Wherefore to-day one gift above every gift Let us beseech, that God will accord to her Always a right judgement in all things; Ev'n to celestial excellencies; And grant us in long peace to accumulate Joy, and to stablish friendliness and commerce, And barter in markets for unpriced Beauty, the pearl of unending empire. _May, 1902._ 4 EVENING FROM WM. BLAKE[A] Come, rosy angel, thy coronet donning Of starry j[=ew]els, smile upon ev'ry bed, And grant what each day-weary mortal, Labourer or lover, asketh of thee. Smile thou on our loves, enveloping the land With dusky curtain: consider each blossom That timely upcloseth, that opens Her treasure of heavy-laden odours. Now, while the west-wind slumbereth on the lake, Silently dost thou with delicate shimmer O'erbloom the frowning front of awful Night to a glance of unearthly silver. No hungry wild beast rangeth in our forest, No tiger or wolf prowleth around the fold: Keep thou from our sheepcotes the tainting Invisible peril of the darkness. 5 POVRE AME AMOUREUSE FROM LOUISE LABE, 1555 (_Sapphics_) When to my lone soft bed at eve returning Sweet desir'd sleep already stealeth o'er me, My spirit flīeth to the fairy-land of her tyrannous love. Him then I think fondly to kiss, to hold him Frankly then to my bosom; I that all day Have lookèd for[v]him suffering, repining, yea many long days. O blessèd sleep, with flatteries beguile me; So,[v]if I ne'er may[v]of a surety have[v]him, Grant to my poor soul amorous the dark gift of this illusion. 6 THE FOURTH DIMENSION (_Hendecasyllables_) Truest-hearted of early friends, that Eton Long since gáve to me,--Ah! 'tis all a life-time,-- With my faithfully festive auspication Of Christmas merriment, this idle item. Plato truly believ'd his archetypal Idēas to possess the fourth dimension: For since our solid is triple, but always Its shade only double, solids as _umbrae_ Must lack equally one dimension also. Could Plato[v]have avoided or denied it? So Saint Paul, when in argument opposing To our earthly bodies bodies celestial, Meant just those pretty Greek aforesaid abstracts Of four Plātonical divine dimensions. If this be not a holy consolation More than plumpudding and a turkey roasted, Whereto you but address a third dimension, Try it, pray, as a pill to aid digestion: I can't find anything better to send you. 7 JOHANNES MILTON, Senex _Scazons_