“ Yea, and by some men lightly art thou blamed, That from thy toils their lives they cannot move, And 'mid the ranks of men their manhood prove. Alas! O goddess, if thou slayest me405 What new immortal can I serve but thee?
"Think then, will it bring honor to thy head If folk say, 'Everything aside he cast And to all fame and honor was he dead, And to his one hope now is dead at last,410 Since all unholpen he is gone and past: Ah, the gods love not man, for certainly, He to his helper did not cease to cry." ”

“ When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from sleep, And the water began to heave and the weather to moan, And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew, And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew,115 Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their flags, And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd navy of Spain, And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags To be lost evermore in the main. ”

“ Then Enoch lay long-pondering on his plans; To sell the boat—and yet he loved her well— How many a rough sea had he weather'd in her!135 He knew her, as a horseman knows his horse— And yet to sell her—then with what she brought Buy goods and stores—set Annie forth in trade With all that seamen needed or their wives— So might she keep the house while he was gone.140 Should he not trade himself out yonder? ”

“ Lo, I am old, and know what life can be, And what a bitter thing is death anear. O Son! be wise, and hearken unto me, And if no other can be dear to thee,320 At least as now, yet is the world full wide, And bliss in seeming hopeless hearts may hide:
"But if thou losest life, then all is lost." "Nay, King," Milanion said, "thy words are vain. ”

“ Here both were mute, till Philip glancing up Beheld the dead flame of the fallen day Pass from the Danish barrow overhead; Then, fearing night and chill for Annie, rose,440 And sent his voice beneath him thro' the wood. Up came the children laden with their spoil; Then all descended to the port, and there At Annie's door he paused and gave his hand, Saying gently, "Annie, when I spoke to you,445 That was your hour of weakness. I was wrong. I am always bound to you, but you are free." Then Annie weeping answered, "I am bound." ”

“ A lovely bird, with azure wings, And song that said a thousand things, And seemed to say them all for me!270 I never saw its like before, I ne'er shall see its likeness more: It seemed like me to want a mate, But was not half so desolate, And it was come to love me when275 None lived to love me so again, And cheering from my dungeon's brink, Had brought me back to feel and think. I know not if it late were free, Or broke its cage to perch on mine,280 But knowing well captivity, Sweet bird! I could not wish for thine! ”

“ One on the earth, and one beneath— My brothers—both had ceased to breathe;220 I took that hand which lay so still, Alas! my own was full as chill; I had not strength to stir, or strive, But felt that I was still alive— A frantic feeling, when we know225 That what we love shall ne'er be so. I know not why I could not die, I had no earthly hope—but faith, And that forbade a selfish death. ”

“ Or art thou of the sad fraternity Who still will strive my daughter's mates to be, Staking their lives to win to earthly bliss,300 The lonely maid, the friend of Artemis?"
"O King," he said, "thou sayest the word indeed; Nor will I quit the strife till I have won My sweet delight, or death to end my need. And know that I am called Milanion,305 Of King Amphidamas the well-loved son: So fear not that to thy old name, O King, Much loss or shame my victory will bring." ”

“ I felt as on a plank at sea, When all the waves that dash o'er thee, At the same time upheave and whelm,555 And hurl thee towards a desert realm. My undulating life was as The fancied lights that flitting pass Our shut eyes in deep midnight, when Fever begins upon the brain;560 But soon it pass'd, with little pain, But a confusion worse than such: I own that I should deem it much, Dying, to feel the same again; And yet I do suppose we must565 Feel far more ere we turn to dust: No matter; I have bared my brow Full in Death's face—before—and now.
XIV ”

“ That prudence might escape:730 At times both wish'd for and implored, At times sought with self-pointed sword, Yet still a dark and hideous close To even intolerable woes, And welcome in no shape.735 And, strange to say, the sons of pleasure, They who have revell'd beyond measure In beauty, wassail, wine, and treasure, Die calm, or calmer oft than he Whose heritage was misery:740 For he who hath in turn run through All that was beautiful and new, Hath nought to hope, and nought to leave ”

“ What makes these longings, vague, without a name, And this vain pity never felt before,590 This sudden languor, this contempt of fame, This tender sorrow for the time past o'er, These doubts that grow each minute more and more? Why does she tremble as the time grows near, And weak defeat and woful victory fear?595
But while she seemed to hear her beating heart, Above their heads the trumpet blast rang out, And forth they sprang; and she must play her part ”

“ And scatter incense to appease the ghosts Of those who died here by their own award. Bring forth the image of the mighty Lord, And her who unseen o'er the runners hung, And did a deed forever to be sung.665
Here are the gathered folk, make no delay, Open King Schœneus' well-filled treasury, Bring out the gifts long hid from light of day, The golden bowls o'erwrought with imagery, Gold chains, and unguents brought from over sea,670 The saffron gown the old Phœnician [307] brought, Within the temple of the Goddess wrought. ”

“ Dora came and said: "I have obey'd my uncle until now, And I have sinn'd, for it was all thro' me [Pg 105] This evil came on William at the first. But, Mary, for the sake of him that's gone,60 And for your sake, the woman that he chose, And for this orphan, I am come to you: You know there has not been for these five years So full a harvest: let me take the boy, And I will set him in my uncle's eye65 Among the wheat; that when his heart is glad Of the full harvest, he may see the boy, And bless him for the sake of him that's gone." ”

