A- 9002-2, ^1^1 ?b PR 4132 ft"""' """"'■''">' '■"'"^ Fringillarsome tales in verse.Pictvred b 3 1924 013 435 734 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013435734 FRINGILLA: SOME TALES IN VERSE BY RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLACKMORE Copyrighted in the United States All rights reserved ^CTVKfiD •BYBTOVIS •> mmRFax-BavcKj^enf^ iwiTJEi»iii« pRawinGs* BY^BfrMn^s-HinTonsc i!t>^>»«ar:Sg ;uorsum irsur Phil ifringilh -. haec?jSon potui cjualei omela cjuerelajTi; " ' 1 pipttabunda sed va' ^^fc«8ggXw>aflF>l%,^^gN>i nroNDoisr«PVBi.iSHeD JlTjS] .^Vv/^" [Fringilla loquitur] " What means your finch ? " " Being well aware that he cannot sing like a Nightingale, He flits about from tree to tree, and twitters a little tale." ALBEIT he is an ancient bird, who tried his pipe in better days, and then was scared by random shots, he is fain to lift the migrant wing once more towards the humble perch, among the trees he loves. All gardeners own that he does no harn^, unless he flits into a thicket of young buds, or a very choice ladies' seed-bed. And he hopes that he is now too wise to commit such indiscretions. Perhaps it would have been wiser still to have shut up his little mandible, or employed it only upon grub. But the long gnaw of last winter's frost, which set mankind a-shivering, even in their most downy nest, has made them kindly to the race that has no roof for shelter and no hearth for warmth. Anyhow, this little finch can do no harm, if he does no good; and if he pleases nobody, he will not be surprised, because he has never satisfied himself. May-day, 1895. NOTE With kind consent of Messrs. Harper, " Buscombe " returns in altered form from the other side of the ocean. Two other little tales appeared of old, but nobody would look at them, and now they are offered after careful trimming. Standing afar, I gaze with doubt at other trimmings which are not mine. They have conquered the taste of the day perhaps, and high art announces them as her last transfiguration. More- over they are highly recommended — as the purest art not always is — by the modesty of the artist. R. D. B. THE TABLE OF CONTENTS To My Pen page I Lita of the Nile. Part I 5 >» II II i-*- i8 II II II 111 27 Kadisha ; or, The First Jealousy. Part I 41 II II II II 53 Mount Arafa ; or, The First Parting The Parting 67 Part I. Adam 72 II. Eve 80 The Meeting 88 The Well of St. John 93 Pausias and Glycera. Scene I 96 II 100 III 105 Buscombe ; or, A Michaelmas Goose "3 To Fame 127 ■^^9 The cover design, borders, initial letters, and the whole of the full-page illustrations — with the exception of the three to ' Pausias and Glycera ' by James W. R. Linton — are by Louis Fairfax-Muckley. I ,HOU feeble implement of mind, Wherewith she strove to scrawl her name ; But, like a mitcher, left behind No signature, no stroke^ no claim, No hint that she hath pined — Shall ever come a stronger time, When thou shalt be a tool of skill, And steadfast purpose, to fulfil A higher task than rhyme? 11 Thou puny instrument of soul. Wherewith she labours to impart Her efforts at some arduous goal ; But fails to bring thy coarser art Beneath a fine control — Shall ever come a fairer day, When thou shalt be a buoyant plume, To soar, where clearer suns illume, And fresher breezes play ? I b in Thou weak interpreter of heart, So impotent to tell the tale Of love's delight, of envy's smart. Of passion, and- ambition's bale. Of pride that dwells apart — Shall I, in length of time, attain (By walking in the human ways, With love of Him, who made and sways To ply thee, less in vain ? IV If s6> thou shalt be more to me Than sword, or sceptre, flag, or crown ; With mind, and soul, and heart in thee. Despising gold, and sham renown ; But truthful, kind, and free. Then come ; though now a pithless quill. Uncouth, unfledged, indefinite, — In time, thou shalt be taught to write, By patience, and good-will. 1854- " f\ rl -, « ?*• :« LITA OF THE NILE A TALE IN THREE PARTS PART I I 'ING, and Father, gift and giver, |God revealed in form of river, .Issuing perfect, and sublime, 'From the fountain-hekd of time; "Whom eternal mystery shroudeth, Unapproached, untracked, unknown ; Whom the Lord of heaven encloudeth With the curtains of His throne ; " From the throne of heaven descending, Glory, power, and goodness blending. Grant us, ere the daylight dies. Token of thy rapid rise." ^ ft* .5».»r &&: II Ha, it Cometh ! Furrowing, flashing, Red blood rushing o'er brown breast ; Peaks, and ridges, and domes, dashing Foam on foam, and crest on crest ! Tis the signal Thebes hath waited, Libyan Thebes, the hundred-gated : Rouse, and robe thee, River-priest For thy dedication feast ! Follows him the loveliest maiden, Afric's thousand hills can show ; White apparel'd, flower-laden. With the lotus on her brow. Ill Votive maid, who hath espousal Of the river's high carousal ; Twenty cubits if he rise. This shall be his bridal prize. Calm, and meek of face and carriage, Deigning scarce a quicker breath, Comes she to the funeral marriage, The betrothal of black death. Rosy hands, and hennaed fingers. Nails whereon the onyx lingers. Clasped, as at a lover's tale, In the bosom's marble vale. 6 IV Silvery scarf, her waist enwreathing, Wafts a soft Sabaean balm ; Like a cloud of incense, breathing Round the column of a palm : Snood of lilies interweaveth (Giving less than it receiveth) Beauty of her cluster'd brow. Calmly bent upon us now. Through her dark hair, spread before us. See the western glory wane, As in groves of dim Cytorus, Or the bowers of Taprobane I V See, the large eyes, lit by heaven, Brighter than the Sisters Seven, (Like a star the storm hath cowed) Sink their flash in sorrow's cloud. There the crystal tear refraineth. And the founts of grief are dry ; " Fatherj Mother — none remaineth ; All are dead ; and why not I ?" Yet, by God's will, heavenly beauty Owes to Heaven alone its duty ; Off ye priests, who dare adjudge Bride, like this, to slime and sludge! 7 VI When they tread the river's margent, All their mitred heads are bowed — What hath browned the ripples argent, Like the plume of thunder-cloud ? Where yestreen the water slumbered, With a sickly crust encumbered, Leapeth now a roaring flood, Wild as war, and red as blood. Every billow hurries quicker, Every surge runs up the strand ; While the brindled eddies flicker, Scourged as with a levin brand. VII Every bulrush, parched and welted. Lifts his long joints yellow-belted ; Every lotus, faint and sick. Hangs her fragrant tongue to lick. Countless creatures, long unthought of. Swarm from every hole and nook ; What is man, that he make nought of Other entries in God's book? Scorpions, rats, and lizards flabby, Centipedes, and hydras scabby, Asp, and slug, and toad, whose gem Outlasts human diadem. 