Memorial Sonnets, 
 
 &c. 
 
 BY 
 
 Mary Cowden-Clarke. 
 
 London : 
 PRINTED BY NOVELLO, EWER & CO. 
 
 [All rights reserved.] 
 

 
 
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 op- 
 
PR WS3 
 
 MEMORIAL SONNETS 
 
 &c. 
 
 <mc -*> 
 
 BY 
 
 MARY COWDEN-CLARKE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE COMPLETE CONCORDANCE TO SHAKESPEARE," 
 
 4 U ™00 D OF SHAKESPEARE'S HEROES," '< THE ■—, 
 
 « HONEY FROM THE WEED," "VERSE-WAIFS, A SCORE OF 
 
 SONNETS TO ONE OBJECT," ETC., ETC. 
 
 " When to the sessions of sweet s 
 I summon up remembrance of t 
 I sigh the lack of many a thing 
 
 But if the' while I think on thee, 
 All losses are restor'd, and sorro 
 Shakesp 
 
 LONDON 
 PRINTED BY NOVELLO, EWER & Co. 
 
THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 PURCHASED ON THE 
 
 DR. AND MRS. 
 
 JOSEPH EZEKIEL POGUE 
 
 ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To live in Memories of the Past when gone 
 Are all its brightest joys, to summon them 
 Before the now bereft and saddened sight 
 That looks on present void, is surely not 
 Unwise. As one who sits and watches, — when 
 The sun hath set, and sees th' expanse of sky 
 Reflected glory show, recalling how 
 The brilliancy and beauty now withdrawn 
 Have left a milder, soberer, yet most bland 
 And tender light, a twilight lucid with 
 Departed splendour, — muses not without 
 A grateful thought on past effulgence lent 
 That softens coming darkness, auguring 
 The morrow's dawn and noon in humble trust 
 To live and them behold : So I indulge 
 Remembrance of past happy hours and wait 
 Devoutly for the hoped Eternal Day. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil 
 
 http://archive.org/details/memorialsonnetseOOclar 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Carlsruhe, i., ii., in., iv. . 
 
 " One grief supreme "... 
 
 " May't be, thy now perfected sight " 
 
 Keats and Charles Cowden-Clarke, i., 
 
 Star Eyes, i., ii. .... 
 
 " Ay, just as ever do I love thee " 
 
 " In dream last night " . 
 
 " Full seven years have passed ' 
 
 " Here on this terrace " . 
 
 " A blissful dream " 
 
 Marriage Anniversary, i., ii., hi., iv. 
 
 " Methinks thy spirit sees me " 
 
 " Dost hear me whisper still " 
 
 " In cherishing thy memory " . 
 
 " When I REPEAT THY " 
 
 " i basked in sunshine of approval 
 
 " i thus again begin the " 
 
 " the thought of thee .is husband 
 
 On Imagination, i., ii., hi., iv. . 
 
 " a happiness through life " . 
 
 " Sweet food for thought " 
 
 " a tender melancholy " . 
 
 " ah, when again i reach " 
 
 " i keep our wedding-day " 
 
 " This, our Betrothal-Day ". . 
 
 Revealment, i., II. . 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 " In dream't has been permitted 
 " 'tls not so much i mourn " . 
 
 " No LONGER MOURNING" . 
 
 " to me a fresh new year " . 
 
 " This day, nine years ago " . 
 
 On re-seeing my Charles's Shakespeare-Ring 
 
 " These flowers, brought me from my dear 
 
 grave "...... 
 
 Vital Eclipse, i., ii 
 
 " The thought of thee, beloved " . 
 
 " Last night was granted me " 
 
 " Full measure of most happy married 
 
 " O that some fine keen sense " 
 
 " This New Year's line " . 
 
 Early morning of 23RD February, 1887 
 
 " Ten years have glided by " . 
 
 " O Love that outlasts Life " 
 
 Fifteenth of December, 1887 . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 47 
 
 49 
 50 
 5i 
 52 
 
 53 
 
 54 
 56 
 57 
 58 
 59 
 60 
 61 
 62 
 
 63 
 64 
 
 OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 
 
 To Leigh Hunt, as conclusion, &c, i., ii. . . 65 
 
 To Leigh Hunt, on hearing, &c 67 
 
 My Birthday 68 
 
 On W. J. Rolfe's " Friendly Edition " of Shake- 
 speare, 1., ii. . . 69 
 
 " No barbarism hath power " 71 
 
 In memory of A. E. B. 72 
 
 To the Author of "Lorenzo of 'The Merchant of 
 
 Venice'" . . . ■ 73 
 
 Queen Victoria : 26th February, 1886 . . . -74 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 VERSES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Separation 75 
 
 Mrs. H. H. Furness 79 
 
 The bereft Mother 81 
 
 The Willow Tree ........ 83 
 
 My Rose-coloured Spectacles . . . . .86 
 
 A Garden in Genoa 90 
 
 Prologue 95 
 
 Epigram 100 
 
 Lines on a photo-portrait of Donatello Gigliucci . 101 
 
 Nerina's Princesses ........ 103 
 
 Tenth of May, 1884 105 
 
 Valentine for Portia Gigliucci 106 
 
 SONGS. 
 
 Her Secret ......... 107 
 
 His Secret 108 
 
 With thee. ......... 109 
 
 Madrigal no 
 
 The Peerless Lady in 
 
 The Perfected Lady . . . . . . .112 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Carlsrube. 
 I. 
 
 A fitting name is this, of " Charles's Rest": 
 Repose in stately palace of pure white, 
 Embosomed among trees of giant height, 
 
 Their verdant tops and sun-touched boles abreast 
 
 With thickets where the sweet birds lurk and nest ; 
 And grassy glades that lead away from sight 
 To nooks and arbours pleached and closely dight, 
 
 Where quiet and a book are welcomest. 
 
 Here, while I roam alone and think of thee, 
 
 My own, I think how well this lovely place 
 Had pleased thy taste, as now it pleaseth me : 
 
 Though taking name from Carl of ducal race, 
 To me it bears the name that I love best, 
 And to myself I say : — "My Charles's Rest." 
 
 Carlsruhe, 
 
 16th September, 1883. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 II. 
 
 Here, in this peaceful spot, my spirit seems 
 To be at rest with thine : I see thee there, 
 Above these grand old trees, in upper air ; 
 
 I feel thee in these golden slanting beams 
 
 Of sunlight, shedding balmy warmth in gleams 
 Upon my breast, as, with thy wonted care 
 To bring it happiness beyond compare, 
 
 They lull it now with soft delicious dreams. 
 
 With dreams that I have passed away with thee 
 
 To blest serenity that never ends, 
 
 Or dreams that thou art come again to me ; 
 
 Each vision with the other vaguely blends : 
 I only know that rest with thee seems gained, 
 And blissful quietude of soul attained. 
 
 Carlsruhe, 
 
 4/rt October, 1883. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 III. 
 
 My " Charles's Rest" ! again I see thee, — fair, 
 Sequestered, in a stateliness serene, 
 Refined yet simple ; rarely have I seen 
 
 A spot so winning. Rural Enfield, where 
 
 Mine own beloved was born, sweet Dulwich, pair 
 Of English villages most dear have been 
 To me, enrobed by fields and hedges green : 
 
 And now, with even these thou may'st compare. 
 Thy lofty trees, thy bosky thickets close, 
 
 Wear now their rich autumnal-coloured gear, 
 Deep crimson, orange, paly gold, soft rose, 
 
 Harmonious blend ; and while I see I hear 
 Still other harmonies, — the blithe bird's song 
 With Nature's universal voice among. 
 
 Carlsruhe, 
 
 26th October, 1884. 
 
 B 2 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Dear Enfield, birthplace of my king of men, 
 And neighboured near by royal Tibbald's Park, 
 Thou rankest high ; yet, with thy nested lark 
 
 And meadows where the small shrill-noted wren 
 
 Is heard, art modest ; Dulwich, gorgeous, when 
 Its College walls arose to make its mark 
 With Blenheim or with Hampton Court as ark 
 
 Of picture-gems ; yet, rustic until then. 
 In union of nobility with grace 
 
 Of quiet homely quaintness, these three vie : 
 
 Loved Enfield, Dulwich, and this pleasant place 
 
 Of German ducal elegance : 'tis why 
 I find it sympathetic to my taste, 
 And never feel inclined from it to haste. 
 
 Carlsruhe, 
 
 26th October. 1883. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 13 
 
 " The lesser pangs can beare, who hath endured the chief." 
 
 Spenser's " Faerie Queene," Book I. Canto VI. 
 
 One grief supreme makes smaller evils less : 
 It teacheth us with calmness to endure 
 Vexations that had else been well-nigh sure 
 
 To fret and sting us into bitterness : 
 
 Whereas we learn to curb and to suppress 
 Complaint, while growing strong in a mature 
 Perfected patience, needed for the cure 
 
 Of that one grief no words can e'er express. 
 Out of God's sharpest trials lessons flow 
 
 If we but docile be to read aright ; 
 
 From e'en the hardest and most bruising blow 
 
 A precept cometh to our moral sight : 
 Submissively our ills we'll strive to meet 
 While cheerfully all joy that's sent we'll greet. 
 
 Carlsruhe, 
 
 ^th October, 1883. 
 
14 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 May't be, thy now perfected sight allows 
 
 Thee calmly to survey these sunsets strange, 
 These sunrises of broadly flushing range 
 
 Athwart the sky, that puzzle and arouse 
 
 Our earthly impotent surmise, which bows 
 In bafflement ? Oh, can it be, thy change 
 To spirit-life enables thee t'arrange 
 
 Amid all well-known causes these grand Hows 
 And Wherefores that perplex our terrene sense 
 
 Until its " muddy vesture " is cast off? 
 
 The trust that now thou hast this gift immense 
 
 Doth help my heart submissively to doff 
 Regret ; and think, on this thy day of birth, 
 More tranquilly of thee as gone from earth. 
 
 Villa Novello, Genoa, 
 15th December, 1883. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 15 
 
 Ikeats anfc Charles Cowfcen^Clarfte, 
 I. 
 
 " This soul of youth in age's mask." — Endymion. 
 
 Of Glaucus thus wrote Keats. Ah ! had not he 
 By death been snatched away, he would have seen 
 How well his dear "friend Charles" fulfilled, when 
 e'en 
 Fourscore, the poet-pupil's fantasy : 
 The " soul of youth " was there in energy 
 
 As when they two first read " The Faerie Queene " 
 And ranged together through its every scene 
 With ardent, fresh, young eager ecstasy. 
 
 At eighty, as at twenty, the pure " soul " 
 Was vigorous to receive all beauty, good, 
 And truth ; enjoyed, as best of mental food, 
 
 God's grandly given universal whole : 
 Still youthful in his heart unto the last, 
 To youth and love immortal he hath passed. 
 
 Villa Novello, 
 2nd April, 1884. 
 
16 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 II. 
 
 My hope beholds these friends and schoolmates twain, 
 Re-met for aye in realms where all they dreamed 
 On earth of poem-beauty is redeemed 
 
 And verified : there manifest doth reign 
 
 The loveliness that to their eyes was plain, 
 Though to the more prosaic sight it seemed 
 But mythical : the light that on them beamed 
 
 Far off, they now in full effulgence gain. 
 To Keats his fairest Cynthia's radiant face 
 
 Revealed in lunar truth ; great Nature's breast 
 Laid bare ; his visions of voluptuous grace 
 
 Perfected ; aspirations set at rest : 
 
 Unto " friend Charles " his faith in love and right 
 Confirmed, and made for ever blissful bright. 
 
 2nd April, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 17 
 
 Star &w& 
 I. 
 
 Some eyes from out our earthly path we miss, 
 Whose every look at us was a caress, 
 Full, full of love and love's true tenderness ; 
 
 Stars that shed light and radiancy of bliss 
 
 Upon our own eyes with a constant kiss : 
 
 That light withdrawn, we wander through the press 
 Of life, left darkling, in a blind distress, 
 
 As one who skirts, at dusk, a dread abyss. 
 To see these stars of our existence here 
 
 Amid the stars celestial that await 
 
 Us in the hoped eternal Heavensphere 
 
 We patiently abide, however late, 
 
 Fulfilment of our bounteous Father's fiat, 
 
 And onward creep, with steps and heart held quiet. 
 
 Villa Novello, 
 
 jth May, 1884. 
 
