The Angel in the House

CANTO II.
The Course of True Love.

PRELUDES.

I.
The Changed Allegiance.

Watch how a bird, that captived sings,
   The cage set open, first looks out,
Yet fears the freedom of his wings,
   And now withdraws, and flits about,
And now looks forth again; until,
   Grown bold, he hops on stool and chair,
And now attains the window-sill,
   And now confides himself to air.
The maiden so, from love’s free sky
   In chaste and prudent counsels caged,
But longing to be loosen’d by
   Her suitor’s faith declared and gaged,
When blest with that release desired,
   First doubts if truly she is free,
Then pauses, restlessly retired,
   Alarm’d at too much liberty;
But soon, remembering all her debt
   To plighted passion, gets by rote
Her duty; says, ‘I love him!’ yet
   The thought half chokes her in her throat;
And, like that fatal ‘I am thine,’
   Comes with alternate gush and check
And joltings of the heart, as wine
   Pour’d from a flask of narrow neck.
Is he indeed her choice? She fears
   Her Yes was rashly said, and shame,
Remorse and ineffectual tears
   Revolt from has conceded claim.
Oh, treason! So, with desperate nerve,
   She cries, ‘I am in love, am his;’
Lets run the cables of reserve,
   And floats into a sea of bliss,
And laughs to think of her alarm,
   Avows she was in love before,
Though has avowal was the charm
   Which open’d to her own the door.
She loves him for his mastering air,
   Whence, Parthian-like, she slaying flies;
His flattering look, which seems to wear
   Her loveliness in manly eyes;
His smile, which, by reverse, portends
   An awful wrath, should reason stir;
(How fortunate it is they’re friends,
   And he will ne’er be wroth with her!)
His power to do or guard from harm;
   If he but chose to use it half,
And catch her up in one strong arm,
   What could she do but weep, or laugh!
His words, which still instruct, but so
   That this applause seems still implied,
‘How wise in all she ought to know,
   How ignorant of all beside!’
His skilful suit, which leaves her free,
   Gives nothing for the world to name,
And keeps her conscience safe, while he,
   With half the bliss, takes all the blame;
His clear repute with great and small;
   The jealousy his choice will stir;
But ten times more than ten times all,
   She loves him for his love of her.
How happy ’tis he seems to see
   In her that utter loveliness
Which she, for his sake, longs to be!
   At times, she cannot but confess
Her other friends are somewhat blind;
   Her parents’ years excuse neglect,
But all the rest are scarcely kind,
   And brothers grossly want respect;
And oft she views what he admires
   Within her glass, and sight of this
Makes all the sum of her desires
   To be devotion unto his.
But still, at first, whatever’s done,
   A touch, her hand press’d lightly, she
Stands dizzied, shock’d, and flush’d, like one
   Set sudden neck-deep in the sea;
And, though her bond for endless time
   To his good pleasure gives her o’er,
The slightest favour seems a crime,
   Because it makes her love him more.
But that she ne’er will let him know;
   For what were love should reverence cease?
A thought which makes her reason so
   Inscrutable, it seems caprice.
With her, as with a desperate town,
   Too weak to stand, too proud to treat,
The conqueror, though the walls are down,
   Has still to capture street by street;
But, after that, habitual faith,
   Divorced from self, where late ’twas due,
Walks nobly in its novel path,
   And she’s to changed allegiance true;
And prizing what she can’t prevent,
   (Right wisdom, often misdeem’d whim),
Her will’s indomitably bent
   On mere submissiveness to him;
To him she’ll cleave, for him forsake
   Father’s and mother’s fond command!
He is her lord, for he can take
   Hold of her faint heart with his hand.

II.
Beauty.

‘Beauty deludes.’ O shaft well shot,
   To strike the mark’s true opposite!
That ugly good is scorn’d proves not
   ’Tis beauty lies, but lack of it.
By Heaven’s law the Jew might take
   A slave to wife, if she was fair;
So strong a plea does beauty make
   That, where ’tis seen, discretion’s there.
If, by a monstrous chance, we learn
   That this illustrious vaunt’s a lie,
Our minds, by which the eyes discern,
   See hideous contrariety.
And laugh at Nature’s wanton mood,
   Which, thus a swinish thing to flout,
Though haply in its gross way good,
   Hangs such a jewel in its snout.

III.
Lais and Lucretia.

Did first his beauty wake her sighs?
That’s Lais! Thus Lucretia’s known:
The beauty in her Lover’s eyes
Was admiration of her own.

THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE.

1

Oh, beating heart of sweet alarm,
   Which stays the lover’s step, when near
His mistress and her awful charm
   Of grace and innocence sincere!
I held the half-shut door, and heard
   The voice of my betrothed wife,
Who sang my verses, every word
   By music taught its latent life;
With interludes of well-touch’d notes,
   That flash’d, surprising and serene,
As meteor after meteor floats
   The soft, autumnal stars between.
There was a passion in her tone,
   A tremor when she touch’d the keys,
Which told me she was there alone,
   And uttering all her soul at ease.
I enter’d; for I did not choose
   To learn how in her heart I throve,
By chance or stealth; beyond her use,
   Her greeting flatter’d me with love.

2

With true love’s treacherous confidence,
And ire, at last to laughter won,
She spoke this speech, and mark’d its sense,
By action, as her Aunt had done.

3

‘“You, with your looks and catching air,
   To think of Vaughan! You fool! You know,
You might, with ordinary care,
   Ev’n yet be Lady Clitheroe.
You’re sure he’ll do great things some day!
   Nonsense, he won’t; he’s dress’d too well.
Dines with the Sterling Club, they say;
   Not commonly respectable!
Half Puritan, half Cavalier!
   His curly hair I think’s a wig;
And, for his fortune, why my Dear,
   ’Tis not enough to keep a gig.
Rich Aunts and Uncles never die;
   And what you bring won’t do for dress:
And so you’ll live on By-and-by,
   Within oaten-cake and water-cress!”

4

‘I cried, but did not let her see.
   At last she soften’d her dispraise,
On learning you had bought for me
   A carriage and a pair of bays.
But here she comes! You take her in
   To dinner. I impose this task
Make her approve my love; and win
   What thanks from me you choose to ask!’

