James Elroy Flecker

“ In vain have you schemed and lingered and died, O Last Generation of the Damned. For the cities shall be built again, and the mills shall grind anew, and the church bells shall ring, and the Earth be repeopled with new miseries in God's own time. ”

“ One had called Paris the pleasure city, the fairest city in the world, in the days before the Proclamation; for one found it vibrating with beauty and life. And now assuredly it was supremely a city of pleasure, for there was no work to be done at all. So no artist ever took any trouble now, since there was neither payment nor fame attainable; and wonderful caricatures of philanthropists scribbled on the pavement or elsewhere, or clever ribald songs shrieking out of gramophones were the only reminder of that past and beautiful Paris that I had known. ”

“ It was a heroic age, when good and evil lived together, and misery bound man to man. Yet I will not regret what I have done. I ask forgiveness not of God, but of Man; and I claim the gratitude of thousands who are unknown, and unknown shall ever remain. For ages and ages God must reign over an empty kingdom, since I have brought to an end one great cycle of centuries. ”

“ We cannot draw back; never will the cries of [Pg 15] the slaughtered thousands we yearned to rescue from a more protracted, more cruel misery than war, make us forget the myriads who still await the supreme mercy of our revenge.
"For centuries and for centuries we endured the march of that Civilisation which now, by the weapons of her own making, we have set forth to destroy. We, men of Birmingham, dwellers in this hideous town unvisited by sun or moon, long endured to be told that we were in the van of progress, leading Humanity year by year along her glorious path. ”

“ And I am looking for the last time on the city of Paris."
"Do not say that," I cried. "All this may be horrible, but it cannot be as dull as Death. Surely there must be some place in the world where we could live among beauty, some other folk besides ourselves who are [Pg 39] still poets. Why should one die until life becomes hopelessly ugly and deformed?"
"I am not going to kill myself, as you seem to think," said the young man. "I am going, and I pray and implore you to come with me, to a place after your heart and mine, that some friends have prepared. It is a garden, and we are a League. ”

“ They are all so disappointed at the way in which human progress has been impeded, and at the impossibility of a continuous evolution of knowledge-accumulation, that they find no more attraction in life. ”

“ The unhappy remnant of a middle-aged mankind was gradually exchanging lust for gluttony. Crowds squatted by day and by night round the Houses of Dainty Foods that had been stocked by Harris the King; there was no youthful face to be found among them, and scarcely one that was not repulsively deformed with the signs of lust, cunning, and debauch. At evening there were incessant fires of crumbling buildings, and fat women made horrible attempts at revelry. ”

“ As the curtains were pulled aside I caught a momentary glimpse of an old person whose face I shall never forget, but apparently it was not for him that the breathless crowd was waiting. The man who finally appeared on the balcony was an individual not more than thirty years old, with a black beard and green eyes. At the sound of acclamation which greeted him he burst out into a loud laugh; then with a sudden seriousness he held up his hand and began to address his followers:—
"I have but few words for you, my army, a few bitter words. ”

“ Or that all beautiful souls perished in the garden?
I think it must have been the terrible thought of approaching extinction that obsessed these distracted men. And perhaps they were not totally depraved. There was a rough fellowship among them, a desire to herd together; and for all that they fought so much, they fought in groups. They never troubled to look after the sick and the wounded, but what could they do? ”

“ It is no crippled and faded Eros of the city that dwells among us, but the golden-thighed God himself. For we do all things with refinement, and not like [Pg 41] those outside, seeing to it that in all our acts we keep our souls and bodies both delicate and pure."
We came to the door of a long wall, and knocked. White-robed attendants appeared in answer to our summons, and I was stripped, bathed, and anointed by their deft hands. All the while a sound of singing and subdued laughter made me eager to be in the garden. ”

“ I was prepared to find the upper air busy with aeroplanes and the earth beneath given over to unbridled debauch. Instead, I discovered myself seated on a tall electric standard, watching a crowd assembled before what I took to be Birmingham Town Hall. I was disappointed in this so tame a sight, until it flashed across me that I had never seen an English crowd preserve such an orderly and quiet demeanour; and [Pg 14] a more careful inspection assured me that although no man wore a uniform, every man carried a rifle. ”

