Yet, just as in the effete French society be fore the Revolution the Queen played at Arcadia, the King played at being a mechanir every one played at simplicity and univers: 5 philanthropy, leaving for most durable ou come of their philanthropy the guillotine, as the most durable outcome of ours may be execution by electricity;-so in our own se ciety the talk of benevolence and the cult a We, of this self-conscious, incredulous genertion, sentimentalize our children, analyse our children, think we are endowed with a specia capacity to sympathize and identify ourselve regret that he has sometimes allowed himself to take the second-best word instead of searching for the best. Theoretically, of course, one ought always to try for the best word. But practically, the habit of excessive care in word selection frequently results in loss of spontaneity; and, still worse, the habit of always taking the most ornate word, the word most removed from ordinary speech. In consequence of this, poetic diction has become lat- 10 childhood are the very fashion of the hour terly a kaleidoscope, and one's chief curiosity is as to the precise combinations into which the pieces will be shifted. There is, in fact, a certain band of words, the Prætorian cohorts of poetry, whose prescriptive aid is invoked 15 with children; we play at being children. And by every aspirant to the poetical purple, and without whose prescriptive aid none dares aspire to the poetical purple; against these it is time some banner should be raised. Perhaps it is almost impossible for a contem-20 porary writer quite to evade the services of the free-lances whom one encounters under so many standards. But it is at any rate curious to note that the literary revolution against the despotic diction of Pope seems 25 little that the elves can reach to whisper in issuing, like political revolutions, in a despotism of its own making. This, then, we cannot but think, distin guishes the literary period of Shelley from our the result is that we are not more child-like but our children are less child-like. It is so tiring to stoop to the child, so much easier to lift the child up to you. Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of to-day. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the wates of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief, it is to be s your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness. and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its own soul; it is own. It distinguishes even the unquestionable 30 to live in a nutshell and to count yourself the king of infinite space;3 it is To see a world in a grain of sand, treasures and masterpieces of to-day from similar treasures and masterpieces of the precedent day; even the Lotus-Eaters from KublaKhan; even Rossetti's ballads from Christabel. It is present in the restraint of Matthew Arnold 35 no less than in the exuberance of Swinburne, and affects our writers who aim at simplicity no less than those who seek richness. Indeed, nothing is so artificial as our simplicity. It is the simplicity of the French stage ingênue. 40 We are self-conscious to the finger-tips; and this inherent quality, entailing on our poetry the inevitable loss of spontaneity, ensures that whatever poets, of whatever excellence, may be born to us from the Shelleian stock, its 45 Dryden's false and famous lines might have founder's spirit can take among us no reincarnation. An age that is ceasing to produce child-like children cannot produce a Shelley. For both as poet and man he was essentially a child. 