5

‘My niece has told you every word
   I said of you! What may I mean?
Of course she has; but you’ve not heard
   How I abused you to the Dean;—
Yes, I’ll take wine; he’s mad, like her;
   And she will have you: there it ends!
And, now I’ve done my duty, Sir,
   And you’ve shown common-sense, we’re friends!’

6

‘Go, child, and see him out yourself,’
Aunt Maude said, after tea, ‘and show
The place, upon that upper shelf,
Where Petrarch stands, lent long ago.’

7

‘These rose-leaves to my heart be press’d,
   Honoria, while it aches for you!’
(The rose in ruin, from her breast,
   Fell, as I took a fond adieu.)
‘You must go now, Love!’ ‘See, the air
   Is thick with starlight!’ ‘Let me tie
This scarf on. Oh, your Petrarch! There!
   I’m coming, Aunt!’ ‘Sweet, Sweet!’ ‘Good-bye!’
‘Ah, Love, to me ’tis death to part,
   Yet you, my sever’d life, smile on!’
These “Good-nights,” Felix, break my heart;
   I’m only gay till you are gone!’
With love’s bright arrows from her eyes,
   And balm on her permissive lips,
She pass’d, and night was a surprise,
   As when the sun at Quito dips.
Her beauties were like sunlit snows,
   Flush’d but not warm’d with my desire.
Oh, how I loved her! Fiercely glows
   In the pure air of frost the fire.
Who for a year is sure of fate!
   I thought, dishearten’d as I went,
Wroth with the Dean, who bade me wait,
   And vex’d with her, who seem’d content.
Nay, could eternal life afford
   That tyranny should thus deduct
From this fair land, which call’d me lord,
   A year of the sweet usufruct?
It might not and it should not be!
   I’d go back now, and he must own,
At once, my love’s compulsive plea.
   I turn’d, I found the Dean alone.
‘Nonsense, my friend; go back to bed!
   It’s half-past twelve!’ ‘July, then, Sir!’
‘Well, come to-morrow,’ at last he said,
   ‘And you may talk of it with her.’
A light gleam’d as I pass’d the stair.
   A pausing foot, a flash of dress,
And a sweet voice. ‘Is Felix there?’
   ‘July, Love!’ ‘Says Papa so?’ ‘Yes!’

CANTO III.
The Country Ball.

PRELUDES.

I.
Love Ceremonious.

Keep your undrest, familiar style
   For strangers, but respect your friend,
Her most, whose matrimonial smile
   Is and asks honour without end.
’Tis found, and needs it must so be,
   That life from love’s allegiance flags,
When love forgets his majesty
   In sloth’s unceremonious rags.
Let love make home a gracious Court;
   There let the world’s rude, hasty ways
Be fashion’d to a loftier port,
   And learn to bow and stand at gaze;
And let the sweet respective sphere
   Of personal worship there obtain
Circumference for moving clear,
   None treading on another’s train.
This makes that pleasures do not cloy,
   And dignifies our mortal strife
With calmness and considerate joy,
   Befitting our immortal life.

II.
The Rainbow.

A stately rainbow came and stood,
   When I was young, in High-Hurst Park;
Its bright feet lit the hill and wood
   Beyond, and cloud and sward were dark;
And I, who thought the splendour ours
   Because the place was, t’wards it flew,
And there, amidst the glittering showers,
   Gazed vainly for the glorious view.
With whatsoever’s lovely, know
   It is not ours; stand off to see,
Or beauty’s apparition so
   Puts on invisibility.

III.
A Paradox.

To tryst Love blindfold goes, for fear
He should not see, and eyeless night
He chooses still for breathing near
Beauty, that lives but in the sight.

THE COUNTY BALL.

1

Well, Heaven be thank’d my first-love fail’d,
   As, Heaven be thank’d, our first-loves do!
Thought I, when Fanny past me sail’d,
   Loved once, for what I never knew,
Unless for colouring in her talk,
   When cheeks and merry mouth would show
Three roses on a single stalk,
   The middle wanting room to blow,
And forward ways, that charm’d the boy
   Whose love-sick mind, misreading fate,
Scarce hoped that any Queen of Joy
   Could ever stoop to be his mate.

2

But there danced she, who from the leaven
   Of ill preserv’d my heart and wit
All unawares, for she was heaven,
   Others at best but fit for it.
One of those lovely things she was
   In whose least action there can be
Nothing so transient but it has
   An air of immortality.
I mark’d her step, with peace elate,
   Her brow more beautiful than morn,
Her sometime look of girlish state
   Which sweetly waived its right to scorn;
The giddy crowd, she grave the while,
   Although, as ’twere beyond her will,
Around her mouth the baby smile
   That she was born with linger’d still.
Her ball-dress seem’d a breathing mist,
   From the fair form exhaled and shed,
Raised in the dance with arm and wrist
   All warmth and light, unbraceleted.
Her motion, feeling ’twas beloved,
   The pensive soul of tune express’d,
And, oh, what perfume, as she moved,
   Came from the flowers in her breast!
How sweet a tongue the music had!
   ‘Beautiful Girl,’ it seem’d to say,
‘Though all the world were vile and sad,
   Dance on; let innocence be gay.’
Ah, none but I discern’d her looks,
   When in the throng she pass’d me by,
For love is like a ghost, and brooks
   Only the chosen seer’s eye;
And who but she could e’er divine
   The halo and the happy trance,
When her bright arm reposed on mine,
   In all the pauses of the dance!

3

Whilst so her beauty fed my sight,
   And whilst I lived in what she said,
Accordant airs, like all delight
   Most sweet when noted least, were play’d;
And was it like the Pharisee
   If I in secret bow’d my face
With joyful thanks that I should be,
   Not as were many, but with grace
And fortune of well-nurtured youth,
   And days no sordid pains defile,
And thoughts accustom’d to the truth,
   Made capable of her fair smile?

