"LOVE IS AN EVIL THING, AND TURNS CHOICE WORDS AND WISDOM INTO FIRE AND AIR."-SWINBURNE. 432 66 FOR A JUST DEED LOOKS ALWAY EITHER WAY—(SWINBURNE) ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. fold. In the following scene, the details of his execution are witnessed by Mary B. O you see nothing? Nay, but swarms of men Flapping their gowns and gaping with fools' eyes: Mary B. Why, I hear more, I hear men shout, The queen. Mary B. ་ Mary C. Mary B. Mary C. Ah, they will cry out soon When she comes forth; they should cry out on her; Do not you hate her? all men, if God please, Pray you, be at peace; You hurt yourself: she will be merciful; I think I could not; it is not like our hearts To have such hard sides to them. Oh, not you, And I could nowise; there's some blood in her That does not run to mercy as ours doth: That fair face and the cursed heart in her Peace, for the people come. Ah-Murray,* hooded over half his face With plucked-down hat, few folk about him, eyes * The Earl of Murray, half-brother to Mary Queen of Scots. WITH BLAMELESS EYES, AND MERCY IS NO FAULT."-SWINBURNE. "ONE CHOICE WE HAVE,-TO LIVE, AND DO JUST DEEDS, AND DIE."-ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. "FOR NOT THE DIFFERENCE OF THE SEVERAL FLESH being vile, oR NOBLE, OR BEAUTIFUL, or base,-(SWINBURNE) PRAISE BE WITH MEN ABROAD; CHASTE LIVES WITH US, THE DEATH OF CHASTELARD. 433 Holding our Hamilton* above her wrist, His mouth put near her hair to whisper with And she laughs softly, looking at his feet. Few days and evil, full of hate and love, I see well now. Mary C. Hark, there's their cry- The queen! Fair life and long, and good days to the queen! Mary C. She bends, and laughs a little, graciously, Mary B. Mary C. Mary B. And turns half, talking to I know not whom- Doubtless he was away in banishment, Or kept some march far off. Still you see nothing? Ah, Lord God, bear with me, Help me to bear a little with my love For thine own love, or give me some quick death. Do not come down; I shall get strength again, Not sad I doubt yet. Mary C. * Nay, not sad a whit, But like a man who, losing gold or lands, Should lose a heavy sorrow; his face set, Mary Hamilton, one of the queen's attendants called, from their + Earl of Bothwell. HOME-KEEPING DAYS AND HOUSEHOLD REVERENCES."-SWINBURNE. MAKES PRAISEWORTHY, BUT PURER SPIRIT AND HEART, HIGHER THan these mEANER MOUTHS AND LIMBS."-SWINBURNE. "WHO HATH GIVEN MAN SPEECH? OR WHO HATH SET THEREIN A THORN FOR PERIL AND A SNARE FOR SIN? 434 Mary B. Mary C. WITH CHARMED WORDS AND SONGS HAVE MEN PUT OUT ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. The eyes not curious to the right or left, With short fleet smiles. The whole place catches Looking at him; she seems at point to speak; Why do you bend your body and draw breath? Forth, and fear not: ... I was just praying to myself—one word, Ah, I had no hope.— Mary B. Let it end quickly. Mary C. Now his eyes are wide FOR IN THE WORD HIS LIFE IS AND HIS BREATH, AND IN THE WORD HIS DEATH."-ALGERNON C. SWINBURNE. Mary B. And his smile great; and like another smile Work fast and hard; she must have pardoned him, Now he comes forth Out of that ring of people and kneels down; Puts out her hand, and they fall muttering;— It is done now? WILD EVIL, AND THE FIRE OF TYRANNIES."-SWINBURNE. "FOR SILENCE AFTER GRIEVOUS THINGS IS GOOD, AND REVERENCE, AND THE FEAR THAT MAKES MEN WHOLE, LOVE THOU THE LAW, AND CLEAVE TO THINGS ORDAINED."-SWINBURNE. Do not look out. For Heaven's love, stay there; Nay, he is dead by this; But gather up yourself from off the floor; Will she die too? I shut mine eyes and heard Sweet, do not beat your face upon the ground, I knew he would be slain. What, slain indeed? Ay, through the neck: I knew one must be smitten through the neck To die so quick if one were stabbed to the heart, Will you behold him dead? Mary B. Yea: must a dead man not be looked upon [From "Chastelard: a Tragedy," act v., scene 3.] AND SHAME, AND RIGHTEOUS GOVERNANCE OF BLOOD, AND LORDSHIP OF THE SOUL."-ALGERNON C. SWINBURNE. 66 THINGS GAINED ARE GONE, BUT GREAT THINGS DONE ENDURE."-IBID. 426 "I MARVEL NOT, O SUN! THAT UNTO THEE JOHN STERLING. Their virtues love, their faults condemn, My place with them will be, Through all futurity; Yet leaving here a name, I trust, [From Southey's "Miscellaneous Poems."] AND POUR HIS PRAYERS OF MINGLED AWE AND LOVE; FOR LIKE A GOD THOU ART, AND ON THY WAY OF GLORY SHEDDEST, WITH BENIGNANT RAY, BEAUTY, AND LIFE, AND JOYAUNCE FROM ABOVE."-SOUTHEY. John Sterling. [JOHN STERLING, says an able critic,* must have been a man of genius, as he certainly was of the greatest promise. His friends remember him as a marvellous talker; and his gentle disposition endeared him to all who knew him. The writings which he published in his life-time, and those which have been given to the world since, indicate rather what the author might have done, with good health and a settled purpose, than the finished compositions of a writer in full vigour of understanding, enjoying tranquillity of mind and body. Sterling possessed neither. He was delicate from his boyhood, and for many years of his life wholly occupied in eluding the resolute pursuit of disease and death. He was born in Kaimes Castle, in the Isle of Bute, on the 20th of July 1806; received his preliminary education at various private schools, and completed it at the Universities of Glasgow (1821-23) and Cambridge (1824-27). At the latter, his tutor was Julius Hare, afterwards Archdeacon of Lewes, who, in his memoir of Sterling, does justice to his great mental gifts, his generous nature, and noble aspirations. Op leaving Cambridge, he began to contribute to The Athenæum; and his papers are characterized by Carlyle as "crude, imperfect, yet singularly beautiful and attractive." In 1830 he was married; but a few weeks after was seized with a dangerous pulmonary illness, and, accompanied by his wife, repaired in quest of health to the West Indian island of St. Vincent, where his mother had some property. He returned to England in 1834; took orders; became curate of Hurstmonceaux in Sussex; dissatisfied with himself, and ill in * Essays from The Times, Second Series. IN ADORATION MAN SHOULD BOW THE KNEE, |