18 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 II 
 
 Glad Mother's eyes, that watch us draw our bland 
 First food from her own bosom soft and white, 
 And meet our upturned gaze with fond delig#ht ; 
 Proud Father's eyes, that greet us as we stand 
 Upon the moral heights he for us planned, 
 Achieving honours by a course upright, 
 And letting, while we win By steady might, 
 Success and duty still go hand in hand. 
 
 Dear lover-husband's eyes, aye seeking ours, 
 Repeating ever, ever pleased to tell, 
 The truth we both already know so well, — 
 
 That mutual love fills life with happy hours. 
 O starlike eyes, gone from my mortal ken, 
 When shall I see ye shine again, ah, when ? 
 
 jth May, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 19 
 
 Ay, just as ever do I love thee, dear ! 
 
 As passionately, warmly, now I'm old 
 
 And thou art dead, as when our love we told 
 With young and living lips to either's ear 
 In whispers tender and so closely near, 
 
 One pillow served us both ; not e'en the cold 
 
 Stern dart of Death, nor weight of graveyard mould 
 Can sever love that casteth out all fear 
 
 Of change or dissolution : once welded fast 
 In true affection, soul to soul conjoined 
 
 And homogeneous made, the two will last 
 Integrally together, golden-coined, 
 
 Divinely minted for eternity, — 
 
 A single-dual immortality. 
 
 24th May 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 In dream last night my husband's arms again 
 
 Enfolded me : again I felt the warm 
 
 Close pressure, felt again the wonted charm 
 Of tenderest assurance in the strain 
 Impulsive, ardent, when the clasps remain 
 
 With lingering hold, as though, to shield from pain 
 
 And guard from e'en the shadow of alarm 
 His wife, the loving clasper were full fain. 
 
 Oh pressure close, Oh lingering embrace, 
 That ever seemed so loth to cease, why must 
 
 Ye vanish with my dream ? Wherefore give place 
 To images of perishable dust ? 
 
 But no ! The spirit of my dream is real ; 
 
 And that shall be my comforting ideal. 
 
 25th May, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Full seven years have passed since thee I lost ! 
 A sad apprenticeship in learning th' Art 
 T'endure bereavement, learning how apart 
 
 To live from thee who wast to me the most 
 
 Beloved of men, to know the pangs't has cost 
 This aching, longing, ever-yearning heart 
 To bear the wrenching from its counterpart, 
 
 Existing as a fragment, torn and tost 
 By ceaseless wish for blest reunion. 
 
 Yet many comforts have been granted me, — 
 Relations', friends' attached devotion ; 
 
 'Bove all, the elevating thoughts of thee, 
 Thy worth, thy constant tenderness for one 
 Who was and is thy half, though now left lone. 
 
 12th June, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Here on this Terrace, where we two so oft 
 Paced up and down together talking, now 
 I pace alone deep thinking, thinking how 
 
 Time fleets, and how thy spirit dwells aloft 
 
 And watches me and with me for the soft 
 On-coming of the hour when I, as thou, 
 Shall pass from earth, and like thee gently bow 
 
 My head to God's decree, when life is doff'd 
 And Heaven is gained. Ay, Heaven with Him 
 and thee 
 
 His gift, His best, His dearest, choicest gift 
 Of all His many priceless gifts to me : 
 
 For past delights, for present hopes I lift 
 To Him, in soul-outpouring plenitude, 
 My fervent, constant, trusting gratitude. 
 
 Villa Novello, 
 13 th June, 18 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 23 
 
 A blissful dream of my Beloved one 
 
 Vouchsafed to me first thing this morn ! Methought , 
 Through many devious road-ways I had wrought, 
 
 Perplex'd and wand'ring, troubled and alone ; . 
 
 Until I came to where a wall of stone 
 
 Gave entrance to a garden : soft I sought 
 
 The house, — a room ; and then a sound I caught,— 
 
 His voice, — I saw him ! And to his arms I'd flown. 
 " Art thou not glad to see me, love ? " I said. 
 
 " So long away ! " he cried ; " So long ! so long ! " 
 
 Like murmured burden of some mournful song, 
 The while our eyes upon each other's fed. 
 
 Hereafter may we say : — " So long ! — Now, never ! 
 
 Our God permits us nevermore to sever." 
 
 3rd July, 1884. 
 
24 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 flftarriaoe anniversary 
 I. 
 
 Another Fifth July, a Saturday, 
 
 As when we two were wed ! On foot we went 
 Across the fields to Enfield; ling'ring leant 
 
 Upon the rail beside the brook where play 
 
 The minnows watch'd by Keats, who saw them stay 
 " Their wavy bodies 'gainst the streams," and lent 
 His ear to catch the "natural sermon " sent 
 
 To Poet's mind in all that round him lay. 
 His benison was with us, in the "joys " 
 
 He wished his friend might have through life ; they 
 then 
 Were in their freshest bloom, ne'er knew alloys 
 
 Of withering affection ; no, not when 
 
 Life ceased : for still our love endures beyond 
 The grave, infrangible and firm and fond. 
 
 5th July, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 25 
 
 II. 
 
 The very spot where erst the friends exchanged 
 " Good night " was shown to me, the very scene 
 Of parting, after reading " Faerie Queene," — 
 
 The " grav'lly floor," the " grassy plain." Near 
 ranged 
 
 A row of oaks, from slender saplings changed 
 To stout young oaks, — a father's hand had been 
 Their planter. In these hallowed meadows green 
 
 Were hosts of greenest memories, arranged 
 And set before me lovingly ; made mine, 
 
 As all was made, from first to last of our 
 Blest married life, by sympathy divine 
 
 And gen'rous sharing ; yea, from that sweet hour 
 Of honeymoon delight unto the last 
 Sad moment, when dear breath from lips had 
 pass'd. 
 
 $th July, 1884. 
 
26 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 III. 
 
 How well that Marriage-Day prefigured all 
 
 That followed ! O'er our heads the clear blue sky, 
 Scarce flecked by lightest cloudlets, — true July ! 
 
 Beneath our feet, green turf and wild-flowers small ; 
 
 Beside us, hedge-rows, oaks, and beeches tall ; 
 Between us, happy looks of eye to eye ; 
 Words that said much, though spoken sparingly, 
 
 Of gladness we could now each other call 
 Our own for ever. Saturday of yore ! 
 
 Then nineteen years of age, now seventy-five, 
 I can look back to thee as bringing store 
 
 Of life-long perfect wedded love, and strive 
 To wait with patience for the time I pray 
 May prove one endless blissful Marriage-Day. 
 
 5th July, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 27 
 
 IV. 
 
 My Love on earth, my Love in Heaven ! The ring 
 Then placed upon the finger of thy bride, 
 The ring she wore with such a girlish pride, 
 
 The ring that witness'd so much strengthening 
 
 Of faith and truth, making our hearts to sing 
 With happiness while we were side by side, 
 The ring so often kissed before and since thou 
 died, — 
 
 That ring, methinks, hath power of lessening 
 The distance now between us, forms a link, 
 
 A golden link, that binds unbreakably. 
 It comforts me, companions me ; I think 
 
 Of it and cherish it unspeakably. 
 
 Oh, wedding-ring of six-and-fifty j^ears ! 
 I see thee glisten through my tender tears. 
 
 $th July, 1884. 
 
 C 2 
 
28 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Methinks thy spirit sees me deck with leaves 
 
 And garlands thy dear portraits in our room ; 
 
 Methinks thou watchest me with smiles that loom 
 Athwart the shadowed silence which receives 
 Me there, while still imagination weaves 
 
 Thy living eyes and looks to banish gloom 
 
 And bid my soul fresh trust and faith assume 
 When sense of loss assails it and aggrieves. 
 
 Returning home from Summer Northern air, 
 I re-adorn thine image, and it seems 
 
 To welcome me again with gladness whe're 
 We two so oft have revelled in. the beams 
 
 Of Southern, warmth and warmth of our own 
 hearts, 
 
 That even now reflected glow imparts. 
 
 Villa Novello, 
 
 6th November, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 29 
 
 Dost hear me whisper still, as erst, "Good Night," 
 Before I sleep ? Dost hear me, waking, say — 
 But with less sprightly tone than then — " Good 
 Day"? 
 
 Dost hear me greet the early dawning light 
 
 With salutations soft to thee, thou bright 
 Glad star of mine existence, whose clear ray 
 E'en now doth shine and help me on my way 
 
 To that blest hoped-for meeting in God's sight ? 
 The mere idea thou dost, is comfort good ; 
 
 The fancy only, strength and courage brings: 
 I cherish the belief,- and trusting brood 
 
 On it as truth, while in my bosom sings 
 The thought of all thyself hast often said 
 Of calling cheerfulness and faith to aid. 
 
 'jth November, 1884. 
 
30 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 In cherishing thy memory, mine own, 
 
 I worship Him who gave thyself to me ; 
 
 In thinking of the good compounding thee, 
 I think of Him who hath divinely sown 
 That good which flourished lovely and full-blown 
 
 For my reiterate felicity 
 
 While thou wert here, and now consolingly 
 I ponder on as to perfection grown. 
 
 Raising to thee devoted meditation 
 I feel I raise to Him devout respect, 
 
 Profoundly grateful, fervent contemplation ; 
 That when on thee I most with love reflect, 
 
 I then am most immersed in pious awe 
 
 And feel as though I then Him clearest saw. 
 
 gth December, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 31 
 
 When I repeat thy " Hymn to God " first thing 
 I wake, last thing before I go to sleep, 
 I feel thou biddest me take heart, not weep, 
 
 But pray with thee and trust that time will bring 
 
 Us both our chief desire, — a strengthening 
 In faith and love and adoration deep 
 For our benign Creator, who doth keep 
 
 Us still in spirit intermingling. 
 
 Thy simple yet most earnest hymn of praise 
 
 And thankfulness exalts and stimulates 
 My soul with constant eagerness to raise 
 
 To Him our joint appeal : it elevates 
 
 Me with the thought that thus we still unite 
 In prayer and joyful, grateful, loving rite. 
 
 10th December, 1884. 
 
32 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 I basked in sunshine of approval while 
 
 Thine eyes were living light : they now appear 
 Unto my hope as stars, though far, brought near 
 
 By an adoring faith, to bless with smile 
 
 Encouraging, and gently reconcile 
 My soul to patiently its burdens bear, 
 Submissively its earthly trammels wear, 
 
 And cheerfully still linger here awhile, 
 Until upraised by Will Divine to be 
 
 Made one again with thine, as here below ; 
 But then from fear of parting rendered free. 
 
 Within my heart this ardent hope doth glow 
 In fuller force while greeting thee this day, 
 Thy Birthday, in our whilom wonted way. 
 
 15th December, 1884. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 33 
 
 I thus again begin the New-born year 
 
 By giving my first waking thoughts to thee, 
 By hailing thee with fervent ecstasy 
 
 And penning my first line to thee, my dear ! 
 
 I try to imitate thy writing clear, 
 I summon up thy bright alacrity, 
 Thy promptitude and active energy 
 
 To fill our lives with joy and mutual cheer. 
 Initiated we each twelvemonth that recurred 
 
 Throughout the course of our blest married life 
 By interchange of written loving word : 
 
 Then let me still, thy still-adoring wife, 
 Observe the old delightful usage now, 
 Though only I can write, alas, not thou ! 
 
 xst January, 1885. 
 
34 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 The thought of thee is husband to me now ; 
 
 For years were we " the married lovers " named, 
 And proud to be thus conjugally famed : 
 
 But, ah, since then, away from life art thou ! 
 
 Yet none the less I feel God doth allow 
 Our married union to subsist unmaimed 
 In spiritual truth, that may be claimed 
 
 Inviolate by its plighted firm-held vow. 
 Thus thinking earnestly and constantly 
 
 And warmly of thee, love, I seem to bring 
 Thee palpably unto my soul to be . 
 
 Its married half, in strengthening, 
 Sustaining, helping it to be its best 
 And worthy to enjoy with thee God's rest. 
 
 22nd January, 1S85. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 35 
 
 ©n Jmaoinatioru 
 I. 
 
