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 Pictures of Travel 
 
 And other Poems * 
 
 By -- ^ 
 
 Mackenzie^ell 
 
 tAuthor of 
 
 " Spring's Immortality and other Poems " 
 '* Charles Whitehead : A Biographical and Critical Monograph " 
 *' Christina Rossetti : A Biographical and Critical Study " 
 
 Boston 
 Little, Brown, & Co. 
 
 1898 
 
,^ 'O 
 
 SEP J s 1888*^ 
 
Pictures of Travel 
 
 And other Poems 
 
I 
 
Pictures of Travel 
 
 And other Poems 
 
 By 
 
 Mackenzie Bell 
 
 a 
 
 tiAuthor of 
 
 " Spring's Immortality and other Poems " ■ 
 Charles Whitehead : A Biographical and Critical Monograph 
 " Christina Rossetti : A Biographical and Critical Study " 
 
 1 3 
 
 I 
 
 . Boston 
 
 Little, Brown, & Co. 
 
 1898 
 

 13937 
 
 Copyright, 1898, 
 By Little, Brown, & Company 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 TWO CO PI r? RECEIVED. 
 
 *^ University Press 
 
 John Wilson &f Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 
 
 2n 
 
 IfiQi. 
 
TO 
 
 WILLIAM MACDONALD SINCLAIR 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF LONDON . 
 
 IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY HOURS 
 
 SPENT AT THE CHAPTER-HOUSE 
 
 ST. Paul's cathedral 
 
Prefatory Note 
 
 / AM obliged to the editors of-'- The Pall Mall Magazine^"' 
 " The Churchman^'' ^'-Black andWhite^' " The Ladfs 
 Realm^^ " The Literary World^'' and other periodicals^ 
 for permission to include in this volume poems which 
 originally appeared in their pages^ and to Messrs. Hutch- 
 inson i^ Co. for their courtesy in allowing me to include 
 the two sonnets.^ '' To a Lady Playing the Harp in her 
 Chamber.^'' which were first published in the third series 
 of- The Savage Club Papers.'' 
 
 In Stan%a V. of " The Battle's Pause^" one of the 
 poems in this volume., an attempt is made to paint a picture 
 of what in other times was very familiar in the estuary 
 of the Mersey^ — the sailing out of many merchantmen 
 which had long been wind-bound. This must indeed have 
 been a singularly beautiful sight as viewed from such a 
 coign of vantage., for example., as Seacombe beach opposite 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 to Liverpool. IVhat marine spectacle in these days of 
 steam can equal in picturesqueness the sailing-ships of the 
 early part of the century^ imposing even in their propor- 
 tions^ moving majestically through the water under favour- 
 ing conditions ? Referring to other lines in the same 
 stan-za it may he mentioned that St. Nicholas., the ancient 
 parish church of Liverpool., is near the river., and is a 
 noticeable object from it ; and that in the early part of 
 i8i/f. there was an extraordinarily severe frost in the 
 neighbourhood of Liverpool with ice-floes on the Mersey. 
 
 ''^ A Plea for Faith ^^ another poem., was written., and 
 its title chosen.^ before I read., both in manuscript and in 
 proof., my friend.. Dr. George S. Keith's " A Plea for a 
 Simpler Faith.'' " y/ Plea for a Simpler Faith" was 
 not suggested by my poem. 
 
 MACKENZIE BELL. 
 
 London, September, i8g8. 
 
Contents 
 
 PICTURES OF TRAVEL — SECOND SERIES 
 
 After Sunset off Pau iliac ..... 
 
 Evening in the Forest of Meudon 
 
 Wild Roess and Snow ..... 
 
 At Sea — Off the Mouth of the Garonne — Sunset 
 Near St. Sauveur ...... 
 
 On the Lake of Geneva ..... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 1 1 
 
 13 
 
 The Battle's Pause 
 
 To A Worker among the Poor 
 
 A Plea for Faith 
 
 17 
 47 
 55 
 
 1 For the first series of " Pictures of Travel," see the author's previous 
 volume, "Spring's Immortality and Other Poems " (1S96). 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 To 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS 
 
 A Summer Evening in the Woods 
 
 The Boy Chatterton to Himself 
 
 The Boy Coleridge to Himself 
 
 The Philosophy of our Feelings 
 
 The Philosophy of Frequent Failure 
 
 Wind Fancies .... 
 
 To Frederick Tennyson . 
 
 To a Lady playing the Harp in her Chamber 
 
 65 
 68 
 70 
 72 
 
 73 
 75 
 76 
 78 
 
 RELIGIOUS POEMS 
 
 To Christina Rossetti . . . . 
 
 A Sunrise in Early Summer 
 Her Boy Just Dead . . . . 
 
 Miracles ....... 
 
 83 
 
 84 
 87 
 90 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 Portrait of the Author .... Frontispiece 
 
 From a photograph by J. Thomson, ^oa, Grosvenor Street, 
 London, W. 
 
 ** where a valley closes 
 'Mid mountain heights up-piled" . . to face page 7 
 
 *' Nature is great, and Man is impotent" *< 11 
 
 <* . . . waters of the waveless lake" , " 13 
 
 ** . . . a village street which lay 
 Crag-perched, 'mid tree-boles gnarled and grey 
 With age " . . . . . . *< 29 
 
 " . . . the reach 
 The farm-folk call the Little Broad" . . " 38 
 
 "... each object . . . made so clear 
 In this rare light" ....." d^ 
 
PICTURES OF TRAVEL 
 SECOND SERIES 
 
After Sunset off Pauillac 
 
 ( Gironde) 
 
 The day is gone, but yonder fading streaks 
 
 Of light still fleck the bosom of the sky. 
 Swart Night comes swiftly. Hark, that sound 
 bespeaks 
 
 My nearness to the ocean, 't is the cry 
 Of some belated sea-bird, and I hear 
 
 The ripples at my feet. A low sweet song 
 Monotonous, yet musical and clear, 
 
 Is breeze-borne from a vessel's deck along. 
 The crew raise anchor quickly, and away 
 
 She glides into the gloom, while growing low 
 
4 Pictures of Travel 
 
 And ever lower sounds the roundelay. 
 
 What now may be her fortune none can know. 
 Like her, o'er Life's strange, trackless sea we 
 
 sail, 
 Nor know if calm or tempest will prevail. 
 
Evening in the Forest of Meudon 
 
 i^Seine et Oise) 
 
 Returning sometimes from the fields of sleep, 
 I seem to see that twilight once again, 
 
 That twilight as mysterious, rich, and deep, 
 As yonder blackbird's strain. 
 
