E. Nesbit

“ Flowers under foot and banners over head,
And while your people’s voice storms Heaven for you
About your way are voiceless blessings shed,
And over you are spread
Wide wings of love, free love, tamed to your hand,
Love that gold cannot buy, nor Majesty command.
Not these mere visible millions only, share
Your triumph—here all English hearts beat high,
Nations far off your royal colours wear,
And swell with unheard voice this loyal cry
That strikes the English sky:
A cloud of unseen witnesses is here
To testify how great is England’s Queen, and dear. ”

“ Though lost were every jewel in our crown
We still should wear our jewel in our heart.
So, for our Mother’s honour, if it must
Let Peace be lost, but lost the worthier way;
Not trampled down, but given, for her sake
Who forged of many an iron yesterday
The golden song that gold-tongued fame shall wake
When we are dust, in dust:
For brotherhood and strife and praise and blame
And all the world, even to our very land,
Weighed in the balance, are as a grain of sand
Against the honour of our English name! ”

“ If Nelson’s England must stoop to bear
What never honour should brook,
In vain does the tomb of her hero wear
The laurel his brow forsook;
In vain was the speech from the lips of her guns,
If now must her lips refrain;
In vain has she made us, her living sons,
Her dead have made her in vain.
So here with your bays be the dear head crowned,
Lay flowers where the dear dust lies,
And wreathe his column with laurel round
To point his fame to the skies;
But the greenest laurel that ever grew
Is the laurel that’s yet to win ”

“ And twilit dew calls gray;—
These are the home, the happy cradle-place
Of every man who has our English tongue,
Sprung from those loins from which our sires have sprung,
Heirs of the glory of our mighty race!
Brothers, we hold the pearl of priceless worth:
Shall Peace, our pearl, by us be cast aside?
Is it not more to us than all things are?
Nay, Peace is precious as the world is wide,
But England’s honour is more precious far
Than all the heavens and earth. ”

“ The Queen of England, whose imperial name
From England’s heart and lips tumultuous springs
In prayers and thanksgivings,
Because your greatness and her greatness shine
Merged each in each, as stars their beams that intertwine.
Yet in the inmost heart, where folded close
The richest treasures of the poorest lie,
Love, whose clear eyes see many secrets, knows
A nobler name than Queen to call you by,
And breathes it silently;
But, ’mid His listening crowd of angels, One
Shall speak your name and say, “Faithful and good, well done!”
AFTER SIXTY YEARS
Ring, bells! ”

“ Wide as the world, and long as Time is long—
These mark the crescence of the English rose
Whose thorny splendour glows
O’er far-off subject lands, by alien waves,
A crown for England’s brow, a garland for her graves.
And faces out of unforgotten years,
Faces long hidden by death’s misty screen,
Faces you still can scarcely see for tears,
Will smile on you to-day and near you lean,
O Mother, Wife, and Queen! ”

“ When all the weary flowers,
Worn out with sunlit hours,
Droop o’er the garden beds
Their little sleepy heads,
The dewy dusk on quiet wings comes stealing;
And, as the night descends,
The shadows troop like friends
To bring them healing.
So, weary of the light
Of life too full and bright,
We long for night to fall
To wrap us from it all;
Then death on dewy wings draws near and holds us,
And like a kind friend come
To children far from home,
With love enfolds us. ”

“ Embodied England, in whose woman-hand
The sceptre of Imperial sway is set,
Receive this song of mine!
For you are England, and her bays grow green
To deck your brow, your goodness lends her grace,
And in our hearts your face is as Her face;
The Mother-Country is the Mother-Queen.
* * * * * *
We, men of England, children of her might,
With all our Mother’s record-roll of glory,
Great with her greatness, noble by her name,
Drank with our mothers’ milk our Mother’s story,
And in our veins the splendour of her fame
Made strong our blood and bright ”

“ Are with your fresh flowers blent,
And by your crown, where love and fame consort,
Shines the unvanquished cloven crown of Agincourt.
Upon your river where, by day and night,
Your world-adventuring ships come home again,
Glide ghostly galleons, manned by men of might
Who plucked the wings and singed the beard of Spain;
The men who, not in vain,
Saved to the children of a world new-trod
The birth-tongue of our land, her freedom, and her God. ”

