selves upon me, and with them I will conclude. Is it wise to tamper with an educational system which produced such a body of public servants? Would it be wise to tamper with a political system which opens such careers to young men of the middle classes?
THE ISLAND OF STATUES.
An Arcadian Faery Tale—In Two Acts.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
| Naschina, | Shepherdess. |
| Colin, | Shepherd. |
| Thernot, | Shepherd. |
| Almintor, | A Hunter. |
| Antonio, | His Page. |
| Enchantress of the Island. |
And a company of the Sleepers of the Isle.
ACT I.
Scene II.
Sundown.—A remote forest valley.
Enter Almintor, followed by Antonio.
Antonio. And whither, uncouth hunter? Why so fast?
So! 'mid the willow-glade you pause at last.
Almintor. Here is the place, the cliff-encircled wood;
Here grow that shy, retiring sisterhood,
The pale anemones. We've sought all day,
And found.
Antonio.'Tis well!—another mile of way
I could not go.
Almintor.Let's talk, and let's be sad,
Here in the shade.
Antonio.Why? Why?
Almintor.For what is glad?
For, look you, sad's the murmur of the bees,
Yon wind goes sadly, and the grass and trees
Reply like moaning of imprisoned elf:
The whole world's sadly talking to itself.
The waves in yonder lake where points my hand
Beat out their lives lamenting o'er the sand;
The birds that nestle in the leaves are sad,
Poor sad wood-rhapsodists.
Antonio.Not so: they're glad.
Almintor. All rhapsody hath sorrow for its soul.
Antonio. Yon eager lark, that fills with song the whole
Of this wide vale, embosomed in the air,
Is sorrow in his song, or any care?
Doth not yon bird, yon quivering bird, rejoice?
Almintor. I hear the whole sky's sorrow in one voice.
Antonio. Nay, nay, Almintor, yonder song is glad.
Almintor. 'Tis beautiful, and therefore it is sad.
Antonio. Have done this phrasing, and say why, in sooth,
Almintor, thou hast grown so full of ruth,
And wherefore have we come?
Almintor.A song to hear.
Antonio. But whence, and when?
Almintor.Over the willows sere
Out of the air.
Antonio.And when?
Almintor.When the sun goes down
Over the crown of the willows brown.
Oh, boy, I'm bound on a most fearful quest;
For so she willed—thou heard'st? Upon the breast
Of yonder lake, from whose green banks alway
The poplars gaze across the waters grey,
And nod to one another, lies a green,
Small island, where the full soft sheen
Of evening and glad silence dwelleth aye,
For there the great Enchantress lives.
Antonio.And there
Groweth the goblin flower of joy, her care,
By many sought, and 'tis a forest tale,
How they who seek are ever doomed to fail.
Some say that all who touch the island lone
Are changed for ever into moon-white stone.
Almintor. That flower I seek.
Antonio.Thou never wilt return.
Almintor. I'll bring that flower to her, and so may earn
Her love: to her who wears that bloom comes truth,
And elvish wisdom, and long years of youth
Beyond a mortal's years. I wait the song
That calls.
Antonio.O evil starred!
Almintor.It comes along
The wind at evening when the sun goes down
Over the crown of the willows brown.
See, yonder sinks the sun, yonder a shade
Goes flickering in reverberated light.
There! There! Dost thou not see?
Antonio.I see the night,
Deep-eyed, slow-footing down the empty glade.
A Voice [sings.] From the shadowy hollow
Arise thou and follow!
Almintor. Sad faery tones.
Antonio.'Tis thus they ever seem,
As some dead maiden's singing in a dream.
Voice.When the tree was o'er-appled
For mother Eve's winning
I was at her sinning.
O'er the grass light-endappled
I wandered and trod,
O'er the green Eden-sod;
And I sang round the tree
As I sing now to thee:
Arise from the hollow,
And follow, and follow!