8 VIII Therefore hath the priest-procession Causeway clean of sandalwood ; That no foul thing make transgression On the votive maiden's blood. Pure of bl6od and soul, she standeth Where the marble gauge demandeth, Marble pillar, with black style, Record of the rising Nile. White-robed priests around her kneeling. Ibis-banner floating high, Conchs, and drums, and sistrals pealing, And Sesostris standing nigh. IX He, whose kingdom-city stretches Further than our eyesight fetches ; Every street it wanders down Larger than a regal town ; Built, when each man was a giant. When the rocks were mason's stones, When the oaks were osiers pliant. And the mountains scarcely thrones ; City, whose Titanic portals Scorn the puny modern mortals. In thy desert winding-sheet, Sacred from our insect feet. 9 c X Thebes No-Amon, hundred-gated, Every gate could then unfold Cavalry ten thousand, plated, Man and horse, in solid gold. Glancing back through serried ranges, Vivid as his own phalanges, Every captain might espy Equal host in sculpture vie ; Down Piromid vista gazing, Ten miles back from every gate, He can see that teniple blazing. Which the world shall never mate. XI But the Nile-flood, when it swelleth, Recks not man, nor where he dwelleth ; And — e'en while Sesostris reigns- Scarce five cubits man attains. Lo, the darkening river quaileth. Like a swamp by giant trod. And the broad commotion waileth, Stricken with the hand of God ! When the rushing deluge raging Flung its flanks, and shook the staging, Priesthood, cowering from the brim. Chanted thus its faltering hymn. i6 XII " Ocean sire, the earth enclasping, Like a babe upon thy knee, In thy cosmic cycle grasping All that hath been, or shall be ; " Thou, that art around and over All we labour to discover ; Thou, to whom our world no more Than a shell is on thy shore ; " God, that wast Supreme, or ever Orus, or Osiris, saw ; God, with whom is no endeavour. But thy will eternal law : XIII " We, who keep thy feasts and fastings, We, who live on thy off-castings. Here in low obeisance crave Rich abundance of thy wave. " Seven years now, for some transgression. Some neglect, or outrage vile. Vainly hath our poor procession Offered life, and soul to Nile. " Seven years now of promise fickle, Niggard ooze, and paltry trickle. Freshet sprinkling scanty dole. Where the roaring flood should roll. II XIV "Therefore are thy children dwindled, Therefore is thine altar bare ; Wheat, and rye, and millet spindled, And the fruits of earth despair. " Men with haggard bellies languish. Bridal beds are strewn with anguish, Mothers sell their babes for bread. Half the holy kine are dead. " Is thy wrath at last relaxing ? Art thou merciful, once more ? Yea, behold the torrent waxing ! Yea, behold the flooded shore I XV " Nile, that now with life-blood tidest. And in gorgeous gold subsidest. Richer than our victor tread Stirred in far Hydaspes' bed; "When thy swelling crest o'er-waveth Yonder twenty cubit mark. And thy tongue of white foam laveth Borders of the desert dark, " This, the fairest Theban maiden. Shall be thine, with jewels laden ; Lift thy furrowed brow, and see Lita, dedicate to thee ! " 12 I^Si^M^^^^SM :©iS?' XVI Thus he spake, aitd loyvrly stooping O'er the Calasiris hem, Took the holy water, scooping With a bowl of lucid gem ; Chanting from the Bybline psalter Touched he then her forehead altar ; Sleeking back the trickled jet. There the marriage-^seal he set. " None of mortals dare pursue thee, None come near thy hallowed side : Nile's thou art, and he shall woo thee,- Nile, who swalloweth his bride." XVII With despair's, miite self-rreliante, She accepted death's affiance ; She, who hc^th no home or rest, Shrank not from the river's breast. Haply there she shall discovier Father, lost in wilds unknown, Motner slain, and youthful lover, Seen as yet in dreams alone. Ha ! sweet maid, what sudden vision Hath dispelled thy cold derision ? What new picture hast thou seen. Of a world that. might have been? 15 XVIII From Mount Seir, Duke Ii^am roveth, Three renewals of the moon : To see Egypt him behoveth, Ere his life be past its noon. Soul, and mind, at first fell under Flat discomfiture of wonder, With the Nile before him spread. Temple-crowned, and tempest-fed ! Yet a nobler creed he owneth. Than to worship things of space : One true God his heart enthroneth — Heart that throbs with Esau's race. XIX Thus he stood, with calm eyes scorning Idols, priests, and their adorning ; Seeing, e'en in nature's show, Him alone, who made it so. " God of Abraham, our Father, Earth, and heaven, and all we see. Are but gifts of thine, to gather Us, thy children, back to Thee. " All the grandeur spread before us. All the miracles shed o'er us, Echoes of the voice above, Tokens of a Father's love." i6 XX While of heaven his heart indited, And his dark eyes swept the crowd, Sudden on the maid they lighted. Mild and haughty^ meek and proud, Rapid as the flash of ssibre, Strong as gJaart's to^s of caber. Sure as victor's grasp of goal, Came the love-stroke through his soul^ Gently she, her eyes recalling. Felt that Heaven had touched their flight, Peeped again, through lashes falling, Blushecty and shrank, and shunned the light. XXI Ah, what booteth swe^t illusion, Fluttering glance, and soft suffusiofl, Bliss unknown, but felt in sighs. Breast, that shrinks at its own rise ? She, who' is the Nile's devoted. Courted with a watery smile; Her betrothal duly noted By the bridesmaid Crocodile ! So she bbwed her forehead towly, Tightened her tiara holy ; And, with- every sigh suppressed. Clasped her bands On passion's bfea^.- i7 d PART II I TWICE the moon hath waxed and wasted, Lavish of her dew-bright horn ; And the wheeling sun hath hasted Fifty days, towards Capricorn, Thebes, and all the Misric nation, Float upon the inundation ; Each man shouts and laughs, before Landing at his own house door. There the good wife doth return it, Grumbling, as she shows the dish, Chervil, basil, chives, and burnet Feed, instead of seasoning, fish. 11 Palm trees, grouped upon the highland. Here and there make pleasant island ; On the bark some wag hath wrote — " Who would fly, when he can float ?" Udder'd cows are standing pensive, Not belonging to that ilk ; How shall horn, or tail defensive, Keep the water from their milk? Lo, the black swan, paddling slowly, Pintail ducks, and sheldrakes holy, Nile-goose flaked, and herons gray. Silver-voiced at fall of day I 1 8 Ill Flood hath swallowed dikes and' hedges, Lately by Sesostris planned ; Till, like ropes, its matted edges Quiver on the desert sand. Then each former, brisk and mellowj Graspeth by thehandvhis fellow; And, as one gone labour-proof. Shakes his head at the drowned, shadooff Soon the.Nuphar comes, beguiling Sed|y> spears, and swords