Chapter I: Front Matter

[Picture: Cover and spine]

[Picture: Man playing at harpsichord]

BALLADES & RHYMES

_From Ballades in Blue China_
_and Rhymes à la Mode_

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BY
A. LANG

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“_Hom_, _c’est une ballade_!”—VADIUS.

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LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1911

All rights reserved

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“_Rondeaux_, BALLADES,
_Chansons dizains_, _propos menus_,
_Compte moy qu’ilz sont devenuz_:
_Se faict il plus rien de nouveau_?”

CLEMENT MAROT, _Dialogue de deux Amoureux_.

“I love a ballad but even too well; if it be doleful matter, merrily
set down, or a very pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably.”

_A Winter’s Tale_, Act iv. sc. 3.

CONTENTS.

BALLADES IN BLUE CHINA. PAGE Ballade of Theocritus 15 Ballade of Cleopatra’s Needle 17 Ballade of Roulette 19 Ballade of Sleep 21 Ballade of the Midnight Forest 24 Ballade of the Tweed 27 Ballade of the Book-hunter 29 Ballade of the Voyage to Cythera 31 Ballade of the Summer Term 34 Ballade of the Muse 36 Ballade against the Jesuits 38 Ballade of Dead Cities 40 Ballade of the Royal Game of Golf 42 Double Ballade of Primitive Man 44 Ballade of Autumn 47 Ballade of True Wisdom 49 Ballade of Worldly Wealth 51 Ballade of Life 53 Ballade of Blue China 55 Ballade of Dead Ladies 57 Villon’s Ballade of Good Counsel 59 Ballade of the Bookworm 61 Valentine in form of Ballade 63 Ballade of Old Plays 65 Ballade of his Books 67 Ballade of the Dream 69 Ballade of the Southern Cross 71 Ballade of Aucassin 73 Ballade Amoureuse 75 Ballade of Queen Anne 77 Ballade of Blind Love 79 Ballade of his Choice of a Sepulchre 81 Dizain 83 VERSES AND TRANSLATIONS. A Portrait of 1783 87 The Moon’s Minion 90 In Ithaca 92 Homer 93 The Burial of Molière 94 Bion 95 Spring 96 Before the Snow 97 Villanelle 98 Natural Theology 100 The Odyssey 102 Ideal 103 The Fairy’s Gift 105 Benedetta Ramus 107 Partant pour la Scribie 110 St. Andrews Bay 112 Woman and the Weed 114 RHYMES À LA MODE BALLADE DEDICATORY 123 THE FORTUNATE ISLANDS 125 ALMAE MATRES 139 DESIDERIUM 143 RHYMES À LA MODE 145 Ballade of Middle Age 147 The Last Cast 140 Twilight 153 Ballade of Summer 154 Ballade of Christmas Ghosts 156 Love’s Easter 158 Ballade of the Girton Girl 159 Ronsard’s Grave 161 San Terenzo 164 Romance 166 Ballade of his own Country 168 Villanelle 171 Triolets after Moschus 173 Ballade of Cricket 175 The Last Maying 177 Homeric Unity 181 In Tintagel 182 Pisidicê 184 From the East to the West 187 Love the Vampire 188 Ballade of the Book-man’s Paradise 190 Ballade of a Friar 192 Ballade of Neglected Merit 194 Ballade of Railway Novels 196 The Cloud Chorus 198 Ballade of Literary Fame 201 Νήνεμος Αἰών 203 SCIENCE 205 The Barbarous Bird-Gods 207 Man and the Ascidian 212 Ballade of the Primitive Jest 215 CAMEOS 217 Cameos 217 Helen on the Walls 220 The Isles of the Blessed 221 Death 223 Nysa 224 Colonus (I.) 225 ,, (II.) 226 The Passing of Œdipous 227 The Taming of Tyro 228 To Artemis 229 Criticism of Life 230 Amaryllis 231 The Cannibal Zeus 232 Invocation of Isis 234 The Coming of Isis 235 THE SPINET 236 NOTES 237