 I see the sombre loveliness around; 
 
 I feel the sense of awe, the enthralling peace, 
 Of Nature's woodland silence, for no sound 
 
 Makes here that silence cease. 
 
6 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Anon I see the waters of the lake 
 
 Gleam in the last hues of the sunset glow. 
 
 While here and there the lazy cattle slake 
 Their thirst, and homeward go. 
 
 But hear, O hear that sudden burst of song, 
 At last it is the full-voiced nightingales ! 
 
 While mellow cuckoos sing, and so prolong 
 Music as daylight fails. 
 
 Long hours have passed, and man and beast and 
 bird 
 
 Rest ; yet my heart is filled with pure delight. 
 And lo, a single nightingale is heard 
 
 Amid the moonless night. 
 

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Wild Roses and Snow 
 
 (^Basses Pyrenees) 
 
 How sweet the sight of roses 
 In English lanes of June, 
 
 When every flower uncloses 
 To meet the kiss of noon. 
 
 How strange the sight of roses — 
 Roses both sweet and wild — 
 
 Seen where a valley closes 
 
 'Mid mountain heights up-piled. 
 
Pictures of Travel 
 
 Upon whose sides remaining 
 Is strewn the purest snow, 
 
 By its chill power restraining 
 The tide of Spring's soft glow. 
 
 Yet God who gave the pureness 
 To yon fair mountain snow, 
 
 Gives also the secureness 
 Whereby these roses blow. 
 
At Sea — Off the Mouth of the 
 Garonne — Sunset 
 
 A TWILIT halo gilds the troubled sky, 
 And gilds the heaving waters far and nigh ; 
 I feel a sense of some strange loveliness 
 Which, as the shadows deepen, grows not less. 
 
 Hark! Now, not once or twice, but o'er and o'er. 
 In solemn grandeur comes the deep-voiced roar 
 Of strong Atlantic surges ; where I stand 
 I look, but see no welcome speck of land. 
 
lo Pictures of Travel 
 
 How beautiful is yonder distant sail 
 Illumined yet; but soon my eyes must fail 
 To trace its further course, for it will be 
 Lost in the glory of the sunset sea. 
 
 And as I gaze, and gaze, dim thoughts arise — 
 Thoughts of Man's destiny; these callous skies 
 Seem types of earthly cruelty, and now 
 The sea, like man, is sad — I know not how. 
 
 The air is still ; no winged wanderer cleaves 
 The silence in his flight, as Night receives 
 Ere long her stately queen the crescent moon, 
 Whose glimmering beams show all the billows 
 soon. 
 
Nature is great, and Man is impotent." — p. ii. 
 
Near St. Sauveur 
 
 (^Hautes Pyrenees) 
 
 Lo, what a glorious prospect is revealed — 
 Mountains and snow, and verdant loveliness ! 
 Upon the sloping sides of monarch heights 
 A misty veil reposes gracefully, 
 In wreaths almost transparent; presently 
 Its mass divides, and clear against the sky 
 Rises each giant summit, calm and grand. 
 Proud that its lone, its vast, its God-wrought 
 
 strength 
 Defies so long decay. I needs must feel 
 Nature is great, and Man is impotent. 
 
12 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Yet still how much his art hath made increase 
 To this rare store of beauty. Each small patch 
 Perceived upon the mountain side, reclaimed 
 From barren wilderness, what power it hath 
 To cheer the eye. To me it often seems 
 As though no prospect reached perfection till 
 It showed some kindly trace of human toil. 
 
J 
 
On the Lake of Geneva 
 
 A SILVERN haze is over all. At hand 
 
 Are gently swaying poplars, rippling larches, 
 
 And firmly rooted firs, while further off 
 
 Gleam azure waters of the waveless lake. 
 
 Beyond again are mountains; not, as oft, 
 
 Gaunt snow-capped monarch peaks, but bright 
 
 with verdure. 
 The rocks throw shadows quaint upon the grass ; 
 White chalets peep from 'mid the clustering 
 
 vines; 
 Gay boats glide smoothly on with buoyant sail 
 Widely outspread. 
 
THE BATTLE'S PAUSE 
 
The Battle's Pause 
 
 (An Imaginary Episode at Waterloo) 
 
 At daybreak on a lonely sea 
 
 Strange is the silence that may be; 
 
 Strange'^s the silence of the day 
 
 Where waves are hushed in some fair bay; 
 
 Strange is the silence of the night 
 
 Where in deep heavens the stars shine bright ; 
 
 Strange is the silence that ofttimes 
 
 Broods o'er the city's shame and crimes; 
 
 Strange is the silence of the room 
 
 Where lingering sickness hangs in gloom; 
 
 2 
 
1 8 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Strange is the silence after death 
 
 Where anguished sound departs with breath ; 
 
 But stranger is the silence when 
 
 The moans are stilled of wounded men, 
 
 Where stilled an instant are the cries 
 
 That from wild scenes of strife arise 
 
 As noise of rapid volleys cease, — 
 
 As God gives here and there release, — 
 
 As suddenly the senses yield 
 
 To silence on the battle-field. 
 
 II 
 
 In these fleet moments interposed 
 Ere yet once more the foemen closed, 
 In inner vision every man 
 Lived o'er again his whole life's span. 
 
The Battle's Pause 19 
 
 Only of plunder many thought, 
 But here and there was one who caught 
 Swift glimpses, borne on spirit wings, 
 Of God, of Heaven, of holy things — 
 Who felt his courage no less high 
 Because he was prepared to die. 
 
 Ill 
 
 One dreams of his betrothed in France, 
 A dark-eyed girl with laughing glance. 
 And wonders if he soon shall meet 
 Her tender looks, her smile so sweet. 
 "Ah, ma Lucille," with tears he cries, 
 " Fain would I see the glad surprise 
 Break the calm gaze of your dear eyes. 
 As with high hope I come once more. 
 
20 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Unwounded from the field of war. 
 Fain would I see your rippling curls, 
 More precious than those lustrous pearls. 
 My gift to you — that sometimes deck 
 The stately beauty of your neck — 
 That on your bosom rise and fall, 
 White rivals of its whiteness, all 
 Eclipsed in utter loveliness. 
 
 Fain would I see again that dress ; 
 
 Its dainty hue of mellow brown 
 
 Sets off the clustering curls that crown 
 
 Your shapely head. Fain would I see 
 
 The happy village revelry 
 
 That joyous day which makes you mine- 
 
 When underneath the ancient vine 
 
The Battle's Pause 21 
 
 Around Saint Etienne's porch we pass 
 Just coming from the wedding mass, 
 And leaving near to the altar stair 
 The citr^ with his silvery hair, 
 Low kneeling now in holy prayer. 
 Craving a blessing on us there. 
 His guileless, gladsome, saintly soul 
 As spotless as his pure white stole." 
 
