PREFATORY
The following words were prefixed to the MS. by the authoress:—
DEDICATED
TO
GOD
With all the reverence and fear
of which the human heart is capable.
As to the interpretation of the allegorical persons and incidents which figure mainly in the second and third parts of the book, we may remember Mr Augustine Birrell’s excellent phrases on Browning:—“Lucidity is not simplicity. A lucid poem is not necessarily an easy one. A great poet may tax our brain, but he ought not to puzzle our wits. We may often have to ask in humility, What does he mean? but not in despair, What can he mean?” This holds good of writers in prose as well as in verse: and Miss Allonby’s full meaning is scarce likely to be revealed on a first perusal.