aiiound,. Like that cradded infant smiling, Whom>the royal maiden found.. IV But the time of times for wonder Is when ruddy sun goes. under; And the dusk throws^ half afraid, Silver shuttles o£ liMig shade.. Opens then a' scene; the fairesfe Ever bursfc on human view ; Once behold, and thou comparest Nothing in the worid thereto.. While the broad flood murmurs glistening To the moon that hangeth listening — Moon that looketh down the sky, Like an aloe-bloom on high — 19 S»d2>;^ And, bending o'er in sweet surprise, Perused, with simple child's delight, The flowing hair, and forehead white, And soft inquiring eyes. XIV Then, blushing to a fairer tint Than waves might ever hope to catch, " I see," she cried, " a lovely print ; But surely I can never match This lily glint I " So pure, so innocent, and bright, So charming free, without endeavour. So fancy-touched with pensive light I I think that I could gaze for ever, With new delight. " And now that rose-bud in my hair, Perhaps it should be placed above — And yet, I will not change it, love, Since tnou hast set it there. XV •' Vain Eve, why glory thus in Eve ? What matter for thy form or face ? Thy beauty is, if love believe Thee worthy of that treasured place Thou ne'er shalt leave. 63 MOUNT ARAFA IN TWO PARTS "Mount Arafa, situated about a mile from Mecca, is held in great veneration by the Mussulmans, as a place very proper for penitence. Its fitness in this respect is accounted for by a tradition that Adam and Eve, on being banished out of Paradise, in order to do penance for their transgression were parted from each other^ and after a separation of six score years, met again upon this mountain." Ockley's " History of the Saracens," p. 60. THE PARTING I RIVEN away from Eden's gate (With blazing falchions fenced about) Into a desert desolate, A miserable pair came out, To meet their fate. To wander in a world of woe, To ache and starve, to burn and shiver. With every living thing their foe — The fire of God above, the river Of death below. Of home, of hope, of Heaven bereft ; It is the destiny of man T !| To cower beneath his Maker's ban, And hide from his own theft ! II The father of a world unborn— Who hath begotten death, ere life-^^ In sullen silence plods forlorn ; His love and pride in his fair wife Are rage and scorn. Instead of Angel ministers, What hath he now but fiends devouring Instead of grapes and melons, burs ; In lieu of manna, crab and souring — By whose fault ? Hers ! Alack, good sire of feeble knees, New penance waits thee ; since — when thus Thou shouldst have wept for all of us — Thou mournest thine own ease I III The mother of all loving wives (Condemned unborn to many a tear) Is fain to take his hand, and strives In sorrow to be doubly dear — But shame deprives. 68 ^L^S!«S^#',J^=?®^r^^'9!^^ ■F ^^^ ki^ifc Ji^L,s>»_ RICHARD HOFEY— continued. gipsy Omar Khayy&mj They have always careless verve, and often careless felicity ; uey are masculine and rough, as roving songs should be. . . . Here, certainly, is the poet's soul. . . . You have ttie whole spirit of the book in such an unfor- getabte little lyric as ' In the House of Idiedally.* . . We refer the reader to the delightful little volume itself, which comes as a welcome interlude amidst the highly wrought introspective poetry of the day."— Francis Thompson, in Merry England. *^ Bliss Carman is the author of a delightful volume of verse, *■ Low Tide on Grand Pre,' and Richard Hovey is the foremost of the living poets of America, with the exception, perhaps, of Bret Harte and Joaquim Miller, whose names are more familiar. He sounds a deeper note than either of these, and deals with loftier themes.'* — Dublin Express, ^^Both possess the power of investing actualities with fancy, and leaving them none the less actual ; of setting the march music of the vagabond's feet to words ; of being comrades with nature, yet without presumption. And they have that charm, raie in writers of verse, of drawing the reader into the fellowship of their own zest and contentment." — Athenaum. CHAPMAN {ELIZABETH RACHEL). A Little Child's Wreath : A Sonnet Sequence. With title page and cover designed by Selwyn Image. Second Edition. Sq. i6mo. , green buckram, -^s. 6d. net. New York : Dodd^ Mead &^ Company. *^ Contains many tender and pathetic passages, and some really exquisite and subtle touches of childhood nature. . . . The average excellence of the sonnets is undoubted." — Spectator. *Mn these forty pages of poetry ... we have a contribution inspired by grief for the loss of a child of seven, which is not unworthy to take its place even beside ^ In Memoriam.' . . . Miss Chapman has ventured upon sacred ground, but she has come off safely, with the inspiration of a divine sympathy in hci soul, and with lips touched with the live coal from the altar on which glows th ilame ot immortal love " — W. T. STEAD, in The Review ef Reviews. "■ Full of a very solemn and beautiful but never exaggerated seni inent.*> — LOGROLLER, in Star. ^^ While they are brimming with tenderness and tears, they are marked witht skilled workmanship of the real ^ocX.."~Glasgow Herald. *^ Evidently describes very real and intense sorrow. Its strains of tender sym- pathy will appeal specially to those whose hearts have been wrung by the loss of a young child, and the verses are touching in their simplicity " — Morning Post. '^ Re-assures us on its first page by its sanity and its simple tenderness." — Bookman. COLERIDGE {HON. STEPHEN). The Sanctity of Confession : A Romance, and edi- tion. Printed by Clowes & Son. 250 copies. Cr. 8vo. 3^-, neL [ Very few remain, '* Mr. Stephen Coleridge's sixteenth-century romance is well and pleasantly written. The style is throughout in keepmg with the story; and we should imagine that the historical probabilities are well observed." — Rail Mall Gaxette. Mr. Gladstone writes :— "I have read the singularly well told story. . . . It opens up questions both deep and dark ; it cannot be right to accept in religion or anything else a secret which destroys the life of an innocent fellow creature." The Publications of Elkin Mathews CORBIN (JOHN). The Elizabethan Hamlet: A Study of the Sources, and of Shakspere's Environment, to show that the Mad Scenes had a Comic Aspect now. Ignored. With a Prefatory Note by F. York Powell, Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford, Small 4to. 3J. 6ii. net. New York : Charles Scridner^s Sons, This book is a study of the sources of " Hamlet,'' and of Shakespeare's environ- ment, with the object of showing that the mad scenes in the play had a comic aspect now ignored. Mr. Corbin^s general standpoint is that Shakespeare naturally wrote the drama for Elizabethan audiences. They in their time saw jest in what would seem to us only the severest tragedy. What he wishes to get at is the comedy in "Hamlet" according to the Elizabethan point of view. ..." When we add that so competent a judge as Professor York Powell expresses his belief in a Prefatoiy Note that Mr. Corbin has * got hold of a truth that has not been clearly, if at all, expressed in our Elizabethan studies — to wit, that the i6th century audience's point of view, and, of necessity, the playwright's treatment of his subject, were very different from ours of to-day in many matters of mark' — and express our own concurrence in this, we have said enough to recommend Mr. Corbin's little book to the attention of all Shakespearian students." — Times, CROSSING (JVILLIAM). The Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor ; with a Descrip- tion of their Surroundings. With II plates. 