 IV 
 
 Another soldier sees a room 
 O'ershadowed by a partial gloom, 
 As heavy curtains shade the light 
 From a wan sufferer's weakened sight. 
 And on a couch is seen a boy, 
 
22 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Whose wasted face, all flushed with joy, 
 Looks on a portrait, newly there, 
 Of a tall youth with raven hair. 
 Clad in a garb of martial hue. 
 And then in accents heartfelt, true, 
 ' He speaks the words : " Would that I too 
 With my dear brother still could be 
 Where Valour leads to Victory. " 
 
 V 
 
 A Scotsman here among "The Greys" 
 Chafes inly now at war's delays, — 
 Would but the bugle sound the charge ! 
 Would that he were once more at large 
 Among the flying cuirassiers ! 
 He knows no pity, knows no fears, — 
 
The Battle's Pause 23 
 
 For him each instant passes slow 
 
 Passed not in fight against the foe, — 
 
 'T is hard to stand, nor give one blow — 
 
 It suits his fiery humour ill 
 
 To be a living target still 
 
 Nor use his good sword at his will. 
 
 Near him "The Inniskillings " share 
 A post of danger — everywhere 
 
 Brave soldiers they, — who greatly dare. 
 
 V 
 
 Before an English soldier lie 
 Down-trodden fields of wheat and rye. 
 But his tired vision does not meet 
 These blood-stained fields of rye and wheat. 
 
24 Pictures of Travel 
 
 He sees not how his comrades here 
 Reveal no sign of craven fear; 
 While they with bandaged hand or face, 
 Still struggle on, nor quit their place. 
 He sees not, as in many rifts 
 The smoke of battle, rising, lifts, 
 How everywhere all undismayed 
 Still firm they stand as on parade. 
 Although their thinning ranks disclose 
 How hard with them the conflict goes. 
 He sees the Mersey; fresh and cool 
 The east wind blows from Liverpool 
 To Seacombe beach, where, loitering. 
 He stood one early morn of spring 
 A month or two before. The day 
 At first had seemed but chill and grey. 
 
The Battle's Pause 25 
 
 Till brilliant sunshine suddenly 
 Had flooded all the estuary. 
 For weeks the west wind had prevailed — 
 No ship, if outward bound, had sailed ; 
 But now the fickle wind had veered, 
 And now the sailors' hearts were cheered, 
 While a whole fleet — a gallant shojv 
 Of eager ships — was free to go. 
 Full many a vessel, towards the bar 
 Across the waters near and far. 
 Moves buoyantly. With what delight 
 He looks upon the goodly sight 
 Of canvas spread to catch the breeze 
 That dances o'er the rippling seas! 
 How shapely are the skiffs which pass 
 Between him and St. Nicholas ! 
 
26 Pictures of Travel 
 
 How graceful is the distant town, 
 Which gaily o'er the waves looks down ! 
 Changed is the scene since 'mid the snow 
 He saw it scarce a year ago. 
 Then many a white and large ice-floe 
 Reared its strange shape on every side, 
 While tossing idly on the tide. 
 
 VI 
 
 Another soldier sees his home 
 Where whirls the wild Biscayan foam ; 
 Where surges beat with sullen roar 
 Upon a dreary pine-clad shore. 
 There his fond mother yet must wait 
 For many a month disconsolate, 
 Waiting, still waiting for her child. 
 
The Battle's Pause 27 
 
 With heavy heart unreconciled 
 To his long absence — her distress 
 At times most pitiful to guess. 
 He sees her in her peasant's dress 
 At household duties, at her door 
 At eve and morning, evermore 
 Thinking with heavy heart of him ; 
 With unshed tears her eyes grow dim, 
 Looking, aye looking constantly, 
 Across the same sad, dreary sea. 
 Again he hears the gleeful noise 
 And chatter of the village boys, 
 He even hears the sound once more 
 Of sabots on a cottage floor. 
 Again it seems that mournful day 
 When he, alas, was called away; 
 
28 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Again he sees the fishing-boat 
 
 That comes to bear him to the town ; 
 Again his home grows more remote 
 As o'er the sea the sun goes down. 
 Still he beholds his mother's face, 
 And still he feels her warm embrace, 
 He knows her anguished doubts, her fears, 
 And would-be smiles, he feels her tears. 
 He hears the heaving waters nigh — 
 He sees above, an angry sky. 
 Dark, yet with streaks of mingled grey, 
 Fading while swiftly dies the day. 
 He passes to the gathering gloom 
 As though to some impending doom ; 
 Drear seems the earth, the sky, the main - 
 He feels that Nature knows his pain. 
 
The Battle's Pause 29 
 
 VIII 
 
 A youthful soldier looked around 
 
 Upon the ghastly battle ground. 
 
 He was a conscript, ne'er before 
 
 Had he beheld the face of War, 
 
 He saw, but saw not all its pain. 
 
 For former scenes arose again. 
 
 Once more he was a child at play. 
 
 He saw a village street which lay 
 
 Crag-perched, 'mid tree-boles gnarled and grey 
 
 With age. It was the close of day. 
 
 Was that the church he knew of old. 
 
 That the rude cross where he was told 
 
 The story of the ancient time 
 
 So full of mystery, lust, and crime.-* 
 
 Ah, how he loved yon olive wood, 
 
30 Pictures of Travel 
 
 To him how sweet its solitude, 
 How oft on many a summer night 
 He watched from there the fading light, 
 Till grew more bright and still more bright 
 The distant lamps of great Marseilles, 
 And when at length the daylight fails, 
 Fair seem the stars, fair seems the sea. 
 Ah, how at once his memory 
 Brings back for him these moonlit hours 
 'Mid fragrance of the orange flowers. 
 Fresh is the air, and soft and still. 
 Save when the mistral brings its chill. 
 Once more he feels the morning breeze 
 Which gently curls the azure seas 
 Around his father's fishing-boat, 
 That like a live thing seems to float. 
 
The Battle's Pause 31 
 
 Lovely it looks with dark brown sail, 
 Outspread to catch each gentle gale. 
 And when the noontide comes at length 
 The crew refresh their waning strength 
 By frugal meal, or merry jest; 
 By games, or cheerful talk, or rest. 
 One man had fought where waned the star 
 Of France in fight off Trafalgar ; 
 Another speaks of Austerlitz, 
 And shows the combat as he sits. 
 With eager words, with eyes aflame, 
 He tells the tale, "The Emperor came 
 To our right flank when sore distressed : 
 We needed succour, needed rest, 
 Yet better was his presence then 
 Than of a thousand untired men." 
 
