To sum the matter then :-My aim
Is modest. This is all I claim :
To paint a part and not the whole,
The trappings rather than the soul.

The Evolution of the Time,
The silent Forces fighting Crime,
The Fetishes that fail, and pass,

The struggle between Class and Class,
The Wealth still adding land to lands,

The Crown that falls, the Faith that stands...
All this I leave to abler hands.

"EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VIGNETTES "

EPILOGUE TO

"EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VIGNETTES"

(SECOND SERIES)

"WHAT is it then,"—some Reader asks,--

"What is it that attaches

Your fancy so to fans and masks,—
To periwigs and patches?

"Is Human Life to-day so poor,—
So bloodless, you disdain it,
To'galvanize' the Past once more ?
-Permit me. I'll explain it.

This Age I grant (and grant with pride),
Is varied, rich, eventful;
But, if you touch its weaker side
Deplorably resentful:

Belaud it, and it takes your praise

With air of calm conviction; Condemn it, and at once you raise A storm of contradiction.

Whereas with these old Shades of mine,
Their ways and dress delight me;
And should I trip by word or line,
They cannot well indict me.

Not that I think to err. I seek

To steer 'twixt blame and blindness; I strive (as some one said in Greek) To speak the truth with kindness:

But should I fear to render clear
Their title, rank, or station—

I still may sleep secure, nor fear
A suit for defamation.

ESSAYS IN OLD FRENCH FORMS

"They are a school to win

The fair French daughter to learn English in;
And, graced with her song,

To make the language sweet upon her tongue."
BEN JONSON, Underwoods.