“ A thousand horse—and none to ride! With flowing tail, and flying mane, Wide nostrils—never stretched by pain,680 Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein, And feet that iron never shod, And flanks unscarr'd by spur or rod, A thousand horse, the wild, the free, Like waves that follow o'er the sea,685 Came thickly thundering on, As if our faint approach to meet. The sight re-nerved my courser's feet, A moment staggering, feebly fleet, A moment, with a faint low neigh,690 He answer'd, and then fell; With gasps and glazing eyes he lay, And reeking limbs immoveable; His first and last career is done! ”

“ Enoch Arden, just now mentioned, abounds in romantic episodes, though Enoch and Philip and Annie dwell in a little fishing village. Why, if Chaucer chose to call his masterpiece the Canterbury Tales, should any one take the liberty of questioning his nomenclature? The query is well founded; and yet the reader must recognize a wide gulf in tone and spirit between The Knight's Tale and The Reeve's Tale. Call it, if you will, the distinction between idealism and realism; at any rate it exists, and ought to be made plain even at the risk of confronting dilemmas of another sort. ”

“ Among the earliest converts to the doctrines of the Friends in Scotland was Barclay of Ury, an old and distinguished soldier, who had fought under Gustavus Adolphus, in Germany. As a Quaker, he became the object of persecution and abuse at the hands of the magistrates and populace. None bore the indignities of the mob with greater patience and nobleness of soul than this once proud gentleman and soldier. ”

“ Thus earn'd a scanty living for himself: Yet since he did but labor for himself,815 Work without hope, there was not life in it Whereby the man could live; and as the year Roll'd itself round again to meet the day When Enoch had return'd, a languor came Upon him, gentle sickness, gradually820 Weakening the man, till he could do no more, But kept the house, his chair, and last his bed. And Enoch bore his weakness cheerfully. ”

“ Why fails she now to see if far or nigh The goal is? why do her gray eyes grow dim?650 Why do these tremors run through every limb?
She spreads her arms abroad some stay to find, Else must she fall, indeed, and findeth this, A strong man's arms about her body twined. Nor may she shudder now to feel his kiss,655 So wrapped she is in new unbroken bliss: Made happy that the foe the prize hath won, She weeps glad tears for all her glory done. ”

“ But Philip did not fathom Annie's mind: Scarce could the woman when he came upon her, Out of full heart and boundless gratitude Light on a broken word to thank him with. But Philip was her children's all-in-all;345 From distant corners of the street they ran To greet his hearty welcome heartily; Lords of his house and of his mill were they; Worried his passive ear with petty wrongs Or pleasures, hung upon him, play'd with him,350 And call'd him Father Philip. Philip gain'd As Enoch lost ”

“ Ere from the ivory throne King Schœneus' face255 Looked down upon the murmur royally, But then came trembling that the time was nigh When he midst pitying looks his love must claim, And jeering voices must salute his name.
But as the throng he pierced to gain the throne,260 His alien face distraught and anxious told What hopeless errand he was bound upon, And, each to each, folk whispered to behold His godlike limbs; nay, and one woman old As he went by must pluck him by the sleeve265 And pray him yet that wretched love to leave. ”

“ See the noble fellow's face As the big ship, with a bound, Clears the entry like a hound, Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound!75 See, safe through shoal and rock, How they follow in a flock, Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground, Not a spar that comes to grief! ”

“ Creeping o'er the floor so damp, Like a marsh's meteor lamp [110] :35 And in each pillar there is a ring, And in each ring there is a chain; That iron is a cankering [111] thing, For in these limbs its teeth remain, With marks that will not wear away40 Till I have done with this new day, Which now is painful to these eyes, Which have not seen the sun so rise For years—I cannot count them o'er, I lost their long and heavy score45 When my last brother drooped and died, And I lay living by his side.
III
They chained us each to a column stone, And we were three—yet, each alone ”

“ He tried many kinds of poetry and met with some success in all. He learned versification as Stevenson did his prose style, by long-continued study and practice, with the result that he became eventually a supreme literary artist, a master of melody in words. His diction is admirably precise and exact, and he is easy to read and understand. While he is rarely profound or searching, like Browning, neither is he overintellectual; but he embeds sane and safe thought in a mould of beauty. ”

“ PAUL REVERE'S RIDE
Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, [308] On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.5
He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church [309] tower as a signal light,— One, if by land, and two, if by sea;10 And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country-folk to be up and arm." ”

“ Small is the fane through which the sea-wind sings About Queen Venus' [303] well-wrought image white, But hung around are many precious things, The gifts of those who, longing for delight,375 Have hung them there within the goddess' sight, And in return have taken at her hands The living treasures of the Grecian lands. ”

“ Like the primitive Epic in anonymity and impersonality, the Ballad was much shorter, had rime and stanzas, and dealt, as a rule, with incidents of less importance. Not so formal or pretentious as the Epic, it was easily memorized even by the peasant, and handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. Favorite subjects were the legends of Robin Hood, the misfortunes of nobles, and the incidents of Border warfare. Mixed in many of them was a tendency toward superstition, a survival of the belief in ghosts, magicians, and talking animals. ”