4

Charles Barton follow’d down the stair,
   To talk with me about the Ball,
And carp at all the people there.
   The Churchills chiefly stirr’d his gall:
‘Such were the Kriemhilds and Isondes
   You storm’d about at Trinity!
Nothing at heart but handsome Blondes!
   ‘Folk say that you and Fanny Fry—’
‘They err! Good-night! Here lies my course,
   Through Wilton.’ Silence blest my ears,
And, weak at heart with vague remorse,
   A passing poignancy of tears
Attack’d mine eyes. By pale and park
   I rode, and ever seem’d to see,
In the transparent starry dark,
   That splendid brow of chastity,
That soft and yet subduing light,
   At which, as at the sudden moon,
I held my breath, and thought ‘how bright!’
   That guileless beauty in its noon,
Compelling tribute of desires
   Ardent as day when Sirius reigns,
Pure as the permeating fires
   That smoulder in the opal’s veins.

CANTO IV.
Love in Idleness.

PRELUDES.

I.
Honour and Desert.

O queen, awake to thy renown,
   Require what ’tis our wealth to give,
And comprehend and wear the crown
   Of thy despised prerogative!
I, who in manhood’s name at length
   With glad songs come to abdicate
The gross regality of strength,
   Must yet in this thy praise abate,
That, through thine erring humbleness
   And disregard of thy degree,
Mainly, has man been so much less
   Than fits his fellowship with thee.
High thoughts had shaped the foolish brow,
   The coward had grasp’d the hero’s sword,
The vilest had been great, hadst thou,
   Just to thyself, been worth’s reward.
But lofty honours undersold
   Seller and buyer both disgrace;
And favours that make folly bold
   Banish the light from virtue’s face.

II.
Love and Honour.

What man with baseness so content,
   Or sick with false conceit of right,
As not to know that the element
   And inmost warmth of love’s delight
Is honour? Who’d not rather kiss
   A duchess than a milkmaid, prank
The two in equal grace, which is
   Precedent Nature’s obvious rank?
Much rather, then, a woman deck’d
   With saintly honours, chaste and good,
Whose thoughts celestial things affect,
   Whose eyes express her heavenly mood!
Those lesser vaunts are dimm’d or lost
   Which plume her name or paint her lip,
Extinct in the deep-glowing boast
   Of her angelic fellowship.

III.
Valour Misdirected.

I’ll hunt for dangers North and South,
To prove my love, which sloth maligns!’
What seems to say her rosy mouth?
‘I’m not convinced by proofs but signs.’

LOVE IN IDLENESS.

1

What should I do? In such a wife
   Fortune had lavish’d all her store,
And nothing now seem’d left for life
   But to deserve her more and more.
To this I vow’d my life’s whole scope;
   And Love said, ‘I forewarn you now,
The Maiden will fulfill your hope
   Only as you fulfil your vow.’

2

A promised service, (task for days),
   Was done this morning while she slept,
With that full heart which thinks no praise
   Of vows which are not more than kept;
But loftier work did love impose.
   And studious hours. Alas, for these,
While she from all my thoughts arose
   Like Venus from the restless seas!

3

I conn’d a scheme, within mind elate:
   My Uncle’s land would fall to me,
My skill was much in school debate,
   My friends were strong in Salisbury;
A place in Parliament once gain’d,
   Thro’ saps first labour’d out of sight,
Far loftier peaks were then attain’d
   With easy leaps from height to height;
And that o’erwhelming honour paid,
   Or recognised, at least, in life,
Which this most sweet and noble Maid
   Should yield to him who call’d her Wife.

4

I fix’d this rule: in Sarum Close
   To make two visits every week,
The first, to-day; and, save on those,
   I nought would do, think, read, or speak,
Which did not help my settled will
   To earn the Statesman’s proud applause.
And now, forthwith, to mend my skill
   In ethics, politics, and laws,
The Statesman’s learning! Flush’d with power
   And pride of freshly-form’d resolve,
I read Helvetius half-an-hour;
   But, halting in attempts to solve
Why, more than all things else that be,
   A lady’s grace hath force to move
That sensitive appetency
   Of intellectual good, call’d love,
Took Blackstone down, only to draw
   My swift-deriving thoughts ere long
To love, which is the source of law,
   And, like a king, can do no wrong;
Then open’d Hyde, where loyal hearts,
   With faith unpropp’d by precedent,
Began to play rebellious parts.
   O, mighty stir that little meant!
How dull the crude, plough’d fields of fact
   To me who trod the Elysian grove!
How idle all heroic act
   By the least suffering of love!
I could not read; so took my pen,
   And thus commenced, in form of notes,
A Lecture for the Salisbury men,
   With due regard to Tory votes:
‘A road’s a road, though worn to ruts;
   They speed who travel straight therein;
But he who tacks and tries short cuts
   Gets fools’ praise and a broken shin—’
And here I stopp’d in sheer despair;
   But, what to-day was thus begun,
I vow’d, up starting from my chair,
   To-morrow should indeed be done;
So loosed my chafing thoughts from school,
   To play with fancy as they chose,
And then, according to my rule,
   I dress’d, and came to Sarum Close.

5

Ah, that sweet laugh! Diviner sense
Did Nature, forming her, inspire
To omit the grosser elements,
And make her all of air and fire!

6

To-morrow, Cowes’ Regatta fell:
   The Dean would like his girls to go,
If I went too. ‘Most gladly.’ Well,
   I did but break a foolish vow!
Unless Love’s toil has love for prize,
   (And then he’s Hercules), above
All other contrarieties
   Is labour contrary to love.
No fault of Love’s, but nature’s laws!
   And Love, in idleness, lies quick;
For as the worm whose powers make pause,
   And swoon, through alteration sick,
The soul, its wingless state dissolved,
   Awaits its nuptial life complete,
All indolently self-convolved,
   Cocoon’d in silken fancies sweet.

CANTO V.
The Queen’s Room.

PRELUDES.

I.
Rejected.

‘Perhaps she’s dancing somewhere now!’
   The thoughts of light and music wake
Sharp jealousies, that grow and grow
   Till silence and the darkness ache.
He sees her step, so proud and gay,
   Which, ere he spake, foretold despair:
Thus did she look, on such a day,
   And such the fashion of her hair;
And thus she stood, when, kneeling low,
   He took the bramble from her dress,
And thus she laugh’d and talk’d, whose ‘No’
   Was sweeter than another’s ‘Yes.’
He feeds on thoughts that most deject;
   He impudently feigns her charms,
So reverenced in his own respect,
   Dreadfully clasp’d by other arms;
And turns, and puts his brows, that ache,
   Against the pillow where ’tis cold.
If, only now his heart would break!
   But, oh, how much a heart can hold.

