Transcribed from the 1915 Methuen and Co. edition by David Price, email _EMAIL_ Book cover TO CONSTANCE MARY WILDE A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES BY OSCAR WILDE METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON Seventh Edition First Published 1891 First Issued by Methuen and Co. (Limited Editions on Handmade Paper and Japanese Vellum) 1908 Third Edition (F'cap. 8vo) 1909 Fourth Edition (,, ) 1911 Fifth Edition (,, ) 1913 Sixth Edition (Crown 4to, Illustrated by Jessie King) 1915 Seventh Edition (F'cap.
8vo) 1915 CONTENTS PAGE The Young King 1 The Birthday of the Infanta 31 The Fisherman and his Soul 73 The Star-child 147 p. 1THE YOUNG KING TO MARGARET LADY BROOKE [THE RANEE OF SARAWAK] It was the night before the day fixed for his coronation, and the young King was sitting alone in his beautiful chamber. His courtiers had all taken their leave of him, bowing their heads to the ground, according to the ceremonious usage of the day, and had retired to the Great Hall of the Palace, to receive a few last lessons from the Professor of Etiquette; there being some of them who had still quite natural manners, which in a courtier is, I need hardly say, a very grave offence.
The lad—for he was only a lad, being but sixteen years of age—was not sorry at their departure, and had flung himself back with a deep sigh of relief on the soft cushions of his embroidered couch, lying there, wild-eyed and open-mouthed, like a brown woodland Faun, or some young animal of the forest newly snared by the hunters.
And, indeed, it was the hunters who had found him, coming upon him almost by chance as, bare-limbed and pipe in hand, he was following the flock of the poor goatherd who had brought him up, and whose son he had always fancied himself to be. The child of the old King's only daughter by a secret marriage with one much beneath her in station—a stranger, some said, who, by the wonderful magic of his lute-playing, had made the young Princess love him; while others spoke of an artist from Rimini, to whom the Princess had shown much, perhaps too much honour, and who had suddenly disappeared from the city, leaving his work in the Cathedral unfinished—he had been, when but a week old, stolen away from his mother's side, as she slept, and given into the charge of a common peasant and his wife, who were without children of their own, and lived in a remote part of the forest, more than a day's ride from the town. Grief, or the plague, as the court physician stated, or, as some suggested, a swift Italian poison administered in a cup of spiced wine, slew, within an hour of her wakening, the white girl who had given him birth, and as the trusty messenger who bare the child across his saddle-bow stooped from his weary horse and knocked at the rude door of the goatherd's hut, the body of the Princess was being lowered into an open grave that had been dug in a deserted churchyard, beyond the city gates, a grave where it was said that another body was also lying, that of a young man of marvellous and foreign beauty, whose hands were tied behind him with a knotted cord, and whose breast was stabbed with many red wounds.
Such, at least, was the story that men whispered to each other. Certain it was that the old King, when on his deathbed, whether moved by remorse for his great sin, or merely desiring that the kingdom should not pass away from his line, had had the lad sent for, and, in the presence of the Council, had acknowledged him as his heir.
And it seems that from the very first moment of his recognition he had shown signs of that strange passion for beauty that was destined to have so great an influence over his life. Those who accompanied him to the suite of rooms set apart for his service, often spoke of the cry of pleasure that broke from his lips when he saw the delicate raiment and rich jewels that had been prepared for him, and of the almost fierce joy with which he flung aside his rough leathern tunic and coarse sheepskin cloak. He missed, indeed, at times the fine freedom of his forest life, and was always apt to chafe at the tedious Court ceremonies that occupied so much of each day, but the wonderful palace—Joyeuse, as they called it—of which he now found himself lord, seemed to him to be a new world fresh-fashioned for his delight; and as soon as he could escape from the council-board or audience-chamber, he would run down the great staircase, with its lions of gilt bronze and its steps of bright porphyry, and wander from room to room, and from corridor to corridor, like one who was seeking to find in beauty an anodyne from pain, a sort of restoration from sickness.
Upon these journeys of discovery, as he would call them—and, indeed, they were to him real voyages through a marvellous land, he would sometimes be accompanied by the slim, fair-haired Court pages, with their floating mantles, and gay fluttering ribands; but more often he would be alone, feeling through a certain quick instinct, which was almost a divination, that the secrets of art are best learned in secret, and that Beauty, like Wisdom, loves the lonely worshipper.

Many curious stories were related about him at this period. It was said that a stout Burgo-master, who had come to deliver a florid oratorical address on behalf of the citizens of the town, had caught sight of him kneeling in real adoration before a great picture that had just been brought from Venice, and that seemed to herald the worship of some new gods. On another occasion he had been missed for several hours, and after a lengthened search had been discovered in a little chamber in one of the northern turrets of the palace gazing, as one in a trance, at a Greek gem carved with the figure of Adonis. He had been seen, so the tale ran, pressing his warm lips to the marble brow of an antique statue that had been discovered in the bed of the river on the occasion of the building of the stone bridge, and was inscribed with the name of the Bithynian slave of Hadrian. He had passed a whole night in noting the effect of the moonlight on a silver image of Endymion.
All rare and costly materials had certainly a great fascination for him, and in his eagerness to procure them he had sent away many merchants, some to traffic for amber with the rough fisher-folk of the north seas, some to Egypt to look for that curious green turquoise which is found only in the tombs of kings, and is said to possess magical properties, some to Persia for silken carpets and painted pottery, and others to India to buy gauze and stained ivory, moonstones and bracelets of jade, sandal-wood and blue enamel and shawls of fine wool.
But what had occupied him most was the robe he was to wear at his coronation, the robe of tissued gold, and the ruby-studded crown, and the sceptre with its rows and rings of pearls.
Indeed, it was of this that he was thinking to-night, as he lay back on his luxurious couch, watching the great pinewood log that was burning itself out on the open hearth. The designs, which were from the hands of the most famous artists of the time, had been submitted to him many months before, and he had given orders that the artificers were to toil night and day to carry them out, and that the whole world was to be searched for jewels that would be worthy of their work. He saw himself in fancy standing at the high altar of the cathedral in the fair raiment of a King, and a smile played and lingered about his boyish lips, and lit up with a bright lustre his dark woodland eyes.
After some time he rose from his seat, and leaning against the carved penthouse of the chimney, looked round at the dimly-lit room. The walls were hung with rich tapestries representing the Triumph of Beauty. A


God. Yes, this is the name that shall be written on you; this is the name that shall be read on you of all who shall see you in heaven; this name that Emmanuel pronounced over Mansoul that day from His ascending chariot-steps, a very Spectacle of wonder, and a very Monument of the mercy and the grace of God.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNYAN CHARACTERS - THIRD SERIES***


should be in the world, in songs, as follows.
* * * * * FOOTNOTES [1] It is also stated, that there is in the Hengwrt Library, a MS. containing the Graal in Welsh, as early as the time of Henry I. I had hoped to have added this to the present collection; but the death of Col. Vaughan, to whom I applied, and other subsequent circumstances, have prevented me from obtaining access to it.
[2] Hades.
[3] The word "Pryder" or "Pryderi" means anxiety.
[4] The version in the Greal adds, "And their coin was fairy money;" literally, dwarf's money: that is, money which, when received, appeared to be good coin, but which, if kept, turned into pieces of fungus, &c.
[5] This dialogue consists of a series of repartees with a play upon words, which it is impossible to follow in the translation.
[6] Taliesin.
[7] The mention of Gwyddno Garanhir instead of Elphin ab Gwyddno in this place is evidently an error of some transcriber of the MS.


Grapple, v. t., and cf. Crapple.] 1.
 A seizing or seizure; close hug in contest; the wrestler's hold. Milton.
2. (a) An instrument, usually with hinged claws, for seizing and holding fast to an object; a grab. (b) (Naut.) A grappling iron.

 The iron hooks and grapples keen.

Spenser.
Grapple plant (Bot.), a South African herb (Herpagophytum leptocarpum) having the woody fruits armed with long hooked or barbed thorns by which they adhere to cattle, causing intense annoyance. -- Grapple shot (Life-saving Service), a projectile, to which are attached hinged claws to catch in a ship's rigging or to hold in the ground; - - called also anchor shot.

 Grapple*ment (?), n. A grappling; close fight or embrace. [Obs.] Spenser.
 Grap"pling (?), n. 1. A laying fast ho1d of; also, that by which anything is seized and held, a grapnel.

2. A grapple; a struggle. A match for yards in fight, in grappling for the bear. Dryden.
Grappling iron, a hooked iron used for grappling and holding fast a vessel or other object. -- Grappling tongs, broad-mouthed tongs for gathering oysters.

 Grap"soid (?), a. [NL. Grapsus + - oid.] (Zoöl.)
 Pertaining to the genus Grapsus or the family Grapsidæ. -- n. A grapsoid crab.

 Grap"to*lite (?), n. [NL, Graptolithus, from Gr. &?; is engraved, written (gra'fein to write) + &?; stone.] (Paleon.)
 One of numerous species of slender and delicate fossils, of the genus Graptolites and allied genera, found in the Silurian rocks. They belong to an extinct group (Graptolithina) supposed to be hydroids.

 Grap"to*lit'ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to graptolites; containing graptolites; as, a graptolitic slate.

 Grap"y (?), a. Composed of, or resembling, grapes.

 The grapy clusters.

Addison.
 Grasp (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Grasper (?); p. pr.
 & vb. n. Qraspine.] [OE. graspen; prob. akin to LG.
 grupsen, or to E. grope. Cf. Grab, Grope.] 1. To seize and hold by clasping or embracing with the fingers or arms; to catch to take possession of.

 Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff.

Shak.
2. To lay hold of with the mind; to become thoroughly acquainted or conversant with; to comprehend.

 Grasp, v. i. To effect a grasp; to make the motion of grasping; to clutch; to struggle; to strive.

 As one that grasped And tugged for life and was by strength subdued.

Shak.
To grasp at, to catch at; to try to seize; as, Alexander grasped at universal empire, Grasp, n. 1. A gripe or seizure of the hand; a seizure by embrace, or infolding in the arms. "The grasps of love." Shak.
2. Reach of the arms; hence, the power of seizing and holding; as, it was beyond his grasp.

3. Forcible possession; hold.

 The whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp.

Shak.
4. Wide-reaching power of intellect to comprehend subjects and hold them under survey.

 The foremost minds of the next... era were not, in power of grasp, equal to their predecessors.

Z. Taylor.
5. The handle of a sword or of an oar.

 Grasp"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being grasped.

 Grasp"er (?), n. One who grasps or seizes; one who catches or holds.

 Grasp"ing, a. 1. Seizing; embracing; catching.

2. Avaricious; greedy of gain; covetous; close; miserly; as, he is a grasping man. -- Grasp"ing*ly, adv. -- Grasp"ing*ness, n. Grasp"less, a. Without a grasp; relaxed.