32 Pictures of Travel 
 
 So, early stirred the martial fire 
 In the boy's breast — the proud desire 
 To win the soldier's honoured name, 
 To win the soldier's meed of fame. 
 
 To him an order comes ere long 
 To join the army; 'mid a throng 
 Of youths he gains a barrack square, 
 Strange seems the ceaseless bustle there. 
 Here well-groomed horses drink their fill; 
 Here is an active squad at drill ; 
 Here words of gaiety he hears; 
 And here a mother stands in tears ; 
 Here stands a veteran hale, erect. 
 In garb that points to no neglect. 
 Though he has marched full many a mile. 
 
The Battle's Pause ^3 
 
 In blazing sunshine all the while, 
 
 A faultless soldier he has been, 
 
 No stress of war can change his mien. 
 
 Here stands a youth with shambling gait, 
 
 In soldier's dress, yet unelate, 
 
 With stupid look, and vacant face, 
 
 As though his garb were some disgrace ; 
 
 Here, agile gunners clean a gun ; 
 
 And here, his day's work nearly done, 
 
 A driver of the army train 
 
 Brings in his store of food and grain. 
 
 The conscript thinks with what glad heart 
 
 In scenes like these he took a part. 
 
 With joy his boy's heart overflows. 
 
 He longs to smite his country's foes. 
 
 Of what he leaves he scarce takes heed, 
 3 
 
34 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Civilian clothes he doffs with speed, 
 
 To him his uniform brings life, 
 
 He thinks of glory in the strife. 
 
 He thinks, as now the sun goes down, 
 
 Of lasting honour and renown ; 
 
 To him War is not sad, but strange — 
 
 It gives him motion, stir, and change. 
 
 Through all the long, the happy marches 
 
 Across Provence, now bright with spring. 
 He sees the gay triumphal arches. 
 
 He hears once more the joy-bells ring. 
 And then one day, 'mid beat of drums. 
 He hears the cry, "The Emperor comes," 
 "The Emperor comes " — on every side 
 They pass the word with looks of pride. 
 
The Battle's Pause 
 
 Each soldier feels his courage rise, 
 Fresh pleasure sparkles in his eyes, 
 And while he stands the more upright, 
 Sees his accoutrements are bright, 
 And hopes his bayonet, sword, or lance 
 Will seem to that all-piercing glance 
 As sword or bayonet ought to look. ■ 
 For who could bear the sharp rebuke 
 Or face his comrades' words or jeers. 
 Or worse, his comrades' covert sneers, 
 At one the Emperor deigned to chide? 
 
 An hour has gone ; the corps espied 
 The staff approaching, near a wood 
 It stood to arms. Kind Nature's mood 
 Was peaceful: there the stock-dove coo'd; 
 
 35 
 
^6 Pictures of Travel 
 
 The dreamer sees one purple flower, 
 Which decked the spot that sunny hour. 
 " The Emperor is an altered man 
 Since Leipsic," says a veteran. 
 And yet the great Napoleon seems 
 The ideal of a soldier's dreams, 
 As now he passes on his course, 
 Erect upon his snow-white horse 
 Amid his marshals. Soult and Ney, 
 Heroes of many a well-fought day, 
 Ride near him now, in gayest trim. 
 They jest, and sometimes speak with him 
 Yet never seem to lose the sense 
 Of that strange man's strange influence — 
 Of that magnetic, cruel power 
 By which Napoleon, hour by hour. 
 
■<=^ 
 
 .• ^ 
 
The Battle's Pause 37 
 
 Until his fiery race was run, 
 
 Remorselessly swayed every one. 
 
 Firm are his lips, stern are his eyes — 
 
 Hard eyes, where naught of gladness lies ; 
 
 Yet signs there are of wasting life, 
 
 Wasting through care and lust of strife, 
 
 That drooping lip, that haggard cheekj^ 
 
 Of pain, of ebbing force, they speak. 
 
 But none, save veterans here and there, 
 
 Perceive his chill, his altered air; 
 
 The troops, o'erjoyed to see his face. 
 
 See in his glance a sign of grace : 
 
 His presence cures their every ill. 
 
 And "Vive I'Empereur!" their shout is still. 
 
38 Pictures of Travel 
 
 VIII 
 
 A tranquil, sunlit village green 
 Sees one young Englishman : between 
 A row of elms he catches sight 
 Of one dear cottage ; to the right 
 Lies the grey rectory, and beyond 
 Old Farmer Granger's ricks and pond, 
 Just where the high road quickly dips. 
 Here as a child he sailed his ships. 
 While loafers from the alehouse near 
 Gladdened his heart by words of cheer. 
 And showed him how to set his sail. 
 To woo the soft, the favouring gale. 
 
 He sees again the long sea beach 
 A mile or two from home; the reach 
 
The Battle's Pause 39 
 
 The farm-folk called the Little Broad 
 Gleams in the sun, while boys applaud 
 His feats of strength; or on the sea 
 Perchance he rows right merrily, 
 While myriad skylarks, singing, soar 
 Above the sand cliffs on the shore; 
 Or looking seaward from the land. 
 He views the sunset vague and grand. 
 
 IX 
 
 A Frenchman thinks with many a fear 
 
 Of his one sister — very dear 
 
 Is she to him, a girl most fair. 
 
 He sees e'en now her dark-brown hair, 
 
 And inly speaks, " Herself a flower 
 
 She hawks sweet blossoms hour by hour 
 
40 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Through many a parched Parisian street, 
 Gladly, though oft with toil-worn feet. 
 'T is she who wins the daily bread 
 And shelter for my father's head. 
 Since age and sickness disallow 
 Him strength to earn his living now; 
 While /, who should have been their stay, 
 Without appeal am forced away, 
 Simply because some men — whose aims 
 I do not know and scarce their names — 
 Have fixedly resolved on War. 
 And I — one of their human store — 
 Am made to face death at their will 
 Till kings and emperors have their fill." 
 How strange are we ! he who so dreamed 
 And all unpatriotic seemed. 
 
The Battle's Pause 
 
 When fierce again began the strife 
 Fought with the best — cared not for life. 
 