II.
Rachel.

You loved her, and would lie all night
   Thinking how beautiful she was,
And what to do for her delight.
   Now both are bound with alien laws!
Be patient; put your heart to school;
   Weep if you will, but not despair;
The trust that nought goes wrong by rule
   Should ease this load the many bear.
Love, if there’s heav’n, shall meet his dues,
   Though here unmatch’d, or match’d amiss;
Meanwhile, the gentle cannot choose
   But learn to love the lips they kiss.
Ne’er hurt the homely sister’s ears
   With Rachel’s beauties; secret be
The lofty mind whose lonely tears
   Protest against mortality.

III.
The Heart’s Prophecies.

Be not amazed at life; ’tis still
The mode of God with his elect
Their hopes exactly to fulfil,
In times and ways they least expect.

THE QUEEN’S ROOM.

1

There’s nothing happier than the days
   In which young Love makes every thought
Pure as a bride’s blush, when she says
   ‘I will’ unto she knows not what;
And lovers, on the love-lit globe,
   For love’s sweet sake, walk yet aloof,
And hear Time weave the marriage-robe,
   Attraction warp and reverence woof.

2

My Housekeeper, my Nurse of yore,
   Cried, as the latest carriage went,
‘Well, Mr, Felix, Sir, I’m sure
   The morning’s gone off excellent!
I never saw the show to pass
   The ladies, in their fine fresh gowns,
So sweetly dancing on the grass,
   To music with its ups and downs.
We’d such work, Sir, to clean the plate;
   ’Twas just the busy times of old.
The Queen’s Room, Sir, look’d quite like state.
   Miss Smythe, when she went up, made bold
To peep into the Rose Boudoir,
   And cried, “How charming! all quite new;”
And wonder’d who it could be for.
   All but Miss Honor look’d in too.
But she’s too proud to peep and pry.
   None’s like that sweet Miss Honor, Sir!
Excuse my humbleness, but I
   Pray Heav’n you’ll get a wife like her!
The Poor love dear Miss Honor’s ways
   Better than money. Mrs. Rouse,
Who ought to know a lady, says
   No finer goes to Wilton House.
Miss Bagshaw thought that dreary room
   Had kill’d old Mrs. Vaughan with fright;
She would not sleep in such a tomb
   For all her host was worth a night!
Miss Fry, Sir, laugh’d; they talk’d the rest
   In French; and French Sir’s Greek to me;
But, though they smiled, and seem’d to jest,
   No love was lost, for I could see
How serious-like Miss Honor was—’
   ‘Well, Nurse, this is not my affair.
The ladies talk’d in French with cause.
   Good-day; and thank you for your prayer.’

3

I loiter’d through the vacant house,
   Soon to be her’s; in one room stay’d,
Of old my mother’s. Here my vows
   Of endless thanks were oftenest paid.
This room its first condition kept;
   For, on her road to Sarum Town,
Therein an English Queen had slept,
   Before the Hurst was half pull’d down.
The pictured walls the place became:
   Here ran the Brook Anaurus, where
Stout Jason bore the wrinkled dame
   Whom serving changed to Juno; there,
Ixion’s selfish hope, instead
   Of the nuptial goddess, clasp’d a cloud;
And, here, translated Psyche fed
   Her gaze on Love, not disallow’d.

4

And in this chamber had she been,
   And into that she would not look,
My Joy, my Vanity, my Queen,
   At whose dear name my pulses shook!
To others how express at all
   My worship in that joyful shrine?
I scarcely can myself recall
   What peace and ardour then were mine;
And how more sweet than aught below,
   The daylight and its duties done,
It felt to fold the hands, and so
   Relinquish all regards but one;
To see her features in the dark,
   To lie and meditate once more
The grace I did not fully mark,
   The tone I had not heard before;
And from my pillow then to take
   Her notes, her picture, and her glove,
Put there for joy when I should wake,
   And press them to the heart of love;
And then to whisper ‘Wife!’ and pray
   To live so long as not to miss
That unimaginable day
   Which farther seems the nearer ’tis;
And still from joy’s unfathom’d well
   To drink, in dreams, while on her brows
Of innocence ineffable
   Blossom’d the laughing bridal rose.

CANTO VI.
The Love-Letters.

PRELUDES.

I.
Love’s Perversity.

How strange a thing a lover seems
   To animals that do not love!
Lo, where he walks and talks in dreams,
   And flouts us with his Lady’s glove;
How foreign is the garb he wears;
   And how his great devotion mocks
Our poor propriety, and scares
   The undevout with paradox!
His soul, through scorn of worldly care,
   And great extremes of sweet and gall,
And musing much on all that’s fair,
   Grows witty and fantastical;
He sobs his joy and sings his grief,
   And evermore finds such delight
In simply picturing his relief,
   That ’plaining seems to cure his plight;
He makes his sorrow, when there’s none;
   His fancy blows both cold and hot;
Next to the wish that she’ll be won,
   His first hope is that she may not;
He sues, yet deprecates consent;
   Would she be captured she must fly;
She looks too happy and content,
   For whose least pleasure he would die;
Oh, cruelty, she cannot care
   For one to whom she’s always kind!
He says he’s nought, but, oh, despair,
   If he’s not Jove to her fond mind!
He’s jealous if she pets a dove,
   She must be his with all her soul;
Yet ’tis a postulate in love
   That part is greater than the whole;
And all his apprehension’s stress,
   When he’s with her, regards her hair,
Her hand, a ribbon of her dress,
   As if his life were only there;
Because she’s constant, he will change,
   And kindest glances coldly meet,
And, all the time he seems so strange,
   His soul is fawning at her feet;
Of smiles and simple heaven grown tired,
   He wickedly provokes her tears,
And when she weeps, as he desired,
   Falls slain with ecstasies of fears;
He blames her, though she has no fault,
   Except the folly to be his;
He worships her, the more to exalt
   The profanation of a kiss;
Health’s his disease, he’s never well
   But when his paleness shames her rose;
His faith’s a rock-built citadel,
   Its sign a flag that each way blows;
His o’erfed fancy frets and fumes;
   And Love, in him, is fierce, like Hate,
And ruffles his ambrosial plumes
   Against the bars of time and fate.