 From my graspless hand Drop friendship's precious pearls.

Coleridge.
 Grass (?), n. [OE. gras, gres, gers, AS, græs, gærs; akin to OFries. gres, gers, OS., D., G., Icel., & Goth. gras, Dan. græs, Sw. gräs, and prob. to E. green, grow. Cf. Graze.] 1.
 Popularly: Herbage; the plants which constitute the food of cattle and other beasts; pasture.

2. (Bot.) An endogenous plant having simple leaves, a stem generally jointed and tubular, the husks or glumes in pairs, and the seed single.

 This definition includes wheat, rye, oats, barley, etc., and excludes clover and some other plants which are commonly called by the name of grass.
 The grasses form a numerous family of plants.

3. The season of fresh grass; spring. [Colloq.]

 Two years old next grass.

Latham.
4. Metaphorically used for what is transitory.

 Surely the people is grass.

Is. xl. 7.
 The following list includes most of the grasses of the United States of special interest, except cereals. Many of these terms will be found with definitions in the Vocabulary. See Illustrations in Appendix.

 Barnyard grass, for hay. South. Panicum Grusgalli.

 Bent, pasture and hay. Agrostis, several species.

 Bermuda grass, pasture. South. Cynodon Dactylon.

 Black bent. Same as Switch grass (below).

 Blue bent, hay. North and West. Andropogon provincialis.

 Blue grass, pasture. Poa compressa.

 Blue joint, hay. Northwest. Aqropyrum glaucum.

 Buffalo grass, grazing. Rocky Mts., etc. (a) Buchloë dectyloides. (b) Same as Grama grass (below).

 Bunch grass, grazing. Far West. Eriocoma, Festuca, Stips, etc.

 Chess, or Cheat, a weed. Bromus secalinus, etc.

 Couch grass. Same as Quick grass (below).

 Crab grass, (a) Hay, in South. A weed, in North. Panicum sanguinale. (b) Pasture and hay. South. Eleusine Indica.

 Darnel (a) Bearded, a noxious weed. Lolium temulentum. (b) Common. Same as Rye grass (below).

 Drop seed, fair for forage and hay. Muhlenbergia, several species.

 English grass. Same as Redtop (below).

 Fowl meadow grass. (a) Pasture and hay. Poa serotina. (b) Hay, on moist land. Gryceria nervata.

 Gama grass, cut fodder. South. Tripsacum dactyloides.

 Grama grass, grazing. West and Pacific slope. Bouteloua oligostachya, etc.

 Great bunch grass, pasture and hay. Far West. Festuca scabrella.

 Guinea grass, hay. South. Panicum jumentorum.

 Herd's grass, in New England Timothy, in Pennsylvania and South Redtop.

 Indian grass. Same as Wood grass (below).

 Italian rye grass, forage and hay. Lolium Italicum.

 Johnson grass, grazing and


Plowman.
3. Ludicrously or sportively mischievous; disposed to mischief; roguish. [Colloq.]

 Pen looked uncommonly wicked.

Thackeray.
Syn. — Iniquitous; sinful; criminal; guilty; immoral; unjust; unrighteous; unholy; irreligious; ungodly; profane; vicious; pernicious; atrocious; nefarious; heinous; flagrant; flagitious; abandoned. See Iniquitous.

 Wick"ed*ly, adv. In a wicked manner; in a manner, or with motives and designs, contrary to the divine law or the law of morality; viciously; corruptly; immorally.

 I have sinned, and I have done wickedly.

2 Sam. xxiv. 17.
 Wick"ed*ness, n. 1. The quality or state of being wicked; departure from the rules of the divine or the moral law; evil disposition or practices; immorality; depravity; sinfulness.

 God saw that the wickedness of man was great.

Gen. vi. 5.
 Their inward part is very wickedness.

Ps. v. 9.
2. A wicked thing or act; crime; sin; iniquity.

 I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man comes to good.

Shak.
 Wick"en tree' (?). Same as Quicken tree.

 Wick"er (?), n. [OE. wiker, wikir, osier, probably akin to AS. wcan to give way. Cf. Weak.]

1. A small pliant twig or osier; a rod for making basketwork and the like; a withe.

2. Wickerwork; a piece of wickerwork, esp. a basket.

 Then quick did dress His half milk up for cheese, and in a press Of wicker pressed it.

Chapman.
3. Same as 1st Wike. [Prov. Eng.]

 Wick"er (?), a. Made of, or covered with, twigs or osiers, or wickerwork.

 Each one a little wicker basket had, Made of fine twigs, entrailéd curiously.

Spenser.
 Wick"ered (?), a. Made of, secured by, or covered with, wickers or wickerwork.

 Ships of light timber, wickered with osier between, and covered over with leather.

Milton.
 Wick"er*work' (?), n. A texture of osiers, twigs, or rods; articles made of such a texture.

 Wick"et (?), n. [OE. wiket, OF. wiket, guichet, F. quichet; probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. v&?;k a small creek, inlet, bay, vik a corner.]

1. A small gate or door, especially one forming part of, or placed near, a larger door or gate; a narrow opening or entrance cut in or beside a door or gate, or the door which is used to close such entrance or aperture. Piers Plowman. "Heaven's wicket." Milton.
 And so went to the high street,... and came to the great tower, but the gate and wicket was fast closed.

Ld. Berners.
 The wicket, often opened, knew the key.

Dryden.
2. A small gate by which the chamber of canal locks is emptied, or by which the amount of water passing to a water wheel is regulated.

3. (Cricket) (a) A small framework at which the ball is bowled. It consists of three rods, or stumps, set vertically in the ground, with one or two short rods, called bails, lying horizontally across the top. (b) The ground on which the wickets are set.

4. A place of shelter made of the boughs of trees, — used by lumbermen, etc. [Local, U. S.] Bartlett.
5. (Mining) The space between the pillars, in postand-stall working. Raymond.
Wicket door, Wicket gate, a small door or gate; a wicket.
 See def. 1, above. Bunyan. — Wicket keeper (Cricket), the player who stands behind the wicket to catch the balls and endeavor to put the batsman out.

 Wick"ing, n. the material of which wicks are made; esp., a loosely braided or twisted cord or tape of cotton.

 { Wic"lif*ite, Wick"liff*ite } (?), n. See Wyclifite.

 Wic"o*py (?), n. (Bot.) See Leatherwood.

 Wid"dy (?), n. [Cf. Withy.] A rope or halter made of flexible twigs, or withes, as of birch. [Scot.]

 Wide (wd), a. [Compar. Wider (-r); superl. Widest.]
 [OE. wid, wyde, AS. wd; akin to OFries. & OS. wd, D. wijd, G. weit, OHG. wt, Icel. vðr, Sw.
 & Dan. vid; of uncertain origin.] 1. Having considerable distance or extent between the sides; spacious across; much extended in a direction at right angles to that of length; not narrow; broad; as, wide cloth; a wide table; a wide highway; a wide bed; a wide hall or entry.

 The chambers and the stables weren wyde.

Chaucer.
Wide is the gate... that leadeth to destruction.

Matt. vii. 18.
2. Having a great extent every way; extended; spacious; broad; vast; extensive; as, a wide plain; the wide ocean; a wide difference. "This wyde world." Chaucer.
 For sceptered cynics earth were far too wide a den.

Byron.
 When the wide bloom, on earth that lies, Seems of a brighter world than ours.

Bryant.
3. Of large scope; comprehensive; liberal; broad; as, wide views; a wide understanding.

 Men of strongest head and widest culture.

M. Arnold.
4. Of a certain measure between the sides; measuring in a direction at right angles to that of length; as, a table three feet wide.

5. Remote; distant; far.

 The contrary being so wide from the truth of Scripture and the attributes of God.

Hammond.
6. Far from truth, from propriety, from necessity, or the like.
 "Our wide expositors." Milton.
 It is far wide that the people have such judgments.

Latimer.
 How wide is all this long pretense!

Herbert.
7. On one side or the other of the mark; too far side-wise from the mark, the wicket, the batsman, etc.

 Surely he shoots wide on the bow hand.

Spenser.
 I was but two bows wide.

Massinger.
8. (Phon.) Made, as a vowel, with a less tense, and more open and relaxed, condition of the mouth organs; — opposed to primary as used by Mr. Bell, and to narrow as used by Mr. Sweet. The effect, as explained by Mr. Bell, is due to the relaxation or tension of the pharynx; as explained by Mr. Sweet and others, it is due to the action of the tongue. The wide of (ve) is (ll); of (te) is (nd), etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 13-15.

Wide is often prefixed to words, esp. to participles and participial adjectives, to form self-explaining compounds; as, widebeaming, wide-branched, wide-chopped, wide-echoing, wide-extended, wide-mouthed, wide-spread, widespreading, and the like.

Far and wide. See under Far. — Wide gauge. See the Note under C


f. Gist a resting place.]

1. A stage in traveling; a stop for rest or lodging in a journey or progress; a rest. [Obs.] Kersey.
2. A roll recting the several stages arranged for a royal progress.
 Many of them are extant in the herald's office. [Obs.] Hanmer.
 Ges"tant (?), a. [L. gestans, p. pr. of gestare.]
 Bearing within; laden; burdened; pregnant. [R.] "Clouds gestant with heat." Mrs. Browning.
 Ges*ta"tion (?), n. [L. gestatio a bearing, carrying, fr. gestare to bear, carry, intens. fr. gerere, gestum, to bear: cf. F. gestation. See Gest deed, Jest.]

1. The act of wearing (clothes or ornaments). [Obs.]

2. The act of carrying young in the womb from conception to delivery; pregnancy.

3. Exercise in which one is borne or carried, as on horseback, or in a carriage, without the exertion of his own powers; passive exercise.
 Dunglison.
 Ges"ta*to*ry (?), a. [L. gestatorius that serves for carrying: cf. F. gestatoire.]

1. Pertaining to gestation or pregnancy.

2. Capable of being carried or worn. [Obs. or R.]

 Geste (?), v. i. To tell stories or gests. [Obs.]

 Ges"tic (?), a. [See Gest a deed, Gesture.]

1. Pertaining to deeds or feats of arms; legendary.

 And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore.

Goldsmith.
2. Relating to bodily motion; consisting of gestures; -- said especially with reference to dancing.

 Carried away by the enthusiasm of the gestic art.

Sir W. Scott.
 Ges*tic"u*late (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Gesticulated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Gesticulating.] [L. gesticulatus, p. p. of gesticulari to gesticulate, fr. gesticulus a mimic gesture, gesticulation, dim. of gestus gesture, fr. gerere, gestum, to bear, carry, peform. See Gestic.] To make gestures or motions, as in speaking; to use postures. Sir T. Herbert.
 Ges*tic"u*late, v. t. To represent by gesture; to act. [R.] B. Jonson.
 Ges*tic'u*la"tion (?), n. [L. gesticulatio: cf. F. gesticulation.]
 1. The act of gesticulating, or making gestures to express passion or enforce sentiments.