 Soon his mood changes, for he sees 
 In fancy now the comely trees 
 That line the long Parisian ways, 
 And droop 'mid summer's sultry blaze. 
 In one old street he sees a spot 
 Shaded by lime-trees : there is not 
 A cooler nook, and side by side 
 An old man and a maid abide 
 In sweet affectionate converse there, 
 To rest, to breathe its fresher air. 
 'T is those he loves, and for a space 
 He treads himself that well-known place. 
 So vivid is his vision. Soon 
 
42 Pictures of Travel 
 
 His sister starts through afternoon 
 Long hours, and near the Tuileries 
 She stays, then moves along the quays. 
 She is a sight so fair, so sweet. 
 She seems to gladden all the street. 
 And many look at her, and smile; 
 They note her brave looks all the while. 
 They know her toil of every day, 
 Toil such as wears her youth away. 
 And one, an honest artisan, 
 A homely, upright, thrifty man. 
 Poring o'er some long cherished plan, 
 Passing, thinks, " Would she were my wife, 
 Happy were I though hard my life." 
 And with a Frenchman's frugal care 
 He saves, and saving, dreams of her. 
 
The Battlers Pause 43 
 
 Although from childhood's earliest days 
 She knew the drear Parisian ways 
 (Gay to the rich, drear to the poor), 
 From every harm she walks secure, 
 From virtue none her steps allure. 
 In thought, in actions, she is good. 
 Kindness her constant habitude. 
 She raises soft and pleading eyes 
 With something of a chaste surprise 
 At many a word, at many a sight, 
 That comes to her by day or night. 
 All innocence without, within, 
 She sees, yet sees not all their sin. 
 
44 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Thus runs each hapless soldier's dream 
 In that short pause — that restful gleam 
 Of blessed peace. 
 
 But, hark, there comes 
 The gathering roll of distant drums 
 Beating the charge, and then the sound 
 Of musketry. Men gaze around 
 Half in surprise — then hear again 
 The clash of arms, the cry of pain, 
 The wounded horse's neigh; and so 
 Fateful with pain the gaunt hours go. 
 
TO A WORKER AMONG THE 
 POOR 
 
To a Worker among the Poor 
 
 Courage like yours has still a mighty power 
 To purify the mind from hour to hour, 
 To permeate with thrilling force the soul, 
 To give new confidence, new self-control, 
 To make each faulty faculty so clear 
 That, though you plainly see the danger near, 
 You scorn to dread it — scorn to turn aside. 
 Duty your first, your chief, your only guide. 
 
 The soldier 'mid the scenes of deadly strife 
 Thinks of his country — thinks not of his life; 
 And shall we then in these degenerate days 
 Speak of him lightly, cease to give him praise ? 
 
48 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Yet Glory has for him her ancient charm, 
 Excitement nerves for him his stalwart arm; 
 When bullets whistle in the dread advance, 
 For him there comes the touch of old Romance. 
 War has its use : sometimes it keeps alive 
 Those qualities that make a nation thrive; 
 In certain minds it checks the love of self; 
 It teaches self-control, and scorn of pelf; 
 Once and again it seems to make for good. 
 By teaching patriotism and fortitude — 
 That love of country flippant scribes deride 
 As but a foible — but a foolish pride — 
 That love of country which a nation's fame 
 Exalts, whose absence brings a nation's shame. 
 Yet War, alas ! not seldom seems to be 
 Only a form of licensed butchery — 
 
To a Worker among the Poor 49 
 
 One of the ills that from our passions spring — 
 The warrior's courage but a puny thing. 
 
 Yes ; yours is truer courage, for it comes 
 
 Not from the fife's shrill note, nor roll of drums, 
 
 Not from the maddening energy of pain 
 
 Where Horror, heedless, stalks among the slain. 
 
 But from that hidden strength which has its 
 
 birth 
 
 In some sublimer sphere beyond this earth. 
 
 That bravery is not yours which men acclaim, 
 
 That bravery is not yours which gives men fame, 
 
 Yours is the courage which but few suspect, 
 
 Yours is the courage which can bear neglect, 
 
 Yours is the courage which can suffer long, 
 
 The courage of the man whose soul is strong, 
 
 4 
 
50 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Who labours on, still doing silent good, 
 Nor stays his hand for Man's ingratitude. 
 
 Though oft you seem to till a thankless soil, 
 Your prayers are never vain, nor vain your toil ; 
 Some fruit you yet may have to cheer your heart. 
 In some new epoch you may bear a part. 
 But ev'n if now, through your short span of years 
 Your work be weary, and no fruit appears, — 
 Though, in humility, you look within. 
 Deeming your failure the result of sin, — 
 It is not so ; for still our Father knows 
 What each requires — on each He still bestows 
 The discipline most needed ; still he weighs 
 Our work with Heavenly scales ; our purblind gaze 
 Often thinks failure where He knows success. 
 
To a Worker among the Poor 51 
 
 All are His instruments, and so the less 
 His need of one man for the world's great need; 
 Righteous He is, to all He gives their meed 
 Of praise or blame; yet not like us He scans — 
 We see results, by them we make our plans, 
 And trust or trust not men. Men's character 
 He reads with searching glance that cannot err, 
 And thinks not of results, but values still 
 Patience and faith, and will to do His will. 
 So to His best beloved oft gives He trial, 
 As to His Blessed Son, of base denial, 
 And haply most will honour near His throne 
 Some humble follower by the world unknown. 
 Blurred is perspective by our earthly view — 
 To God perspective aye is clear and true. 
 
52 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Effort like yours ever to do the right 
 Will raise your soul from height to nobler height, 
 And gives at last that guerdon, full, unpriced, 
 The " Well done " of your life-long master, Christ. 
 
A PLEA FOR FAITH 
 
A Plea for Faith 
 
 Life! How mysterious does it seem, how strange 
 Its grief, its happiness, its shame, its sin — 
 How hard its changes are ! Can we believe 
 In a great God of kindness infinite 
 Who yet can daily leave His hapless world 
 To be — for so it seems — the home of pain, 
 Pain often useless, often showered on those 
 Who seem to need it least ? Can we believe 
 In Perfect Goodness and Omniscient Power 
 Permitting Evil to possess and spoil 
 His fair dominions, and to bring a curse — 
 An ageless and unceasing curse ^- upon them ? 
 
^6 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Alas, to our poor minds our futile years 
 Seem but a clueless maze. When happiness 
 Is ours, a hidden canker-worm reveals 
 Its hateful presence, and too soon there comes 
 Something to vex the spirit, or to jar, 
 Something to cloud or check our perfect joy. 
 
