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Chapter I

LAYS AND LEGENDS (SECOND SERIES)

BY E. NESBIT (Mrs. Hubert Bland)

AUTHOR OF "LAYS AND LEGENDS," "LEAVES OF LIFE," ETC.

WITH PORTRAIT

LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET 1892

[All Rights reserved]

My thanks are due to the Editors and Publishers who have kindly allowed me to use here verses written for them.

TO

ALICE HOATSON,

HELEN MACKLIN,

AND

CHARLOTTE WILSON,

In token of indebtment.

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS

1

BRIDAL BALLAD.

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3

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THE GHOST.

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THE MODERN JUDAS.

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THE SOUL TO THE IDEAL.

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A DEATH-BED.

A man of like passions with ourselves.

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THE LOST SOUL AND THE SAVED.

I.

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II.

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AT THE PRISON GATE.

And underneath us are the everlasting arms.

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THE DEVIL'S DUE.

A priest tells how, in his youth, a church was built by the free labour of love—as was men's wont in those days; and how the stone and wood were paid for by one who had grown rich on usury and the pillage of the poor—and of what chanced thereafter.

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LOVE IN JUNE.

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THE GARDEN.

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PRAYER UNDER GRAY SKIES.

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A GREAT INDUSTRIAL CENTRE.

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LONDON'S VOICES

SPEAK TO TWO SOULS—WHO THUS REPLY:

I.

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II.

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THE SICK JOURNALIST.

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TWO LULLABIES.

I.

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II.

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BABY SONG.

I.

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II.

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LULLABY.

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AN EAST-END TRAGEDY.

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HERE AND THERE.

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MOTHER.

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A BALLAD OF CANTERBURY.

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MORNING.

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THE PRAYER.

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THE RIVER MAIDENS.

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ON THE MEDWAY.

I.

II.

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III.

IV.

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V.

VI.

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THE BETROTHAL.

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A TRAGEDY.

I.

II.

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LOVE.

I.

THE DESIRE OF THE MOTH FOR THE STAR.

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II.

WORSHIP.

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III.

SPLENDIDE MENDAX.

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LOVE SONG.

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THE QUARREL.

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CHANGE.

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THE MILL.

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RONDEAU.

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A MÉSALLIANCE.

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THE LAST THOUGHT.

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APOLLO AND THE MEN OF CYMÉ.

(Herodotus, I. 157-160.)

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AT THE PRIVATE VIEW.

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A DIRGE IN GRAY.

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THE WOMAN'S WORLD.

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THE LIGHTHOUSE.

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TO A YOUNG POET.

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THE TEMPTATION.

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THE BALLAD OF SIR HUGH.

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FEBRUARY.

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APRIL.

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JUNE.

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JULY.

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NOVEMBER.

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ROCHESTER CASTLE.

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133

RUCKINGE CHURCH.

"And we said how dreary and desolate and forlorn the church was, and how long it was since any music but that of the moth-eaten harmonium and the heartless mixed choir had sounded there. And we said: 'Poor old church! it will never hear any true music any more'. Then she turned to us from the door of the Lady Chapel, which was plastered and whitewashed, and had a stove and the Evangelical Almanac in it, and her eyes were full of tears. And, standing there, she sang 'Ave Maria'—it was Gounod's music, I think—with her voice and her face like an angel's. And while she sang a stranger came to the church door and stood listening, but he did not see us. Only we saw that he loved her singing. And he went away as soon as the hymn was ended, we also soon following, and the church was left lonely as before."—Extract from our Diary.

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RYE.

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THE BALLAD OF THE TWO SPELLS.

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IN MEMORIAM

Philip Bourke Marston.

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153

RONDEAU.

To Austin Dobson.

154

RONDEAU.

To W. E. Henley.

155

TO WALTER SICKERT.

(In return for a sight of his picture "Red Clover".)

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157

OLD AGE.

158

159

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