2. A gesture; a motion of the body or limbs in speaking, or in representing action or passion, and enforcing arguments and sentiments. Macaulay.
3. Antic tricks or motions. B. Jonson.
 Ges*tic"u*la'tor (?), n. [L.] One who gesticulates.

 Ges*tic"u*la*to*ry (?), a. Representing by, or belonging to, gestures. T. Warton.
 Ges"tour (?), n. [See Gest a deed.] A reciter of gests or legendary tales; a storyteller. [Obs.]

 Minstrels and gestours for to tell tales.

Chaucer.
 Ges"tur*al (?), a. Relating to gesture.

 Ges"ture (?), n. [LL. gestura mode of action, fr. L. gerere, gestum, to bear, behave, perform, act. See Gest a deed.] 1.
 Manner of carrying the body; position of the body or limbs; posture. [Obs.]

 Accubation, or lying down at meals, was a gesture used by many nations.

Sir T. Browne.
2. A motion of the body or limbs expressive of sentiment or passion; any action or posture intended to express an idea or a passion, or to enforce or emphasize an argument, assertion, or opinion.

 Humble and reverent gestures.

Hooker.
 Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love.

Milton.
 Ges"ture, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gestured (?); p. pr.
 & vb. n. Gesturing.] To accompany or illustrate with gesture or action; to gesticulate.

 It is not orderly read, nor gestured as beseemeth.

Hooker.
 Ges"ture, v. i. To make gestures; to gesticulate.

 The players... gestured not undecently withal.

Holland.
 Ges"ture*less, a. Free from gestures.

 Ges"ture*ment (?), n. Act of making gestures; gesturing. [Obs.] Bp.
 Hall.
 Get (?), n. Jet, the mineral. [Obs.] Chaucer.
 Get (?), n. [OF. get.] 1. Fashion; manner; custom.
 [Obs.] Chaucer.
2. Artifice; contrivance. [Obs.] Chaucer.
 Get (gt), v. t. [imp. Got (gt) (Obs. Gat (gt)); p. p. Got (Obsolescent Gotten (gt"t'n)); p. pr. & vb. n. Getting.]
 [OE. geten, AS. gitan, gietan (in comp.); akin to Icel. geta, Goth. bigitan to find, L. prehendere to seize, take, Gr. chanda'nein to hold, contain. Cf. Comprehend, Enterprise, Forget, Impregnable, Prehensile.] 1. To procure; to obtain; to gain possession of; to acquire; to earn; to obtain as a price or reward; to come by; to win, by almost any means; as, to get favor by kindness; to get wealth by industry and economy; to get land by purchase, etc.

2. Hence, with have and had, to come into or be in possession of; to have. Johnson.
 Thou hast got the face of man.

Herbert.
3. To beget; to procreate; to generate.

 I had rather to adopt a child than get it.

Shak.
4. To obtain mental possession of; to learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; as to get a lesson; also with out; as, to get out one's Greek lesson.

 It being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty.

Bp. Fell.
5. To prevail on; to induce; to persuade.

Get him to say his prayers.

Shak.
6. To procure to be, or to cause to be in any state or condition; -- with a following participle.

 Those things I bid you do; get them dispatched.

Shak.
7. To betake; to remove; -- in a reflexive use.

Get thee out from this land.

Gen. xxxi. 13.
 He... got himself... to the strong town of Mega.

Knolles.
Get, as a transitive verb, is combined with adverbs implying motion, to express the causing to, or the effecting in, the object of the verb, of the kind of motion indicated by the preposition; thus, to get in, to cause to enter, to bring under shelter; as, to get in the hay; to get out, to make come forth, to extract; to get off, to take off, to remove; to get together, to cause to come together, to collect.

To get by heart, to commit to memory. - - To get the better of, To get the best of, to obtain an advantage over; to surpass; to subdue. -- To get up, to cause to be established or to exit; to prepare; to arrange; to construct; to invent; as, to get up a celebration,


See Cook to decoct.] 1. To prepare by boiling; to digest in hot or boiling water; to extract the strength or flavor of by boiling; to make an infusion of.

2. To prepare by the heat of the stomach for assimilation; to digest; to concoct.

3. To warm, strengthen, or invigorate, as if by boiling. [R.] "Decoct their cold blood." Shak.
 De*coct"i*ble (?), a. Capable of being boiled or digested.

 De*coc"tion (?), n. [F. décoction, L. decoctio.]
 1. The act or process of boiling anything in a watery fluid to extract its virtues.

 In decoction... it either purgeth at the top or settleth at the bottom.

Bacon.
2. An extract got from a body by boiling it in water.

 If the plant be boiled in water, the strained liquor is called the decoction of the plant.

Arbuthnot.
 In pharmacy decoction is opposed to infusion, where there is merely steeping.

Latham.
 De*coc"ture (?; 135), n. A decoction. [R.]

 De*col"late (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decollated; p. pr. & vb. n. Decollating.] [L. decollatus, p. p. of decollare to behead; de- + collum neck.] To sever from the neck; to behead; to decapitate.

 The decollated head of St. John the Baptist.

Burke.
 De*col"la*ted (?), a. (Zoöl.) Decapitated; worn or cast off in the process of growth, as the apex of certain univalve shells.

 De'col*la"tion (?), n. [L. decollatio: cf. F. décollation.]
 1. The act of beheading or state of one beheaded; -- especially used of the execution of St. John the Baptist.

2. A painting representing the beheading of a saint or martyr, esp.
 of St. John the Baptist.

 ||Dé'col'le*té" (?), a. [F., p. p. of décolleter to bare the neck and shoulders; dé- + collet collar, fr. L. collum neck.] Leaving the neck and shoulders uncovered; cut low in the neck, or low-necked, as a dress.

 De*col"ling (?), n. Beheading. [R.]

 By a speedy dethroning and decolling of the king.

Parliamentary History (1648).
 De*col"or (?), v. t. [Cf. F. décolorer, L. decolorare.
 Cf. Discolor.] To deprive of color; to bleach.

 De*col"or*ant (?), n. [Cf. F. décolorant, p. pr.] A substance which removes color, or bleaches.

 De*col"or*ate (?), a. [L. decoloratus, p. p. of decolorare.]
 Deprived of color.

 De*col"or*ate (?), v. t. To decolor.

 De*col'or*a"tion (?), n. [L. decoloratio: cf. F. décoloration.]
 The removal or absence of color. Ferrand.
 De*col"or*ize (?), v. t. To deprive of color; to whiten. Turner.
 -- De*col'or*i*za"tion (#), n. De"com*plex' (?), a. [Pref. de- (intens.) + complex.]
 Repeatedly compound; made up of complex constituents.

 De'com*pos"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being resolved into constituent elements.

 De'com*pose" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decomposed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Decomposing.] [Cf. F. décomposer. Cf.
 Discompose.] To separate the constituent parts of; to resolve into original elements; to set free from previously existing forms of chemical combination; to bring to dissolution; to rot or decay.

 De'com*pose", v. i. To become resolved or returned from existing combinations; to undergo dissolution; to decay; to rot.

 De'com*posed" (?), a. (Zoöl.) Separated or broken up; -- said of the crest of birds when the feathers are divergent.

 De'com*pos"ite (?), a. [Pref. de- (intens.) + composite.]
 1. Compounded more than once; compounded with things already composite.

2. (Bot.) See Decompound, a., 2.

 De'com*pos"ite, n. Anything decompounded.

Decomposites of three metals or more.

Bacon.
 De*com'po*si"tion (?), n. [Pref. de- (in sense 3 intensive) + composition: cf. F. décomposition. Cf.
 Decomposition.] 1. The act or process of resolving the constituent parts of a compound body or substance into its elementary parts; separation into constituent part; analysis; the decay or dissolution consequent on the removal or alteration of some of the ingredients of a compound; disintegration; as, the decomposition of wood, rocks, etc.

2. The state of being reduced into original elements.

3. Repeated composition; a combination of compounds. [Obs.]

Decomposition of forces. Same as Resolution of forces, under Resolution. -- Decomposition of light, the division of light into the prismatic colors.

 De'com*pound" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decompounded; p. pr. & vb. n. Decompounding.] [Pref. de- (intens. in sense 1) + compound, v. t.] 1. To compound or mix with that is already compound; to compound a second time.

2. To reduce to constituent parts; to decompose.

 It divides and decompounds objects into... parts.

Hazlitt.
 De'com*pound", a. [Pref. de- (intens.) + compound, a.]
 1. Compound of what is already compounded; compounded a second time.

2. (Bot.) Several times compounded or divided, as a leaf or stem; decomposite.

 De'com*pound", n. A decomposite.

 De'com*pound"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being decompounded.

 De'con*cen"trate (?), v. t. To withdraw from concentration; to decentralize. [R.]

 De*con'cen*tra"tion (?), n. Act of deconcentrating. [R.]

 De'con*coct" (?), v. t. To decompose. [R.] Fuller.
 De*con"se*crate (?), v. t. To deprive of sacredness; to secularize.
 -- De*con'se*cra"tion (#), n. Dec"o*ra*ment (?), n. [L. decoramentum. See Decorate, v.
 t.] Ornament. [Obs.] Bailey.
 Dec"o*rate (dk"*rt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Decorated (dk"*r'td); p. pr. & vb. n. Decorating (-r'tng).] [L. decoratus, p. p. of decorare, fr. decus ornament; akin to decere to be becoming. See Decent.] To deck with that which is becoming, ornamental, or honorary; to adorn; to beautify; to embellish; as, to decorate the person; to decorate an edifice; to decorate a lawn with flowers; to decorate the mind with moral beauties; to decorate a hero with honors.


; as, the germ of a fetus, of a plant or flower, and the like; the earliest form under which an organism appears.

 In the entire process in which a new being originates... two distinct classes of action participate; namely, the act of generation by which the germ is produced; and the act of development, by which that germ is evolved into the complete organism.

Carpenter.
2. That from which anything springs; origin; first principle; as, the germ of civil liberty.

Disease germ (Biol.), a name applied to certain tiny bacterial organisms or their spores, such as Anthrax bacillus and the Micrococcus of fowl cholera, which have been demonstrated to be the cause of certain diseases. See Germ theory (below). -- Germ cell (Biol.), the germ, egg, spore, or cell from which the plant or animal arises. At one time a part of the body of the parent, it finally becomes detached,and by a process of multiplication and growth gives rise to a mass of cells, which ultimately form a new individual like the parent. See Ovum. -- Germ gland. (Anat.) See Gonad. -- Germ stock (Zoöl.), a special process on which buds are developed in certain animals. See Doliolum. -- Germ theory (Biol.), the theory that living organisms can be produced only by the evolution or development of living germs or seeds. See Biogenesis, and Abiogenesis. As applied to the origin of disease, the theory claims that the zymotic diseases are due to the rapid development and multiplication of various bacteria, the germs or spores of which are either contained in the organism itself, or transferred through the air or water. See Fermentation theory.