 One man has buoyant health, and feels delight 
 In living merely, yet he finds how hard 
 Is poverty to bear; it oftentimes 
 Hangs round him as a changeless destiny. 
 Too rich is he to rank among the poor. 
 Too poor is he to rank among the rich ; 
 Of neither class, he knows the ills of both. 
 
 Another man has ample wealth, and friends 
 Who love to do him honour, and to give 
 
A Plea for Faith 57 
 
 To him the zest in living which such friends 
 Alone can give. Yet look, alas, 't is clear 
 Disease's curse is on him, fell disease 
 For which weak human skill affords no cure 
 And scarce alleviation. He is doomed 
 To pass a joyless life despite the joys 
 Surrounding him. 
 
 Another man we see 
 With riches and with pulse of flawless health. 
 With steadfast, cheerful face he fronts the world, 
 And all seems well ; yet could we look within. 
 Some grief we should perceive which saps his life 
 And makes it full of care — a grief that springs 
 Not from his fault ; or oftentimes we see 
 Innocent children suffer for the sake 
 
58 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Of guilty parents, or a mother's heart 
 
 Guileless and pure, that bleeds for some loved son 
 
 Or daughter who, alas, has gone astray. 
 
 Not seldom in despondency we feel 
 
 As though the wrong is victor o'er the right. 
 
 As though our life were but a flake of foam 
 
 Cast by some cruel sea on some bleak shore, 
 
 A moment seen, and then for ever lost. 
 
 And yet, if we deny that God exists 
 As perfect in His goodness as His power. 
 If we deny that Death, God's angel, brings 
 To man a nobler life, what do we gain 
 To compensate us for the hopes we lose ? 
 For still we must endure the woes of life, 
 Still must we feel the longings which arise 
 
A Plea for Faith 59 
 
 For rest and peace amid our daily toil. 
 These we must still endure, and yet perceive 
 Beyond the grave no gleam of gathering light, 
 Nought save the gloom of nothingness before us. 
 
 But if we greet kind Faith, and let her hand 
 Lead us through all our years, though at the last 
 We find that hope of happier life is vain 
 (That 'twere so would not change the argument), 
 Faith's guidance will have given a mighty boon 
 To us, in gladdening all our days on earth. 
 So even if we wholly set aside 
 Faith's fervent pleading with the intellect — 
 A pleading ever present, ever strong, 
 'T is wiser far to guide our minds to view 
 The problem still in some such wise as this, 
 
6o Pictures of Travel 
 
 'T is true amid our earthly life there runs 
 
 A tangled thread of strange perplexity 
 
 And much injustice ; yet comes by and by 
 
 A nobler state of being, when that which seems 
 
 Unjust will be explained or set aright. 
 
 'Tis best to hold that there exists a God 
 
 Who made Man's mind with marvellous powers, 
 
 yet He 
 In His deep wisdom limited the scope 
 Of what He made, thus human Reason's sphere 
 Of thought is swiftly reached, and so it seems 
 To us so frequently that human life 
 Hath such injustice in its fleeting years; 
 That He decrees that it is well for us 
 In humble trust to tread "the path of sorrow," 
 Perchance as discipline for some high scheme 
 
A Plea for Faith 6i 
 
 Of joy hereafter, or perchance to show 
 To others how the brave can conquer pain ; 
 That Life's dark mysteries do but transcend, 
 Not contradict our reason, and when soon 
 Our earthly life shall close, theredawns a life 
 When He endows us with new gifts of mind; 
 Then chief among the pleasures it can give 
 Will be the thrill of joy when first we feel 
 That now we understand those mysteries 
 Which vexed our souls before — when first we find 
 That many " themes with which we cannot cope " 
 Grow clear, and '' Earth's worst phrenzies " are at 
 
 length 
 Forgotten in the jov of Hope's fruition. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS 
 
To 
 
 A Summer Evening in the Woods 
 
 I 
 
 How lovely are the woodland glades to-night, 
 The boughs slow moving in the balmy air, 
 As birds sing now and then from pure delight 
 With melody low-pitched, though scarce aware 
 They sing. The branches erewhile gaunt and 
 
 bare. 
 Have donned their daintiest dress; the insects 
 
 keep 
 
 A dreamy revel, murmuring everywhere ; 
 
 5 
 
66 Pictures of Travel 
 
 In these dear glades, so still, so dim, so deep. 
 Save for these lulling sounds kind Nature seems 
 to sleep. 
 
 II 
 
 The voiceless stars shine out, and all too soon 
 The calm delicious summer twilight ends; 
 Yet but a little space, and lo ! the moon 
 Has ris'n, and thence a flood of light descends, 
 While she amid the clouds, majestic, wends 
 Her queen-like way; obsequious stand they 
 
 near, 
 Like courtiers round a throne; each object 
 
 lends 
 Fresh beauty to the landscape made so clear 
 In this rare light that all its richer hues are here. 
 
To 67 
 
 III 
 
 Now in this evening walk there lives anew 
 
 That joyous summer evening long ago, 
 
 Sweet as to-night, when first I walked with 
 
 you — 
 When, as the westering sun was sinking low, 
 I first knew all your love for me; and so 
 Each yfear since then more swiftly than the last 
 Has gone, for Time but made our love to grow. 
 Yes, while the years are hurrying to the past. 
 My one regret it is that still they fly so fast. 
 
The Boy Chatterton to Himself 
 
 <* Sublime of thought and confident of fame." 
 
 Coleridge, Monody on the Death of Chatterton. 
 
 That dotard soul I cannot comprehend, 
 Nursing no hope that, after many years 
 His name should be preserved by other means 
 Than by an entry in the parish books — 
 A man who harbours in his heart no hope 
 To be remembered in far days unborn 
 By some great deed accomplished. 
 
 Therefore here 
 I make a vow — a vow unchanging, strong : 
 I will redeem the time, and, though the days 
 
The Boy Chatterton to Himself 69 
 
 Are evil, yet it will be my delight 
 
 To toil unceasingly, that at the last 
 
 It shall be seen I have not lived in vain. 
 
 Most men but live as sacred Scripture saith — 
 
 "They eat, they drink, are merry, and they die." 
 
 Few daily doings are of much account 
 
 In fifty years; then let my mind be set . 
 