2i. e. this chosen band of words stands in the same relation to the aspirant for poetical distinction, as the Prætorian Cohort, or Guard (the special guard of the Roman emperors), stood to those who aspired to the imperial purple. The Prætorian Cohort, created by the Emperor Augustus for his especial use and protection, gained such power in later times that it made and deposed emperors at its pleasure. It is to know not as yet that you are under sentence of life, nor petition that it be commuted into death. When we become conscious in dreaming that we dream, the dream is on the point of breaking; when we become conscious in living that we live, the ill dream is but just beginning. Now if Shelley was but too conscious of the dream, in other respects been applied to him with very much less than its usual untruth. To the last, in a degree uncommon even among poets, the idiosyncrasy of childhood expanded and matured without 50 differentiation. To the last he was the enchanted child. "O God, I could be bounded in a nut-shell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.' Ham., II. ii. 250. 4 William Blake. The line referred to is presumably: "Great wits are sure to madness near allied." Absalom and Achitophel, 162. hwæþer him ænig was ær ācenned dyrnra gasta. Hie dygel lond warigeað, wulf-hleobu, windige næssas, frēcne fen-gelad, dær fyrgen-stream under næssa genipu niper gewiteð, flōd under foldan. Nis þæt feor heonon mil-gemearces, þæt se mere standed, ofer þæm hongíað hrimge bearwas, wudu wyrtum fæst, wæter oferhelmað. 1360 þær mæg nihta gehwæm nio-wundor sēon, 1365 fyr on flōde. Nō þæs frōd leofað gumena bearna, þæt bone grund wite. Nis þæt héoru stōw; 1370 1375 æs Ælfred kyning hated gretan Wærferd biscep his wordum luflice ond freondlice; ond de cỹ dan hate dæt me cōm swide oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan iu wæron giond Angelcynn, ægder ge godcundra häda ge woruldcundra; ond hu gesæliglica tida da waron giond Angelcynn; ond hu ða kyningas de done onwald hæfdon folces on damn dagum Gode ond his ærendwrecum hērsumedon; ond hū hie ægder ge hiora sibbe ge hiora siodo ge hiora onweald innanbordes gehīoldon, ond eac ut hiora edel gerymdon; ond hū him da spēow @gder ge mid wige ge mid wisdōme; ond eac da godcundan hādas hũ giorne hie waron ægder ge ymb lare ge ymb liornunga, ge ymb ealle da jowotdōmas de hie Gode don scoldon; ond hū man utanbordes wisdom ond läre hieder on lond sōhte, ond hū wē hie nu sceoldon ūte begietan, gif we hie habban sceoldon. Swæ clane hio was offeallenu on Angelcynne Sæt swide feawa wæron behionan Humbre de hiora dēninga cuden understondan on Englisc odde furðum an ærendgewrit of Ladene on Englisc areccean; ond ic wêne dætte noht monige begiondan Humbre næren. Swa feawa hiora wæron dæt ic furðum anne anlēpne ne mæg gedencean be sudan Temese, dã dã ic tō rice fêng. Gode ælmihtegum sie donc dætte wē nu ænigne onstal habbað lārēowa. Qnd for don ic de bebiode det du dō swae ic geliefe dæt dū wille, Sæt du dē dissa woruldðinga tō dæm geametige, swæ du oftost mæge, det du done wisdom de de God sealde dær dær du hiene befæstan mæge, befæste. Gedenc hwelc witu ūs dā becomon for disse worulde, dã dã wẽ hit nōhwæder në selfe ne lufodon, nē éac öðrum monnum ne lefdon done naman anne wē lufodon dætte wē Cristne wæron, ond swide feawe da dēawas. THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE, 1087 (Translated on p. 44) Gif hwa gewilniged to gewitane hu ge don mann he was, oðde hwilene wurdscipe hē hæfde, odde hū fela lande he wære hläford, donne wille we be him awrîtan swã swa wē hine āgeaton de him locodan and ōore hwile on his hirêde wunedon. Se cyng Willelm be we embe specad wæs swide wis man and swide rice, and wurdfulre and strengere donne ænig his foregenga wære. He was milde þām gōdum mannum þe God lufedon, and ofer eall gemett stearc bām mannum be widewædon his willan. On dam ilcan steode be God him geude þæt he mōste Engleland gegan, hē ārērde mære mynster and munecas þær gesætte and wæll gegōdade. On his dagan was þæt mære mynster on Cantwarbyrig getymbrad and eac swide manig ōder ofer eall Englaland. Eac pis land was swide afylled mid munecan and ba leofodan heora lif æfter