II.
The Power of Love.

Samson the Mighty, Solomon
   The Wise, and Holy David all
Must doff their crowns to Love, for none
   But fell as Love would scorn to fall!
And what may fallen spirits win,
   When stripes and precepts cannot move?
Only the sadness of all sin,
   When look’d at in the light of Love.

THE LOVE-LETTERS.

1

‘You ask, Will admiration halt,
   Should spots appear within my Sun?
Oh, how I wish I knew your fault,
   For Love’s tired gaze to rest upon!
Your graces, which have made me great,
   Will I so loftily admire,
Yourself yourself shall emulate,
   And be yourself your own desire.
I’ll nobly mirror you too fair,
   And, when you’re false to me your glass,
What’s wanting you’ll by that repair,
   So bring yourself through me to pass.
O dearest, tell me how to prove
   Goodwill which cannot be express’d;
The beneficial heart of love
   Is labour in an idle breast.
Name in the world your chosen part,
   And here I vow, with all the bent
And application of my heart
   To give myself to your content.
Would you live on, home-worshipp’d, thus,
   Not proudly high nor poorly low?
Indeed the lines are fall’n to us
   In pleasant places! Be it so.
But would you others heav’nward move,
   By sight not faith, while you they admire?
I’ll help with zeal as I approve
   That just and merciful desire.
High as the lonely moon to view
   I’ll lift your light; do you decree
Your place, I’ll win it; for from you
   Command inspires capacity.
Or, unseen, would you sway the world
   More surely? Then in gracious rhyme
I’ll raise your emblem, fair unfurl’d
   With blessing in the breeze of time.
Faith removes mountains, much more love;
   Let your contempt abolish me
If ought of your devisal prove
   Too hard or high to do or be.’

2

I ended. ‘From your Sweet-Heart, Sir,’
   Said Nurse, ‘The Dean’s man brings it down.’
I could have kiss’d both him and her!
   ‘Nurse, give him that, with half-a-crown.’
How beat my heart, how paused my breath,
   When, with perversely fond delay,
I broke the seal, that bore a wreath
   Of roses link’d with one of bay.

3

‘I found your note. How very kind
   To leave it there! I cannot tell
How pleased I was, or how you find
   Words to express your thoughts so well.
The Girls are going to the Ball
   At Wilton. If you can, do come;
And any day this week you call
   Papa and I shall be at home.
You said to Mary once—I hope
   In jest—that women should be vain:
On Saturday your friend (her Pope),
   The Bishop dined with us again.
She put the question, if they ought?
   He turn’d it cleverly away
(For giddy Mildred cried, she thought
   We must), with “What we must we may.”
‘Dear papa laugh’d, and said ’twas sad
   To think how vain his girls would be,
Above all Mary, now she had
   Episcopal authority.
But I was very dull, dear friend,
   And went upstairs at last, and cried.
Be sure to come to-day, or send
   A rose-leaf kiss’d on either side.
Adieu! I am not well. Last night
   My dreams were wild: I often woke,
The summer-lightning was so bright;
   And when it flash’d I thought you spoke.’

CANTO VII.
The Revulsion.

PRELUDES.

I.
Joy and Use.

Can ought compared with wedlock be
   For use? But He who made the heart
To use proportions joy. What He
   Has join’d let no man put apart.
Sweet Order has its draught of bliss
   Graced with the pearl of God’s consent,
Ten times delightful in that ’tis
   Considerate and innocent.
In vain Disorder grasps the cup;
   The pleasure’s not enjoy’d but spilt,
And, if he stoops to lick it up,
   It only tastes of earth and guilt.
His sorry raptures rest destroys;
   To live, like comets, they must roam;
On settled poles turn solid joys,
   And sunlike pleasures shine at home.

II.
‘She was Mine.’

‘Thy tears o’erprize thy loss! Thy wife,
   In what was she particular?
Others of comely face and life,
   Others as chaste and warm there are,
And when they speak they seem to sing;
   Beyond her sex she was not wise;
And there is no more common thing
   Than kindness in a woman’s eyes.
Then wherefore weep so long and fast,
   Why so exceedingly repine!
Say, how has thy Beloved surpass’d
   So much all others?’ ‘She was mine.’

THE REVULSION.

CANTO VIII.
The Koh-i-noor.

PRELUDES.

I.
In Love.

If he’s capricious she’ll be so,
   But, if his duties constant are,
She lets her loving favour glow
   As steady as a tropic star;
Appears there nought for which to weep,
   She’ll weep for nought, for his dear sake;
She clasps her sister in her sleep;
   Her love in dreams is most awake.
Her soul, that once with pleasure shook,
   Did any eyes her beauty own,
Now wonders how they dare to look
   On what belongs to him alone;
The indignity of taking gifts
   Exhilarates her loving breast;
A rapture of submission lifts
   Her life into celestial rest;
There’s nothing left of what she was;
   Back to the babe the woman dies,
And all the wisdom that she has
   Is to love him for being wise.
She’s confident because she fears;
   And, though discreet when he’s away,
If none but her dear despot hears,
   She prattles like a child at play.
Perchance, when all her praise is said,
   He tells the news, a battle won,
On either side ten thousand dead.
   ‘Alas!’ she says; but, if ’twere known,
She thinks, ‘He’s looking on my face!
   I am his joy; whate’er I do,
He sees such time-contenting grace
   In that, he’d have me always so!’
And, evermore, for either’s sake,
   To the sweet folly of the dove,
She joins the cunning of the snake,
   To rivet and exalt his love;
Her mode of candour is deceit;
   And what she thinks from what she’ll say
(Although I’ll never call her cheat),
   Lies far as Scotland from Cathay.
Without his knowledge he was won;
   Against his nature kept devout;
She’ll never tell him how ’twas done,
   And he will never find it out.
If, sudden, he suspects her wiles,
   And hears her forging chain and trap,
And looks, she sits in simple smiles,
   Her two hands lying in her lap.
Her secret (privilege of the Bard,
   Whose fancy is of either sex),
Is mine; but let the darkness guard
   Myst’ries that light would more perplex!