8vo. cloth. 4J. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. DAVIES {R. R.). Some Account of the Old Church at Chelsea and OF ITS Monuments. [/n preparation. DE GRUCHY {AUGUSTA). Under the Hawthorn, and Other Verses. With Frontispiece by Walter Crane. Printed at the Rugby Press. 300 copies. Cr. 8vo. Si. net. Also 30 copies on Japanese vellum. 15^. net. " Melodious in metri:, graceful in fancy, and not wlttiout spontaneity of inspira- tion." — Times. " Very tender and melodious is much of Mrs. De Gruchy's verse. Rare imaginative power marlcs the dramatic monologue * In the Prison Van.' '' — Speaker. , " Distinguished by the attractive qualities of grace and refinement, and a purity of style that is as refreshing as a limpid stream in the heat of a summer's noon. . . . The charm of these poems lies in their naturalness, which is indeed an admirable quality in song.'' — Saturday Review, DESTREE {OLIVER GEORGES). POEMES SANS RiMES. Imprime k Londres aux Presses de Chiswick, d'apres les dessins de Herbert P. Horne. 25 copies for sale. Square cr. Svo. 8i. 6d. net. Vigo Street, London, W. DIVERSI COLORES SERIES. ;"';;■ See Horne. DOWSON {ERNEST). Dilemmas : Stories and Studies in Sentiment. (A Case of Conscience, — The Diary of a Successful Man. — An Orchestral Violin. — The Statute of Limitations. — Souvenirs of an Egoist). Crown 8vo. 3j. dd. net. Poems {Diversi Colores Series). With a title design by H. P. Horne. Printed at the Chiswick Press, on hand-made paper. i6mo. <,s. net. [Shortly. ** Mr. Dowson's contributions to tlie two series of the Rhymer^t Boai were subtle and exquisite poems. He lias a touch of Elizabethan distinction. . . . Mr. Dowson^s stories are very remarkable in quality." — Baitm Literary Jip^rld. FIELD {MICHAEL). Sight and Song (Poems on Pictures). Printed by Constables. 400 copies. i2mo. ^s. net. [ Very few remain, " This is a &cinating; little volume ; one that will give to many readers a new interest in the examples of pictorial art with which it deals. Certainly, in the delight in the beauty of the human form, and of the fair shows of earth, and sea, and sky which it manifests^ and in the harmonious verbal expression which this delight has found, the book is one of the most Keats-like things that has been produced since Keats himself took his seat among the immortals.''^— .^eotfem/. ^* The verses have a sober grace and harmony, and the truth and poetic delicacy of the work is only realised on a close comparison with the picture itself. It is soothing and pleasant to participate in such leisurely degustation and enjoyment, such insistent penetration, for these poems are far removed ftom mere description, and the renderings, though somewhat lacking in the sense of humour, show both courage and poetical imagination.*' — Weitminster Review, Stephania : A Trialogue in Three Acts. Frontis- piece, colophon, and ornament for binding designed by Selwyn Image. Printed by Folkard & Son. 250 copies (200 for sale). Pott 4to. 6s. net. [ Very few remain, "We have true drama in 'Stephania.' .... Stephania, Otho, and Sylv'ester II., the three persons of the play, are more than mere names Besides great effort, commendable effort, there is real greatness in this play ', and the blank verse is oflen sinewy and strong with thought and ^^^ion." —Speaker. **• Stephania' is striking in design and powerful in execution. It is a highly dramatic ' trialogue ' between the Emperor Otho III., his tutor Gerbert, and Stephania, the widow of the murdered Roman Consul, Crescentius. The poem contains much fine work, and is picturesque and of poetical accent. . y—lVeitminster Review. A Question of Memory: a Play in Four Acts. 100 copies only. 8vo. 5^. net. [ Very few remain. 8 The Publications of Elkin Mathews GALTON (ARTHUR), Essays upon Matthew Arnold {DiversiColores Series), Printed at the Chiswick Press on hand-made pajper, Cr. 8vo. ^s.net, \_In preparation, GASKIN {MRS. ARTHUR). An a. B.C. Book. Rhymed and Pictured by Mrs. Arthur Gaskin. [/« preparation. HAKE {DR. r. GORDON, " TAe Parable Poet.") Madeline, and other Poems. Crown 8vo. ' 55. net. Transferred to the present Publish^. "The ministry of the angel Daphne to her erring human aigter is frequently related in strains of pure and elevated tenderness. Nor does the poet who can show so much delicacy ^il in strength. The description of Madeline as she passes in trance to her vengeance is full of vivid pictures and charged with tragic feeling. The individuality of the writer lies in his deep sympathy with whatever affects the being and condition of man. . , . Taken as a whole, the book has high and unusual claims." — Athmaum. "I have been reading 'Madeline* again. For sheer.originality, both of conception and of treatment, I consider that it stands alone."— Mr. Theodore Watts. Parables and Tales. (Mother and Child. — The Crip- ple.— The Blind Boy.— Old Morality. —Old Souls.— The Lily of the Valley.— The Deadly Nightshade.— The Poet). With a Biographical Sketch by Theodore Watts. 9 illustrations by Arthur Hughes. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 3J. 6rf. net. *' The qualities of Dr. GorHon Hake's work were t rom the first fully admitted and warmly praised by one of the greatest of contemporary poets, who was also a critic of exceptional acuteness — Rossetd. Indeed, the only two review articles which Rossetti ever wrote were written on two of Dr. Hake's books : * Madeline,* which he reviewed in the Atademy in 1871, and * Parables and Tales,' which he reviewed in the Fortnightly in 1873. Many eminent critics have expressed a decided preference for ' Parables and Tales ' to Dr. Hake^s other works, and it had the advantage of being enriched with the admirable illustrations of Arthur Hughes."