scs Benedictus regule, and sẽ Xpendom was swilc on his dæge þæt lc man hwæt his hāde tō belumpe folgade sẽ be wolde. . . . POEMA MORALE (Modernized on p. 27) Ich æm elder ben ich wes a wintre and ā lōre; more. Wel länge ic habbe child ibēon a wēorde and ech ă dede; Deh ic béo a wintre eald, to 3yng I eom a rede. Unnut lyf ic habb ilæed, and 3yet mě þinch ic Wel late ic habbe mē biboht, būte mê God d milce. Fele ydele word ic habbe iqueden, syöden ic spek сифе, And fale junge dēde idō þet me ofpinchet nie. ORMULUM (Modernized on p. 28) Nu brōperr Wallterr, brōperr min þurrh fulluhht and þurrh trowwe, annd brōperr min i Godess hūs zēt ō þē þridde wise, þurrh batt witt hafenn takenn bā än reзhellbōc to follзhenn, unnderr kanunnkess had annd lif swa summ Sannt Awwstin sette; icc hafe don swa summ þu badd anud förþedd tē þin wille, icc hafe wennd inntill Ennglissh goddspelless hallзhe lāre, affterr þatt little witt þatt mě min Drihhtin hafeþþ lêned. Du bohhtesst tatt itt mihhte wēl till mikell frame turrnenn, 3iff Ennglissh follc, forr lufe off Crist, itt wollde zerne lernenn annd foll3henn itt and fillenn itt wipp pohht, wiþþ wōrd, wiþþ déde; annd forrbi zerrndesst tu þatt icc biss werre be shollde wirrkenn, annd icc itt hafe fōrþedd tē, acc all þurrh Cristess hellpe. lęde; 5 Dou þat were woned to ride Danne ic me bibenche, wel sore ic me adrede. Mest al bæt ic habbe ydōn ys idelnesse and chilche; Spellunge and smecchunge beoð ine mude bode ase sihoe is i den eien; auh we schullen leten smecchange vort tet we speken of ower mete, and spēken nu of spellunge and terefter of herrunge, of bo imene sume cherre ase goo tōgederes. On alre erest hwon 3ẽ schulen tō oure parlūres Purle, iwiteð et ower meiden hwą hit beo pet is icumen, vor swuch hit mei bēon þet ze schulen asunien ou; and hwon 3ē alles mōten vorð, creoise ful 3ēorne our mūð, è̟aren, and eien, and tē breoste eke, and goð forð mid Godes drede tō preoste. On erest sigged 'confiteor,' and berefter benedicite'; pet hē ouh tō siggen, hercned his wōrdes and sitted al stille pet, hwon hē parted vrom ou, bet he ne cunne ower gōd ne ower uvel nouder, ne he ne cunne ou nouðer blamen ne preisen. Sum is są wēl ilęred goer sę wīs iwōrded pet heo wolde bet he wuste hit be sit and spęked touward him and 3ēlt him wōrd azein word, and bicumeð meister þe schulde beon ancre, leared him bet is icumen to leren hire; wolde bi hire tale sōne beon mit te wise icūd and icnowen. Icnowen heo is wēl, vor þurh þet ilke bet heo wêned to bẽon wis ihōlden hē understont þet hẽo is sot, vor heo hunted efter pris and kecche lastunge. Vor et te laste hwon he is iwend awei, ' Ɖēos ancre,' he wule siggen, 'is of muchele spęche.' ALYSOUN (Modernized on p. 42) Bytuene Mersh ant Averil, The lutel foul hath hire wyl On hyre lud to synge. Hire swyre is whittore then the swon Ant feyrest may in toune. Icham for wowing al forwake, Wery so water in wore. An hendy hap ichabbe yhent; Ichot from hevene it is me sent; From alle wymmen mi love is lent Ant lyht on Alysoun. BARBOUR'S BRUCE A fredome is a noble thing! 30 35 40 225 230 235 Than all perquer he suld it wyt; And suld think fredome mar to pryss Than all the gold in warld that is. 240 Thus contrar thingis euir-mar Discoweryngis off the tothir ar. After be sesoun of somer wyth be soft wyndes, De leue; lancen fro be lynde, & lysten on grounde, & al grayes be gres, þat grene wat3 ere; Denne al rype; & rote; þat ros vpon fyrst, & bus zirne pe 3ere in 3isterdaye, mony, & wynter wyndez azayn, as þe worlde aske3 5 no sage. Til mezel-mas mone, Watz cumen wyth wynter wage; Den þenkke3 Gawan ful sone, William Langland PIERS THE PLOUGHMAN (Modernized on p. 60) In A somer sesun 535 whon softe was be sonne, I schop me in-to a schroud A scheep as I were: In Habite of an Hermite vn-holy of werkes. Wende I wydene in þis world wondres to here. Bote in a Mayes Morwnynge on Maluerne hulles |