 Germ (?), v. i. To germinate. [R.] J. Morley.
 Ger*main" (?), a. [Obs.] See Germane.

 Ger"man (?), a. [OE. german, germain, F. germain, fr. L. germanus full, own (said of brothers and sisters who have the same parents); akin to germen germ. Cf. Germ, Germane.] Nearly related; closely akin.

 Wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion.

Shak.
Brother german. See Brother german. -- Cousins german. See the Note under Cousin.

 Ger"man, n.; pl. Germans (#) [L. Germanus, prob. of Celtis origin.] 1. A native or one of the people of Germany.

2. The German language.

3. (a) A round dance, often with a waltz movement, abounding in capriciosly involved figures. (b) A social party at which the german is danced.

High German, the Teutonic dialect of Upper or Southern Germany, -- comprising Old High German, used from the 8th to the 11th century; Middle H. G., from the 12th to the 15th century; and Modern or New H. G., the language of Luther's Bible version and of modern German literature. The dialects of Central Germany, the basis of the modern literary language, are often called Middle German, and the Southern German dialects Upper German; but High German is also used to cover both groups. -- Low German, the language of Northern Germany and the Netherlands, -- including Friesic; Anglo-Saxon or Saxon; Old Saxon; Dutch or Low Dutch, with its dialect, Flemish; and Plattdeutsch (called also Low German), spoken in many dialects.

 Ger"man, a. [L. Germanus. See German, n.] Of or pertaining to Germany.

German Baptists. See Dunker. -- German bit, a wood-boring tool, having a long elliptical pod and a scew point. -- German carp (Zoöl.), the crucian carp. -- German millet (Bot.), a kind of millet (Setaria Italica, var.), whose seed is sometimes used for food. -- German paste, a prepared food for caged birds. -- German process (Metal.), the process of reducing copper ore in a blast furnace, after roasting, if necessary. Raymond. -- German sarsaparilla, a substitute for sarsaparilla extract. -- German sausage, a polony, or gut stuffed with meat partly cooked. -- German silver (Chem.), a silver-white alloy, hard and tough, but malleable and ductile, and quite permanent in the air. It contains nickel, copper, and zinc in varying proportions, and was originally made from old copper slag at Henneberg. A small amount of iron is sometimes added to make it whiter and harder. It is essentially identical with the Chinese alloy packfong. It was formerly much used for tableware, knife handles, frames, cases, bearings of machinery, etc., but is now largely superseded by other white alloys. -- German steel (Metal.), a metal made from bog iron ore in a forge, with charcoal for fuel. -- German text (Typog.), a character resembling modern German type, used in English printing for ornamental headings, etc., as in the words, This line is German Text.

 -- German tinder. See Amadou.

 Ger*man"der (?), n. [OE. germaunder, F. germandrée, It. calamandrea, L. chamaedrys, fr. Gr.&?;; &?; on the earth or ground + &?; tree. See Humble, and Tree.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Teucrium (esp. Teucrium Chamædrys or wall germander), mintlike herbs and low shrubs.

American germander, Teucrium Canadense. -- Germander chickweed, Veronica agrestis. -- Water germander, Teucrium Scordium. -- Wood germander, Teucrium Scorodonia.

 Ger*mane" (?), a. [See German akin, nearly related.] Literally, near akin; hence, closely allied; appropriate or fitting; relevant.

 The phrase would be more germane to the matter.

Shak.
 [An amendment] must be germane.

Barclay (Digest).
 Ger*man"ic (?), a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or containing, germanium.

 Ger*man"ic, a. [L. Germanicus: cf. F. germanique. See German, n.] 1. Of or pertaining to Germany; as, the Germanic confederacy.

2. Teutonic. [A loose sense] Ger"man*ism (?), n. [Cf. F. germanisme.] 1. An idiom of the German language.

2. A characteristic of the Germans; a characteristic German mode, doctrine, etc.; rationalism. J. W. Alexander.
 Ger*ma"ni*um (?), n. [NL., fr. L. Germania Germany.] (Chem.)
 A rare element, recently discovered (1885), in a silver ore (argyrodite) at Freiberg. It is a brittle, silver-white metal, chemically intermediate between the metals and nonmetals, resembles tin, and is in general identical with the predicted ekasilicon. Symbol Ge. Atomic weight 72.3.

 Ger'man*i*za"tion (?), n. The act of Germanizing. M. Arnold.
 Ger"man*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Germanized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Germanizing (?).] To make German, or like what is distinctively German; as, to Germanize a province, a language, a society.

 Ger"man*ize, v. i. To reason or write after the manner of the Germans.

 ||Ger*ma"ri*um (?), n. [NL. See Germ.] (Zoöl.) An organ in which the


in the 1920s.
Published in January 1908, The Blue Lagoon was an immediate success, both with reviewers and the public. "[This] tale of the discovery of love, and innocent mating, is as fresh as the ozone that made them strong," declared one reviewer. Another claimed that "for once the title of 'romance,' found in so many modern stories, is really justified." The novel was reprinted more than twenty times in the next twelve years and remained popular in other forms for more than eighty years. Norman MacOwen and Charlton Mann adapted the story as a play, which ran for 263 performances in London from August 28, 1920, to April 16, 1921. Film versions of the novel were made in 1923, 1949, and 1980.
Stacpoole also wrote two successful sequels: The Garden of God (1923) and The Gates of Morning (1925). These three books and two others were combined to form The Blue Lagoon Omnibus in 1933. The Garden of God was filmed as Return to the Blue Lagoon in 1992.
This Gutenberg etext of The Blue Lagoon: A Romance is based on the 1908 first American edition published by J. B. Lippincott Company of Philadelphia.
----- essentially identical.


ak.
2. Specifically: The act of a superior or superintending officer who, in the discharge of his office, visits a corporation, college, etc., to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed; as, the visitation of a diocese by a bishop.

3. The object of a visit. [Obs.] "O flowers,... my early visitation and my last." Milton.
4. (Internat. Law) The act of a naval commander who visits, or enters on board, a vessel belonging to another nation, for the purpose of ascertaining her character and object, but without claiming or exercising a right of searching the vessel. It is, however, usually coupled with the right of search (see under Search), visitation being used for the purpose of search.

5. Special dispensation; communication of divine favor and goodness, or, more usually, of divine wrath and vengeance; retributive calamity; retribution; judgment.

 What will ye do in the day of visitation?

Isa. x. 3.
6. (Eccl.) A festival in honor of the visit of the Virgin Mary to Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist, celebrated on the second of July.

The Order of the Visitation of Our Lady (R. C. Ch.), a religious community of nuns, founded at Annecy, in Savoy, in 1610, and in 1808 established in the United States. In America these nuns are devoted to the education of girls.

 Vis'it*a*to"ri*al (?), a. [Cf. LL. visitator a bishop temporarily put in place of another.] Of or pertaining to visitation, or a judicial visitor or superintendent; visitorial.

 An archdeacon has visitatorial power.

Ayliffe.
 The queen, however, still had over the church a visitatorial power of vast and undefined extent.

Macaulay.
 Vi*site" (?), n. [F. See Visit, n.] A light cape or short cloak of silk or lace worn by women in summer.

 Vis"it*er (?), n. A visitor.

 Vis"it*ing, a. & vb. n. from Visit.

Visiting ant. (Zoöl.) See Driver ant, under Driver. — Visiting book, a book in which a record of visits received, made, and to be made, is kept. Thackeray. — Visiting card. See under Card.

 Vis"it*or (?). [Cf. F. visiteur.] [Written also visiter.] 1.
 One who visits; one who comes or goes to see another, as in civility or friendship. "This great flood of visitors." Shak.
2. A superior, or a person lawfully appointed for the purpose, who makes formal visits of inspection to a corporation or an institution. See Visit, v. t., 2, and Visitation, n., 2.

 The king is the visitor of all lay corporations.

Blackstone.
 Vis'it*o"ri*al (?), a. Same as Visitatorial.

 Vi"sive (?), a. [Cf. F. visif, LL. visivus. See Vision.] Of or pertaining to the sight; visual. [Obs.]

 I can not satisfy myself how men should be so little surprised about this visive faculty.

Berkeley.
 Visne (?; 277), n. [OF. visné, veisiné, visnet, neighborhood, LL. vicinatus, fr. L. vicunus neighboring, a neighbor. See Vicinity.] (Law) Neighborhood; vicinity; venue. See Venue.

 Vis"no*my (?), n. [Contr. fr. physiognomy.] Face; countenance. [Colloq.] Spenser. Lamb.
 Vi"son (?), n. [F.] (Zoöl.) The mink.

 Vis"or (?), n. [OE. visere, F. visière, fr.
 OF. vis. See Visage, Vision.] [Written also visar, visard, vizard, and vizor.] 1. A part of a helmet, arranged so as to lift or open, and so show the face. The openings for seeing and breathing are generally in it.

2. A mask used to disfigure or disguise. "My very visor began to assume life." Shak.
 My weaker government since, makes you pull off the visor.

Sir P. Sidney.
3. The fore piece of a cap, projecting over, and protecting the eyes.

 Vis"ored (?), a. Wearing a visor; masked.

Visored falsehood and base forgery.

Milton.
 Vis"ta (?), n.; pl. Vistas (#). [It., sight, view, fr. vedere, p. p. visto, veduto, to see, fr. L. videre, visum. See View, Vision.] A view; especially, a view through or between intervening objects, as trees; a view or prospect through an avenue, or the like; hence, the trees or other objects that form the avenue.

 The finished garden to the view Its vistas opens, and its alleys green.

Thomson.
 In the groves of their academy, at the end of every vista, you see nothing but the gallows.

Burke.
 The shattered tower which now forms a vista from his window.

Sir W. Scott.
 Vis"to (?), n. A vista; a prospect. [R.] Gay.
 Through the long visto of a thousand years.

Young.
 Vis"u*al (?), a. [L. visualis, from visus a seeing, sight: cf. F. visuel. See Vision.] 1. Of or pertaining to sight; used in sight; serving as the instrument of seeing; as, the visual nerve.

 The air, Nowhere so clear, sharpened his visual ray.

Milton.
2. That can be seen; visible. [R.]

Visual angle. (Opt.) See under Angle. — Visual cone (Persp.), a cone whose vertex is at the point of sight, or the eye.
 — Visual plane, any plane passing through the point of sight. — Visual point, the point at which the visual rays unite; the position of the eye. — Visual purple (Physiol.), a photochemical substance, of a purplish red color, contained in the retina of human eyes and in the eyes of most animals. It is quickly bleached by light, passing through the colors, red, orange, and yellow, and then disappearing. Also called rhodopsin, and vision purple. See Optography. — Visual ray, a line from the eye, or point of sight.
 — Visual white (Physiol.), the final product in the action of light on visual purple. It is reconverted into visual purple by the regenerating action of the choroidal epithelium. — Visual yellow (Physiol.), a product intermediate between visual purple and visual white, formed in the photochemical action of light on visual purple.