II.
Love Thinking.

What lifts her in my thought so far
   Beyond all else? Let Love not err!
’Tis that which all right women are,
   But which I’ll know in none but her.
She is to me the only Ark
   Of that high mystery which locks
The lips of joy, or speaks in dark
   Enigmas and in paradox;
That potent charm, which none can fly,
   Nor would, which makes me bond and free,
Nor can I tell if first ’twas I
   Chose it, or it elected me;
Which, when I look intentest, lo,
   Cheats most mine eyes, albeit my heart,
Content to feel and not to know,
   Perceives it all in every part;
I kiss its cheek; its life divine
   Exhales from its resplendent shroud;
Ixion’s fate reversed is mine,
   Authentic Juno seems a cloud;
I feel a blessed warmth, I see
   A bright circumference of rays,
But darkness, where the sun should be,
   Fills admiration with amaze;
And when, for joy’s relief, I think
   To fathom with the line of thought
The well from which I, blissful, drink,
   The spring’s so deep I come to nought.

III.
The Kiss.

‘I saw you take his kiss!’ ‘’Tis true.’
‘O, modesty!’ ‘’Twas strictly kept:
He thought me asleep; at least, I knew
He thought I thought he thought I slept.’

THE KOH-I-NOOR.

1

‘Be man’s hard virtues highly wrought,
   But let my gentle Mistress be,
In every look, word, deed, and thought,
   Nothing but sweet and womanly!
Her virtues please my virtuous mood,
   But what at all times I admire
Is, not that she is wise or good,
   But just the thing which I desire.
With versatility to sing
   The theme of love to any strain,
If oft’nest she is anything,
   Be it careless, talkative, and vain.
That seems in her supremest grace
   Which, virtue or not, apprises me
That my familiar thoughts embrace
   Unfathomable mystery.’

2

I answer’d thus; for she desired
To know what mind I most approved;
Partly to learn what she inquired,
Partly to get the praise she loved.

3

I praised her, but no praise could fill
   The depths of her desire to please,
Though dull to others as a Will
   To them that have no legacies.
The more I praised the more she shone,
   Her eyes incredulously bright,
And all her happy beauty blown
   Beneath the beams of my delight.
Sweet rivalry was thus begot;
   By turns, my speech, in passion’s style,
With flatteries the truth o’ershot,
   And she surpass’d them with her smile.

4

‘You have my heart so sweetly seiz’d,
   And I confess, nay, ’tis my pride
That I’m with you so solely pleased,
   That, if I’m pleased with aught beside,
As music, or the month of June,
   My friend’s devotion, or his wit,
A rose, a rainbow, or the moon,
   It is that you illustrate it.
All these are parts, you are the whole;
   You fit the taste for Paradise,
To which your charms draw up the soul
   As turning spirals draw the eyes.
Nature to you was more than kind;
   ’Twas fond perversity to dress
So much simplicity of mind
   In such a pomp of loveliness!
But, praising you, the fancy deft
   Flies wide, and lets the quarry stray,
And, when all’s said, there’s something left,
   And that’s the thing I meant to say.’
‘Dear Felix!’ ‘Sweet, my Love!’ But there
   Was Aunt Maude’s noisy ring and knock!
‘Stay, Felix; you have caught my hair.
   Stoop! Thank you!’ ‘May I have that lock?’
‘Not now. Good morning, Aunt!’ ‘Why, Puss,
   You look magnificent to-day.’
‘Here’s Felix, Aunt.’ ‘Fox and green goose!
   Who handsome gets should handsome pay!
Aunt, you are friends!’ ‘Ah, to be sure!
   Good morning! Go on flattering, sir;
A woman, like the Koh-i-noor,
   Mounts to the price that’s put on her.’

CANTO IX.
The Friends.

PRELUDES.

I.
The Nursling of Civility.

Lo, how the woman once was woo’d;
   Forth leapt the savage from his lair,
And fell’d her, and to nuptials rude
   He dragg’d her, bleeding, by the hair.
From that to Chloe’s dainty wiles
   And Portia’s dignified consent,
What distance! Bat these Pagan styles
   How far below Time’s fair intent!
Siegfried sued Kriemhild. Sweeter life
   Could Love’s self covet? Yet ’tis snug
In what rough sort he chid his wife
   For want of curb upon her tongue!
Shall Love, where last I leave him, halt?
   Nay; none can fancy or forsee
To how strange bliss may time exalt
   This nursling of civility.

II.
The Foreign Land.

A woman is a foreign land,
   Of which, though there he settle young,
A man will ne’er quite understand
   The customs, politics, and tongue.
The foolish hie them post-haste through,
   See fashions odd, and prospects fair,
Learn of the language, ‘How d’ye do,’
   And go and brag they have been there.
The most for leave to trade apply,
   For once, at Empire’s seat, her heart,
Then get what knowledge ear and eye
   Glean chancewise in the life-long mart.
And certain others, few and fit,
   Attach them to the Court, and see
The Country’s best, its accent hit,
   And partly sound its polity.

III.
Disappointment.

‘The bliss which woman’s charms bespeak,
I’ve sought in many, found in none!’
‘In many ’tis in vain you seek
What only can be found in one.’

THE FRIENDS.

1

Frank’s long, dull letter, lying by
   The gay sash from Honoria’s waist,
Reproach’d me; passion spared a sigh
   For friendship without fault disgraced.
How should I greet him? how pretend
   I felt the love he once inspired?
Time was when either, in his friend,
   His own deserts with joy admired;
We took one side in school-debate,
   Like hopes pursued with equal thirst,
Were even-bracketed by Fate,
   Twin-Wranglers, seventh from the First;
And either loved a lady’s laugh
   More than all music; he and I
Were perfect in the pleasant half
   Of universal charity.

2

From pride of likeness thus I loved
   Him, and he me, till love begot
The lowliness which now approved
   Nothing but that which I was not,
Blest was the pride of feeling so
   Subjected to a girl’s soft reign.
She was my vanity, and, oh,
   All other vanities how vain!

