"I have hunted no deer since yester year, I have harried no neighbour's cattle, I have wooed no love, I have joined no game, save the kingly game of battle; The Danes were my prey by night and day, in their forts of hill and hollow, And I come from the desert-lands alone, since none are alive to follow. Some were slain on the plundered plain, and some in the midnight marching; Some were lost in the winter floods, and some by the fever parching; Some have perished by wounds of spears, and some by the shafts of bowmen; And some by hunger and some by thirst, and all are dead; but they slaughtered first Their tenfold more of their foemen." The King impulsively offers him gifts for a reward, but Brian declines them: "I want no cattle from out your herds, no share of your shining treasure; But grant me now"--and he turned to look on the listening warriors' faces-- "A hundred more of the clan Dal Cas, to follow me over plain and pass: To die, as fitteth the brave Dal Cas, at war with the Outland races." It must not be supposed, however, that these poets are working solely upon romantic themes, more or less in the epic manner. On the contrary, direct treatment of the saga is declining, even with the poets who, like those we have named, were formerly preoccupied with it. Mr Cousins' volume of 1915 is sharply symptomatic of the change. Subjects of more social and more immediate interest are engaging attention, and legendary material is passing into a phase of allusion and symbol. Concurrently, there is a development of the pure lyric which gives great promise, being sound and sweet and vigorous. It has all the signs of vitality, drawing its inspiration directly from life, keeping close to the earth, as it were, and often dealing with the large and simple things of existence. One may not make too precise a claim here for affiliation with the literary revival; but observing the movement broadly, it would appear that this is its more popular manifestation, springing out of the devotion to the old language of the country, its folklore and the life of its people. That current of the stream would touch actual existence much more closely than æsthetic or academic study; and while one might regard Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats as the pioneers of the movement on the specifically literary side, on the other hand there are Dr Hyde, A. E., and others, whose influence must have counted largely in these new lyrics of life.