 Vis"u*al*ize (?), v. t. To make visual, or visible; to see in fancy. [Written also visualise.]

 No one who has not seen them [glaciers] can possibly visualize them.

Lubbock.
 Vi*taille (?), n. [See Victuals.] Food; victuals. [Obs.] Piers Plowman. Chaucer.
 Vi"tal (?), a. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.] 1. Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions.

2. Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood.

 Do the heavens afford him vital food?

Spenser.
 And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth.


PSMITH, JOURNALIST By Pelham Grenville Wodehouse CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER I "COSY MOMENTS" CHAPTER II BILLY WINDSOR CHAPTER III AT "THE GARDENIA" CHAPTER IV BAT JARVIS CHAPTER V PLANNING IMPROVEMENTS CHAPTER VI THE TENEMENTS CHAPTER VII VISITORS AT THE OFFICE CHAPTER VIII THE HONEYED WORD CHAPTER IX FULL STEAM AHEAD CHAPTER X GOING SOME CHAPTER XI THE MAN AT THE ASTOR CHAPTER XII A RED TAXIMETER CHAPTER XIII REVIEWING THE SITUATION CHAPTER XIV THE HIGHFIELD CHAPTER XV AN ADDITION TO THE STAFF CHAPTER XVI THE FIRST BATTLE CHAPTER XVII GUERILLA WARFARE CHAPTER XVIII AN EPISODE BY THE WAY CHAPTER XIX IN PLEASANT STREET CHAPTER XX CORNERED CHAPTER XXI THE BATTLE OF PLEASANT STREET CHAPTER XXII CONCERNING MR. WARING CHAPTER XXIII REDUCTIONS IN THE STAFF CHAPTER XXIV A GATHERING OF CAT-SPECIALISTS CHAPTER XXV TRAPPED CHAPTER XXVI A FRIEND IN NEED CHAPTER XXVII PSMITH CONCLUDES HIS RIDE CHAPTER XXVIII STANDING ROOM ONLY CHAPTER XXIX THE KNOCK-OUT FOR MR. WARING CONCLUSION PREFACE THE conditions of life in New York are so different from those of London that a story of this kind calls for a little explanation. There are several million inhabitants of New York. Not all of them eke out a precarious livelihood by murdering one another, but there is a definite section of the population which murders—not casually, on the spur of the moment, but on definitely commercial lines at so many dollars per murder. The "gangs" of New York exist in fact. I have not invented them.
 Most of the incidents in this story are based on actual happenings. The Rosenthal case, where four men, headed by a genial individual calling himself "Gyp the Blood" shot a fellow-citizen in cold blood in a spot as public and fashionable as Piccadilly Circus and escaped in a motor-car, made such a stir a few years ago that the noise of it was heard all over the world and not, as is generally the case with the doings of the gangs, in New York only. Rosenthal cases on a smaller and less sensational scale are frequent occurrences on Manhattan Island. It was the prominence of the victim rather than the unusual nature of the occurrence that excited the New York press. Most gang victims get a quarter of a column in small type.

 P. G. WODEHOUSE New York, 1915 CHAPTER I — "COSY MOMENTS" The man in the street would not have known it, but a great crisis was imminent in New York journalism.

 Everything seemed much as usual in the city. The cars ran blithely on Broadway. Newsboys shouted "Wux-try!" into the ears of nervous pedestrians with their usual Caruso-like vim. Society passed up and down Fifth Avenue in its automobiles, and was there a furrow of anxiety upon Society's brow?
 None. At a thousand street corners a thousand policemen preserved their air of massive superiority to the things of this world. Not one of them showed the least sign of perturbation. Nevertheless, the crisis was at hand. Mr. J. Fillken Wilberfloss, editor-in-chief of Cosy Moments, was about to leave his post and start on a ten weeks' holiday.

 In New York one may find every class of paper which the imagination can conceive. Every grade of society is catered for. If an Esquimau came to New York, the first thing he would find on the bookstalls in all probability would be the Blubber Magazine, or some similar production written by Esquimaux for Esquimaux. Everybody reads in New York, and reads all the time. The New Yorker peruses his favourite paper while he is being jammed into a crowded compartment on the subway or leaping like an antelope into a moving Street car.

 There was thus a public for Cosy Moments. Cosy Moments, as its name (an inspiration of Mr. Wilberfloss's own) is designed to imply, is a journal for the home. It is the sort of paper which the father of the family is expected to take home with him from his office and read aloud to the chicks before bed-time. It was founded by its proprietor, Mr. Benjamin White, as an antidote to yellow journalism. One is forced to admit that up to the present yellow journalism seems to be competing against it with a certain measure of success. Headlines are still of as generous a size as heretofore, and there is no tendency on the part of editors to scamp the details of the last murder-case.

 Nevertheless, Cosy Moments thrives. It has its public.

 Its contents are mildly interesting, if you like that sort of thing. There is a "Moments in the Nursery" page, conducted by Luella Granville Waterman, to which parents are invited to contribute the bright speeches of their offspring, and which bristles with little stories about the nursery canary, by Jane (aged six), and other works of rising young authors. There is a "Moments of Meditation" page, conducted by the Reverend Edwin T. Philpotts; a "Moments Among the Masters" page, consisting of assorted chunks looted from the literature of the past, when foreheads were bulgy and thoughts profound, by Mr. Wilberfloss himself; one or two other pages; a short story; answers to correspondents on domestic matters; and a "Moments of Mirth" page, conducted by an alleged humorist of the name of B. Henderson Asher, which is about the most painful production ever served up to a confiding public.

 The guiding spirit of Cosy Moments was Mr. Wilberfloss.
 Circumstances had left the development of the paper mainly to him. For the past twelve months the proprietor had been away in Europe, taking the waters at Carlsbad, and the sole control of Cosy Moments had passed into the hands of Mr. Wilberfloss. Nor had he proved unworthy of the trust or unequal to the duties. In that year Cosy Moments had reached the highest possible level of domesticity. Anything not calculated to appeal to the home had been rigidly excluded. And as a result the circulation had increased steadily. Two extra pages had been added, "Moments Among the Shoppers" and "Moments with Society." And the advertisements had grown in volume. But the work had told upon the Editor. Work of that sort carries its penalties with it. Success means absorption, and absorption spells softening of the brain.

 Whether it was the strain of digging into the literature of the past every


the pencil of light which the instrument transmits from the object or point viewed; as, a microscope of 100° aperture.

 Ap"er*y (&?;), n.; pl. Aperies. 1. A place where apes are kept. [R.] Kingsley.
2. The practice of aping; an apish action. Coleridge.


-- Sympathetic nerve (Anat.), any nerve of the sympathetic system; especially, the axial chain of ganglions and nerves belonging to the sympathetic system. -- Sympathetic powder (Alchemy), a kind of powder long supposed to be able to cure a wound if applied to the weapon that inflicted it, or even to a portion of the bloody clothes. Dunglison.
 -- Sympathetic sounds (Physics), sounds produced from solid bodies by means of vibrations which have been communicated to them from some other sounding body, by means of the air or an intervening solid. -- Sympathetic system (Anat.), a system of nerves and nerve ganglions connected with the alimentary canal, the vascular system, and the glandular organs of most vertebrates, and controlling more or less their actions. The axial part of the system and its principal ganglions and nerves are situated in the body cavity and form a chain of ganglions on each side of the vertebral column connected with numerous other ganglions and nerve plexuses.

 Sym'pa*thet"ic*al (?), a. Sympathetic.

 Sym'pa*thet"ic*al*ly, adv. In a sympathetic manner.

 Sym"pa*thist (?), n. One who sympathizes; a sympathizer. [R.] Coleridge.
 Sym"pa*thize (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sympathized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sympathizing (?).] [F. sympathiser. See Sympathy.] 1. To have a common feeling, as of bodily pleasure or pain.

 The mind will sympathize so much with the anguish and debility of the body, that it will be too distracted to fix itself in meditation.

Buckminster.
2. To feel in consequence of what another feels; to be affected by feelings similar to those of another, in consequence of knowing the person to be thus affected.

 Their countrymen... sympathized with their heroes in all their adventures.

Addison.
3. To agree; to be in accord; to harmonize. Dryden.
 Sym"pa*thize, v. t. 1. To experience together. [Obs.] "This sympathized... error." Shak.
2. To ansew to; to correspond to. [Obs.] Shak.
 Sym"pa*thi'zer (?), n. One who sympathizes.

 Sym"pa*thy (?), n.; pl. Sympathies (#). [F. sympathie, L. sympathia, Gr. &?;; sy'n with + &?; suffering, passion, fr. &?;, &?;, to suffer. See Syn-, and Pathos.] 1. Feeling corresponding to that which another feels; the quality of being affected by the affection of another, with feelings correspondent in kind, if not in degree; fellowfeeling.

 They saw, but other sight instead -- a crowd Of ugly serpents!
 Horror on them fell, And horrid sympathy.

Milton.
2. An agreement of affections or inclinations, or a conformity of natural temperament, which causes persons to be pleased, or in accord, with one another; as, there is perfect sympathy between them.

3. Kindness of feeling toward one who suffers; pity; commiseration; compassion.

 I value myself upon sympathy, I hate and despise myself for envy.

Kames.
4. (Physiol.) (a) The reciprocal influence exercised by the various organs or parts of the body on one another, as manifested in the transmission of a disease by unknown means from one organ to another quite remote, or in the influence exerted by a diseased condition of one part on another part or organ, as in the vomiting produced by a tumor of the brain. (b) That relation which exists between different persons by which one of them produces in the others a state or condition like that of himself. This is shown in the tendency to yawn which a person often feels on seeing another yawn, or the strong inclination to become hysteric experienced by many women on seeing another person suffering with hysteria.

5. A tendency of inanimate things to unite, or to act on each other; as, the sympathy between the loadstone and iron. [R.]

6. Similarity of function, use office, or the like.

 The adverb has most sympathy with the verb.

Earle.
Syn. -- Pity; fellow-feeling; compassion; commiseration; tenderness; condolence; agreement. -- Sympathy, Commiseration. Sympathy is literally a fellow-feeling with others in their varied conditions of joy or of grief. This term, however, is now more commonly applied to a fellow-feeling with others under affliction, and then coincides very nearly with commiseration. In this case it is commonly followed by for; as, to feel sympathy for a friend when we see him distressed. The verb sympathize is followed by with; as, to sympathize with a friend in his distresses or enjoyments. "Every man would be a distinct species to himself, were there no sympathy among individuals." South. See Pity.

 Fault, Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam wrought Commiseration.

Milton.
 Sym*pet"al*ous (?), a. [Pref. sym- + petal.] (Bot.)
 Having the petals united; gamopetalous.