— ^atun/o/ Review^ January, 1895. " The piece called * Old Souls ' is probably secure of a distinct place in the liter- ature of our day, and we believe the same may be predicted of other poems in the little collection Just issued. . . . Should Dr. Hake's more restricted, but lovely and sincere contributions to the poetry of real life not find the immediate response they deserve, he may at least remember that others also have failed 10 meet at once wi& full justice and recognition. But we will hope for good encouragement to his present and future work; and can at least ensure the lover of poetry that in these simple pages he shall find not seldom a humanity limpid and pellucid — the well-spring of a true heart, with which his tears must mingle as with their own element. ** Dr. Hake has been fortunate in the beautiful drawings which Mr. Arthur Hughes has contributed to his little volume. No poet could have a more congenial yoke-fellow than this gifted and Imaginative artist,"— D. G, RossETTI, in the Fortnightly. 1873. Vigo Street, London, W. HALLAM {ARTHUR). The Poems of Arthur Henry Hallam, together with his Essay "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson," reprinted from the Englishman's Magazine, 1831, edited, with an introduction, hy Richard le Gallienne. 550 copies (500 for sale). Small 8vo. 5^. net. New York : Macmillan &' Co. Many of these Poems are of great Tennysonian interest, having been addressed to Alfred, Charles, and Emily Teflnyson. HAMILTON (COL. IAN). The Ballad of Hadji, and Other Poems. With etched frontispiece by WillIam Strang. Printed at the Chiswick Press. 550 copies, izmo. 3^. net. Transferred by the Author to the present Publisher. " Here is a dainty Tolume of clear, sparkling verse. The thought is aparlding, and the lines limpid and lightly flowing.''— 5M*jMflw. HARPER {CHARLES G.) Revolted Woman : Past, Present, and to Come. Printed by Strangeways. Illustrated with numerous original drawings and facsimiles by the Author. Crown 8vo. ^s. net. " Mr. Harper, like a modern John Knox, denounces the monstrous regiment ot women, making the ' New Woman' the textofa discourse that bristles with historical instances and present day portraits."— S<«uri/ii;i Revimi. " The illustrations are distinctly clever.''- PaiWJBWJ Ctrmlar. HEMINGWAY {PERCY). OtT OF Egypt : Stories from the Threshold of the East. Cover design by Gleeson White. Crown Svo. 3J. 6d. net. " This is a strong ^xok'^—Acadimy. " This isa remarkable book. Egyptian life has seldom been portrayed ftom the i nside The author's knowledge of Arabic, his sympathy with the religion of Islam.' above all his entire freedom ftom Western prejudice, have enabled him to ■ learn mire of what modern Egypt reaUy is than the average Englishman could possibly acquire in a Ufetime at Cairo or Port %M:'— African Riviem "A lively and picturesque style. . . . undoubted talent."— MTi» Star, *' The tale ... is treated with daring directness. . . An impressive and pathetic close to a story told throughout with arreating strength and- simplicity." — JJailj/ News. ** Genuine power aud pathos." — Pall Mall Gaxette, The Happy Wanderer (Poems). "With title design by Charles I. flfoulkes. Printed at the Chiswick Press, on hand-made paper. Sq. i6mo. 5^. net. [In the press. mCKEY {EMILY i/.)- A Volume of Poems. [In preparation. Verse Tales, Lyrics and Translations. Printed at the Arnold Press. 300 copies. Imp. i6mo. 5^. net. [ Very few ^remain, 'Miss Hickf^'s 'Verse Tales,. Lyrics, and Translations* almost invariably r^ch a^gh level of finish and completeness. The book is a string of little rounded pearls. — Atktnaum. HINKSON {HENRY A.). Dublin Verses. By Members op Trinity Coli,ege. Selected and Edited by H. A. Hinkson, late Scholar of Trinity College, Dublin. Pott 4to. S^. net. 2)ublin: Hodges, Figgis &'. Co.,, Limited, Includes contributions by the following : — Aubrey de Vere, Sir Stephen de Vere, Oscar Wilde, J. K. Ingram, A. P. Graves, J. Todhunter, W. E. H. Lecky, T. W. RoUeston, Edward Dowden, G. A. Greene, Savage- Armstrong, Douglas Hyde, R. Y. Tyrrell, G. N. Plunkett, W. Macneile Dixon, William Wilkins, George Wilkins, and; Edlvin Hamilton. ** A pleasant volume of contemporary Irish Vejw. . . A judicious selectioQ." — Tim«, *^ Wllererer tliere is a group of Irish readefs in near or fiu'-off' lands, these ( Dublin Verses ' will be sure to command attention and-applau6e.**^G/»£oi.irrraU, HINKSON (KATHARINE). Sloes on the Blackthorn : a Volume of. Xrish Stories. Crown 8vo., 3*, 6d. net. [In preparation. » HOBBY HORSE (THE)." An Illustrated Art Miscellany, Edited by Herbeiw: P. HORNE. The Fourth Number of the New Series will shortly appear, after which Mr. Mathews will publish all the numbers in a volume, price ;^l, is, net, Boffon : Cof eland &• JJay. Vigo Street, London, W. ii HORNE {HERBERT P.) DiVEKSi CoLORES : Poems. Vignette, &c., designed by the Author. Printed at the Chiswick Press. 250 copies. i6mo. 5^. net. Transferred by the Author to the present Fnilisher. *' In these few poems Mr. Home has set before a tasteless age, and an extravagant age, examples of poetry which, without fear or hesitation, we consider to be of true and pure beauty." — jinti'yacobin, " With all his fondness for sixteenth century styles and themes, Mr. Home is yet sufficiently individual in his thought and manner. Much of his sentiment is quite latter-day in tone and rendering ; he is~a child of his time." — Glebe, ** Mr. Home's work is almost always carefiilly felicitous and may be compared with beautiful filagree work in verse. He is fully, perhaps too fiilly, conscious of the value of restraint, and is certainly in need of no more culture in the handling of verse — of such verse as alone he cares to work in. He has already the merits of a finished artist — or, at all events, of an artist who is capable of the utmost finish.** — Pall Mall Gaxettt, The Series of Books begun in "Diversi Colores" by Mr. Herbert P. Horne„ will continue to be pub- lished by Mr. Elkin Mathews. The intention of the series is to give, in a collected and sometimes revised form, Poems and Essays by various writers, whose names have hitherto been chiefly asso- ciated with the Hobby Horse. The series will be edited by Mr. Herbert P. Home, and will contain : No. II. Poems and Carols. By Selwyn Image. [jfust published. No. III. Essays ueon. Matthew Arnold. By Ar- thur Galton. [Immediateljr. No. IV. Poems. By Ernest Dowson. No. V. The Letters and Papers of Adam Le- GENDRE. Each volume. will contain 1 new title-page and ornaments designed by the Editor ; and, the volumes of verse will be uniform with. " Diversi Colores." NORTON (ALICE). Poems. [Shortfy. HUEFFER [OLIVER F. MADOX). Sonnets AND Poems. With a frontispiece. {Shortly. 