Of fountains spouted up and showering down
In meshes of the jasmine and the rose;
And all about us peal'd the nightingale,
Rapt in her song and careless of the snare.

There stood a bust of Pallas for a sign,

By two sphere lamps blazon'd like Heaven and Earth

With constellation and with continent,

Above an entry.

Riding in, we call'd;

A plump-arm'd ostleress and a stable wench
Came running at the call, and help'd us down.
Then stept a buxom hostess forth, and sail'd,
Full-blown, before us into rooms which gave
Upon a pillar'd porch, the bases lost

In laurel. Her we ask'd of that and this,
And who were tutors.

Lady Blanche,' she said,

'And Lady Psyche.' Which was prettiest, Best natured?' Lady Psyche.' 'Hers are we,' One voice, we cried; and I sat down and wrote

In such a hand as when a field of corn

Bows all its ears before the roaring East :

Three ladies of the Northern empire pray Your Highness would enroll them with your own, As Lady Psyche's pupils.'

The seal was Cupid bent above a scroll,
And o'er his head Uranian Venus hung,

And raised the blinding bandage from his eyes.
I gave the letter to be sent with dawn;

And then to bed, where half in doze I seem'd
To float about a glimmering night, and watch
A full sea glazed with muffled moonlight swell
On some dark shore just seen that it was rich.

As thro' the land at eve we went,
And pluck'd the ripen'd ears,

We fell out, my wife and I,

O, we fell out, I know not why,

And kiss'd again with tears.
And blessings on the falling out

That all the more endears,

When we fall out with those we love
And kiss again with tears!

For when we came where lies the child

We lost in other years,

There above the little grave,

O, there above the little

grave,

We kiss'd again with tears.

II

At break of day the College Portress came;

She brought us academic silks, in hue

The lilac, with a silken hood to each,

And zoned with gold; and now when these were on,
And we as rich as moths from dusk cocoons,
She, curtseying her obeisance, let us know
The Princess Ida waited. Out we paced,

I first, and following thro' the porch that sang
All round with laurel, issued in a court
Compact of lucid marbles, boss'd with lengths
Of classic frieze, with ample awnings gay
Betwixt the pillars, and with great urns of flowers.
The Muses and the Graces, group'd in threes,
Enring'd a billowing fountain in the midst,
And here and there on lattice edges lay
Or book or lute; but hastily we past,

And up a flight of stairs into the hall.

There at a board by tome and paper sat, With two tame leopards couch'd beside her throne, All beauty compass'd in a female form,

The Princess; liker to the inhabitant

Of some clear planet close upon the sun,

Than our man's earth; such eyes were in her head,
And so much grace and power, breathing down
From over her arch'd brows, with every turn
Lived thro' her to the tips of her long hands,
And to her feet. She rose her height, and said:

'We give you welcome; not without redound Of use and glory to yourselves ye come, The first-fruits of the stranger; aftertime, And that full voice which circles round the Will rank you nobly, mingled up with me. What are the ladies of your land so tall?' We of the court,' said Cyril.

grave,

From the court,'

She answer'd,' then ye know the Prince?' and he:
'The climax of his age! as tho' there were
One rose in all the world, your Highness that,
He worships your ideal.' She replied:

'We scarcely thought in our own hall to hear
This barren verbiage, current among men,
Light coin, the tinsel clink of compliment.
Your flight from out your bookless wilds would

seem

As arguing love of knowledge and of power;
Your language proves you still the child. Indeed,
We dream not of him; when we set our hand
To this great work, we purposed with ourself
Never to wed. You likewise will do well,

Ladies, in entering here, to cast and fling

The tricks which make us toys

of men,

Some future time, if so indeed you will,

that SO

You may with those self-styled our lords ally Your fortunes, justlier balanced, scale with scale.'

At those high words, we, conscious of ourselves, Perused the matting; then an officer Rose up, and read the statutes, such as these: Not for three years to correspond with home; Not for three years to cross the liberties; Not for three years to speak with any men; And many more, which hastily subscribed, We enter'd on the boards. And Now,' she cried, 'Ye are green wood, see ye warp not. Look, our

hall!

Our statues ! not of those that men desire,
Sleek Odalisques, or oracles of mode,

Nor stunted squaws of West or East; but she
That taught the Sabine how to rule, and she
The foundress of the Babylonian wall,
The Carian Artemisia strong in war,
The Rhodope that built the pyramid,
Clelia, Cornelia, with the Palmyrene
That fought Aurelian, and the Roman brows
Of Agrippina. Dwell with these, and lose
Convention, since to look on noble forms
Makes noble thro' the sensuous organism
That which is higher. O, lift your natures up;
Embrace our aims; work out your freedom. Girls,
Knowledge is now no more a fountain seal'd!
Drink deep, until the habits of the slave,
The sins of emptiness, gossip and spite
And slander, die. Better not be at all
Than not be noble.
To-day the Lady Pysche will harangue
The fresh arrivals of the week before;
For they press in from all the provinces,
And fill the hive.'

Leave us; you may go.

She spoke, and bowing waved Dismissal; back again we crost the court To Lady Psyche's. As we enter'd in, There sat along the forms, like morning doves That sun their milky bosoms on the thatch, A patient range of pupils; she herself