 Sym*phon"ic (?), a. 1. Symphonious.

2. (Mus.) Relating to, or in the manner of, symphony; as, the symphonic form or style of composition.

 Sym*pho"ni*ous (?), a. [From Symphony.] 1. Agreeing in sound; accordant; harmonious.

 Followed with acclamation and the sound Symphonious of ten thousand harps.

Milton.
2. (Mus.) Symphonic.

 Sym"pho*nist (?), n. [Cf. F. symphoniste.] A composer of symphonies.

 Sym"pho*nize (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Symphonized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Symphonizing (?).] To agree; to be in harmony.
 [R.] Boyle.
 Sym"pho*ny (?), n.; pl. Symphonies (#). [F. symphonie (cf. It. sinfonia), L. symphonia, Gr. &?;; sy'n with + &?; a sound, the voice. See Phonetic.] 1. A consonance or harmony of sounds, agreeable to the ear, whether the sounds are vocal or instrumental, or both.

 The trumpets sound, And warlike symphony in heard around.

Dryden.
2. A stringed instrument formerly in use, somewhat resembling the virginal.

 With harp and pipe and symphony.

Chaucer.
3. (Mus.) (a) An elaborate instrumental composition for a full orchestra, consisting usually, like the sonata, of three or four contrasted yet inwardly related movements, as the allegro, the adagio, the minuet and trio, or scherzo, and the finale in quick time. The term has recently been applied to large orchestral works in freer form, with arguments or programmes to explain their meaning, such as the "symphonic poems" of Liszt. The term was formerly applied to any composition for an orchestra, as overtures, etc., and still earlier, to certain compositions partly vocal, partly instrumental. (b) An instrumental passage at the beginning or end, or in the course of, a vocal composition; a prelude, interlude, or postude; a ritornello.

 ||Sym*phy"la (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. sy'n with + &?; a clan.]
 (Zoöl.) An order of small apterous insects having an elongated body, with three pairs of thoracic and about nine pairs of abdominal legs.
 They are, in many respects, intermediate between myriapods and true insects.

 Sym*phys"e*al (?), a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to to symphysis.

 Sym'phy*se*ot"o*my (?


5. A body of troops, or of men or animals, drawn up in a circle; -- a military formation used by the Romans, answering to the modern infantry square.

 Him round A globe of fiery seraphim inclosed.

Milton.
Globe amaranth (Bot.), a plant of the genus Gomphrena (G. globosa), bearing round heads of variously colored flowers, which long retain color when gathered. -- Globe animalcule, a small, globular, locomotive organism (Volvox globator), once throught to be an animal, afterward supposed to be a colony of microscopic algæ. -- Globe of compression (Mil.), a kind of mine producing a wide crater; -- called also overcharged mine. -- Globe daisy (Bot.), a plant or flower of the genus Globularing, common in Europe. The flowers are minute and form globular heads. -- Globe sight, a form of front sight placed on target rifles. -- Globe slater (Zoöl.), an isopod crustacean of the genus Spheroma.
 -- Globe thistle (Bot.), a thistlelike plant with the flowers in large globular heads (Cynara Scolymus); also, certain species of the related genus Echinops. -- Globe valve. (a) A ball valve. (b) A valve inclosed in a globular chamber. Knight.
 Syn. -- Globe, Sphere, Orb, Ball. -- Globe denotes a round, and usually a solid body; sphere is the term applied in astronomy to such a body, or to the concentric spheres or orbs of the old astronomers; orb is used, especially in poetry, for globe or sphere, and also for the pathway of a heavenly body; ball is applied to the heavenly bodies concieved of as impelled through space.

 Globe (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Globed (?); p. pr.
 & vb. n. Globing.] To gather or form into a globe.

 Globe"fish' (?), n. (Zoöl.) A plectognath fish of the genera Diodon, Tetrodon, and allied genera. The globefishes can suck in water or air and distend the body to a more or less globular form. Called also porcupine fish, and sea hedgehog. See Diodon.

 Globe"flow'er (?), n. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Trollius (T. Europæus), found in the mountainous parts of Europe, and producing handsome globe-shaped flowers. (b) The American plant Trollius laxus.

Japan globeflower. See Corchorus.

 Globe"-shaped' (?), a. Shaped like a globe.

 Glo*bif"er*ous (?), a. [Globe + -ferous.] (Zoöl.)
 Having a round or globular tip.

 ||Glo*big'e*ri"na (?), n.; pl. Globigerinæ (#).
 [NL., fr. L. globus a round body + gerere to bear.] (Zoöl.)
 A genus of small Foraminifera, which live abundantly at or near the surface of the sea. Their dead shells, falling to the bottom, make up a large part of the soft mud, generally found in depths below 3,000 feet, and called globigerina ooze. See Illust. of Foraminifera.

 Glo*bose" (?), a. [L. globosus.] Having a rounded form resembling that of a globe; globular, or nearly so; spherical. Milton.
 Glo*bose"ly, adv. In a globular manner; globularly.

 Glo*bos"i*ty (?), n. [L. globositas: cf. F. globosité.]
 Sphericity. Ray.
 Glo"bous (?), a. [See Globose.] Spherical. Milton.
 Glob"u*lar (?), a. [Cf. F. globulaire.] Globe-shaped; having the form of a ball or sphere; spherical, or nearly so; as, globular atoms. Milton.
Globular chart, a chart of the earth's surface constructed on the principles of the globular projection. -- Globular projection (Map Projection), a perspective projection of the surface of a hemisphere upon a plane parallel to the base of the hemisphere, the point of sight being taken in the axis produced beyond the surface of the opposite hemisphere a distance equal to the radius of the sphere into the sine of 45°. -- Globular sailing, sailing on the arc of a great circle, or so as to make the shortest distance between two places; circular sailing.

 Glob'u*lar"i*ty (?), n. The state of being globular; globosity; sphericity.

 Glob"u*lar*ly (?), adv. Spherically.

 Glob"u*lar*ness, n. Sphericity; globosity.

 Glob"ule (?), n. [L. globulus, dim. of globus globe: cf. F. globule.] 1. A little globe; a small particle of matter, of a spherical form.

Globules of snow.

Sir I. Newton.
 These minute globules [a mole's eyes] are sunk... deeply in the skull.

Paley.
2. (Biol.) A minute spherical or rounded structure; as blood, lymph, and pus corpuscles, minute fungi, spores, etc.

3. A little pill or pellet used by homeopathists.

 Glob"u*let (?), n. A little globule. Crabb.
 Glob'u*lif"er*ous (?), a. [Globule + -ferous.]
 Bearing globules; in geology, used of rocks, and denoting a variety of concretionary structure, where the concretions are isolated globules and evenly distributed through the texture of the rock.

 Glob'u*lim"e*ter (?), n. [Globule + -meter.] (Physiol.)
 An instrument for measuring the number of red blood corpuscles in the blood.

 The method depends on the differences of tint obtained by mixing a sample of the blood with sodium carbonate solution.

 Glob"u*lin (?), n. [From Globule: cf. F. globuline.] (Phisiol.
 Chem.) An albuminous body, insoluble in water, but soluble in dilute solutions of salt. It is present in the red blood corpuscles united with hæmatin to form hæmoglobin. It is also found in the crystalline lens of the eye, and in blood serum, and is sometimes called crystallin. In the plural the word is applied to a group of proteid substances such as vitellin, myosin, fibrinogen, etc., all insoluble in water, but soluble in dilute salt solutions.

 Glob"u*lite (?), n. [See Globule.] (Min.) A rudimentary form of crystallite, spherical in shape.

 Glob"u*lous (?), a. [Cf. F. globuleux.] Globular; spherical; orbicular. -- Glob"u*lous*ness, n. Glob"y (?), a. Resembling, or pertaining to, a globe; round; orbicular. "The globy sea." Milton.
 Glo*chid"i*ate (?), a. [Gr. &?; point of an arrow.] (Bot.)
 Having barbs; as, glochidiate bristles. Gray.
 ||Glo*chid"i*um (?), n.; pl. Glochidia (#). [NL., fr.
 Gr. &?; the point of an arrow.] (Zoöl.) The larva or young of the mussel, formerly thought to be a parasite upon the parent's gills.

 Glode (?), obs. imp. of Glide. Chaucer.
 { Glombe (?), Glome (?), } v. i. To gloom; to look gloomy, morose, or sullen.


Bubble, n.] 1. To rise in bubbles, as liquids when boiling or agitated; to contain bubbles.

 The milk that bubbled in the pail. Tennyson.
2. To run with a gurgling noise, as if forming bubbles; as, a bubbling stream. Pope.
3. To sing with a gurgling or warbling sound.

 At mine ear Bubbled the nightingale and heeded not. Tennyson.
 Bub"bler, v. t. To cheat; to deceive.

 She has bubbled him out of his youth. Addison.
 The great Locke, who was seldom outwitted by false sounds, was nevertheless bubbled here. Sterne.
 Bub"bler (&?;), n. 1. One who cheats.

 All the Jews, jobbers, bubblers, subscribers, projectors, etc.
Pope.
2. (Zoöl.) A fish of the Ohio river; -- so called from the noise it makes.

 Bub"ble shell' (&?;). (Zoöl.) A marine univalve shell of the genus Bulla and allied genera, belonging to the Tectibranchiata.

 Bub"bling Jock' (&?;) (Zoöl.) The male wild turkey, the gobbler; -- so called in allusion to its notes.

 Bub"bly (&?;), a. Abounding in bubbles; bubbling. Nash.
 Bub"by (bb"b), n. [Cf. Prov. G. bübbi, or It. poppa, Pr. popa, OF. poupe, a woman's breast.] A woman's breast.
 [Low] Bub"by, n. [A corruption of brother.] Bub; -- a term of familiar or affectionate address to a small boy.

 Bu"bo (b"b), n.; pl. Buboes (-bz). [LL. bubo the groin, a swelling in the groin, Gr. boubw'n.] (Med.) An inflammation, with enlargement, of a lymphatic gland, esp. in the groin, as in syphilis.

 Bu*bon"ic (b*bn"k), a. Of or pertaining to a bubo or buboes; characterized by buboes.

 Bu*bon"o*cele (b*bn"*sl), n. [Gr. boubw'n groin + &?; tumor: cf. F. bubonocèle.] (Med.) An inguinal hernia; esp.
 that incomplete variety in which the hernial pouch descends only as far as the groin, forming a swelling there like a bubo.

 Bu"bu*kle (&?;), n. A red pimple. [R.] Shak.
 Buc"cal (&?;), a. [L. bucca cheek: cf. F. buccal.]
 (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the mouth or cheeks.

 Buc'ca*neer" (&?;), n. [F. boucanier, fr. boucaner to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins, boucan a smoking place for meat or fish, gridiron for smoking: a word of American origin.] A robber upon the sea; a pirate; -- a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. [Written also bucanier.]

