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MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited

LONDON · BOMBAY . CALCUTTA MADRAS
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK • BOSTON. CHICAGO

DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.

TORONTO

BY

JOHN BAILEY

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

AN ORSON OF THE MUSE

Her son, albeit the Muse's livery

And measured courtly paces rouse his taunts,
Naked and hairy in his savage haunts,
To Nature only will he bend the knee;
Spouting the founts of her distillery

Like rough rock-sources; and his woes and wants
Being Nature's, civil limitation daunts

His utterance never; the nymphs blush, not he.

Him, when he blows of Earth, and Man, and Fate, The Muse will hearken to with graver ear

Than many of her train can waken: him

Would fain have taught what fruitful things and dear
Must sink beneath the tidewaves, of their weight,
If in no vessel built for sea they swim.

GEORGE MEREDITH.