“ Certainly in the first instance the volume is a monument of painstaking research.... But a careful reading conveys the sense that the historians’ and critics’ parts belong not less to Mr. Gleeson White. The book, in short, must be in the hands of all who care for English art. Even those to whom the names on its title-page are nothing but names, will find it a surprising picture book, an album, if you will, to lay upon the table, but an album rich in suggestion and of singular and subtle charm.”—Pall Mall Gazette. ”

“ I found him lying still with folded wings,
No longer fluttering, eager to be fed—
Kingdoms and powers and glories passed away,
And of life’s countless, precious, priceless things
Nothing was left but Love—and Love was dead!
BY FAITH WITH THANKSGIVING
Love is no bird that nests and flies,
No rose that buds and blooms and dies,
No star that shines and disappears,
No fire whose ashes strew the years:
Love is the god who lights the star,
Makes music of the lark’s desire,
Love tells the rose what perfumes are,
And lights and feeds the deathless fire. ”

“ Pauseless, resistless, moves by night and day,
From hidden mines where day is one with night,
From weary lives whose days and nights are grey
And empty of delight,
From lives that rhyme to sunshine and the spring,
From happiness at flood and hope at ebb,
Rose the magnificent and mingled web
That floats, your banner, at your thanksgiving.
Throned on the surety of a splendid past,
With present glory clothed as with the sun,
Crowned with the future’s hopes, you know at last
What treasure from the years your life has won ”

“ The story of the main episode in a human life is told in these pages with a convincing simplicity, directness, and power, such as we rarely find.... We cannot think of what we have read as a fiction; it reads like a piece of sincere autobiography, as absolutely frank as that of Samuel Pepys; and though it is constructed with more art—a very delicate art—we have no consciousness of this as we read, only when we lay the volume aside and begin to think about it.... ”

“ I will break the fighting line as you broke your plighted vow,
For I’m going for a soldier now.
For a soldier, for a soldier are you sure that you will go,
To hear the drums a-beating and to hear the bugles blow?
I’ll make you sweeter music, for I’ll swear another vow—
Are you going for a soldier now?
I am going for a soldier if you’d twenty vows to make;
You must get another sweetheart, with another heart to break,
For I’m sick of lies and women and the harrow and the plough,
And I’m going for a soldier now! ”

“ Her story is told.
O Spring, darling Spring,
O sweet days of blue weather!
The thrushes shall sing,
Fields shall grow green again,
Daisies be seen again,
Hedges grow white;
Then down the lane,
Grown leafy again,
Shall go lovers together—
Lovers who see again
Sunshine and showers,
Perfume and flowers,
Dewy dear hours,
Dream and delight.
Warm shall nests be again,
Winter’s behind us;
Springtime shall find us,
Taking our hands,
Lead us away from the cold and the snow,
Into the green world where primroses grow. ”

“ So wreathe your crooks with flowers;
The world’s in tune to Love and June,
The days are rich in hours,
In rosy hours, in golden hours—
Love’s crown and fortune fair,
So gather gold for Love to hold,
And flowers for Love to wear! ”

“ By BRAM STOKER
Author of “Dracula.”
“Will be one of the most popular romances, in one volume, of the season now opening. It is chiefly remarkable for the very marked and superior descriptive power displayed by the author in his rich and inspiring picture of the scenery of the Shasta Mountain.... So entirely unconventional, humorous, and bizarre, as to be quite unique.... The composition is bold and lucid.... He is an accomplished artist, and shows here at his best.... Mr. Bram Stoker will add widely to his reputation by this.”—Irish Times.
“A pure and well-told story.”—Glasgow Herald. ”

“ Steel’s name with novels which deal exclusively with Indians and Anglo-Indians. Such powerful and remarkable books as ‘The Potter’s Thumb’ and ‘On the Face of the Waters,’ point to a specialism which is becoming one of the salient features of modern fiction; but ‘In the Tideway,’ although dealing entirely with England and Scotland, presents the same keen and unerring grasp of character, the same faculty of conveying local atmosphere and colour, the same talent for creating strong and dramatic situations, and the same originality of thought and expression.... ”

“ Bram Stoker has given the reading world one of the breeziest and most picturesque tales of life on the Pacific slope that has been penned for many a long day.”—Daily Telegraph.
“Mr. Stoker seems quite at home in picturing the wild beauty of Californian scenery.... ‘The Shoulder of Shasta’ is eminently fresh and readable.”—Globe.
“It is a capital story.”—Bristol Times and Mirror. ”