12 The Publications of Elkin Mathews HUGHES (ARTHUR). See Hake. HUNT (LEIGH). A Volume of Essays now collected for the first time. Edited with a. critical Introduction by R. W. M, Johnson. [/« tAe press, IMAGE (SELWYN). Poems and Carols, ipiversi Colores Series. — New Volume). Title design by H. P. Horne. Printed on hand-made paper at the Chiswick Press. i6mo. 5j. net, \Jf*st ready, "Among the artists who have turned poets will shortly have to be reckoned Mr. Selwyn Image. A volume of poems from his pen will be published by Mr. Elkin Mathews before long. Those who are acquainted ivith Mr. Selwyn Image's work will expect to £nd a real and deep poetic charm in this book." — Daily Chronicle. "• No one else could have done it (i.e., written ' Poems and Carols ') in just this way, and the artist himself could have done it in no other way.'* '* A remarkable impress of personality, and this personality of singular rarity and interest. Every piece is perfectly composed ; the ^ mental cartooning,* to use Rossetti's phrase, has been adequately done . . . an air of grave and homely order . . . a union of quaint and subtly simple homeliness, with a somewhat abstract severity. ... It is a new thing, the revelation of a new poet. . . . Here is a book which may be trusted to outlive most contemporary literature." — Saturday Review. " An intensely personal expression of a personality of singular charm, gravity, fencifulness, and interest 5 work which is alone among contemporary verse alike in regard to substance and to form . . . comes with more true novelty than any boolt of verse published in England for some years." — Athenaum. '"'• Some men seem to avoid fame as sedulously as the majority seek it. Mr. Selwyn Image is one of these. He Iws achieved a charming fame by his very shyness and mystery. His very name has a look of having been designed by the Century Guild, and it was certainly first published in The Century Guild Hobby Hone.^'* — The Realm. "In the tiny little volume of verse, * Poems and Carols,' by Selwyn Image, we discern a note of spontaneous inspiration, a delicate and graceful ^cy, and considerable, but unequal, skill of versification. The Carols are skilfiil reproductions of that rather archaic form of composition, devotional in tone and felicitous in sentiment. Love and nature are the principal themes of the Poems. It is diiHcult not to be hackneyed in the treatment of such themes, but Mr. Image successfully ■bvercomes the difficulty." — The Times. '^ The Catholic movement in literature, a strong reality to-day in England as in t'rance, if workinjg within narrow limits, has its newest interpretation in Mr. Selwyn Image's * Poems and Carols.' Of course the book is charming to look at and to handle, since it Is his. The Chiswick Press and Mr. Mathews have helped him to realize his design." — The Sketch. ISHAM FACSIMILE REPRINTS ^ Nm. III. and W. See Breton and Southwell. *„* New Elizabethan Literature at the British Museum, see T^ Times, 31 August, 1894, also Niftes and Qmrks^ Septj 1894. Vigo Street, London, W. 13 [By the Author of The Art of Thomas Hardy]. JOHNSON (LIONEL), Poems. With a title design and colophon by H. P. Horne. Printed at the Chiswick Press, on hand-made paper. Sq. post 8vo. 5j. net. Also, 25 special copies at 15^. net. Boston : Copeland and Day. '* Full of delicate fancy, and display much lyrical grace and felicity."— Timw. ** An air of solidity, combined with something also of severity, is the first impression one receives from these pages. . . . The poems are more massive than most lyrics are; they aim at dignity and attain it. This is, we believe, the first book of verse that Mr. Johnson has published \ and we would say, on a first reading, that for a first book it was remarkably mature. And so it is, in its accomplishment, its reserve of strength, its unfaltering style. . . . Whatever form his writing takes, it wilt be the expression of a rich mind, and a rare talent." — Saturday Review. "Mr. Lionel Johnson's poems have the advantage of a two-fold inspiration. Many of these austere strains could never have been written if he had not been steeped in the most golden poetry of the Greeks ; while, on the other hand, side by side with the mellifiuous chanting, there comes another note, mild, sweet, and unsophisticated— the very bird-note of Celtic poetry. And then again one comes on a very ripe and affluent, as of one who has spoiled the very goldenest harvests of song of cultivated ages. . . . Mr. Johnson's poetry is concerned with lofty thines and is never less than passionately sincere. It is sane, high-minded, and full of felicities." ^^Illustrated London News, ^*The most obvious characteristics of Mr, Johnson's verse are dignity and distinction ; but beneath these one feels a passionate poetic impulse, and a grave fascinating music passes from end to end of the volume." — Realm. ** It is at once stately and passionate, austere, and fi'ee. His passion has a sane mood ; his fire a white heat. . . . Once again it i« the Celtic spirit that makes for higher things. Mr. Johnson's muse is concerned only with the highest. Her flight is as of a winged thing, that goes *■ higher still and higher,' and has few flutterings near earth. — Irish Daily Independent, JOHNSON {EFFIE). In the Fire, and other Fancies. With frontispiece by Walter Crane. Imperial i6mo. 3^. 6rf. net. LAMB (CHARLES). Beauty and the Beast. With an Introduction by Andrew Lang. Facsimile Reprint of the rare First Edition. With 8 cftoice stipple engravings in brown ink, after the original plates. Royal l6mo. 3j. 6d. net. Transferred to the present Publisher. MARSON (REV. C. L.). A Volume of Short Stories. [In preparation. 14 The Publications of Elicin Mathews MARSrON {PHILIP BOURKE). A Last Harvest : Lyrics and Sonnets from the Book of Love. Edited, with Biographical Sketch, by Louise Chandler Moulton. 500 copies. Printed by Miller & Son. Post 8vo. is. net. [ Very few remain. Also 50 copies on hand-made L.P. los. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. "Among the sonnets with which the volume concludes, there are some fine examples of a form of verse in which all competent authorities allow that MarstoR excelled. 'The Breadth and Beauty of the Spacious Night,' 'To All in Haven,' 'Friendship and Love,' 'Love's Deserted Palace' — these, to mention no others, have the 'nigh seriousness ' which Matthew Arnold made the test of true poetry." — ^hentzum. " Mrs. Chandler Moulton's biography is a beautifiil piece of writing, and her estimate of his work — a high estimate — is also a just one." — Block and WBtt, MASON {A. E. W.). A Romance of Wastdale. Crown 8vo. 3J. dd. net. {Immediately. MORRISON (G. £.). Alonzo Quixano, otherwise Don Quixote: being a dramatization of the Novel of Cervantes, and espe- cially of those parts which he left unwritten. Cr. 8vo. IS. net. MUSA CATHOLICA. Selected and Edited by Mrs. William Sharp. [/» preparation. MURRAY {ALMA). Portrait as Beatrice Cenci. With Critical Notice containing Four Letters from Robert Browning. 