 On some grand theme fit to absorb my souL 
 
The Boy Coleridge to Himself 
 
 ** O capacious soul! " 
 
 Wordsworth, T^he Prelude^ Book xt<v 
 
 " I WONDER wherefore ? " is the soul-stirred cry 
 Which wells up from the depths of human hearts 
 In every sphere of life — from lowly homes 
 And princely palaces — from hermits' nooks 
 And seething crowds — from youth and riper age 
 And longest length of years — from rich and poor, 
 From all who have the manliness to think — 
 In health or sickness — happiness or woe — 
 'Mid Life's supremest moments or its trifles 
 Which often make men ponder most. And this 
 
The Boy Coleridge to Himself 71 
 
 Incessant questioning is surely meant 
 As greatest food for hope — a token given 
 That, notwithstanding its abyss of sin, 
 Within man's soul the germs of good abide. 
 Mysterious are the links that firmly weld 
 Our trains of thought together. First we brood 
 On some small trivial matter — now the germ 
 Of musings somewhat loftier — then behold, 
 A thread is woven with our thought, and lo 
 It leads to higher themes ! — vast vistas new 
 For serious contemplation : — and we gain 
 Sublimest heights, as God-reflected thoughts 
 Transcending reason throng our kindled minds. 
 
The Philosophy of our Feelings 
 
 'Tis strange that what seems grief to-day 
 Should seem like joy to-morrow, 
 
 That present bliss should pass away 
 And seem, in future, sorrow. 
 
 Yet in the web of life we find 
 
 While its vague threads we measure. 
 
 The pattern of our mood of mind 
 Traced out in pain or pleasure. 
 
The Philosophy of Frequent 
 Failure 
 
 In Youth's bright morning hours of buoyant life 
 Grand contemplations often fill the mind 
 With noblest aspirations, while it seems 
 To us, as yet scarce touched by sordid care 
 And blighting prejudice, quite possible 
 Through our unaided strength to win at last 
 Some shining goal which glitters in our sight — 
 A goal which, when 'twas won, would crown with 
 
 good 
 The Universal Brotherhood of Man. 
 But as the years roll on we find the dream 
 
74 Pictures of Travel 
 
 Less easy of fulfilment, — for we feel 
 Our ardour less intense — our weary feet 
 Glide gently into that poor old-world groove 
 We so despised of yore, — and we are fain 
 To use fast -failing energy in strife 
 'Gainst daily troubles; higher aims forgotten. 
 
Wind Fancies 
 
 Murmuring winds vague fancies carry 
 To the heart while sweeping by, 
 
 And the fancies often tarry 
 
 Though the winds that brought them di^. 
 
 Now the fancies are of gladness, 
 
 Life itself seems one delight ; 
 Now the fancies are of sadness. 
 
 Life itself seems dark as night. 
 
To Frederick Tennyson 
 
 Died February 26, 1898, in his ninety-first year 
 
 Eldest of your august, poetic race, 
 You go the last to your calm resting-place; 
 Yet though you pass from out our earthly view, 
 Your work remains, and Time shall give your due. 
 
 Whether beneath the tranquil Tuscan skies 
 You mused as all too soon the daylight dies. 
 Whether you watched from your far island home 
 The English Channel's eddying miles of foam, 
 Or whether in your mild declining days 
 You sojourned 'mid our London's clamorous ways; 
 
To Frederick Tennyson 77 
 
 Yours was the poet's life through length of years, 
 Yours were the poet's joys, and hopes, and fears; 
 Yours were the tender ministries of song. 
 Yours were the pleasures which to bard belong 
 Who, dwelling in the world, yet "dwell apart" 
 And think but of their God and of their art. 
 
 Our gain from lives like yours no verse can tell : 
 Eldest of English poets, fare you well. 
 
 London, February 26, 1898. 
 
To a Lady playing the Harp 
 in her Chamber 
 
 (T'he Countess Rosalie von Sauerma-Ziilzendorf^ 
 niece of Spohr) 
 
 Lady, whose conscious fingers sweep the strings 
 With all the true musician's living power, 
 
 I watch your hand, your gentle hand, which clings 
 To that loved harp which has your touch for 
 dower. 
 
 How perfect is your skill, the fruit of years — 
 Years full of labour, years of patient thought ! 
 
To a Lady playing the Harp 79 
 
 Such tones as yours can move the heart to tears : 
 With keen delight such tones as yours are 
 fraught. 
 
 Now while the soft notes in their sweetness rise, 
 Now while the wave of music dies away, 
 
 I seem to see the soul which lights your eyes — 
 The soul which lends the magic while you play. 
 
 To Music's self how deep is your devotion; 
 
 Your strains are not mere Art — they are Emotion. 
 
 II 
 
 You cease: you tell us of that mother's love 
 Whose goodness was the sunshine of your youth. 
 
 Whose smile " made paradise " for you, who strove 
 To point the way to happy paths of Truth. 
 
8o Pictures of Travel 
 
 You tell us how through Life's dark days of 
 grief — 
 Through all Life's dreary days of changeful 
 care — 
 The thought of her fond love could bring relief, 
 The thought of her fond love could quell 
 despair. 
 And now I know that in your music's sweetness, 
 
 In its most subtle power to move the heart, 
 In its true grandeur, in its rare completeness, 
 
 Your mother's hallowed influence has a part — 
 An influence present yet and ceasing never, 
 An influence gathering strength and beauty ever. 
 
RELIGIOUS POEMS 
 
To Christina Rossetti 
 
 {Great as a Poet^ greater as a Womari^ 
 Died December 29, 1894 
 
 I MARVEL not that God hath called away 
 Thy peerless soul to where His saints abide; 
 
 Rather I praise Him that He bade thee stay 
 On earth so long — to be a heavenward guide. 
 
A Sunrise in Early Summer 
 
 Now lagging black-browed Night at last is 
 
 gone, 
 And fair and happy Dawn at length is here. 
 How sweet the sights which now I look upon — 
 The sights of summer beauty growing clear ! 
 The meadows yonder and the lawn appear 
 Glittering with dewdrops — dewdrops silvery, 
 
 white, 
 Touched by the sun's first beams; while far and 
 
 near 
 
A Sunrise in Early Summer 85 
 
 Each bird, each flower awakes, and hails the 
 sight 
 Of coming morn : to them like me it brings 
 delight. 
 
 II 
 
 To eastward lies a mass of sable cloud 
 Made glorious by the rising sun, who flings 
 His rays athwart its depths. I hear the loud 
 Yet mellow thrush's note — a blackbird sings 
 With sudden burst of song — a lark up-springs 
 From that wide field of wheat; so more and 
 
 more 
 Sounds Nature's orchestra of myriad strings. 
 I watch the apple-bloom, while May-buds pour 
 On all the gentle air their matchless, fragrant 
 
 store. 
 