“ You whom others call dreamy and capricious, volatile and headstrong, you whom some accuse of weakness, others of unscrupulous abuse of power, you I know to be a true son of Æolus, a fit inhabitant for those caves of boisterous song. ”

“ The Wind bore me onwards more than forty years, and I found seated beside a granary half-a-dozen wrinkled and very aged men, whose faces were set with a determination to go on living to the bitter end. ”

“ There was a fatuous and brutal expression on most of the faces, and the people seemed to be too lazy to do anything except drink and fondle. Even the lunatics attracted but little attention. There was a flying-machine man who was determined, as he expressed it, "that it should not be said of the human race that it never flew." ”

“ I was standing with one or two other people outside a pseudo-Chinese erection, which I at first took to be a cricket pavilion, and then saw to be the headquarters of a rifle club. I apprehended from the placards that I was in Germany, and inquired in the language of the country, which I understand very well, [Pg 24] what was the object of this rifle practice, and whether there was any thought of war.
The man to whom I addressed myself, an adipose person with iron-rimmed spectacles and a kindly, intelligent face, seemed surprised at my question.
"You must be a stranger," he said. ”

“ Glasgow is referred to in the title ballad, many of the rest are steeped in traditional lore, and the two comedies are metrical versions of old Scots folk-tales.
"There are in the book many charming lyrical poems which ... show always the sentiment of a latter-day singer playing sweetly and gracefully round the sempiternal themes of poetry. The two Comedies are clever, simple, and fresh. The book will be read with especial interest by lovers of Poetry who favour Scottish themes."—The Scotsman.
"The author has talent; his work flows easily and 'lets itself be read.'"—The Birmingham Post. ”

“ Then I swore an oath to fulfil that old man's scheme, and I gathered my [Pg 20] followers, who were the miserable men, and the hungry men, and we have conquered all there is to conquer by our cannon and by our skill. Already last year I gave public notice, in the proclamation of Vienna, in the proclamation of Cairo, in the proclamation of Pekin, and in the proclamation of Rio Janeiro, that all bearing of children must cease, and that all women should be permanently sterilised according to the prescription of Doctor Smith. ”

“ There was a raised throne at one end of the building on which sat a King decently dressed in black. I recognised the green-eyed man, and learnt that his name was Harris, Joshua Harris. The entire body of the Hall was filled by soldiers in mud-coloured tunics and waterproof boots. These were the men that had conquered the world.
As soon as the populace were well assembled the King made a sign to his Herald, who blew so sudden and terrific a blast with his trumpet that the multitude stopped their chattering with a start. The Herald proceeded to bawl a proclamation [Pg 19] through his megaphone. ”

“ Particular attention is given to the specific functions of the two sexes, and the social part played by each, showing that the recognition of women's political responsibility is essential to race-progress. ”

“ I continued with a sigh, "we men of this age are rotten with booklore, and with a yearning for the past. ”

“ At the call of "Anglais, Anglais!" some side-whiskered man would immediately run up to obey the summons, and you could send him to get food from the Store for you, and he would be only too pleased. They would also cook hot dinners. ”

“ It deals minutely with the disposal of time, and shows particularly how the average thoughtful man, instead of merely vegetating when not at business, may arrange his day so as to live fully with all his intellectual faculties. ”

“ Paper 1s. net. THE SANITY OF ART: An Exposure of the current nonsense about artists being degenerate. By G. Bernard Shaw.
"A scathing indictment of Max Nordau's 'Degeneration.' Mr. Shaw's book should prove wholesome reading for the section of cranks who, like Nordau, shower abuse upon everything that departs from conventional standards."—The Daily Mail. ”

“ H. G. Wells at his grimmest; he gives a series of vivid snapshots portraying the events which lead to the final extinction of the race of man.
Paper, 6d. net. THE MYSTERY OF TIME: A Masque. By Florence Farr.
Wrapper, price 6d. net. A PRIEST TO THE TEMPLE. By George Herbert. (First printed in 1652.)
FREELAND: A Social Anticipation. By Dr. Theodor Hertyka. Originally published at 6s., but having secured the remainder of the edition we are selling copies at 3s. each.
"Shows how Capitalism stops the growth of wealth, and presents us to a working model of Society on a basis of economic justice. ”