 Were't not that " strong imagination " is 
 Vouchsafed to help us in our blank of loss, 
 How should we bear the yearning pangs that toss 
 
 Our souls bereft ? How bear the thoughts of bliss 
 
 Departed ? How endure to long for kiss 
 
 That nevermore can come ? The tangled cross 
 Of vain repinings — blurred beside with moss 
 
 And mould of lapsing years — for what we miss, 
 Would 'reave us of our wits, were't not that aid 
 
 Is sent in shape of rare imagination, 
 
 Which gives us trusting hopes and visions made 
 
 For our encouragement and consolation : 
 Hopes of a future never-ending joy, 
 And visions of a peace without alloy. 
 
 23rd January, 1885. 
 
3 6 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 II. 
 
 Imagination lets me see thee still 
 
 Beside me, lets me hear thy voice in tones 
 Of wonted loving-kindness, lets me once 
 
 Again enjoy thy cheering presence, fill 
 
 My senses with thy flowing laughter-rill, 
 That soothes and with its music glad condones 
 Regret, out-caroling those useless moans 
 
 That break from me in spite of better will. 
 Well was it said of " strong imagination, 
 
 That, if it would but apprehend some joy 
 
 It comprehends some bringer of that joy " ; 
 It fashions for the sad bright compensation, 
 
 And out of veriest shadows brings forth light, 
 
 Affording to the inner vision sight. 
 
 24th January, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 37 
 
 III. 
 
 Imagination sees thee in the stars ; 
 In Sirius's sparkles red and green, 
 In Venus' softly-beaming silver sheen, 
 
 In scarlet scintillations of bright Mars, 
 
 In golden glorious track, — great Phcebus' car's : 
 No less in each familiar homely scene, 
 That long by both of us enjoyed hath been, 
 
 Of our own quiet, happy, household Lars. 
 As in the majesty of starry sky, 
 
 So in simplicities of daily life, 
 
 In highest and in sympathies close by, 
 
 Imagination gives thee to thy wife ; 
 
 Gives thee in every thing that's good and sweet, 
 Gives thee in all wherein our souls may meet. 
 
 25th January, 1885. 
 
38 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 IV. 
 
 By pouring out my heart to thee in these 
 Poor lines, I strive e'en faintly to express 
 The love that flows within me to excess ; 
 
 They help me to assuage and partly ease 
 
 My thirst to have thee with me, and to please 
 My thought that thou dost hear me still address 
 To thee fond words of wifely tenderness, 
 
 Which knows nor diminution nor surcease. 
 Thanks be to God for giving this resource 
 
 Against my stinging sense of widowhood ; 
 For granting my verse-utterance free course, 
 
 And letting it become to me true good : 
 
 Thus may these " tricks of strong imagination" 
 Subserve to misery's alleviation. 
 
 26th January, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 39 
 
 A happiness through life, a happiness 
 
 E'en after death, thou wast and art to me : 
 
 In life, substantial pure felicity 
 That I could take into mine arms and press 
 Unto " my heart of heart " and feel it bless 
 
 Both thine and mine existence verily. 
 
 Now, the mere thought of thy supremacy 
 In goodness and in love brings joyfulness. 
 
 A soul like thine unending bliss bestows : 
 Communion with it, while on earth, doth shed 
 Delight on those within its sphere : when sped 
 
 To Heav'n, its cherish'd mem'ry star-like glows 
 My Parents, all who knew thee, loved thee well ; 
 And I, how passing well, no words can tell. 
 
 3rd April, 1885. 
 
4o MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Sweet food for thought hast thou bequeathed to me ; 
 Not one or sour or bitter grain t'allay 
 The full content with which I fondly may 
 
 Recall thy looks, thy words, thy tones of free 
 
 Outpouring love that flowed forth constantly. 
 I thank our God from hour to hour by day 
 And nightly ere I sleep, when Him I pray 
 
 To reunite in HeaveVi thy wife to thee 
 
 With no less happiness than here on earth 
 
 He granted to us both : for more I can 
 
 Scarce hope or wish in that regenerate birth 
 
 Of our true wedded bond that we began 
 In life terrene ; save that in realms above 
 We humbly trust with ours will blend His love. 
 
 2gth April, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 41 
 
 A tender melancholy cometh o'er 
 
 My soul when here I pace, deep-thoughted ever, 
 Where thou and I so oft have been together. 
 
 Alone I wander now ; and more and more 
 
 I miss thy dear companionship : of yore, 
 It kept me still in happiness, whatever 
 Might chance to be our theme of talk, and never 
 
 Depression came but took its flight before 
 Thy cheerful, hopeful, elevating tone 
 
 Of mind ; encouragement and influence 
 
 Beneficent were thine ; and now thou'rt gone, 
 
 They seem to reach me still through inner sense, 
 And gentle comfort soothingly impart, 
 While bidding me be patient and take heart. 
 
 On the Terrace at Villa Novello, 
 27th May, 1885. 
 
42 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Ah, when again I reach my native shore 
 
 And see its grand white cliffs, green-crested, bold, 
 Touched by the summer sunset's radiant gold, 
 
 If, with this sight of glory, I once more 
 
 Might hope that face so fondly loved of yore — 
 So still beloved — yet living to behold, 
 What flood of happiness, supreme, untold, 
 
 Would fill my heart unto its inmost core. 
 
 Dear face ! instinct with tender thought for me, 
 
 I'll make the very thought of thee a fact ; 
 A vision strong and vital shalt thou be 
 
 To welcome me to England and enact 
 Again thy customary kindly part 
 Of lighting up with joy thy Molly's heart. 
 
 Brussels, 
 
 15th June, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 43 
 
 I keep our Wedding-Day with thoughts of thee, 
 Mine own in Heaven ! with thoughts of thee this 
 
 morn 
 Before I join our friends whose hearts adorn 
 
 Their hospitable house, so kind, so free, 
 
 So ever glad to grace and welcome me 
 
 For thy dear -sake, in their remembrance borne 
 With faithful loyalty, allegiance sworn 
 
 As to dead king, but cherished tenderly 
 
 For good that he hath living done, and left 
 
 To benefit survivors. Thou and I 
 
 Are stijl but one, although I am bereft 
 
 Of thee on earth ; thy spirit cannot die, 
 Nor be dissevered from thy Molly's soul, 
 Made one with thine a firm integral whole. 
 
 Westwood House, Sydenham, 
 5th July, 1885. 
 
 D 2 
 
44 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 This, our Betrothal-Day of fifty-nine 
 
 Long years ago, shall not be left to glide 
 Away without a record, or abide 
 
 Unchronicled by fond memorial line : 
 
 That day itself beheld the plighted sign 
 Of love that until then had dwelt inside 
 Our hearts, but then with open happy pride 
 
 Was let unveiled on each other shine. 
 
 The love that day confessed to either's soul 
 
 Doth yet in firm-knit truth and faith subsist : 
 
 It hath, through life, through 4eath, through joy 
 and dole; 
 
 And will, throughout eternity, exist : 
 
 I feel this more and more as years pass by, 
 And trust my feeling humbly, hopefully. 
 
 ist November, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 45 
 
 IRevealment, 
 I. 
 
 Oh, for some revelation of the fact 
 
 That my Beloved liveth in the skies! 
 
 The fact but dwells in my breast-felt surmise; 
 But, oh, that it could have the smallest act 
 Of palpable fulfilment to compact 
 
 And to confirm the object of my sighs ! 
 
 As 'tis, I hope, I trust, with blinded eyes 
 Of aspiration, yearning, aching, racked 
 
 In search of veritable evidence 
 To prove my wish a truth. Yet even thus 
 
 I try to rest contented with suspense : 
 The very aspiration linketh us 
 
 In firm reliance on God's mercy good, 
 
 And gives my craving heart consoling food. 
 
 yd November, 1885. 
 
46 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 II. 
 
 Such revelation as a whispered sound 
 Of thy loved voice, assuring me of peace 
 Attained, of peace that nevermore shall cease, 
 
 Of peace hereafter to be shared in round 
 
 Perpetual of love united, found 
 
 With thine own chosen wife, would give new lease 
 Of hope to my dejected heart, increase 
 
 My trust, and make devoutest faith abound. 
 But why repine because God's wisdom wills 
 
 Not such disclosure of the truths beyond 
 
 This life ? Suffice it that my dread not kills 
 
 My faith, taught gathered strength from patience fond, 
 Believing stedfastly in future granted joy 
 By reason of past granted bliss naught can destroy. 
 
 <\th November, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. ,47 
 
 In dream't has been permitted thee to say 
 
 Once more to me : — " I love you ! Ay, you know 
 ' I love you ! " Words so often said and so 
 
 Intently proved whilst thou on earth did stay 
 
 To bless my life and make it day by day 
 A happiness unspeakable ; and though 
 Thou'rt gone from hence, hast still the power to 
 throw 
 
 A gleam of joy upon my lonely way. 
 
 Thanks be to God who granted me this dream ! 
 
 Who granted us this dream ; for it must be 
 That to thy spirit, as to mine, some beam 
 
 Of vision-sense vouchsafed was, to see 
 Me as I lay, and utter to mine ear 
 Those tender words I've longed again to hear. 
 
 12th November, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 'Tis not so much I mourn for thee, as long 
 
 For thee, since now have glided by eight years 
 Of waiting absence. First, came heavy tears, 
 
 Tears irrepressible, and anguish strong ; 
 
 But as the years crept on, it seemed a wrong 
 To thy bright nature, not to strive 'gainst fears 
 Of separation, while the time more nears 
 
 For hoped reunion our lost loved among. . 
 The thought of all thy cheerfulness, and hope, 
 
 And manly worth, God sends to take the place 
 Of vain regrets, and bids me give free scope 
 
 To trust I may in Heaven behold thy face. 
 
 On this, thy Birthday, thou shalt have no tear ; 
 But only loving salutation, dear ! 
 
 15^ December, 1885. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 49 
 
 No longer mourning because joys are past, 
 I try to satisfy my craving heart 
 By joying in the thought they were a part 
 
 Of my diurnal life, held dear, held fast, 
 
 To form its sustenance and firmly last 
 Beyond their hour, to comfort and impart 
 The strength of conscious having had, when dart 
 
 Of death has reft away their source and cast 
 Its sharp denial over future store : 
 
 For, certain, it can not annul, destroy 
 
 What hath been truly given of love, of joy, 
 
 Though stern forbidding, with its " Never more ! " 
 
 Not Death itself can kill Love truly given ; 
 
 That lasteth till it lives for aye in Heaven. 
 
 6th December, 1885. 
 
So MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 To me a fresh New Year begins again : 
 
 To thee all years are now one glorious whole, 
 A flow perpetual, eternal, sole ; 
 
 And yet, to greet thee, darling, I am fain, 
 
 As I was wont, when thou with me felt pain 
 At parting with an Old Year, joy when goal 
 Of New was raught. O partner of my soul ! 
 
 Methinks thy spirit, in responsive strain, 
 
 Greets mine, and joins it in the thanks it yields 
 
 To our beneficent Creator, who 
 
 Bestowed such deathless love between us two, 
 Who with His gracious kindness still enshields 
 
 Us both, communing thus — although apart — 
 
 And keeping troth together, heart to heart. 
 
 ist January, 1886. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 5 r 
 
 This day, nine years ago, was the last time 
 That thou and I went forth together, free 
 To breathe God's open air, to hear and see 
 
 The glories of His earth, the space sublime 
 
 Of stretching coast and mountains, free to climb 
 In thought their height, or wander by the sea : 
 Our terrace-walk beneath the laurel-tree 
 
 Linked us in quiet joy, as now my rhyme 
 Unites us in my memory of that 
 
 Last walk together. Ah, how little — when 
 We lingered ere returning in, and sat 
 
 Awhile to gaze with meditative ken 
 
 Upon the broad expanse of blue above — 
 
 We dreamed thou wouldst so soon dwell there, my 
 love ! 
 
 igth February, 1886. 
 
52 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 ©n re^eeetng m\> Cbarles's 
 Sbafcespeare^lRing. 
 
 How strange to see that ring on other hand 
 Than thine ! So many years I saw it worn 
 By thee ; so often have been with it borne 
 
 Caressing clasps and touches earnest, bland, 
 
 Of fond approval. Since, — bequeathed to stand 
 As a memento of a friendship torn 
 By death, but firm and fresh as in its morn, — 
 
 It hath been treasured in a distant land. 
 
 Now, once again it meets mine eyes and dwells 
 
 Upon the finger of our friend. Content 
 I see it there ; and yet my heart upswells 
 
 At thought of what to me 'tis eloquent : 
 
 The dear lost hand — first wearer of the ring — 
 Mine closely, lovingly imprisoning. 
 