3

Frank follow’d in his letter’s track,
   And set my guilty heart at ease
By echoing my excuses back
   With just the same apologies.
So he had slighted me as well!
   Nor was my mind disburthen’d less
When what I sought excuse to tell
   He of himself did first confess.

4

Each, rapturous, praised his lady’s worth;
   He eloquently thus: ‘Her face
Is the summ’d sweetness of the earth,
   Her soul the glass of heaven’s grace,
To which she leads me by the hand;
   Or, briefly all the truth to say
To you, who briefly understand,
   She is both heaven and the way.
Displeasures and resentments pass
   Athwart her charitable eyes
More fleetingly than breath from glass,
   Or truth from foolish memories;
Her heart’s so touch’d with others’ woes
   She has no need of chastisement;
Her gentle life’s conditions close,
   Like God’s commandments, with content,
And make an aspect calm and gay,
   Where sweet affections come and go,
Till all who see her, smile and say,
   How fair, and happy that she’s so!
She is so lovely, true, and pure,
   Her virtue virtue so endears,
That often, when I think of her,
   Life’s meanness fills mine eyes with tears—’
‘You paint Miss Churchill! Pray go on—’
   ‘She’s perfect, and, if joy was much
To think her nature’s paragon,
   ’Tis more that there’s another such!’

5

Praising and paying back their praise
   With rapturous hearts, t’ward Sarum Spire
We walk’d, in evening’s golden haze,
   Friendship from passion stealing fire.
In joy’s crown danced the feather jest,
   And, parting by the Deanery door,
Clasp’d hands, less shy than words, confess’d
   We had not been true friends before.

CANTO X.
The Epitaph.

PRELUDES.

I.
Frost in Harvest.

The lover who, across a gulf
   Of ceremony, views his Love,
And dares not yet address herself,
   Pays worship to her stolen glove.
The gulf o’erleapt, the lover wed,
   It happens oft, (let truth be told),
The halo leaves the sacred head,
   Respect grows lax, and worship cold,
And all love’s May-day promising,
   Like song of birds before they pair,
Or flush of flowers in boastful Spring,
   Dies out, and leaves the Summer bare.
Yet should a man, it seems to me,
   Honour what honourable is,
For some more honourable plea
   Than only that it is not his.
The gentle wife, who decks his board
   And makes his day to have no night,
Whose wishes wait upon her lord,
   Who finds her own in his delight,
Is she another now than she
   Who, mistress of her maiden charms,
At his wild prayer, incredibly
   Committed them to his proud arms?
Unless her choice of him’s a slur
   Which makes her proper credit dim,
He never enough can honour her
   Who past all speech has honour’d him.

II.
Felicity.

To marry her and take her home!
   The poet, painting pureness, tells
Of lilies; figures power by Rome;
   And each thing shows by something else.
But through the songs of poets look,
   And who so lucky to have found
In universal nature’s book
   A likeness for a life so crown’d!
Here they speak best who best express
   Their inability to speak,
And none are strong, but who confess
   With happy skill that they are weak.

III.
Marriage Indissoluble.

‘In heaven none marry.’ Grant the most
   Which may by this dark word be meant,
Who shall forbid the eternal boast
   ‘I kiss’d, and kiss’d with her consent!’
If here, to Love, past favour is
   A present boast, delight, and chain,
What lacks of honour, bond, and bliss,
   Where Now and Then are no more twain!

THE EPITAPH.

1

‘At Church, in twelve hours more, we meet!
This, Dearest, is our last farewell.’
‘Oh, Felix, do you love me?’ ‘Sweet,
Why do you ask?’ ‘I cannot tell.’

2

And was it no vain fantasy
   That raised me from the earth with pride?
Should I to-morrow verily
   Be Bridegroom, and Honoria Bride?
Should I, in simple fact, henceforth
   Live unconditionally lord
Of her whose smile for brightest worth
   Seem’d all too bountiful reward?
Incredible life’s promise seem’d,
   Or, credible, for life too great;
Love his own deity blasphemed,
   And doff’d at last his heavenly state.
What law, if man could mount so high,
   To further insolence set bars,
And kept the chaste moon in the sky,
   And bade him not tread out the stars!

3

Patience and hope had parted truce,
   And, sun-like, Love obscured his ray
With dazzling mists, driven up profuse
   Before his own triumphant way.
I thought with prayer how Jacob paid
   The patient price of Rachel; them,
Of that calm grace Tobias said,
   And Sarah’s innocent ‘Amen.’
Without avail! O’erwhelming wealth,
   The wondrous gift of God so near,
Which should have been delight and health
   Made heart and spirit sick and sere.
Until at last the soul of love,
   That recks not of its own delight,
Awoke and bade the mists remove,
   And then once more I breathed aright;
And I rehears’d my marriage vow,
   And swore her welfare to prefer
To all things, and for aye as now
   To live, not for myself, but her.
Forth, from the glittering spirit’s peace
   And gaiety ineffable,
Stream’d to the heart delight and ease,
   As from an overflowing well;
And, orderly deriving thence
   Its pleasure perfect and allow’d,
Bright with the spirit shone the sense,
   As with the sun a fleecy cloud.
If now to part with her could make
   Her pleasure greater, sorrow less,
I for my epitaph would take
   ‘To serve seem’d more than to possess.’
And I perceiv’d, (the vision sweet
   Dimming with happy dew mine eyes),
That love and joy are torches lit
   From altar-fires of sacrifice.

4

Across the sky the daylight crept,
And birds grew garrulous in the grove,
And on my marriage-morn I slept
A soft sleep, undisturb’d by love.

CANTO XI.
The Wedding.

PRELUDES.

I.
Platonic Love.

Right art thou who wouldst rather be
   A doorkeeper in Love’s fair house,
Than lead the wretched revelry
   Where fools at swinish troughs carouse.
But do not boast of being least;
   And if to kiss thy Mistress’ skirt
Amaze thy brain, scorn not the Priest
   Whom greater honours do not hurt.
Stand off and gaze, if more than this
   Be more than thou canst understand,
Revering him whose power of bliss,
   Angelic, dares to seize her hand,
Or whose seraphic love makes flight
   To the apprehension of her lips;
And think, the sun of such delight
   From thine own darkness takes eclipse.
And, wouldst thou to the same aspire,
   This is the art thou must employ,
Live greatly; so shalt thou acquire
   Unknown capacities of joy.