 Primarily, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French settlers in Hayti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt wild cattle and swine.

 Buc'ca*neer", v. i. To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.

 Buc'ca*neer"ish, a. Like a buccaneer; piratical.

 Buc"ci*nal (&?;), a. [L. bucina a crooked horn or trumpet.] Shaped or sounding like a trumpet; trumpetlike.

 ||Buc'ci*na"tor (&?;), n. [L., a trumpeter, fr. bucinare to sound the trumpet.] (Anat.) A muscle of the cheek; -- so called from its use in blowing wind instruments.

 Buc"ci*noid (&?;), a. [Buccinum + - oid.] (Zoöl.)
 Resembling the genus Buccinum, or pertaining to the Buccinidæ, a family of marine univalve shells. See Whelk, and Prosobranchiata.

 ||Buc"ci*num (&?;), n. [L., a trumpet, a trumpet shell.] (Zoöl.)
 A genus of large univalve mollusks abundant in the arctic seas. It includes the common whelk (B. undatum).

 Bu*cen"taur (&?;), n. [Gr. boy^s ox + ke'ntayros centaur.] 1.
 A fabulous monster, half ox, half man.

2. [It. bucentoro.] The state barge of Venice, used by the doge in the ceremony of espousing the Adriatic.

 ||Bu"ce*ros (&?;), n. [Gr. boy'kerws horned like an ox; boy^s ox + ke'ras horn.] (Zoöl.) A genus of large perching birds; the hornbills.

 Buch"ol*zite (&?;), n. [So called from Bucholz, a German chemist.] (Min.) Same as Fibrolite.

 Bu"chu (&?;), n. (Bot.) A South African shrub (Barosma) with small leaves that are dotted with oil glands; also, the leaves themselves, which are used in medicine for diseases of the urinary organs, etc. Several species furnish the leaves.

 Buck (bk), n. [Akin to LG. büke, Dan. byg, Sw.
 byk, G. bauche: cf. It. bucato, Prov. Sp. bugada, F. buée.] 1. Lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed.

2. The cloth or clothes soaked or washed. [Obs.] Shak.
 Buck, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bucked (bkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Bucking.] [OE. bouken; akin to LG. büken, Dan. byge, Sw. byka, G. bauchen, beuchen; cf.
 OF. buer. Cf. the preceding noun.] 1. To soak, steep, or boil, in lye or suds; -- a process in bleaching.

2. To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water.

3. (Mining) To break up or pulverize, as ores.

 Buck, n. [OE. buk, bucke, AS. bucca, bua, he-goat; akin to D. bok, OHG. pocch, G. bock, Ir. boc, W. bwch, Corn. byk; cf. Zend bza, Skr. bukka.
 √256. Cf. Butcher, n.] 1. The male of deer, especially fallow deer and antelopes, or of goats, sheep, hares, and rabbits.

 A male fallow deer is called a fawn in his first year; a pricket in his second; a sorel in his third; a sore in his fourth; a buck of the first head in his fifth; and a great buck in his sixth. The female of the fallow deer is termed a doe. The male of the red deer is termed a stag or hart and not a buck, and the female is called a hind. Brande & C.
2. A gay, dashing young fellow; a fop; a dandy.

 The leading bucks of the day. Thackeray.


mean pragmatically? It means, not only that there are no preventive conditions present, but that some of the conditions of production of the possible thing actually are here. Thus a concretely possible chicken means: (1) that the idea of chicken contains no essential self-contradiction; (2) that no boys, skunks, or other enemies are about; and (3) that at least an actual egg exists. Possible chicken means actual egg—plus actual sitting hen, or incubator, or what not. As the actual conditions approach completeness the chicken becomes a better-and-better-grounded possibility. When the conditions are entirely complete, it ceases to be a possibility, and turns into an actual fact.

 Let us apply this notion to the salvation of the world. What does it pragmatically mean to say that this is possible? It means that some of the conditions of the world's deliverance do actually exist. The more of them there are existent, the fewer preventing conditions you can find, the better-grounded is the salvation's possibility, the more PROBABLE does the fact of the deliverance become.

 So much for our preliminary look at possibility.

 Now it would contradict the very spirit of life to say that our minds must be indifferent and neutral in questions like that of the world's salvation. Anyone who pretends to be neutral writes himself down here as a fool and a sham. We all do wish to minimize the insecurity of the universe; we are and ought to be unhappy when we regard it as exposed to every enemy and open to every life-destroying draft. Nevertheless there are unhappy men who think the salvation of the world impossible. Theirs is the doctrine known as pessimism.

 Optimism in turn would be the doctrine that thinks the world's salvation inevitable.

 Midway between the two there stands what may be called the doctrine of meliorism, tho it has hitherto figured less as a doctrine than as an attitude in human affairs. Optimism has always been the regnant DOCTRINE in european philosophy. Pessimism was only recently introduced by Schopenhauer and counts few systematic defenders as yet. Meliorism treats salvation as neither inevitable nor impossible. It treats it as a possibility, which becomes more and more of a probability the more numerous the actual conditions of salvation become.

 It is clear that pragmatism must incline towards meliorism. Some conditions of the world's salvation are actually extant, and she cannot possibly close her eyes to this fact: and should the residual conditions come, salvation would become an accomplished reality. Naturally the terms I use here are exceedingly summary. You may interpret the word'salvation' in any way you like, and make it as diffuse and distributive, or as climacteric and integral a phenomenon as you please.

 Take, for example, any one of us in this room with the ideals which he cherishes, and is willing to live and work for. Every such ideal realized will be one moment in the world's salvation. But these particular ideals are not bare abstract possibilities. They are grounded, they are LIVE possibilities, for we are their live champions and pledges, and if the complementary conditions come and add themselves, our ideals will become actual things. What now are the complementary conditions? They are first such a mixture of things as will in the fulness of time give us a chance, a gap that we can spring into, and, finally, OUR ACT.

 Does our act then CREATE the world's salvation so far as it makes room for itself, so far as it leaps into the gap? Does it create, not the whole world's salvation of course, but just so much of this as itself covers of the world's extent?

 Here I take the bull by the horns, and in spite of the whole crew of rationalists and monists, of whatever brand they be, I ask WHY NOT? Our acts, our turning-places, where we seem to ourselves to make ourselves and grow, are the parts of the world to which we are closest, the parts of which our knowledge is the most intimate and complete. Why should we not take them at their face-value? Why may they not be the actual turning-places and growing-places which they seem to be, of the world—why not the workshop of being, where we catch fact in the making, so that nowhere may the world grow in any other kind of way than this?

 Irrational! we are told. How can new being come in local spots and patches which add themselves or stay away at random, independently of the rest?
 There must be a reason for our acts, and where in the last resort can any reason be looked for save in the material pressure or the logical compulsion of the total nature of the world? There can be but one real agent of growth, or seeming growth, anywhere, and that agent is the integral world itself. It may grow all-over, if growth there be, but that single parts should grow per se is irrational.

 But if one talks of rationality and of reasons for things, and insists that they can't just come in spots, what KIND of a reason can there ultimately be why anything should come at all? Talk of logic and necessity and categories and the absolute and the contents of the whole philosophical machine-shop as you will, the only REAL reason I can think of why anything should ever come is that someone wishes it to be here. It is DEMANDED, demanded, it may be, to give relief to no matter how small a fraction of the world's mass. This is living reason, and compared with it material causes and logical necessities are spectral things.

 In short the only fully rational world would be the world of wishing-caps, the world of telepathy, where every desire is fulfilled instanter, without having to consider or placate surrounding or intermediate powers. This is the Absolute's own world. He calls upon the phenomenal world to be, and it IS, exactly as he calls for it, no other condition being required. In our world, the wishes of the individual are only one condition. Other individuals are there with other wishes and they must be propitiated first. So Being grows under all sorts of resistances in this world of the many, and, from compromise to compromise, only gets organized gradually into what may be called secondarily rational shape. We approach the wishing-cap type of organization only in a few departments of life. We want water and we turn a faucet. We want a kodak-picture and we press a button. We want information and we telephone. We want to travel and we buy a ticket. In these and similar cases, we hardly need to do more than the wishing—the world is rationally organized to do the rest.

 But this talk of rationality is a parenthesis and a digression. What we were discussing was the idea of a world growing not integrally but piecemeal by the contributions of its several parts. Take the hypothesis seriously and as a live one. Suppose that the world's author put the case to you before creation, saying: "I am going to make a world not certain to be saved, a world the perfection of which shall be conditional merely, the condition being that each several agent does its own 'level best.' I offer you the chance of taking part in such a world. Its safety, you see, is unwarranted. It is a real adventure, with real danger, yet it may win through. It is a social scheme of co-operative work genuinely to be done.
 Will you join the procession? Will you trust yourself and trust the other agents enough to face the risk?"

 Should you in all seriousness, if participation in such a world were proposed to you, feel bound to reject it as not safe enough? Would you say that, rather than be part and parcel of so fundamentally pluralistic and irrational a universe, you preferred to relapse into the slumber of nonentity from which you had been momentarily aroused by the tempter's voice?

 Of course if you are normally constituted, you would do nothing of the sort. There is a healthy-minded buoyancy


