Yet needs I must ride To win as my bride Thou, maiden most sweet; I must gain renown— Either death or a crown— To lay at thy feet. THE FAULT IS NOT THINE.[30] Full oft hast thou sworn that on this side the grave Thy love and thy heart should forever be mine; But thou hast forgotten, and I—I forgave, For such is the world, and the fault is not thine. And again was thy cry, “Thou beloved of my heart, In heaven itself, without thee I’d pine!” On earth still we dwell—yet dwell we apart; ’Tis the fault of our age, and the fault is not thine. My arms they embraced thee, I drank with delight The dew from thy lips like a nectar divine; But the dew turned to venom, its freshness to blight, For such is thy sex, and the fault is not thine. Thy love and thine honor, thy virtue and troth, Given now to another, were yesterday mine; Thou knowest not Love! then why should I be wroth? ’Tis the fault of thy race, and the fault is not thine. Far stronger than Love were both riches and pride, And swiftly and surely thy faith did decline; Thy wounds they are healed, thy tears they are dried, Thou couldst not remember—the fault is not thine. Yet though thou art faithless, and falsely hast left me, My eyes can see naught but an angel divine; My heart flutters wildly whenever I see thee— ’Tis the fault of my love, and the fault is not mine! I do not suppose that any one with the slightest knowledge of Roumania and Roumanians can fail to detect an alien note in both these compositions, despite the grace of the originals; nor can one help feeling that these authors should have been capable of far better things. And surely far better and grander things will come ere long from this nation, at once so old and so young! when, having regained its lost self-confidence, it comes to understand that more evil than good is engendered by a blind conformity to foreign fashions. Already a step in the right direction has been taken in the matter of national dress, which, thanks to the praiseworthy example of the Roumanian queen, has lately received much attention. And as in dress, so in literature, does Carmen Sylva take the lead, and endeavor to teach her people to value national productions above foreign importations.