that like a violet from the other's grave grew sweetly, in the tear-besprinkled soil finding moist nourishment-this seedling sprung where recent grief had like a ploughshare passed through the soft soul and loosened its affections— should this new-blossomed hope be coldly nipped, then were I desolate indeed! a man

whom heaven would wean from earth, and nothing leaves

but cares and quarrels, trouble and distraction,

the heavy burdens and the broils of life.

Is such my doom? Nay, speak it, if it be.

VOLUMNIA TO CORIOLANUS

H. TAYLOR

SHOULD we bodies would bewray what life

HOULD we be silent and not speak, our raiment,

we have led since thy exile. Think with thyself
how more unfortunate than all living women

are we come hither: since that thy sight, which should
make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance with comforts,
constrains them weep, and shake with fear and sorrow;
making thy mother, wife, and child, to see
the son, the husband, and the father, tearing
his country's bowels out. And to poor we
thine enmity's most capital: thou barr'st us
our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort

that all but we enjoy: for how can we,
alas, how can we for our country pray,
whereto we are bound,-together with thy victory,
whereto we are bound? alack, or we must lose
the country, our dear nurse; or else thy person,
our comfort in the country.

W. SHAKESPEARE

1060

INSTABILITY OF HUMAN GLORY

HOW weak

is mortal man; how trifling, how confined
his scope of vision! · Puffed with confidence,
his phrase grows big with immortality,
and he, poor insect of a summer's day,
dreams of eternal honours to his name,
of endless glory, and perennial bays!
he idly reasons of eternity

as of the train of ages, when, alas,
ten thousand thousand of his centuries
are, in comparison, a little point

too trivial for account! Oh, it is strange,
'tis passing strange, to mark his fallacies;
behold him proudly view some pompous pile,
whose high dome swells to emulate the skies,
and smile, and say, 'My name shall live with this
till Time shall be no more,' while at his feet-
yea, at his very feet-the crumbling dust

of the fallen fabric of the other day

preaches the solemn lesson.

H. K. WHITE

1061

Pyl.

PYLADES-IPHIGENIA

WHERE is she? that my words with speed may

WHERE

the joyful tidings of our near escape?

Iph. Oppressed with gloomy care, I much require
the certain comfort thou dost promise me.

Pyl. Thy brother is restored: the rocky paths
of this unconsecrated shore we trod
in friendly converse, while behind us lay,
unmarked by us, the consecrated grove;
and ever with increasing glory shone

the fire of youth around his noble brow:
courage and hope his glowing eye inspired;
and his free heart exulted with the joy

of saving thee, his sister, and his friend. Iph. The gods shower blessings on thee, Pylades! and from those lips which bear such welcome news, be the sad note of anguish never heard!

Pyl. I bring yet more,—for Fortune, like a prince, comes not alone but well accompanied :

1062

our friends and comrades we have also found.
Within a bay they had concealed the ship,
and mournful sat expectant. They beheld
thy brother, and a joyous shout upraised
imploring him to haste the parting hour:
each hand impatient longed to grasp the oar,
while from the shore a gently murmuring breeze,
perceived by all, unfurled its wing auspicious.
Let us then hasten; guide me to the fane,
that I may tread the sanctuary and seize
with sacred awe the object of our hopes,
I can unaided on my shoulder bear
Diana's image: how I long to feel
the precious burden!

A. SWANWICK from Goethe

IPHIGENIA-ORESTES

ONCLUDE the tale

Iph. which thy brother only told me half:

relate their end, who coming home from Troy, on their own threshold met a doom severe and most unlooked for. I, though but a child when first conducted hither, well recall the timid glance of wonder which I cast on those heroic forms. When they went forth, it seemed as though Olympus from her womb had cast the heroes of a by-gone world, to frighten Ilion; and, above them all, great Agamemnon towered pre-eminent: oh tell me, fell the hero in his home, through Clytemnestra's and Ægisthus' wiles? Ores. He fell. Iph.

Unblest Mycene! Thus the sons of Tantalus, with barbarous hands have sown