8vo. 2s. net. NOEL {HON. RODEN). My Sea, and other posthumous Poems. With an Intro- duction by Stanley Addleshaw. [/» preparation. Selected Lyrics from the Works of the late Hon. Roden Noel, With a Biograpliical and Critical Essay by Percy Addleshaw. Illustrated with Two Portraits, including a reproduction of the famous picture by W. B. Richmond, A. [/« preparation. Vigo Street, London, W. 15 NOEL (HON. RODEN)— continued. Poor People's Christmas. Printed at the Aylesbury Press. 250 copies. i6mo. is. net. [ Very few remain. ** Displays the author at his best Mr. Noel always has something to say worth saying, and his technique— though like Browning, he is too intent upon idea to bestow all due care upon form — ia generally sufficient and sometimes masterly. We hear too seldom from a poet of such deep and kindly sympathy." — Sunday Times. O'SULLIVAN (FINCENT). Poems. With a title-design by Selwyn Image. [In preparation. POWELL {F. YORK). See CORBIN. PROBTN {MAY). Pansies : A Book of Poems. With a title-page and cover design by Minnie Mathews. Fcap. 8vo. y. 6d, net. "De mm jardirif voyageur, Vous me demandex une fieur ? CueiUex toujours — mats je n'aij yhjiageury que des pensees." " Miss Probyn's new volume is a slim one, but rare in quality. She is no mere pretty verse maker ; her spontaneity and originality are beyond question, and so far as colour and picturesqueness go, only Mr. Francis Thompson rivals her among the English Catholic poets of to-day." — Sketch. "■ This too small book is a mine of the purest poetry, very holy, and very refined, and removed as far as possible from the tawdry or the common-place."— In'jA Monthly. ** The religious poems are in their way perfect, with a tinge of the mysticism one looks for in the poetry of two centuries ago, but so seldom meets with nowadays.'* —Catholic Timts. ** Full of a delicate devotional sentiment and much metrical felicity." — Times. RHYMERS' CLUB, THE SECOND BOOK OF THE. Contributions by E. DowsoN, E. J. Ellis, G. A. Greene, A. HiLLiER, Lionel Johnson, Richard le Gal- LiENNE, Victor Plarr, E. Radford, E. Rhys, T. W. Rollestone, Arthur Symons, J. Tod- hunter, W. B. Yeats. Printed by Miller & Son. 500 copies (of which 400 are for sale). l6mo. 5^. net. 50 copies on hand-made L.P. los. 6d. net. New York : Dodd, Mead &= Co. "The work of twelve very competent verse writers, many of them not unknown to fame. This form of publication is not a new departure exactly, but it is a recur- rence to the excellent fashion of the Elizabethan age, when 'England's Helicon,' i6 The Publications of Elkin Mathews RHYMERS' CLUB, SECOND BOOK OF THE— continued. Davison's ' Poetical Rhapsody,' and ' Phoenix Nest,' with scores of other collections, contained the best songs of the best song-writers of that tuneful epoch." — Black and fVhite. "The future of these thirteen writers, who have thus banded themselves together, will be watehed with interest. Already there Is fulfiiment in their work, and there is much promise." —Speaker. "In Ae intervals of Welsh rarebit and stout provided for them at the 'Cheshire Cheese,' in Fleet Street, the members of the Rhymers' Club have produced some very pretty poems, which Mr. Elkin Mathews has issued in his notoriously dainty manner." — Pall Mall Gaxette, ROBERTSON-HICKS (MAUDE). Spring Voices. \_Shortly. ROTHENSTEIN {IVILL). Occasional Portraits. With comments on the Per- sonages by various writers. [In preparation. SCHAFF {DR. P.). Literature and Poetry : Papers on Dante, Latin Hymns, &c. Portrait and Plates. lOO copies only. 8vo. lOJ. net. [ Very few remain. SCULL (^. D.). The Garden of the Matchboxes, and other Stories. Crown 8vo. y. 6(1. net. ^In preparation. STRANGE [E. F.) A Book of Thoughts. [In preparation. [Isham Facsimile Reprint]. S[OUTHWELL] {R{OBERT^). A Fovrefovld Meditation, of the foure last THINGS. Composed in a Diuine Poeme. By R. S. The author of S. Peter's complaint. London, 1606. A Facsimile Reprint, with a Bibliographical Note by Charles Edmonds. 150 copies. Printed on hand- made paper at the Chiswick Press. Roy. i6mo. 5j. net. Also JO copies, large paper, ^s. 6d. net. Facsimile reprint from tlie unique fragment discovered in tlie autumn of 1867 by- Mr. Charles Edmonds in a disused lumber room at Lamport Hall, Nortbants, and lately purchased by the British Museum authorities. This fragment supplies the first sheet of a previously unknown poem by Robert Southwell, the Roman Catholic poet, whose religious fervour lends a pathetic beauty to everything that he wrote, and future editors of Southwell's works will find it necessary to give it close study. The whole of the Poem has been completed from two MS. copies, which difier in the number of Stanzas. Vigo Street, London, W. 17 SYMONDS (JOHN ADDINGTON). In the Key of Blue, and other Prose Essays. With cover designed by C. S. Ricketts. Printed at the Ballantyne Press. Second Edition. Thick cr. 8vo. Ss, 6d, net. New York : Macmillan 6* Co, " The variety of Mr, Symonda' interests ! Here are criticisms upon the Venetian Tiepolo, upon M. Zola, upon Medixval Norman Songs, upon Elizabethan lyrics, upon Plato's and Dante's ideals of love \ and not a sign anywhere, except may be in the last, that he -has more concern for, or knowledge of, one theme than another. Add to these artistic themes the delighted records of English or Italian scenes, with their rich beauties of nature or of art, and the human passions that inrbrm them. How joyous a sense of great possessions won at no man's hurt or loss must such a man retain." — Daily Chronicle, ** Some of the essays are very charming, in Mr. Symonds' best style, but the first one, that which gives its name to the volume, is at least the most curious of the lot." — Speaker. *'The other essays are the work of a sound and sensible critic." — National Observer. *' The literary essays are more restrained, and the prepared student will find them full of illumination and charm, while the descriptive papers have the attractiveness which Mr. Symonds' always gives to work in this genre." — Mr. Jas, ASHCROFT Noble, in The Literary World. TENNYSON (LORD). See Hallam, — Van Dyke. TODHUNTER (DR. JOHN). A Sicilian Idyll. With a Frontispiece by Walter Crane. Printed at the Chiswick Press. 250 copies. Imp. i6mo. $s. net. 50 copies hand-made L.P. Fcap. 4to. 10^. 6d. net. [Very few remain. " He combines his notes skilfully, and puts his own voice, so to speak, into them, and the music that results is sweet and of a pastoral tunefulness."— S^M^er. '* The blank verse is the true verse of pastoral, quiet and scholarly, with frequent touches of beauty. The echoes of Theocritus and of the classics at large are modest and felicitous," — jinti-yanbin. "A charming little pastoral play in one act. The verse is singularly graceful, and many bright gems of wit sparkle in the dialogues."