Blanche: I, madam, on Abstract Philosophy. There I propose considering, at length, Three points — The Is, the Might Be, and the Must. Whether the Is, from being actual fact, Is more important than the vague Might Be, Or the Might Be, from taking wider scope, Is for that reason greater than the Is: And lastly, how the Is and Might Be stand Compared with the inevitable Must! Princess: The subject's deep — how do you treat it, pray? Blan.: Madam, I take three possibilities, And strike a balance then between the three: As thus: The Princess Ida Is our head, the Lady Psyche Might Be, — Lady Blanche, Neglected Blanche, inevitably Must. Given these three hypotheses — to find The actual betting against each of them! Princess: Your theme's ambitious: pray you bear in mind Who highest soar fall farthest. Fare you well, You and your pupils! Maidens, follow me. [Exeunt Princess and maidens. Manet Lady Blanche. EXEUNT FOR PRINCESS IDA & GIRLS "And thus to Empyrean Height" Chorus: And thus to empyrean height Of ev'ry kind of lore, In search of wisdom's pure delight, Ambitiously we soar. In trying to achieve success No envy racks our heart, For all we know and all we guess We mutually impart! And all the knowledge we possess, We mutually impart, We mutually impart, impart. Blan.: I should command here — I was born to rule, But do I rule? I don't. Why? I don't know. I shall some day. Not yet, I bide my time. I once was Some One — and the Was Will Be. The Present as we speak becomes the Past, The Past repeats itself, and so is Future! This sounds involved. It's not. It's right enough. (Since 1935 the following song has been usually omitted) SONG (Lady Blanche) "Come, mighty Must!"