“ The essence of true policy for Britain, the policy of common-sense, lies, according to Mr. Wilkinson, in choosing for assertion and for active defence those points in the extensive fringe of our world-wide interests, and those moments of time at which our self-defence will coincide with the self-defence of the world. ”

“ But the real art, perhaps, lies less in the sequence of events or the portrayal of character, than in just this subtle suggestion everywhere of the abiding causeless mystery of land and sea.”—Academy. ”

“ By BRAM STOKER
“One of the most enthralling and unique romances ever written.”—The Christian World.
“The very weirdest of weird tales.”—Punch.
“Its fascination is so great that it is impossible to lay it aside.”—The Lady.
“It holds us enthralled.”—The Literary World.
“The idea is so novel that one gasps, as it were, at its originality. A romance far above the ordinary production.”—St. Paul’s. ”

“ The adventures of a spendthrift, which form the principal feature of the book, are related with so much dramatic force that any improbabilities of the plot are forgotten in the reader’s eagerness to learn the dénouement.... Treated with freshness in a pleasant, graphic style, and a lively interest is cleverly sustained.... ”

“ Bram Stoker’s story is unflagging, full of vigour, and capital reading from end to end; moreover, it conveys a vivid picture of life and manners in a corner of the world better known to him than to the majority of those who will read his book.”—Standard.
The Fortune of a Spendthrift
AND OTHER ITEMS
By R. ANDOM
Author of “We Three and Troddles,” “The Strange Adventures of Roger
Wilkins,” etc., etc.
AND
FRED HAREWOOD
“Lightly, briskly, and pleasantly written.”—Scotsman. ”

“ Curzon’s book. The book is thoughtfully and carefully written, and the writer’s well-known abilities, both as a traveller and a statesman, lend weight to his words, while the fact that it is already in its fourth edition shows that the public realize its value.”—Belfast News Letter.
“All who have read the volume will admit that it is a valuable addition to the literature dealing with the problems of the Far East.”—Morning Post. ”

“ The intention of this book is to present to the public a concise account of each of the churches of the City of London. If any reader should be induced to explore for himself these very interesting, but little known buildings, wherein he cannot fail to find ample to reward him for his pains, the object of the writer will have been attained. ”

“ Meredith’s style is not ... so obscure as it is often represented to be.”—Athenæum.
“Carinthia will take her place ... in the long gallery of those Meredithian women whom all literary Europe delights to honour.”—Daily Chronicle.
“By George Meredith! Those three words have a welcome sound for reviewers.”—Literary World.
“We have said enough to show that Mr. Meredith’s plot is excellently conceived and excellently carried out.”—Standard.
“Most novels are merely dramas with padded stage directions. Mr. Meredith’s, everybody knows, are otherwise. His novels are always human life....”—The Star. ”

“ Steel’s position. This is assured, but this book adds greatly to an established position. It is profoundly impressive.”
“Wonderfully bright and lively both in dialogue and incidents.”—Scotsman.
“Admirably written.”—Glasgow Herald.
“The story is beyond question powerful. The characters are life-like and the dialogue is bright and natural.”—Manchester Guardian.
“As it is, the book is a sheer triumph of skill, one degree perhaps less valuable than a fully conceived presentation of the actual, but none the less admirable within its limits. There is care shown in every character.... ”

“ Many incidents not hitherto mentioned of pluck and heroism are alluded to. His book is one of the best of its class we have yet had the pleasure of reviewing.”—South Africa.
“The chapter on the Religion of the Matabele is well worth reading, so from first page to last is Mr. Sykes’ book.”—Daily News.
“The best illustrated and most generally interesting volume.... Frank, catholic, fearless, and generous. I congratulate him, and also his assistants on a notable volume.”—African Critic.
Imperial Defence
By Sir CHARLES DILKE and SPENSER WILKINSON
New and Revised Edition. ”

“ Gleeson White, as well as the care, patience, and learning that he has bestowed upon its adequate execution. For the printing, binding, arrangement of illustrations, and spacing of pages, we have nothing but praise to offer.”—Manchester Guardian.
“Mr. Gleeson White has written a work worthy of a foremost place among the standard reference books on matters artistic. Messrs. Constable have produced the book in a truly sumptuous manner.”—Publisher’s Circular. ”