The Colour of Life, by Alice Meynell Transcribed from the 1897 John Lane edition by David Price, email _EMAIL_ THE COLOUR OF LIFE Contents: The Colour of Life A Point Of Biography Cloud Winds of the World The Honours of Mortality At Monastery Gates Rushes and Reeds Eleonora Duse Donkey Races Grass A Woman in Grey Symmetry and Incident The Illusion of Historic Time Eyes THE COLOUR OF LIFE Red has been praised for its nobility as the colour of life.
But the true colour of life is not red. Red is the colour of violence, or of life broken open, edited, and published. Or if red is indeed the colour of life, it is so only on condition that it is not seen.
Once fully visible, red is the colour of life violated, and in the act of betrayal and of waste. Red is the secret of life, and not the manifestation thereof. It is one of the things the value of which is secrecy, one of the talents that are to be hidden in a napkin.
The true colour of life is the colour of the body, the colour of the covered red, the implicit and not explicit red of the living heart and the pulses. It is the modest colour of the unpublished blood.
So bright, so light, so soft, so mingled, the gentle colour of life is outdone by all the colours of the world. Its very beauty is that it is white, but less white than milk; brown, but less brown than earth; red, but less red than sunset or dawn. It is lucid, but less lucid than the colour of lilies. It has the hint of gold that is in all fine colour; but in our latitudes the hint is almost elusive. Under Sicilian skies, indeed, it is deeper than old ivory; but under the misty blue of the English zenith, and the warm grey of the London horizon, it is as delicately flushed as the paler wild roses, out to their utmost, flat as stars, in the hedges of the end of June.
For months together London does not see the colour of life in any mass. The human face does not give much of it, what with features, and beards, and the shadow of the top-hat and chapeau melon of man, and of the veils of woman. Besides, the colour of the face is subject to a thousand injuries and accidents. The popular face of the Londoner has soon lost its gold, its white, and the delicacy of its red and brown. We miss little beauty by the fact that it is never seen freely in great numbers out-of-doors. You get it in some quantity when all the heads of a great indoor meeting are turned at once upon a speaker; but it is only in the open air, needless to say, that the colour of life is in perfection, in the open air, "clothed with the sun," whether the sunshine be golden and direct, or dazzlingly diffused in grey.
The little figure of the London boy it is that has restored to the landscape the human colour of life. He is allowed to come out of all his ignominies, and to take the late colour of the midsummer north-west evening, on the borders of the Serpentine. At the stroke of eight he sheds the slough of nameless colours—all allied to the hues of dust, soot, and fog, which are the colours the world has chosen for its boys—and he makes, in his hundreds, a bright and delicate flush between the grey-blue water and the grey-blue sky.
Clothed now with the sun, he is crowned by-and-by with twelve stars as he goes to bathe, and the reflection of an early moon is under his feet.
So little stands between a gamin and all the dignities of Nature.
They are so quickly restored. There seems to be nothing to do, but only a little thing to undo. It is like the art of Eleonora Duse. The last and most finished action of her intellect, passion, and knowledge is, as it were, the flicking away of some insignificant thing mistaken for art by other actors, some little obstacle to the way and liberty of Nature.
All the squalor is gone in a moment, kicked off with the second boot, and the child goes shouting to complete the landscape with the lacking colour of life. You are inclined to wonder that, even undressed, he still shouts with a Cockney accent. You half expect pure vowels and elastic syllables from his restoration, his spring, his slenderness, his brightness, and his glow. Old ivory and wild rose in the deepening midsummer sun, he gives his colours to his world again.
It is easy to replace man, and it will take no great time, where Nature has lapsed, to replace Nature. It is always to do, by the happily easy way of doing nothing. The grass is always ready to grow in the streets—and no streets could ask for a more charming finish than your green grass. The gasometer even must fall to pieces unless it is renewed; but the grass renews itself. There is nothing so remediable as the work of modern man—"a thought which is also," as Mr Pecksniff said, "very soothing." And by remediable I mean, of course, destructible. As the bathing child shuffles off his garments—they are few, and one brace suffices him—so the land might always, in reasonable time, shuffle off its yellow brick and purple slate, and all the things that collect about railway stations. A single night almost clears the air of London.
But if the colour of life looks so well in the rather sham scenery of Hyde Park, it looks brilliant and grave indeed on a real sea-coast.
To have once seen it there should be enough to make a colourist.
O memorable little picture! The sun was gaining colour as it neared setting, and it set not over the sea, but over the land. The sea had the dark and rather stern, but not cold, blue of that aspect—the dark and not the opal tints. The sky was also deep. Everything was very definite, without mystery, and exceedingly simple. The most luminous thing was the shining white of an edge of foam, which did not cease to be white because it was a little golden and a little rosy in the sunshine. It was still the whitest thing imaginable.
And the next most luminous thing was the little child, also invested with the sun and the colour of life.
In the case of women, it is of the living and unpublished blood that the violent world has professed to be delicate and ashamed. See the curious history of the political rights of woman under the Revolution.
On the scaffold she enjoyed an ungrudged share in the fortunes of party.
Political life might be denied her, but that seems a trifle when you consider how generously she was permitted political death. She was to spin and cook for her citizen in the obscurity of her living hours; but to the hour of her death was granted a part in the largest interests, social, national, international. The blood wherewith she should, according to Robespierre, have blushed to be seen or heard in the tribune, was exposed in the public sight unsheltered by her veins.
Against this there was no modesty. Of all privacies, the last and the innermost—the privacy of death—was never allowed to put obstacles in the way of public action for a public cause.
Women might be, and were, duly suppressed when, by the mouth of Olympe de Gouges, they claimed a "right to concur in the choice of representatives for the formation of the laws"; but in her person, too, they were liberally allowed to bear political responsibility to the Republic.
Olympe de Gouges was guillotined. Robespierre thus made her public and complete amends.
A POINT OF BIOGRAPHY There is hardly a writer now—of the third class probably not one—who has not something sharp and sad to say about the cruelty of Nature; not one who is able to attempt May in the woods without a modern reference to the manifold death and destruction with which the air, the branches, the mosses are said to be full.
But no one has paused in the course of these phrases to take notice of the curious and conspicuous fact of the suppression of death and of the dead throughout this landscape of manifest life. Where are they—all the dying, all the dead, of the populous woods?
Where do they hide their little last hours, where are they buried?
Where is the violence concealed? Under what gay custom and decent habit? You may see, it is true,


Book cover 'TWIXT LAND & SEA TALES BY JOSEPH CONRAD A SMILE OF FORTUNE THE SECRET SHARER FREYA OF THE SEVEN ISLES Decorative graphic Life is a tragic folly Let us laugh and be jolly Away with melancholy Bring me a branch of holly Life is a tragic folly A. Symons.

LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.
ALDINE HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN · 1920 First Edition October 1912 Reprinted November 1912; January 1913; November 1918; December 1920 All rights reserved To CAPTAIN C. M. MARRIS LATE MASTER AND OWNER OF THE ARABY MAID: ARCHIPELAGO TRADER IN MEMORY OF THOSE OLD DAYS OF ADVENTURE CONTENTS PAGE A Smile of Fortune 1 The Secret Sharer 99 Freya of the Seven Isles 161 p. 1A SMILE OF FORTUNE HARBOUR STORY Ever since the sun rose I had been looking ahead. The ship glided gently in smooth water. After a sixty days' passage I was anxious to make my landfall, a fertile and beautiful island of the tropics. The more enthusiastic of its inhabitants delight in describing it as the "Pearl of the Ocean." Well, let us call it the "Pearl." It's a good name. A pearl distilling much sweetness upon the world.
This is only a way of telling you that first-rate sugar-cane is grown there. All the population of the Pearl lives for it and by it. Sugar is their daily bread, as it were.
And I was coming to them for a cargo of sugar in the hope of the crop having been good and of the freights being high.
Mr. Burns, my chief mate, made out the land first; and very soon I became entranced by this blue, pinnacled apparition, almost transparent against the light of the sky, a mere emanation, the astral body of an island risen to greet me from afar. It is a rare phenomenon, such a sight of the Pearl at sixty miles off. And I wondered half seriously whether it was a good omen, whether what would meet me in that island would be as luckily exceptional as this beautiful, dreamlike vision so very few seamen have been privileged to behold.
But horrid thoughts of business interfered with my enjoyment of an accomplished passage. I was anxious for success and I wished, too, to do justice to the flattering latitude of my owners' instructions contained in one noble phrase: "We leave it to you to do the best you can with the ship."... All the world being thus given me for a stage, my abilities appeared to me no bigger than a pinhead.
Meantime the wind dropped, and Mr. Burns began to make disagreeable remarks about my usual bad luck. I believe it was his devotion for me which made him critically outspoken on every occasion. All the same, I would not have put up with his humours if it had not been my lot at one time to nurse him through a desperate illness at sea. After snatching him out of the jaws of death, so to speak, it would have been absurd to throw away such an efficient officer. But sometimes I wished he would dismiss himself.
We were late in closing in with the land, and had to anchor outside the harbour till next day. An unpleasant and unrestful night followed. In this roadstead, strange to us both, Burns and I remained on deck almost all the time.
Clouds swirled down the porphyry crags under which we lay.
The rising wind made a great bullying noise amongst the naked spars, with interludes of sad moaning. I remarked that we had been in luck to fetch the anchorage before dark. It would have been a nasty, anxious night to hang off a harbour under canvas. But my chief mate was uncompromising in his attitude.
"Luck, you call it, sir! Ay—our usual luck. The sort of luck to thank God it's no worse!" And so he fretted through the dark hours, while I drew on my fund of philosophy. Ah, but it was an exasperating, weary, endless night, to be lying at anchor close under that black coast! The agitated water made snarling sounds all round the ship. At times a wild gust of wind out of a gully high up on the cliffs struck on our rigging a harsh and plaintive note like the wail of a forsaken soul.
CHAPTER I By half-past seven in the morning, the ship being then inside the harbour at last and moored within a long stone's-throw from the quay, my stock of philosophy was nearly exhausted.
I was dressing hurriedly in my cabin when the steward came tripping in with a morning suit over his arm.
Hungry, tired, and depressed, with my head engaged inside a white shirt irritatingly stuck together by too much starch, I desired him peevishly to "heave round with that breakfast." I wanted to get ashore as soon as possible.
"Yes, sir. Ready at eight, sir.
There's a gentleman from the shore waiting to speak to you, sir." This statement was curiously slurred over. I dragged the shirt violently over my head and emerged staring.
"So early!" I cried. "Who's he? What does he want?" On coming in from sea one has to pick up the conditions of an utterly unrelated existence. Every little event at first has the peculiar emphasis of novelty. I was greatly surprised by that early caller; but there was no reason for my steward to look so particularly foolish.
"Didn't you ask for the name?" I inquired in a stern tone.
"His name's Jacobus, I believe," he mumbled shamefacedly.
"Mr. Jacobus!" I exclaimed loudly, more surprised than ever, but with a total change of feeling. "Why couldn't you say so at once?" But the fellow had scuttled out of my room. Through the momentarily opened door I had a glimpse of a tall, stout man standing in the cuddy by the table on which the cloth was already laid; a "harbour" table-cloth, stainless and dazzlingly white. So far good.
I shouted courteously through the closed door, that I was dressing and would be with him in a moment. In return the assurance that there was no hurry reached me in the visitor's deep, quiet undertone. His time was my own. He dared say I would give him a cup of coffee presently.
"I am afraid you will have a poor breakfast," I cried apologetically. "We have been sixty-one days at sea, you know." A quiet little laugh, with a "That'll be all right, Captain," was his answer. All this, words, intonation, the glimpsed attitude of the man in the cuddy, had an unexpected character, a something friendly in it—propitiatory. And my surprise was not diminished thereby. What did this call mean? Was it the sign of some dark design against my commercial innocence?
Ah! These commercial interests—spoiling the finest life under the sun. Why must the sea be used for trade—and for war as well? Why kill and traffic on it, pursuing selfish aims of no great importance after all?
It would have been so much nicer just to sail about with here and there a port and a bit of land to stretch one's legs on, buy a few books and get a change of cooking for a while.
But, living in a world more or less homicidal and desperately mercantile, it was plainly my duty to make the best of its opportunities.
My owners' letter had left it to me, as I have said before, to do my best for the ship, according to my own judgment. But it contained also a postscript worded somewhat as follows: "Without meaning to interfere with your liberty of action we are writing by the outgoing mail to some of our business friends there who may be of assistance to you. We desire you particularly to call on Mr. Jacobus, a prominent merchant and charterer. Should you hit it off with him he may be able to put you in the