— irtwary World. *•'' Well worthy of admiration for its grace and delicate finish, its clearness, and its compactness.'*— ^j&entfum. Also the following works by the same Author transferred to the present Publisher, viz. : — Laurella, and other Poems, 5^. net. — Alcestis, a Dramatic Poem, 45. net. — A Study of Shelley, 5^.6^. net. — Forest Songs, and other Poems, 3^. «£A— The Banshee, 3^. net.— Helena in Troas, 2s, 6d, net. 1 8 The Publications of Elkin Mathews TYNAN {KATHARINE). See HiNKSON, FAN DYKE (HENRY). The Poetry of Tennyson. Third Edition, enlarged. Cr. 8vo. 5^. 6(i. net. The additions consist of a Portrait, Two Chapters, and the Bibliography expanded. The Laureate himself gave valuable aid in correcting various details. "Mr. Elkin Mathews publishes a new edition, revised and enlarged, of that excellent work, 'The Poetry of Tennyson,' by Henry Van Dyke. The additions are considerable. It is extremeiy interesting to go over the bibliographical notes to see the contemptuous or, at best, contemptuously patronising tone of the reviewers in the early thirties gradually turning to civility, to a loud chorus of applause."— jinti-yacobin. " Considered as an aid to the study of the Laureate, this labour of lore merits warm commendation. Its grouping of the poems, its bibliography and chronology, its catalogue of Biblical allusion and quotations, are each and all substantial accessories to the knowledge of the author."— Dr. Richard Garnett, in the Illustrated London News. WATSON {E. H. LACON). The Unconscious Humourist, and other Essays. [In preparation. [_Mr. JVedmor^s Short Stories. New and Uniform Issue. Crown Svo.j each Volume 3^. fid. net.'] IfEDMORE {FREDERICK). Pastorals of France. Fourth Edition. CrowTi 8vo. 3^. 6d. net. \Ready. Neiv York : Charles Scribner^s Sons. *• a writer in whom delicacy of literary touch is united with an almost disem- bodied fineness of sentiment," — Athenaum. " Of singular quaintness and beauty." — Contemporary Review. *'The stories are exquisitely told." — The World. " Delicious idylls, written with Mr. Wedmore's Biscinating command of sympathetic incident, and with his characteristic charm of style." — Illustrated London News. " The publication of the ' Pastorals ' may be said to have revealed, not only a new talent, but a new literary i-enrtf. , Thecharmof the writing never foils." — Bookman *' In their simplicity, their tenderness, their quietude, their truthfulness to the remote life that they depict, * Pastorals of France ' are almost perfect."— S/w/a/or. Vigo Street, London, W. 19 WEDMORE {FREDERICK}— continued. Rehunciations. Third Edition. With «, Portrait by J. J. Shannon. Cr. 8vo. 35. 6d. net. [Ready, New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. *' These are clever studies in polite realism.'' — Athenaum. '* They are quite unusual. The picture of Richard Pelse, with his one moment of romance, is exquisite." — St. gamers Gaxette. " ' The Chemist in the Suburbs,' in ' Renunciations,' is a purejoy. . , . The story of Richard Felsc's life is told with a power not unworthy oitbe now disabled hand that drew for us the lonely old age of M. Parent." — Mr. Traill, in The New Review, *' The book belongs to the highest order of imaginative work. ' Renunciations ' are studies from the life — pictured which make plain to us some of the innermost workings of the heart," — Academy. *'Mr. Wedmore has gained for himself an enviable reputation. His style has distinction, has form. He has the poet's secret how to bring out the beauty of common things. . . * The Chemist in the Suburbs,' in * Renunciations,' is his masterpiece." — Saturday Review. '•^ We congratulate Mr. Wedmore on his vivid, wholesome, and artistic work, so fUIl of suppressed feeling and of quiet strength." — Standard. English Episodes. Second Edition. Cr. 8vo. 3^. 6d. net, [Ready, New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, ** Distinction is the characteristic of Mr. Wedmore's manner. These things remain on the mind as things seen ; not read oV—Daily News. " A penetrating insight, a fine pathos. Mr. Wedmore is a peculiarly fine and sane and carefully deliberate aitiaU'— Westminster Gaxette. "In 'English Episodes' we have another proof of Mr. Wedmore's unique position among the writers of fiction of the day. We hardly think of his short volumes as ' stories,' but rather as life-secrets and hearts' blood, crystalised somehow, and, in their jewel-foim, cut with exceeding skill by the hand of a master-workman .' , The faultless episode of the 'Vicar of Pimlico' is the best in loftiness of purpose and keeness of interest ; but the * Fitting Obsequies ' is its equal on different lines, and deserves to be a classic."— ^orW. "'English Episodes' are worthy successors of 'Pastorals' and 'Renunciations,' and with them should represent a permanent addition to Literature." — Academy. There may also be had the Collected Edition (iSgs) of ^^ Pastorals of France''^ and "-^ Renunciations,^'* with Title-page by John Fulleylove, R.L 5j. net, WICKSTEED (P. H., Warden of Uni'versity Hall), Dante : Six Sermons. *^* A Fourth Edition. (Unaltered Reprint). Cr. 8vo. 2s. net. " It is impossible not to be struck wtth the reality and earnestness with which Mr. Wickstced seela to do justice to what are the supreme elements of the Commedia^ its spiritual significance, and the depth and insight of its moral Kz^ctim%:'— Guardian. 20 The Publications of Elkin Mathews WYNNE (FRANCES), Whisper ! A Volume of Verse, Fcap. 8vo. buckram. 2s, 6d. net. Transferred by the Author to the present Publisher, " A little volume of singularly sweet and graceiul poems, hardly one of which can be read by any lover of poetry without definite pleasure, and everyone who reads either of them without is, we venture to say, unable to appreciate that play of light and shadow on the heart of man which is of the very essence ofpoetry."— S^tfrfafor, simple^ _._. agreeable Vmuui^ ui v^iia^, 0111.1.1^331 ui u^ iw uic mc Mr. ANDREW Lang, in Longmari^s Magaxtne. YEArS {W. B.). The Shadowy Waters. A Poetic Play. \^Th preparation. The Wind among the Reeds (Poems). [In preparation. Mr. Elkin Mathews holds likewise the only copies of the following Books printed at the Private Press of the Rev. C. Henry Daniel, Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. BRIDGES (ROBERT). The Growth of Love. Printed in Fejl's old English type, on Whatman paper. loo copies. Fcap. 4to. £2. I2s. 6d. net. SHORTER Poems. Printed in Fell's old English type, on Whatman paper. lOO copies. Five Parts. Fcap, 4to. £2. I2J. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. HYMNI ECCLESIM CVRA HENRICI DANIEL. Small 8vo. (1882), ;^i. 15^. net. BLAKE HIS SONGS OF INNOCENCE Sq. l6mo. 100 copies only. 12s. 6d. net. MILTON ODE ON THE NATIVITY. Sq. i6mo. 10;, 6d. net. LONDON VIGO STREET, W.