"There is rust upon locks and hinges, And mould and blight on the walls, _And silence faints in the chambers_, _And darkness waits in the halls_,-- "Waits, as all things have waited, Since she went, that day of spring, Borne in her pallid splendour, To dwell in the Court of the King; "With lilies on brow and bosom, With robes of silken sheen, _And her wonderful frozen beauty_ _The lilies and silk between_.... "_The birds make insolent music_ _Where the sunshine riots outside_; And the winds are merry and wanton, With the summer's pomp and pride. "But into this desolate mansion, Where Love has closed the door, Nor sunshine nor summer shall enter, Since she can come in no more." Philip Bourke Marston wrote a long review of the volume in _The Academy_, London, in the course of which he admirably summarized the merits of the work when he said: "The distinguishing qualities of these poems are extreme directness and concentration of utterance, unvarying harmony between thought and expression, and a happy freedom from that costly elaboration of style so much in vogue.... Yet, while thus free from elaboration, Mrs. Moulton's style displays rare felicity of epithet.... The poetical faculty of the writer is in no way more strongly evinced than by the subtlety and suggestiveness of her ideas." The reviewers of note on both sides of the Atlantic were unanimous in their praise. In a time of æsthetic imitation she came as an absolutely natural singer. She gave the effect of the sudden note of a thrush heard through a chorus of mocking-birds and piping bullfinches. She was able to put herself into her work and yet to keep her poetry free from self-consciousness; and to be at once spontaneous and impassioned is given to few writers of verse. When such a power belongs to an author the verse becomes poetry. Mrs. Moulton had already come to regard Robert Browning as, in her own phrase, "king of contemporary poets." She sent to him a copy of "Swallow Flights," with a timid, graceful note asking for his generosity. In his acknowledgment he said: _Mr. Browning to Mrs. Moulton_ 19 WARWICK CRESCENT, W. February 24, '78. MY DEAR MRS. MOULTON: Thank you for the copy of the poems. They need no generosity.... I close it only when needs I must at page the last, with music in my ears and flowers before my eyes, and not without thoughts across the brain. Pray continue your "flights," and be assured of the sympathetic observation of Yours truly, ROBERT BROWNING. [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM ROBERT BROWNING] In acknowledgment of a copy of "In the Garden of Dreams" William Winter wrote: _Mr. Winter to Mrs. Moulton_