 8th March, 1886. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 53 
 
 These flowers, brought me from my dear one's grave 
 
 By kindest sister's hand, are doubly sweet : 
 
 They come a fragrant gift from him to greet 
 Me with assurance of the love we have 
 Preserved e'en maugre death, an aid to save 
 
 Me from despondence ; and a token meet 
 
 Of sisterly affection, true, complete 
 In thoughtful care, unwearied, constant, brave. 
 
 Small, simple blossoms ! fraught ye are with worth 
 To me ! your dainty chalices are filled 
 
 With perfume fresh from gentle Mother Earth, 
 Within whose bosom our good God hath willed 
 
 The mortal portion of my love should lie 
 
 When soared his spirit to eternity. 
 
 nth March, 1886. 
 
54 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 IDital eclipee. 
 I. 
 
 The shade of thy withdrawal from my side 
 
 Fell on my life nine years ago this day. 
 
 The afternoon was bright, a softened ray 
 Of sunshine filled the room, seeming to glide 
 Athwart the bed, and tenderly abide 
 
 Upon thy pallid face, that tranquil lay, 
 
 Fast changing to the hue of deathly grey. 
 The shade came near, in dark and whelming tide. 
 
 One parting smile to last me all my life. 
 Closed were thine eyes, when, in thy dying ear, 
 
 I sobbed : — "God bless you, love! I'm here, I'm 
 here ! " 
 Last sounds thou heard'st on earth, were those thy 
 wife 
 
 Thus breathed ; last sign thou gav'st her was a 
 smile. 
 
 God's blessed mercies all things reconcile. 
 
 13th March, 1886. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. • 55 
 
 II. 
 
 For though in shadow I have crept since then, 
 My twilight life has had its evening star ; 
 Kind sisters, brother, friends, most loving are, 
 
 And help me through the dusk to clearer ken 
 
 Of bounties still bestowed, while waiting when 
 The dawn of hoped re-meeting, seen afar, 
 Shall shine, and, with meek trust that naught 
 should mar, 
 
 I close my life with gratefullest Amen. 
 
 For Love through life, for hope of Love supreme 
 
 In after-life, O gracious God, accept 
 
 My fervent thanks ! It is and has been theme 
 
 Of my devoutest gratitude, and kept 
 
 My soul in stedfast and unswerving faith 
 When weakened by the bruise of sorrow's scath. 
 
 13th March, 1886. * 
 
56 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 The thought of thee, Beloved, is comfort good ; 
 When crosses vex me or when failures thwart 
 Endeavour, e'en when cares and sorrows swart 
 
 Depress me into depths of darker mood, 
 
 The thought of thee, thy love, thy smile, hath wooed 
 Me into dwelling on the brighter part 
 Of God's decrees, and fed my drooping heart 
 
 With better, hopefuller, more grateful food. 
 
 I bless our bounteous God, who still through thee 
 
 Continueth to shower His choicest gifts, 
 His all-sufficing tenderness on me, 
 
 His tenderness that most the soul uplifts : 
 
 Thus, when distress hath me in saddening hold, 
 I think on thee, my Charles, and am consoled. 
 
 15th March, 1886. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 57 
 
 Last night was granted me a welcome dream 
 Of my Beloved. Methought a surging press 
 Was thronging up a staircase, with its stress 
 
 Impeding my descent, as passed the stream 
 
 Of folk still on. All suddenly a gleam 
 
 Athwart them smote of softened sunniness, 
 And then I heard a sound that I could guess 
 
 At once. The eager words, " Where is she ?" seem 
 To thrill upon mine ear and heart. I cried 
 
 Aloud, " I know his voice ! " and flung me prone 
 Upon my husband's breast, his arms thrown wide 
 
 To clasp me. Gone was the crowd ; we were alone, 
 Alone with our recovered long-lost bliss, 
 Alone to interchange the ached-for kiss. 
 
 Dresden, 
 
 24th August, 18S6. 
 
58 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Full measure of most happy married love 
 
 Was granted us on earth. Why, then, repine, 
 Or doubt 'twill be renewed when comes the fine 
 
 Perfectioning of God's decrees above ? 
 
 From trust of this henceforth I'll not remove. 
 Trust in His mercy and His power divine 
 Shall be my staff and stay against supine 
 
 Regrets, misgivings, from the which I strove, 
 Too oft in vain, to free my sorrowing heart. 
 
 To me — to us — our Heavenly Father's grace 
 Hath been abounding. Shall it not impart 
 
 Confiding hope of meeting face to face, 
 
 And heart to heart, and soul to soul, for ever ? 
 It shall : and from that hope I'll no more sever. 
 
 Villa Novello, Genoa, 
 22nd October, 18S 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 59 
 
 that some fine keen sense unknown to earth 
 Of my caresses given to all thy touch 
 
 Hath sanctified may reach thee, dearest, such 
 As I could wish, on this thy day of birth, 
 To thrill thy spirit with a tender mirth 
 
 Akin to that was thine in life ! How much 
 And with what passionate impulsive clutch 
 
 1 press to heart and lips things made of worth 
 By fond association with thy love, 
 
 I think must surely reach thee where thou art 
 In that divine all-knowing state above, 
 
 Permitting thee to read thy Molly's heart 
 As thou couldst only humanly when here, 
 Though even then thou knew'st thou wert most 
 dear. 
 
 E 2 
 
6o MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 This New Year's line doth greet thee, as, of old, 
 I used to write ; inaugurating thus 
 Each entrance to another term for us 
 
 To love and live our happy round of gold, 
 
 Glad, joined existence, granted us to mould 
 Into one constant and continuous 
 Succession of joys multitudinous 
 
 That circled us together in its fold. 
 
 On earth 'twas so : then I may cherish hope 
 
 More perfect still is now our power to be 
 United ; since the soul hath higher scope 
 
 Than body in its aspirations free 
 
 And full and high and faithful, clinging fast 
 To that it loves and will love to the last. 
 
 ist January, 1887. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 61 
 
 Earty flDorning of 23rfc jfcbruar^, 1887, 
 
 A shock, — a tremble of the bed I lay 
 
 Upon, — a thought how soon I might be swept 
 To instantaneous death ; and then there crept 
 
 A solemn calm, in feeling now I may 
 
 Be called to sight once more of those I pray 
 Reunion with, whose dear remains have slept 
 In graves so long and sorely been bewept ; 
 
 But whose immortal souls in blest peace stay 
 
 Where I may hope to meet and dwell with them, 
 
 Adoring God, and knowing Him. Methought 
 This sole idea had power to still and stem 
 
 The earthquake's agitating fear : it ought : 
 Belief I might again behold my best 
 Beloved in Heaven, set beating heart at rest. 
 
 Villa Novello, Genoa, 
 
 26th February, 1887. 
 
62 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 Ten years have glided by since thou away 
 
 Hast passed from earthly life and from my side : 
 Bereft of thee, how hath my lone heart cried 
 
 For thy dear self and for thy tender sway. 
 
 But, as I stood beside thy grave to-day, 
 Mine eye not long did on the earth abide ; 
 It sought thee in the empyrean wide, 
 
 And, almost jubilant, my soul 'gan pray 
 
 In trustfulness that thine and mine communed. 
 
 I seemed to see thy best of self above ; 
 
 My thoughts to harmony were softly tuned ; 
 
 I seemed to hear thee and to feel thy love : 
 
 Content that, though beneath the flower-grown sod 
 Thy body lies, thy spirit is with God. 
 
 3rd March, 1887. 
 
MEMORIAL SONNETS. 63 
 
 O Love that outlasts Life, how strong thou art ! 
 And yet, — ah, yet, — how insubstantial, faint, 
 How vague, how vaporous, how marred with taint 
 
 Of longing still unsatisfied, apart 
 
 Disrupted from that dearer half of heart 
 
 Wherewith it found its vital strength, acquaint, 
 Compacted, welded, as no words can paint ! 
 
 Thus torn asunder from its counterpart, 
 
 It hath a wounded force, — but still, a force : 
 
 As that brave knight of old fought on his knee, 
 When struck to earth, and kept his valiant course, 
 
 Stout-hearted to the last, in chivalry; 
 
 So Love defieth Death, and holds its own, 
 To conquer and survive in soul alone. 
 
 Villa Novello, Genoa, 
 
 Before Breakfast, 10th June, 1887. 
 
64 MEMORIAL SONNETS. 
 
 fifteenth of December, ISS7. 
 
 A century would now have been thine age, 
 
 My Charles, hadst thou but lived until this day. 
 It beams upon me with reflected ray 
 
 From thy fine nature, which once shed a sage 
 
 And vivifying brightness on Life's page, 
 When we together read its wondrous way 
 Of showing forth God's guidance in essay 
 
 To worthily exist and earn His wage. 
 
 Sweet-temper, cheerfulness, and wisest mirth 
 
 Were thine, my lover-husband, ever thine, 
 While thou wert here beside me on this earth 
 
 And made the happiness of wifehood mine. 
 
 A joyful greeting, then, — undimmed by tears — 
 Shall hail the sunshine of thy hundred years. 
 
 15th December, 1887. 
 
OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 65 
 
 Zo %ciQb Ibunt 
 
 AS CONCLUSION TO A BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH I WAS 
 REQUESTED TO WRITE OF HIM. 
 
 I. 
 
 Leigh Hunt, — who 'mid the idols of my youth 
 Wert one among the chief, and at whose home 
 I first saw him was destined to become 
 
 The chiefest of them all, in very truth 
 
 My life-long one, compact of gentlest ruth 
 Yet finest manliness, — it now hath come 
 To pass that I am asked to picture some 
 
 Of thy attractions. Willing task, good sooth ! 
 Ah, would that I possessed thy potent art 
 
 Of painting merits by a happy touch, 
 Depicting qualities of mind and heart 
 
 By graphic words that tersely tell so much ! 
 But such as 'tis, dear honoured Poet-Sage, 
 Accept the homage of my now old age. 
 
 31st October, 18S1. 
 
66 OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 
 
 II. 
 
 A Poet's power hadst thou to perceive 
 
 The brightest points in all created things, — 
 The music in the brooklet's murmurings, 
 
 The ripple on the sand the sea doth leave, 
 
 The silver on the threads the spiders weave, 
 The nested happiness of bird that sings, 
 The God-sent comfort that full often springs 
 
 From sorrow bravely borne by hearts that grieve. 
 Ay, Sage wert thou in thy poetic gift, 
 
 That taught thee how from commonest of earth 
 The golden grains of beauty's self to sift, 
 
 Discov'ring plenty where there seem'd but dearth. 
 Thy thoughts, thy words, thy mien, with grace 
 
 replete, 
 Proclaim'd thee Poet " every inch," complete. 
 
 31st October, 1881. 
 
OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 67 
 
 Zo Xeigb Ibunt 
 
 ON HEARING THAT HORSEMONGER-LANE GAOL IS CON- 
 VERTED INTO A PLAYGROUND FOR CHILDREN. 
 
 Dear freedom-loving Poet, who here wrote 
 'Mid prison-bars " Descent of Liberty " 
 And larger part of " Story Rimini," 
 
 Beguiling saddest thoughts by taking note 
 
 Of winged fancies that unshackled float 
 Within a brain, a heart, a memory 
 Like thine, to bring consoling ministry 
 
 Akin to music from the wood-bird's throat, 
 Thy ever-hopeful spirit may rejoice ! 
 
 The prison-bars are gone ; the walls remain ; 
 But only to enclose the merry voice 
 
 And active sports of childhood : now no chain 
 Save daisy-chain, or link of hand in hand, 
 While dance and play the happy little band. 
 
 15th, May, 1884. 
 
68 OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 
 
 ffl>£ Birtbbap. 
 
 Three quarters of a century have I 
 
 Permitted been to live upon this earth, 
 
 To learn to feel and know the priceless worth 
 Existence hath, its mingled smile and sigh, 
 Its ardours and its aspirations high, 
 
 The conscious growth of thought and mind from 
 birth, 
 
 The rapture of indulging woe or mirth 
 With those we love, secure of sympathy. 
 
 At sunrise, five-and-seventy years ago, 
 My Parents had the joy of their first-born : 
 
 The boon they then received and gave, that morn,. 
 
 Brought mutual happiness in bounteous flow. 
 With grateful heart I've read Life's history, 
 Although it still remains a mystery. 
 
