It is worth quoting, for, with slight alteration, I
know no better clue to the poet's mood at the time. The play has
since been destroyed, for reasons of which some hint may be found in
the next few chapters; but the unfinished song is still preserved
among the author's notes, where it is headed--
A HYMN OF LOVE.
"Toiling lover, loose your pack,
All your sighs and tears unbind;
Care's a ware may break a back,
May not bend a maiden's mind.
"Loose, and follow to a land
Where the tyrant's only fee
Is the kissing of a hand
And the bending of a knee.
"In that State a man shall need
Neither priest nor lawgiver:
Those same slips that are his creed
Shall confess their worshipper.
"All the laws he must obey,
Now in force and now repealed,
Shift in eyes that shift as they--
"'Shift as they,' 'shift as they,'" mused Mr. Moggridge. "Let me
see--"
'Till alike with kisses sealed.'
"That was it. With another verse, and a little polishing, I will take
it to Geraldine and ask her--"
At this point the poet glanced down the street, and, to his surprise,
beheld Mrs. Goodwyn-Sandys advancing towards him.
"Good-morning," she nodded with a charming smile, "I was coming to
look for you.
Pages:
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198