SIEGFRIED _Richard Wagner_ 27 From "Niebelungen Ring." A FISH AND A BUTTERFLY _Robert Browning_ 39 From "Amphibian." HOW MARGARET LED FAUST THROUGH THE PERFECT WORLD _Johann Wolfgang von Goethe_ 45 From "Faust." BEATRICE _Dante Alighieri_ 55 From "The Inferno." PARSIFAL _Richard Wagner_ 61 From "Parsifal." THE ANGELUS 67 About the painting by Jean François Millet. FRIEDRICH AND HIS CHILD-GARDEN 73 THE HOLY NIGHT 79 About the painting by Antonio Allegri da Correggio. SAUL AND DAVID _Robert Browning_ 95 From "Saul." A GUIDE TO PRONUNCIATION 103 A WORD LIST 103 A LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE THE SPINNER _Jean François Millet_ _Frontispiece_ INNOCENCE _Jean Baptiste Greuze_ 10 MIGNON _Paul Kiessling_ 18 SIEGFRIED _F. Leeke_ 28 "AT THE FARTHEST END OF THE MEADOW" _Yeend King_ 40 LISEUSE _Jules Le Febvre_ 46 THE BEATA BEATRICE _Dante Gabriel Rossetti_ 56 ASPIRATION _George Frederick Watts_ 62 THE ANGELUS _Jean François Millet_ 68 THE HOLY NIGHT _Antonio Allegri da Correggio_ 80 THE DIVINE SHEPHERD _Bartolomé Estéban Murillo_ 96 [Illustration: _By Jean Baptiste Greuze_ INNOCENCE] A SONG. The year's at the spring The day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn: God's in his heaven-- All's right with the world! --_From Browning's "Pippa Passes."_ PIPPA. All the year in the little village of Asola the great wheels of the mills went round and round. It seemed to the very little children that they never, never stopped, but went on turning and singing, turning and singing. No matter where you went in the village, the hum of the wheels could always be heard; and though no one could really say what the wheels sang, everyone turned gladly to his work or went swiftly on his errand when he heard the busy song.