 22nd June, 1884. 
 
OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 69 
 
 ©n TO, 3. IRoIte'0 " ffrfenMs fi&ttton " 
 of Sbaftcspeare. 
 
 I. 
 
 To make me Godmother unto so fair 
 
 A child as this is " honour that I dreamed 
 
 Not of" ; an honour that I should have deemed 
 Too high, but that I know the father's care 
 To testify regard fraternal where 
 
 Good Shakespeare-work and Shakespeare-love hath 
 seemed . 
 
 To him to be : so thus on me hath beamed 
 This sponsor-glory that I proudly wear. 
 
 Apostle-spoons I give not : but I send 
 My hearty blessing to the thriving babe, 
 
 And pray prosperity may it attend 
 Through all the circle of its astrolabe. 
 
 May countless new editions issue forth 
 
 To prove appreciation of its worth ! 
 
 6th November, 1884. 
 
7 o OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 
 
 II. 
 
 And Dedication too ! the deed of Friend ! 
 Most " Friendly " from the very first to last 
 Hath been the course through which this book 
 hath passed : 
 
 The friendly generosity to send 
 
 Successive copies here from end to end ; 
 
 The friendly shape and size in which 'tis cast, 
 So light, no trouble 'tis to hold it fast 
 
 E'en idly lolling, resting, to perpend 
 
 The weighty truths contained in every page ; 
 
 Most friendly as a gift and as a book ; 
 A boon to youth as 'tis to my old age ; 
 
 A friendly comrade near, from whom to look 
 For counsel, comfort, charm, and wisest aid : 
 In short, a friendly Shakespeare, — all is said. 
 
 Villa Novello, 
 
 jth November, 1884. 
 
OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 71 
 
 No barbarism hath power to quite destroy 
 The beauty of a tree : no pollarding, 
 No ruthless cutting, lopping, formalling, 
 
 Can utterly obliterate the joy 
 
 Its innate grace conveys ; reduced to toy 
 
 Fantastic-shaped by clipping, yews will bring 
 Some loveliness despite of all, and fling 
 
 A welcome shade, afford to lovers coy 
 
 A screen, or arbour for a thoughtful sage. 
 
 Its leaves, its branches, still remain to oak, 
 
 Though trimmed and hewn by woodman's cruel 
 stroke, 
 A stately, noble thing from youth to age ; 
 
 And e'en in death, when felled to earth and prone, 
 
 It looks a godlike giant overthrown. 
 
 27th May, 1885. 
 
72 OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 
 
 3n memory of H. j£. B. 
 
 Alas for Amy ! well-beloved of all 
 
 Who knew her goodness, gentleness, and sweet 
 Compliant nature, eyes and smile replete 
 
 With kindly beams for large and small 
 
 Bestowers of affection, — friends, so tall 
 
 They had to stoop to greet her ; babes, whose feet 
 Came tottering to her, lifting lips to meet 
 
 Her kiss ; fond Parents, Husband, who now fall 
 To weeping prayer, when thinking of her loss. 
 
 Her loss ! Ay, she is gone ! Is gone from earth, 
 And lost to them awhile ; but there, across 
 
 The azure heights of Heaven, she hath fresh birth, 
 And waits them where pure kindred spirits dwell 
 In happiness beyond all power to tell. 
 
 13th October, 1885. 
 
OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 73 
 
 Zo tbe Hutbor of "Xorett30 of 'Gbe 
 flDercbant of lDcnlce/ " 
 
 Frank is the name and frank the hand that gave 
 To me this book ; right frank and genial it ! 
 With frankest, truest, highest feeling writ. 
 
 I frankly, therefore, ceremony waive ; 
 
 And, with a frankness that I trust will save 
 His thinking this my freedom is unfit, 
 I fancy it may happen just to hit 
 
 His humour, as the best way to behave. 
 Not only frank, but kindly thing to Jo, 
 To send this gift and dedication too 
 To one of whom he very little knew ; 
 It was a thing that would occur to few. 
 
 He may be Cross to others, but to me 
 
 He's Frank and frank : I thank him cordially. 
 
 12th January, li 
 
74 OCCASIONAL SONNETS. 
 
 ®,ueen Dictona : 
 
 26th February, 1886.* 
 
 A quarter of a century to mourn 
 
 Thy wedded love, true woman-hearted Queen ! 
 
 And now, as loyal as thou long hast been 
 To grief, thou loyal art to joy's soft morn, 
 That dawns upon thy heart, and doth adorn 
 
 Thyself and those around thee ; with its sheen 
 
 Illuming thousands where thou'rt welcome seen 
 In smiles, a wide-spread kindly sunshine born. 
 
 Ay, " Mors et Vita" is the fitting strain 
 To touch thy widowed heart and teach it peace, 
 Life after Death doth cause its sting to cease, 
 
 Restoring it to gladness once again : 
 Well pleased, thy love beholds renewed thy cheer ; 
 In sympathy of soul he hovers near. 
 
 2,rd March, 1886. 
 
 * The date when her Majesty went to hear Gounod's sublime 
 composition " Mors et Vita " performed at the Albert Hall. 
 
VERSES. 75 
 
 Separation- 
 
 However long I might be doomed to wait 
 Ere I should meet thee here again on earth, 
 I feel that I could teach myself content, 
 And steadily look forward to that time 
 With quiet patience, leaving until then 
 My craving love unsatisfied : then why 
 May I not now so school my soul to stay 
 Submissively for God's appointed hour ? 
 
 I hope, I pray, I firm believe will come 
 That meeting so desired, so hungered for : 
 Then surely, surely, I both might and ought 
 To bide with meekest cheerfulness and trust 
 The interval decreed. Still, while that vast 
 Unknown, — that veil unpierced by mortal eye, 
 That vista grey, unfathomable, dim, 
 That unexplored Hereafter, limitless, 
 Mysterious, inspiring awe because 
 Impossibly beyond our ken, — while this 
 Immutably looms there before me, — with 
 A confidence unratified, a faith 
 That hath no token of assurance save 
 
 F 2 
 
76 VERSES. 
 
 Its own fond strength innate, — what wonder if . 
 
 Poor human heart doth sometimes faint and fail ? 
 
 Moreo'er, the thought of dreaded change, that some 
 
 E'en higher, but less dear familiar form 
 
 Than that I loved on earth, might then be thine, 
 
 Perplexes, pains, and sets a-tremble all 
 
 My tried-for courage : ah, I could not bear, 
 
 Methinks, to find thee other than thou wert 
 
 On earth, — the same frank face, the same clear voice, 
 
 The same enjoying laugh, the same kind eyes, 
 
 Whose every look at me was a caress, 
 
 The same expressive hand, with cordial grasp, 
 
 The same mouth eloquent, when rich in speech, 
 
 Or when, in silent thought, emotional, 
 
 Or most, when, though its lips were mute, their soft 
 
 Impassioned pressure spoke thy tenderness. 
 
 No form angelic, no imagined wings, 
 No seraph shapeliness, could be to me 
 What that most manly personality, — 
 That goodly, kindly, true identity, 
 My Charles, my other self, my wedded love, 
 My best and dearest gift from God Himself,- — 
 Was here on earth for more than fifty years. 
 Yet, after all, what signifieth form ? 
 What form soever pleaseth our good God 
 
VERSES. 77 
 
 To clothe thy spirit in, 'tis that, thy soul, 
 Thine own intrinsic essence, that I yearn 
 To have, to meet, to reunite with mine ; 
 'Tis that which I should recognise beneath 
 Whatever aspect it may please the Will 
 Divine to have the blest in Heaven assume. 
 Let me be stedfast, then, and falter not ! 
 I will bethink me well of all vouchsafed 
 To us so long : 'tis that shall give afresh 
 Reliance to my faith, revive my heart 
 When down it droops, renew my earnest trust, 
 Sustain my firm resolve to wait and wait 
 With patient cheerfulness fulfilment of 
 Our bounteous Father's crowning dispensation. 
 His manifold and gracious gifts to both 
 While we were here united in this life, — 
 His special blessing in our mutual love, 
 Its constancy, its happiness supreme, 
 Our dear and honoured parents, valued friends, 
 Prosperity in writing-work (,the toil 
 We took delight in), privilege to have 
 Occasionally needed rest of brain 
 And body, peeps at rural scenes away 
 From haunt of men and stir and smoke of town, 
 A day, perchance a week, in quiet spot 
 
78 VERSES. 
 
 Where cottage lodging came within our means, 
 
 And gave us silence and pure air to breathe 
 
 By night, with fresh green lanes and fields to range 
 
 By day, — these granted benefits on earth 
 
 Seem warranty of sequent bliss to come 
 
 In Heaven above, where all created good 
 
 Is sure perfected and immortal made. 
 
 28th October, 1883. 
 
VERSES. 79 
 
 IN MEMORY OF MRS. HORACE HOWARD FURNESS. 
 
 My sister in concordant deed ! although 
 I never saw thee, grasped thy hand, or knew 
 Thee in the flesh, methinks I knew thee well 
 In spirit, knew thy worth and excellence ! 
 
 And now that come to me across the sea, — 
 The ever-heaving, ever-moaning sea, — 
 Sad tidings of thy death, beside mine own 
 Regret stand mournful pictures of that home 
 Made desolate by loss of thee, thou good 
 And noble woman ! Oh, may memory 
 Of thee and of thy virtues, — now a sting 
 The more in newly missing thee, — become 
 A softener, a tender blessed means 
 Of comfort to those mourners in that home 
 Bereft ! May thought of thee creep soothingly 
 And sweetly to the heart of him who now 
 Most feels thy loss, while draweth near, more near, 
 God's own good time for re-uniting ye ! 
 
8o , VERSES. 
 
 And may thy children, when remembering thee, 
 Still emulate thine excellence and reap 
 Best solace thence ! Thus after thou art gone 
 From earth, thy spiritual presence shall 
 Again illume the home now darkened o'er, 
 And shed its wonted light of peace and joy 
 On those it loved and loveth evermore. 
 
 ibth November, 1883. 
 
VERSES. 
 
 Gbe bereft fll>otbet\ 
 
 My arms are empty of their joy : 
 Gone is my child, my Baby-boy ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my empty arm's ! 
 
 Gone is his balmy honey breath : 
 All sucked away by greedy Death ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my famished lips ! 
 
 Gone are his cheeks of budding rose : 
 Now white and cold as winter snows ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my kissless mouth ! 
 
 Gone are his starry eyes, my light 
 By day, my hidden suns by night ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my darkness now ! 
 
 Gone are crowings, chirpings, coos : 
 I vainly listen, only lose ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my starving ears ! 
 
82 , VERSES. 
 
 Gone are his smiles, his winning ways, 
 That gladdened hour by hour my days ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my aching heart ! 
 
 And I, I'm doomed to still live on, 
 Although my Baby's lost and- gone ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my lonely life ! 
 
 His father first, now he is ta'en : 
 My all of love is stabbed and slain ! 
 
 Oh, misery, my murdered love 1 
 
 igth March, 1886. 
 
VERSES. . 83 
 
 Zhe Willow Zvee. 
 
 Ah, how I loved my love and he loved me 
 Together here, beneath the willow tree ! 
 I sit and think, — my thought's are wild and free — 
 I sit and think beneath the willow tree. 
 
 His body lies beneath the deep, deep sea ; 
 
 His form is here, beneath the willow tree : 
 
 His bones are bleaching 'neath the white, wide sea ;. 
 
 His looks are here, beneath the willow tree. 
 
 His eyes aflame, his eager lips, I see, — 
 His cheeks aflush, beneath the willow tree ; — 
 His gaze of loving rapture fixed on me, — 
 I see them all beneath the willow tree. 
 
 I know he lies out there, stone dead, at sea ; 
 And yet he's here, beneath the willow tree : 
 I think and think, — can such things be ? 
 God help my wits, beneath the willow tree. 
 
34 VERSES. 
 
 Pale, prone, beneath the cold, the foamy sea ; 
 Yet sitting here, beneath the willow tree !• 
 Stark dead, beneath the cruel whelming sea ; 
 Yet here, beside me, 'neath the willow tree. 
 
 His body there, his spirit here, — may't be ? 
 Permitted back, beneath the willow tree ? 
 If so, 'tis surely, surely, well for me 
 To have my love beneath the willow tree. 
 