86 Pictures of Travel 
 
 III 
 
 O, who at sunrise could be aught but glad — 
 
 Sunrise, the prototype of perfect day, 
 
 When we shall wake to bliss, nor weak nor sad, 
 
 And, feeling swiftly the seraphic ray 
 
 From God's effulgence, cast the fears away 
 
 Which still cleave to us, and with rapturous 
 
 soul 
 Know that dark Trouble can no longer stay 
 In His blest presence — know the precious goal 
 Where all Earth's grievous wounds are made for 
 
 ever whole. 
 
Her Boy Just Dead 
 
 [J Mother Speaks) 
 
 My darling dead! Is all the long endeavour 
 To vanquish Death in vain? These wistful 
 eyes, 
 
 So Truth-illumed and loving, wilt they never 
 Check by a look again my futile sighs ? 
 
 And shall I weep — although for him the gladness 
 Of this world's many pleasures now is o'er, 
 
 And I am left with this my load of sadness, 
 Which here on earth is mine for evermore ? 
 
88 Pictures of Travel 
 
 A cripple's lot were his, had he, remaining, 
 
 Here ta'en his part where grief and care are 
 rife — 
 
 Little of sinless happiness obtaining. 
 Feeling all miseries of earthly life. 
 
 To shorten that hard period of probation 
 Given to such as he so often here — 
 
 To raise him soon to an immortal station 
 
 Where comes no thoughtless word, no taunt, 
 no jeer — 
 
 The Master, in His mercy, gently made him 
 Fitter among His ransomed ones to be — 
 
 And day by day more perfectly arrayed him 
 In His own peerless robe of purity. 
 
Her Boy Just Dead 89 
 
 Then shall I cherish an abiding sorrow 
 
 For him whom God in goodness calls away? 
 
 Nay, rather let me muse on that blest morrow 
 Which joins in bliss our severed souls for aye. 
 
Miracles 
 
 Christ's wondrous miracles were signs indeed 
 
 Of wondrous power; yet every miracle 
 
 Of His had moral purpose, and was wrought 
 
 To show this moral purpose : and perchance 
 
 Thus is it that no longer we possess 
 
 The power to do such deeds. Had you or I 
 
 Such gifts, we still should heal unceasingly, 
 
 Nor judge of the effects were cures but made. 
 
 Where then would be God's discipline of pain? 
 
 Where His just government of all His world? 
 
 Where then would be His discipline of sorrow? 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 SPRING'S IMMORTALITY AND OTHER POEMS 
 
 Third Edition. Cloth, gilt. 2,i, cents. 
 
 '' Among the seven groups of poems into which this modest book is 
 divided, those called ' Pictures of Travel ' are likely to meet with the most 
 general favour. . . . What Mr. Bell has seen he can describe with con- 
 siderable vividness. . . . There are one or two poems founded on history. 
 Among them is a version of a striking story which has been used by 
 Aytoun and other ballad-writers. It is really very vigorously written. 
 . . . The religious poems are certain to have a pretty general accept- 
 ance, as they are evidently inspired by genuine feeling." — Athenceum, 
 London. 
 
 " There are poems in this volume which will bring light and cheer to 
 many a drooping spirit. There are others that will be read with pleasure 
 for the vigour with which they are written. And there are others — more 
 particularly, perhaps, the sonnets — on which readers will dwell with the 
 delight which thoughtful verse, the genuine outcome of true feeling, never 
 fails to give. . . . Mr. Bell thinks his own thoughts, and expresses 
 them in his own style and language." — Academy, London. 
 
 " Mr. Bell's poems must give pleasure to ears that are tuned to simple 
 and unaffected song, and it is clear from the poet's suggestive and vivid 
 ' Pictures of Travel ' that he needs not an exceptional incitement to sing. 
 The poetic impulse, in fact, is a natural impulse with Mr. Bell." — Satur- 
 day Review, London. 
 
 " Throughout a model of finished workmanship, and of that perfect vari- 
 ety of the imagination which is the note of all our best work in this de- 
 partment of literature." — Daily News, Londott. 
 
 " One is struck by the evidence given of a sympathetic personality ex- 
 pressing itself in clear and well-tuned strains. Everywhere the workman- 
 ship is good, the spirit serene, the standpoint generous." — Globe, London. 
 
 " Verse like Mr. Mackenzie Bell's is sufficiently rare, and should be 
 valued. . . . His verse leaves on us the impression that we have been 
 in company with a poet." — Bookman, London. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDY 
 
 With Six Portraits and Six Facsimiles. ^2,50. 
 
 Third Edition 
 
 THE QUEEN, in accepting a copy of this work, has expressed, 
 through her secretary, Col. Sir Arthur Bigge, her thanks for the " inter- 
 esting memoir." 
 
 " It is natural there should be a demand for a life of so true a poet as 
 the late Christina Rossetti ; she was such a beautiful character and made 
 so deep an impression upon her friends, that any authentic record of her 
 must be worth reading." — Times ^ London. 
 
 " Practically everything that anyone is entitled to know about the poet- 
 ess is told us." — Standard, London. 
 
 " The author has had the advantage of personal knowledge and the 
 encouragement of the surviving member of that gifted family. He has 
 done all that a man could do for the theme." — Daily Chronicle, London. 
 
 " The volume fulfils its purpose excellently ; the author is in full sym- 
 pathy with his subject and, we should judge, has presented the poet to 
 to the world as she would have wished herself to be seen. . . . The por- 
 traits are delicately charming," — Athenceum, London. 
 
 " While claiming merely to have discharged the ' easier functions of an 
 exponent,' Mr. Mackenzie Bell proves that he possesses the critical 
 faculty in a very rare degree." — Publishers' Circular, London (leader'). 
 
 CHARLES WHITEHEAD 
 
 A FORGOTTEN GENIUS 
 
 A Monograph 
 
 New Edition. Cloth, 85 cents. 
 
 " It is strange how men with a true touch of genius in them can sink 
 out of recognition. Mr. MacKenzie Bell's sketch may be welcomed for 
 reviving the interest in Whitehead." — Times, London. 
 
 " Mr. Mackenzie Bell writes in an excellent style, and his critical remarks 
 are full of thoughtful good sense. '^' — Contemporary Review, London. 
 
 " This fascinating book. . . . Mr. Mackenzie Bell has done a peculiar 
 service to letters." — Daily News, London. 
 
 " No fault can be found with the manner in which Mr. Mackenzie Bell 
 has accomplished his difficult task. He had been inspired by an enthusi- 
 asm honourable to the biographer's sense of justice and deep, far-reaching 
 sympathy." — Morning Post, London. 
 
 " His monograph is carefully, neatly, and sympathetically built up." — 
 Globe, London. 
 
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