II.
A Demonstration.

Nature, with endless being rife,
   Parts each thing into ‘him’ and ‘her,’
And, in the arithmetic of life,
   The smallest unit is a pair;
And thus, oh, strange, sweet half of me,
   If I confess a loftier flame,
If more I love high Heaven than thee,
   I more than love thee, thine I am;
And, if the world’s not built of lies,
   Nor all a cheat the Gospel tells,
If that which from the dead shall rise
   Be I indeed, not something else,
There’s no position more secure
   In reason or in faith than this,
That those conditions must endure,
   Which, wanting, I myself should miss.

III.
The Symbol.

As if I chafed the sparks from glass,
   And said, ‘It lightens,’ hitherto
The songs I’ve made of love may pass
   For all but for proportion true;
But likeness and proportion both
   Now fail, as if a child in glee,
Catching the flakes of the salt froth,
   Cried, ‘Look, my mother, here’s the sea.
Yet, by the help of what’s so weak,
   But not diverse, to those who know,
And only unto those I speak,
   May far-inferring fancy show
Love’s living sea by coasts uncurb’d,
   Its depth, its mystery, and its might,
Its indignation if disturb’d,
   The glittering peace of its delight.

IV.
Constancy Rewarded.

I vow’d unvarying faith, and she,
To whom in full I pay that vow,
Rewards me with variety
Which men who change can never know.

THE WEDDING.

1

Life smitten with a feverish chill,
   The brain too tired to understand,
In apathy of heart and will,
   I took the woman from the hand
Of him who stood for God, and heard
   Of Christ, and of the Church his Bride;
The Feast, by presence of the Lord
   And his first Wonder, beautified;
The mystic sense to Christian men;
   The bonds in innocency made,
And gravely to be enter’d then,
   For children, godliness, and, aid,
And honour’d, and kept free from smirch;
   And how a man must love his wife
No less than Christ did love his Church,
   If need be, giving her his life;
And, vowing then the mutual vow,
   The tongue spoke, but intention slept.
’Tis well for us Heaven asks not how
   We take this oath, but how ’tis kept.

2

O, bold seal of a bashful bound,
Which makes the marriage-day to be,
To those before it and beyond,
An iceberg in an Indian sea!

3

‘Now, while she’s changing,’ said the Dean,
   ‘Her bridal for her travelling dress,
I’ll preach allegiance to your queen!
   Preaching’s the thing which I profess;
And one more minute’s mine! You know
   I’ve paid my girl a father’s debt,
And this last charge is all I owe.
   She’s yours; but I love more than yet
You can; such fondness only wakes
   When time has raised the heart above
The prejudice of youth, which makes
   Beauty conditional to love.
Prepare to meet the weak alarms
   Of novel nearness; recollect
The eye which magnified her charms
   Is microscopic for defect.
Fear comes at first; but soon, rejoiced,
   You’ll find your strong and tender loves,
Like holy rocks by Druids poised,
   The least force shakes, but none removes.
Her strength is your esteem; beware
   Of finding fault; her will’s unnerv’d
By blame; from you ’twould be despair;
   But praise that is not quite deserv’d
Will all her noble nature move
   To make your utmost wishes tree.
Yet think, while mending thus your Love,
   Of snatching her ideal too.
The death of nuptial joy is sloth:
   To keep your mistress in your wife,
Keep to the very height your oath,
   And honour her with arduous life.
Lastly, no personal reverence doff.
   Life’s all externals unto those
Who pluck the blushing petals off,
   To find the secret of the rose.—
How long she’s tarrying! Green’s Hotel
   I’m sure you’ll like. The charge is fair,
The wines good. I remember well
   I stay’d once, with her Mother, there.
A tender conscience of her vow
   That Mother had! She’s so like her!’
But Mrs. Fife, much flurried, now
   Whisper’d, ‘Miss Honor’s ready, Sir.’

4

Whirl’d off at last, for speech I sought,
   To keep shy Love in countenance,
But, whilst I vainly tax’d my thought,
   Her voice deliver’d mime from trance:
‘Look, is not this a pretty shawl,
   Aunt’s parting gift.’ ‘She’s always kind.’
‘The new wing spoils Sir John’s old Hall:
   You’ll see it, if you pull the blind.’

5

I drew the silk: in heaven the night
Was dawning; lovely Venus shone,
In languishment of tearful light,
Swathed by the red breath of the sun.

The Angel in the House

About This Book

PRELUDES.

I. The Changed Allegiance.

III. Lais and Lucretia.

1

2

4

6

7

PRELUDES.

I. Love Ceremonious.

II. The Rainbow.

III. A Paradox.

1

2

4

PRELUDES.

I. Honour and Desert.

II. Love and Honour.

LOVE IN IDLENESS.

1

2

3

4

5

6

PRELUDES.

I. Rejected.

II. Rachel.

THE QUEEN’S ROOM.

1

2

3

4

PRELUDES.

I. Love’s Perversity.

II. The Power of Love.

1

2

PRELUDES.

I. Joy and Use.

THE REVULSION.

1

2

3

PRELUDES.

I. In Love.

II. Love Thinking.

III. The Kiss.

THE KOH-I-NOOR.

1

2

3

4

PRELUDES.

I. The Nursling of Civility.

III. Disappointment.

1

2

3

4

5

PRELUDES.

I. Frost in Harvest.

II. Felicity.

THE EPITAPH.

1

2

3

PRELUDES.

I. Platonic Love.

II. A Demonstration.

IV. Constancy Rewarded.

1

2

4

5

I.
The Changed Allegiance.

III.
Lais and Lucretia.

I.
Love Ceremonious.

II.
The Rainbow.

III.
A Paradox.

I.
Honour and Desert.

II.
Love and Honour.

I.
Rejected.

II.
Rachel.

I.
Love’s Perversity.

II.
The Power of Love.

I.
Joy and Use.

I.
In Love.

II.
Love Thinking.

III.
The Kiss.

I.
The Nursling of Civility.

III.
Disappointment.

I.
Frost in Harvest.

II.
Felicity.

I.
Platonic Love.

II.
A Demonstration.

IV.
Constancy Rewarded.