 He told me he would come back from the sea, 
 And sit with me beneath the willow tree ; 
 He said it, I believe it, and I see 
 He's come to me beneath the willow tree. 
 
 True love ! True love ! thou'st kept thy faith with 
 
 me ! 
 Thou art come back beneath the willow tree : 
 Not death itself hath power to hinder thee 
 From coming to me 'neath the willow tree. 
 
 I, gazing earnestly, can look at thee, 
 Behold thee here, beneath the willow tree : 
 My aching heart grows quiet when I see 
 . Thy form beside me 'neath the willow tree. 
 
VERSES. 85, 
 
 For oh, it aches ! not always can it be 
 Kept still, — not e'en beneath the willow tree ! 
 Ofttimes it strays away far under sea, 
 And cannot stay beneath the willow tree. 
 
 But more and more, it learneth patiently 
 To wait and watch beneath the willow tree ; 
 To weaker grow, and dimlier to see 
 The long-loved form beneath the willow tree. 
 
 Some day, my neighbours, making search for me,. 
 May come, perchance, beneath this willow tree : 
 My heart at peace, my soul with his set free, 
 They'll find I rest berieath the willow tree. 
 
 ytli December, 1887. 
 
86 VERSES. 
 
 fll>£ IRose^colourcb Spectacles* 
 
 It hath been very often said of me 
 
 That I have spectacles of rosy hue ; 
 That, looking through them, I am apt to see 
 
 Most things in fairer light than colour true. 
 That I've these spectacles I'll not deny; 
 
 I reckon them among my best of treasures, 
 They help me wonderfully to descry 
 
 The source of many super-subtle pleasures : 
 But I deny they falsify the truth ; 
 
 They magnify it, yes, and mak.e it clear; 
 They bring me back the happy eyes of youth, 
 
 That see all beauty brighter and more dear. 
 They teach me to behold with due forbearance 
 
 Some surface-blemishes that oft obscure 
 Deep underlying merits, whose appearance 
 
 My spectacles detect with vision pure. 
 They bring to view with ever-fresh delight 
 
 Small microscopic objects, trivial deemed, 
 But rendered precious to my aided sight, 
 
 And thus become by me aright esteemed. 
 
VERSES. 87 
 
 A midge's crest, a blade of waving grasses, 
 
 The plumage on the wing of butterfly 
 Are each made obvious by my rosy glasses 
 
 And brought home to my heart as well as eye. 
 'Tis no slight benefit to have and hold 
 
 An alchymistic instrument that turns 
 One's daily iron duty into gold, 
 
 And casts a silver shine on all one earns. 
 'Tis surely well to have a pair of orbs 
 
 That shed a ruddy tint on common things 
 And substitute admiring that absorbs 
 
 The mind for critical disgust that stings, 
 Disgust refusing to be gratified, — 
 
 Forbidding eyes to be receptacles 
 Of simple pleasures,— won't be satisfied : 
 
 No, no ! Give me my rosy spectacles ! 
 Distinctly they reveal the " soul of good " 
 
 Residing " in things evil " and assist 
 Me patiently to wait and raise the hood 
 
 That shrouds it like an overshadowing mist. 
 " Would men observingly distil it out " : 
 
 So adds the wisest of all Poets, he 
 Who knew far better than the rest about 
 
 The value, in a true philosophy, 
 Of spectacles rose-coloured, that present 
 
88 VERSES. 
 
 The universe unto our inner sight 
 With observation thus divinely sent 
 
 To view it in its fairest, truest light. 
 They cause me clearly to behold God's Will 
 
 Displayed in every law of His Creation ; 
 Instruct me to accept unwelcome ill, 
 
 Because it is His sacred ordination. 
 They give me trust devout in what is latent, 
 
 And fill me with a soft reliant faith 
 From what I see of marvels brightly patentj 
 
 That to the heart a glorious promise saith. 
 'Tis privilege a medium to possess, 
 
 Wherewith by slow but sure degrees we learn 
 Beneath the darkest anguish and distress, 
 
 A spark of consolation to discern. 
 The matchless worth of one we've loved and lost,- 
 
 Which stabs more deep at first the sense 
 Of our bereavement, keeps our souls betoss'd 
 
 With pangs of futile longing, keen, intense,— 
 Doth gradually become the means 
 
 Of comfort, even joy, when we perceive 
 Above aught else the excellence that screens 
 
 And softens all, forbidding us to grieve. 
 The very virtue that enhanced regret 
 
 Assumes the form of solace, as we look 
 
VERSES. 89 
 
 With firmer, stronger sight ; we cease to fret 
 
 While contemplating spirit that forsook 
 Us never, but for aye remains a star 
 
 Of consolation and of love to guide 
 Us to the last, still near, though seeming far, 
 
 And faithfully, as always, by our side. 
 Oh, rosy spectacles ! accept my thanks 
 
 For all thou hast enabled me to see ! 
 Well may it be, thy gracious power ranks 
 
 Beyond most gifts vouchsafed by Heaven to me : 
 And to that Heaven Itself, who gave the gift, 
 My gratitude ineffable I lift. 
 
 24^ November, 1883. 
 
go VERSES. 
 
 H (Barben in (Senoa, 
 
 This lovely spot well suits for musing o'er 
 God's bounties, for adoring His decrees, 
 Fanned by the welcome early morning breeze, 
 
 Inhaling freshness, drinking in a store 
 
 Of od'rous healthful scents at ev'ry pore ; 
 
 Enjoying silence, mine own thoughts, at ease, 
 While watching birds among the nearest trees, 
 
 That feed or breast with warmth their nestlings four ; 
 Made fearless by my motionless and mute 
 
 Regard, they chirping flit from bough to bough, 
 To pluck off berry, bud, or pecked-at fruit 
 
 With sudden snatch of beak, unheeding how 
 
 I note their theft ; some, reckless spring from roof 
 
 Into mid-air, and dart so close to me 
 
 They seem to do't for my express behoof, 
 
 That I may clearly and admiring see 
 
 The sunshine through their filmy outspread wing, 
 Then settle on some twig and blithely sing 
 The while I sit in leisure listening. 
 
VERSES. 9 1 
 
 Sometimes I hearken to the fountain's splash, 
 
 And see the gold and silver fish with swift, 
 Abrupt, yet lithest motion, boldly dash 
 
 Just where the water falls with strongest drift, 
 Unhurt, unbruised, rejoicing in the brunt 
 
 Of elemental purity to them 
 Congenial, eager in the rival hunt 
 
 For crumbs my hand hath cast upon the hem 
 Of clust'ring weeds that skirt their lucent home. 
 
 Anon the dragon-fly, with wings of gauze 
 And body lapis-lazuli, doth roam 
 
 And skim athwart the surface ; without cause 
 Apparent, stops ; then on again sharp starts, 
 
 And pertinacious hovers round and round, 
 In circles still recurrent ceaseless darts. 
 
 Beside the fountain's moss-grown rocky bound 
 Stiff-standing phormium tenax grows, on which 
 
 Sit squat and panting small green frogs, at bask 
 Beneath the solar rays for hours ; then hitch 
 
 Themselves along and up until their task 
 Of motion be achieved ; at last they leap 
 Aroused, and dive into the yielding glass 
 Of fountain's depth with reptile glide and creep. 
 
 I turn to look beyond the daisied grass, 
 Where, lightly poised upon a full-blown rose, 
 
 g z 
 
92 VERSES. 
 
 A lyre-marked butterfly now opes now shuts 
 Its wings to feel the sun ; its dainty nose, 
 
 Thrust down at intervals, deep seeks and gluts 
 Itself with sweets drawn from the rose's heart ; 
 
 Then flutters off and leaves its nectar'd feast 
 In search of other banquets that impart' 
 
 The rover's zest of novelty at least. 
 A big, bluff, burly, blue-black bee doth plunge 
 
 Itself into the ipomcea's cell, 
 With stedfast push and onward headlong lunge, 
 
 Till lost amid its luscious hydromel : 
 Above the broad-leafed ginger's stamens slim 
 
 The long-proboscis'd moth doth hovering dip 
 His never-tarrying touch with hurry trim, 
 
 And takes a hasty momentary sip. 
 Brisk lizards speed, or spread their lankness o'er 
 
 Rough walls and stony crevices, to bake 
 In heat and glare ; then suddenly they bore 
 
 Between, and flashing disappearance make. 
 Mine eyes refresh themselves with gazing up 
 
 Into the greenness of embowering shade : 
 The ilex, with its leaves and acorn-cup, 
 
 Recalling English oak in forest glade ; 
 The ragged eucalyptus, with its leaves 
 
 Of sickle shape and slender stalk, that, like 
 
VERSES. 93 
 
 The aspen, perfect stillness ne'er achieves ; 
 
 The aloe, with its stout aggressive spike ; 
 The cedrus deodara, downward-branched ; 
 
 Bay-laurel, poet-crowning, poet-crowned ; 
 Dark firs by banksia roses over-blanched, 
 
 Festooned and drooping-garlanded around ; 
 Cream-blossomed, glossy-leafed magnolia ; 
 
 Ilanthus graceful, neighboured near beneath 
 By scarlet-flowered smart bignonia, 
 
 Entwined with honeysuckle's fragrant wreath ; 
 The stateliness of Wellingtonia tall ; 
 
 In lush luxuriance of bush and shrub, 
 Azaleas, roses, yuccas, screen the wall ; 
 
 Fine orange-trees without the need of tub 
 Of Northern climates, while their foliage green, 
 
 Their bridal blossoms white, and fruitage golden, 
 All at one time upon their boughs are seen ; 
 
 Abundant ferns, with infant fronds neat folden, 
 Amid maturer ones, that fan-like spread ; 
 
 Shy modest violets half-hidden lurk, 
 With lilies of the valley perfume shed, 
 
 And let more showy flowers forward perk ; 
 Pomegranate, scarlet-bloomed, with bristly sprays 
 
 Of vivid green betipped with bronzy shoots, 
 And calceolaria that bold displays 
 
94 VERSES. 
 
 Its yellow flauntiness in gaudy suits ; 
 Vines, passion-flowers, trail and intermingle ; 
 
 Date-palms, bamboos, carnations, in profusion ; 
 Geraniums, oleanders, double, single, — 
 
 A lovely brilliant mass of sweet confusion, 
 Harmonious in its blent variety. 
 
 A stretch of turfy lawn slopes smooth and even ; 
 For background, — blue, Italian, calmest sea ; 
 
 Above, — the bluer sky, true face of Heaven. 
 Rich colour, shapely beauty, might of wing 
 
 And fin, the wondrous potency of gift 
 To each created smallest, greatest thing, 
 
 In ecstasy of gratitude the soul uplift, 
 Inspiring it with deep humility, 
 
 And yet, withal, exalted happiness ; 
 A sense supreme of God's benignity, 
 
 That thus His universe doth grace and bless. 
 
 On the Terrace at Villa Novello, Genoa, 
 23rd June, 1SS4. 
 
VERSES. 95 
 
 prologue. 
 
 SPOKEN PREVIOUSLY TO AN AMATEUR PERFORMANCE 
 OF "AS YOU LIKE IT" AT WESTWOOD HOUSE, 
 JULY 5, 1882 ; HAVING ACTED MRS. MALAPROP 
 THERE THE YEAR BEFORE. 
 
 A pleasant task has been appointed me — 
 To speak a Prologue for this evening's Play. 
 A pleasant task, and yet no easy one ; 
 For what is there to say that's new upon 
 A subject so well-worn and oft discussed 
 As acting ! Still, I fain would do my best 
 To gratify the kindly wish expressed 
 That I should thus take part in the to-night's 
 Performance. Pondering on this, I thought 
 I'd ask our friend, good Mrs. Malaprop, 
 For her advice. She gave it me off-hand. 
 
 " Observe me, Mrs. Cowden," she began ; 
 " I would by no means have you deal in dull 
 And tedious latitudes, or dwell at length 
 On tropics too obtuse ; but strive to be 
 Conspicuous, and let your sentences 
 
96 VERSES. 
 
 Be clearly understood as soon as they 
 
 Are muttered. Keep your voice at constant pitch, 
 
 And let your tone be laudable to all. 
 
 Be sure they reprehend your meaning truly, 
 
 And catch the sense of what you say by mere 
 
 Defect of your distinct matriculation. 
 
 Remember, — the great art of speaking is, 
 
 To well denunciate your words, and make 
 
 Your audiences depreciate at once 
 
 Your every phrase, that every point may ' tell.' " — 
 
 "Permit me, madam," I rejoined, "to say 
 Just this : 'twas not so much the manner as 
 The matter of my speech on which I hoped 
 To have your counsel ; for a lady so 
 Well versed in her ' oracular tongue ' must needs 
 Have something neat and apposite to say 
 On all occasions ; therefore able to 
 Suggest a fitting prologue to a play." — 
 
 "Assuredly," was her reply, "it does 
 Behove an ineffectual woman like 
 Myself to know a little how to give 
 Expression to her thoughts ; and I maintain, 
 The arts of orrery and acclamation, 
 With flights and flourishes plethorical, 
 Judicially brought in, are things we ought 
 
VERSES. 97 
 
 To cultivate : the flowers of speech are what 
 
 We want to deck and to suborn with due 
 
 Contractive grace our plain opinions, our 
 
 Mature inflections, and evictions clear. 
 
 Mark me, I speak erratically, when 
 
 I say, — magniloquence, dissuasive ease, 
 
 Become a gentlewoman, if she must 
 
 Address a large elect dissemblage. As 
 
 For matter, Mrs. Cowden, when are we 
 
 At loss for that ? We women know full well 
 
 The way to fashion something out of naught, 
 
 And find or make a subject where there's none : 
 
 For, as the poet says : ' If rightly we'd 
 
 Be great, we must be great in argument ; 
 
 And greatly to pick quarrel with a straw 
 
 When honour's burning at the stake.' I quote 
 
 The very playwright, by-the-by, who wrote 
 
 The piece that's to be given here to-night. 
 
 I've heard he's good, a pragmatist of some 
 
 Repute. Do you know what he's like ? They say 
 
 He writes with much vapidity ; his pen 
 
 Runs on with turbid flow and senile pace 
 
 That carry one away ; and in suspect 
 
 Of the pragmatic Art, they tell me he's 
 
 A progeny ; his paregoric is 
 
98 VERSES. 
 
 Pronounced by commentators great and small. 
 
 The critics quite accost their forms of praise, 
 
 And come to the end of their satin, as 
 
 The saying is (the fag-end, I suppose) ; 
 
 They can't find epitaphs of elegy 
 
 Too high : one calls him ' Miriam-minded,' — why 
 
 I can't make out ; and one entitles him 
 
 ' The mortal Williams ! ' All agree in this, — 
 
 To rank him as the king of writing men, 
 
 And give him stolid literal renown. 
 
 It may be true ; I'm told it is : but I 
 
 Don't go by hearsay. I intend to judge 
 
 Myself: so I shall take my seat to-night 
 
 Among the audience, — see the actors act, — 
 
 Pay strict pretension to the piece itself, — 
 
 And if I find this Shakespeare really is 
 
 Deserving, I will give him my support. 
 
 I want to be evinced by my own eyes ; 
 
 And what I say is — give me jocular proof." — 
 
 Thus spake the sapient Mrs. Malaprop. 
 I follow her example, and resolve 
 To take my seat in front and hear and see 
 The play prepared for our delight — I hope 
 With your consent ; for though I've failed to speak 
 The Promised Prologue, I have made attempt 
 
VERSES. 99 
 
 To entertain you till our company 
 Of amateurs are ready to begin. 
 
 And now beseech you, ere I take my leave, 
 This little hint, on their behalf, receive : — 
 Your approbation is their best reward : 
 Applaud them, then ; your gracious smiles accord : 
 On you, to-night, their happiness depends ; 
 You won't withhold it, I feel sure, kind friends ; 
 Exactly thus, in truth, the matter stands ; 
 So, gentles all, I leave it in your hands. 
 
VERSES. 
 
 Epigram. 
 
 THOUGHT OF AT THE DRESDEN HOF-THEATER. 
 
 A man may be great, though he's doomed to be 
 
 small : 
 A palpable fact, I can prove it to all. 
 
 An excellent artist is clever Herr Klein ; • 
 For though his name's Little, his acting is fine : 
 It's varied, it's polished, and grand in each way, 
 When hypocrite,* tyrant, t or pagej he doth play ; 
 As self-made rich merchant, § or middle-aged 
 
 major, || 
 He always appeareth the perfect "old stager." 
 Accept, then, Herr Klein, this assurance, — your 
 
 name 
 Must ever be cherished as large in its fame. 
 
 Dresden, 20th August, 1886. 
 
 * President La Roquette. f Herzog von Alba. J Perrin^ 
 § Stephy Girard. || Graf Monthan. 
 
VERSES. 
 
 %UKB. 
 
 ON A PHOTO-PORTRAIT OF DONATELLO GIGLIUCCI. 
 
 Thou bonny baby, Donatello, 
 Thou darling chubby little fellow, 
 
 I'm told thou'rt rosier than a cherry, 
 
 And ever sparkling, ever merry. 
 
 I'm told thou hast large eyes of blue, 
 Expression varying, always new ; 
 
 Complexion brilliant, golden hair, 
 
 Italian born, yet English fair. 
 
 No photo can these graces give ; 
 But I by hearsay know they liv.e : 
 
 This portrait helps my hearing well 
 
 To fancy thy bewitching spell. 
 
 So irresistible thy charms, 
 
 I'm told the Princess* in her arms 
 Desired to hold thee when she met 
 Thee with thy nurse, thou blooming pet. 
 
 * Victoria, Princess Royal of England and Crown-Princess 
 Imperial of Germany. 
 
i02 VERSES. 
 
 Imperial Princess, true and good, 
 Felt how Imperial Babyhood 
 
 In fascination reigns supreme, 
 
 And makes Imperial purple deem 
 
 Itself most happy to enfold 
 
 Soft creamy limbs and curls of gold ; 
 Forgetting rank in Woman's part, 
 While taking childhood to her heart. 
 
 Thy name suggests that thou wilt prove 
 Someday a genius fine ; my dove, 
 
 If thou but prove a worthy fellow, 
 
 I will not care, dear Donatello. 
 
 I'll be content, so thou art brave, 
 High-principled, and so behave 
 
 Thy Parents may be proud of thee 
 
 And thy distinguished probity. 
 
 May thou, as man, fulfil thine ev'ry duty, 
 Be thou renowned as much for moral beauty, 
 As now thou'rt famed for all those infant charms 
 That made a Princess take thee in her arms. 
 
 22nd November, 1883. 
 
VERSES. 103 
 
 IRerina's princesses. 
 
 Nerina saw her suddenly appear, — 
 
 The Crown-Princess ! — and stood aghast, 
 dismayed, 
 In sheer bewilderment, not any fear ; 
 
 Struck speechless on the spot, no word she said. 
 Her little mind was puzzled with the thought 
 
 Of Cinderella, who, as Princess, went 
 To dance at Prince's ball, yet who was nought 
 
 But simple girl with godmother that sent 
 Her there, attired in robes and jewels bright 
 
 Instead of rags with ashes dirtied o'er, 
 And charged her to be back before midnight 
 
 On pain of never being Princess more. 
 All this confusedly perplexed the child, 
 
 And made her strive to reconcile the two, — 
 The Princess smiling there, so gracious, mild, 
 
 The Princess whom she'd thought of hitherto, 
 So grand, so dazzling in the fairy story : 
 
 Compared with her the living Princess seemed 
 
104 VERSES. 
 
 To be far less in splendour and in glory 
 
 Than that Princess of whom so long she'd dreamed. 
 Which was the truer ? This was what detained 
 
 Nerina thinking, and deprived her tongue 
 Of power to answer when the Princess deigned 
 
 To ask her name and choose her from among 
 The other children at Baveno, when 
 
 Beside the Lake she took her quiet walk, 
 And stopped to watch the tin^ maids and men 
 
 At play, and tried to draw them into talk. 
 Hereafter, looking back to that event, 
 
 Nerina will have learned to know the 'real, 
 Distinguishing what gentle kindness meant, 
 
 And how a live Princess excels ideal. 
 
 23rd November, 1883. 
 
VERSES. 105 
 
 Zcnth of flfca$ t 1884, 
 
 My dear grand-nephew, Donatello, 
 
 Bright, merry little year-old fellow, 
 Your first of Birthdays thus I greet, 
 And wish you all things good, my sweet ! 
 
 Good temper, — that, I hear, you have ; 
 Good health, — that, too, I need not crave ; 
 
 They tell me it is yours, dear boy, 
 
 And that almost includes all joy. 
 
 Good fortune, won by earnest deed ; 
 Good judgment, that you may succeed 
 
 In spending well the wealth you've gained, 
 
 With happy self-respect attained. 
 
 May you achieve a glorious fame, 
 
 Right worthy of your ancient name ; 
 
 And when you've reached to man's estate, 
 May you be known as good and great. 
 
 Nay, even if you're good not great, 
 
 It is enough : at any rate, 
 
 Howe'er with others you may stand, 
 To me you always must be " grand." 
 
 God bless the darling Donatello ! 
 Dear, bonny, little merry fellow ! 
 
 May he be ever gay as lark ! 
 
 Thus prayeth Mary Cowden-Clarke. 
 
io6 VERSES. 
 
 Dalenttne for portta (SMoliuca 
 
 Who is Portia ? What is she ? 
 
 That all her friends commend her : 
 Gentle, fair, and good is she ; 
 
 The Heaven such grace did lend her, 
 That she might admired be. 
 
 Is she kind, as she is fair ? 
 
 For beauty lives with kindness : 
 ■In her heart, I'm well aware — 
 
 Mine hath not partial blindness — 
 Kindest thoughts inhabit there. 
 
 I know her to be constant, true ; 
 
 I know her fond affection's mine, 
 She would not change my old for new : 
 
 We are each other's Valentine. 
 Ay, like my Portia there are few ! 
 
 j^th February, 1884. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 Iber Secret 
 
 I say it to myself so low, 
 
 My secret none can ever know ; 
 
 I say it to no human ears, 
 
 'Tis Heaven alone that knows and hears 
 I love himj yes, I love him ! 
 
 I think he does not care for me, 
 I think he does not care to see 
 
 I care for him : then, if 'tis so, 
 
 I only hope he'll never know 
 
 I love him, yes, I love him ! 
 
 But if by blessed chance I found 
 
 He really loved me, only bound 
 To silence till that very day, — 
 Should I then courage find to say 
 
 I love thee, yes, I love thee ! 
 
 znd June, 1884. 
 
 H 2 
 
io8 SONGS. 
 
 Ibie Secret 
 
 I dare not tell her what I feel ; 
 
 No, let me, let me still conceal 
 
 My thirst that she could only guess 
 The truth I may not yet confess, 
 
 I love her, yes, I love herj 
 
 Till rich enough to crown my life 
 
 By asking her to be my wife, 
 I've firmly vowed I'll silent be 
 And let her not too plainly see 
 
 I love her, yes, I love her ! 
 
 Meanwhile I work amain to earn 
 The right to tell her how I yearn 
 To call her mine : Oh, blessed day 
 When, heart outpouring, I may say 
 
 I love thee, yes, I love thee ! 
 
 2nd June, 1884. 
 
SONGS. iog 
 
 Mitb tbee. 
 
 When all things fair still fairer seemed, 
 When Nature brightly smiled to me, 
 
 And on my very soul hath beamed, — 
 Ah, 'tis that I was then with thee, 
 With thee, with thee ! 
 
 When grander seemed earth, sea, and sky, 
 With grateful rapture filling me, 
 
 And Heaven itself seemed closely nigh, — 
 Ah, 'tis that I was then with thee, 
 With thee, with thee ! 
 
 While thou wert here 'twas ever thus : 
 Now thought of thee consoleth me 
 
 For absence that divideth us ; 
 In spirit I am still with thee, 
 
 With thee, with thee ! 
 
 23rd November, 1884. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 flDa&rfgal 
 
 Since Love hath flown into my heart, 
 What wonder that I feel his wings 
 
 Beat flutt'ring there, with throbbing smart 
 That burning sleepless fever brings ? 
 
 The little rogue will nestle there, 
 
 Though often, often I am fain 
 To drive him thence, when in despair 
 
 At Sacharissa's cold disdain. 
 
 Yet when she smiles, in kinder vein, 
 The urchin claps his wings on high : 
 
 Up bounds my heart, and, free from pain, 
 I feel I would not have him fly. 
 
 But close, and ever closer press 
 
 The sweet tormentor in my breast ; 
 
 Beseeching him, with soft caress, 
 To fold his wings and with me rest. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 Zftc peerless Xafc^ 
 
 She's loveliest of ladies known to fame, — 
 A certain Lady whom I will not name, — 
 A paragon she is beyond compare, 
 This peerless lady, this sweet lady fair. 
 
 She's not more fair than she is excellent ; 
 She's charitable and beneficent, 
 
 She's sensible and clever and she's kind ; 
 
 Her charms are matched by noblenessof mind. 
 
 She's all that on imagination beam's, 
 She doth fulfil a poet's highest dreams ; 
 
 Her beauty's more than earthly, 'tis divine ; 
 
 She hath but one defect, — she is not mine. 
 
 2jth January, 1885. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 Zbe perfected) Xafc^ 
 
 The lady is perfected now, — she's mine ! 
 I find her more than ever fair, divine ; 
 
 The sole defect she ever had is gone ; 
 
 She's faultless and my wife, she is mine own ! 
 
 All that I thought her once, I now believe ; 
 
 I've learned she's more than I had dared conceive 
 More lovely, graceful, gracious, good, benign, 
 And is in truth what she appeared by sign. 
 
 To call this perfect creature mine for ever, 
 To know that nothing now can us two sever, 
 To feel that she is Heaven's gift to me, 
 Is bliss beyond whate'er I thought could be. 
 
 ■28th January, 1885. 
 
POSSESSORS OF MRS. COWDEN CLARKE'S 
 
 "Concordance to Shakspere" 
 
 ARE REQUESTED TO PRESERVE THEREIN THIS PAPER. 
 
 The mode of spelling "Shakspere." was used, when printing my 
 Concordance to the great poet's plays, in deference to the wish of 
 Mr. Charles Knight, its original publisher ; otherwise I should 
 have used the form [Shakespeare] which I have always adopted, 
 because it was the one given in the First Folio Edition of his 
 dramatic works by its superintenders and his brother-actors 
 Heminge and Condell. The name is also given thus in the First 
 Edition of his Sonnets ; and it seems to have been the ortho- 
 graphy used in print where his name was given during his 
 lifetime. That as many as sixteen different modes of spelling the 
 name have been found to have been used at the epoch when he 
 wrote, and that he himself did not adhere to any particular one 
 when signing his name, appears to be merely in accordance with 
 a fashion of the time, which allowed of the utmost irregularity in 
 the orthography of men's names. 
 
 The above affords an explanation of the reason why my " Con- 
 cordance to Shakespeare " bears on its title-page a form of ortho- 
 graphy varying from the one which is given in our "Shakespeare 
 Key " (which forms the companion volume to the Concordance) 
 and all the other works upon this subject written by my beloved 
 husband and myself. 
 
 MARY COWDEN-CLARKE. 
 
 Villa Novello, Genoa, 
 January, 1881. 
 
WORKS 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES & MARY GOWDEN-CLARKE. 
 
 CHARLES COWDEN-CLARKE. 
 
 Carmina Minima ; a volume of Poems ... ... ... ... 1859 
 
 Shakespeare-Characters ; chiefly those subordinate ... ... 1863 
 
 Moliere-Characters ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1S65 
 
 Adam the Gardener ; a Boy's Book ... ... ... ... ... 1834 
 
 Riches of Chaucer ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1855 
 
 Tales from Chaucer ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1833 
 
 Gentleness is Power; or the Story of Caranza and Aborzuf (in 
 
 " The Analyst " Magazine) 1838 
 
 The Musician about Town (in "The Analyst" Magazine) ... 1838 
 
 Nyren's Cricketer's Guide ... ... ... ... ... ... 1833 
 
 Fifteen Essays on the Comic Writers of England (in " The 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine ")... ... ... ... ... ... 1S72 
 
 Four Essays on Shakespeare's Philosophers and Jesters (in "The 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine ")... ... ... ... ... ... 1873 
 
 Essay on Shakespeare's " Taming of the Shrew " (in " Temple 
 
 Bar Magazine ") ... 1872 
 
 Walks round London, No. I. (in "The Literary Pocket-Book") 1S20 
 The Alps and Italy (in "The Manchester Examiner and Times'") 1S47 
 Jenny Lind in Mozart's " Le Nozze di Figaro " (in ditto) ... 1847 
 
 Macready's Hamlet (in " The Manchester Courier ") ... ... 1847 
 
 Articles on Fine Art (in "Atlas" newspaper) during several 
 
 years after ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1825 
 
 Two Letters on the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge (in 
 
 " Atlas " newspaper) ... ... ... ... ... ... 1830 
 
 Notices of Theatres (in London "Examiner") during several 
 
 years after ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 182S 
 
 Numerous Contributions in Leigh Hunt's "Tatler" ... ... 1830 
 
 Idem, Leigh Hunt's " London Journal " ... ... ... ... 1S34 
 
 Prefatory Address (in "The Music-seller ") ... ... ... 1S40 
 
 Memoir of a Chorus-singer (in ditto) ... ... ... ... 1840 
 
 Eight Lectures on Shakespeare's Contrasted Characters. 
 
 Four Lectures on the British Poets. 
 
 Three Lectures on Poets of the Elizabethan Era. 
 
 Three Lectures on Poets of Charles II. to Queen Anne. 
 
 Four Lectures on Poets of the Guelphic Era. 
 
 Three Lectures on Poetry of the Prose Writers. 
 
Four Lectures on the Four Great European Novelists: Boccaccio, 
 
 Cervantes, Le Sage, Richardson. 
 One Lecture on Ancient Ballads. 
 One Lecture on Sonnet Writers. 
 Four Lectures on the Schools of Painting in Italy. 
 
 CHARLES AND MARY COWDEN-CLARKE. 
 
 The Shakespeare Key ; unlocking the treasures of his Style, 
 elucidating the peculiarities of his Construction, and dis- 
 playing the beauties of his Expression, forming a Companion 
 to "The Complete Concordance to Shakespeare" 
 
 Edition of Shakespeare, copiously annotated, with Preface and 
 Story of Shakespeare's Life 
 
 Idem, with Preface, Glossary, and Chronological Table of 
 Shakespeare's Life... 
 
 Recollections of Writers 
 
 Idyl of London Streets, and Sonnet on the Course of Time 
 
 Many Happy Returns of the Day; a Birthday Book 
 
 MARY COWDEN-CLARKE. 
 
 The Complete Concordance to Shakespeare 
 
 The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines ... 
 
 Idem, an abridged Edition 
 
 Edition of Shakespeare, with Preface, Chronological Table of hi 
 
 Life, and Glossary... 
 The Iron Cousin; or, Mutual Influence. A Novel 
 
 A Rambling Story. A Novel 
 
 The Trust, and the Remittance. Two Love Stories in verse 
 
 Kit Barn's Adventures ; or, The Yarns of an Old Mariner 
 
 Mamilhus's Story (in "The National Magazine")... 
 
 World-noted Women ... 
 
 The Life and Labours of Vincent Novello ... 
 
 The Song of Drop o' Wather ... 
 
 The Battle of Melazzp. Lines founded on an incident recounted 
 
 by an Italian Volunteer in the Sicilian Band of Patriots 
 
 under Garibaldi (in "The Athenaeum") 
 Six Sonnets on Godsends (in "All the Year Round") 
 Minnie's Musings ; a story in verse (in " All the Year Round ") 
 The Yule Log; a story in verse (in ditto) 
 
 Time's Healing ; stanzas (in ditto) 
 
 An Italian Rain-Storm (in "The Atlantic Monthly Magazine") 
 A Biographical Sketch of William Shakespeare (in a Tercen 
 
 tenary Edition of the Poet) 
 
 1879 
 1869 
 
 1878 
 1875 
 
 1845 
 1 85 1. 
 1879 
 
 i860 
 
 1854 
 1874 
 
 1873 
 1849 
 
 1857 
 1857 
 1862 
 1856 
 
 i860 
 i860 
 1866 
 1867 
 1868 
 1866 
 
 1864 
 
Nine Shakespeare Studies of Woman (in " The Ladies' Compa- 
 nion ") 1864 
 
 Lawrence and Kemble's Hamlet; Shakespeare's Hamlet; the 
 
 World's Hamlet (in " Sharpe's London Magazine ") 184S 
 
 Ten Essays on Shakespeare's Individuality in his Characters ; 
 his Simpletons; his Men of Intellect; his Fools, Jesters, or 
 Clowns ; his Soldiers ; his Lovers (in " Sharpe's London 
 Magazine").. 1851 
 
 Shakespeare Proverbs ; or, The Wise Saws of our Wisest 
 
 Poet collected into a Modern Instance 1848 
 
 Six Essays on The Woman of the Writers : Chaucer, Spenser, 
 
 Cervantes, Richardson (in " The Ladies' Companion ") ... 1853 
 
 Three Essays on Sympathy with Unknown People (in "The 
 
 British Journal ") ... ... ... ... 1852 
 
 On Keeping Young (in " The British Journal ") ... 1852 
 
 The Order of Discontents (in ditto) ... ... 1852 
 
 The First Love (in " The Monthly Chronicle ") 1841 
 
 The Hawthorn Bough; or, the Philosophy of Cheerfulness (in 
 
 "The People's Journal ") ... ... ... ... ... ... 1846 
 
 My Arm-chair ; my Desk ; my Pocket-book ; my Home (in 
 
 Hone's " Table-Book ") ... ... ... 1827 
 
 Inn-yards (in ditto) ... ... ... ... ... ... 1827 
 
 Sonnet on receiving a Lock of Mrs. Somerville's Hair (in " The 
 
 Manchester Examiner and Times ") 1867 
 
 Unless ; Making up my Mind ; After all ; And yet. Four Songs 
 
 in imitation of Italian Stornelli (in " Temple Bar Magazine") 1872 
 
 Asking. A Song (in " Temple Bar Magazine ") 1875 
 
 Be true to me, my Love. A Song (in " Temple Bar Magazine ") 1875 
 
 The Declaration. Stanzas (in " Temple Bar Magazine ") ... 1881 
 
 Written at Dawn, on the 23rd of April, 1869 (in " Robinson's 
 
 Epitome of Literature")... ... ... ... ... ... 1879 
 
 Miss Kelly at the Manchester Athenaeum (in "The Manchester 
 
 Examiner and Times ") ... ... ... ... ... ... 1847 
 
 Music among the Poets and Poetical Writers (in " The Musical 
 
 Times") 1856 
 
 Festival of the Salzburg Mozart Institution (in " The Musical 
 
 Times") 1879 
 
 Music in Dresden (in ditto) ... 1879 
 
 Cherubini's Treatise on Counterpoint ,. 
 
 Catel's Treatise on Harmony I Translations 1854 
 
 Berlioz's Treatise on Instrumentation) 
 
 Note. — Some of the above publications have appeared in American as well as 
 English editions, others appeared in now extinct magazines, and others 
 are at present out of print. 
 
(LIST CONTINUED). 
 
 Honey from the Weed ; a Verse Volume 1881 
 
 Leigh Hunt ; a Descriptive Sketch (in "The Century Magazine") 1882 
 Puck's Pranks; a Juvenile Drama (in "The St. Nicholas 
 
 Magazine") 1883 
 
 On English Cookery in Shakespeare's time (in "The Merry 
 
 England Magazine ") 1883 
 
 Verse-Waifs 1883 
 
 A Score of Sonnets to One Object ... ... ... ... ... 1884 
 
 Amateur Performance of " Every Man in his Humour " (in " The 
 
 Manchester Examiner and Times ") ... ... ... ... 1847 
 
 Salvini's Othello (in " The Athenasum ") ... ... ... ... 1864 
 
 Salvini's Corrado (in " The Athenasum ") ... 1885 
 
 Ernesto Rossi's Hamlet (in "The Athenaeum ") ... 1873 
 
 Shakespeare's Self, as revealed in his writings (Shakespeariana) 1885 
 
 Uncle, Peep, and I ; a Child's Novel 1886 
 
 Shakespeare, as the Girl's Friend (in "The Girl's Own Paper") 1887 
 
 A Story Without a Name (in "The Girl's Own Paper") ... 1887 
 
 Centennial Biographic Sketch of Charles Cowden-Clarke ... 1887 
 
 Memorial Sonnets, &c ... ... ... ... ... ... 1888