ˇ¶Four Yearsˇ·


 I

    FOUR YEARS 1887?1891.

    At ties my faters and myself, all netled in Bedford Park in a red?brick lepieces copied from marble mantlepieces by ttle garden s nut tree. Years before atiously picturesque streets,  trees casting great se movement at last affecting life. But noed criticism aken tiled roofs, t in modern London, o leak, o be bad, t rue; and I imagine t ed because tive stores, tle seventeentury panes, were so like any common sabard

    after C sign of a trumpeter designed by Rooke, te artist, omed,  ran along ting edge of to remember tect friend of my fat it  to keep till,  ers and o feel not ropolis. I no longer  to c, but go I sometimes did, for one Sunday morning I saed on a board in tion are requested to kneel during prayers; tero be  of every seat tle cusly ty, s,  an unimportant accessory to good arcecture and icular church.

 II

    I could not understand een, I rade. Sometimes I t it oy?o be ined by imaginary people full of t one can see in picture books. I e. een or sixteen, my fatold me about Rossetti and Blake and given me try to read; amp; once in Liverpool on my o Sligo, quot;I es Dream in ture painted o?day not very pleasing to me??and its colour, its people, its romantic arcecture ted all otures a; It ual be t my fate painter, noed portraits of t comer, cive girl  offis radition,  unfinis by bitand its defence elaborated by young men fres? sc paint  of us, or A man must be of ime, tti t out ell me to admire Carolus Duran and Bastien?Lepage. too, t men; ttered but Kno, being in reaction against a generation t seemed to ed its time upon so many t myself alone in ing tting toempt for t, ture, but in a feo discover ot as I did, for it is not true t yout s quarrel is not , but ,  if it seem to ten t power.

    Does cultivated youture, y  certainly does come so mucarian roric? I ion in one tyndall, ed, of t an infallible c of poetic tradition: a fardel of stories, and of personages, and of emotions, a bundle of images and of masks passed on from generation to generation by poets amp; painters radition perpetually, and not in pictures and in poems only, but in tiles round t kept out t. I ed a dogma: Because ted out of t instinct of man, to be ever I can imagine t I can go to truth.

    ened to speak of one t of teeped in tural. Could even titians Ariosto t I loved beyond otraits, s grave look, as if ing for some perfect final event, if ters, before titian,  learned portraiture, o tions, full of saints and Madonnas, trons? At seventeen years old I  me from going off but a doubt as to my capacity to s straight.

 III

    I  an industrious student and kneer titian??and titian I knees;quot; and among my fates. Some indeed o Bedford Park in t building, and oto be near t oder, a ures will Pre? Rape.

    Once a Dublin doctor  and a er of poetical plays: a tall, sallo; and ed friendsed by quarrels over matters of opinion. Of all t dejected, and t estranged, and I remember encouraging o buy a very expensive carpet designed by Morris.   strong liking and . If rongly  er o e, under some casual patriotic impulse, certain excellent verses noing and not a neory, a broad?built, broad? for  of a student, like some captain in t service. One often passed oders company to t of one entatiously at peace. ions, for ory, as , o t.  o some a man of genius, but  enougion to s, or conviction to give ro yle, and remained aler. I oo full of unfinisions and premature convictions to value rigion, in?formed by a vast erudition, o every casual association of speece narrative manner a necessary completion of ter many years later,  Po ideas, By looking at ener, a painter in ed in udent days, of Ulysses sailing , an orange and a skin of  ains toings for a  ion among tly educated. to escape turned to but under pressure of necessity, and usually late at nigudio oys of ion, and perpetually increased train at intervals puffed its ations and signal boxes; and on ttacking and defending soldiers and a fortification t bleackers fired a pea tain  ed papers for a living, but painted landscapes for  t lived ambition, ener, and t my fat appearance by  from Pocaas. If all ttle like becalmed sainly one man ist in all ton are test decorative artists of t lyce, bougry cs tc to ser bearers and coffin, above trance to  garden, to s  any rate kne. In teners for a conversation t ies, or antagonisms;  topics, being in t of my youtopics t filled me ement were never spoken of.

 IV

    Some quarter of an  on to Ricion. rait, a litein, lepiece among portraits of otanding, but, because doubtless of ing ly suggested object??a table or a aceadily fixed upon some object, in complete confidence and self?possession, and yet as in ly as I remember raits and too sly as I remember  one appearance and t seen fully at t glance and by all alike.  o say, like one of Sers??and yet pressed and pummelled, as it o a single attitude, almost into a gesture and a speecuation. I disagreed  everyt I admired ion of some early poems founded upon old Frencry, mainly because e Vers Libre, yndall and ien?Lepages cloaring  eyes at  boots; and filled it ion of an al ed. I ed trongest passions, passions t o do ion, and metrical forms t seemed old enougo be sung by men ism affected ed by a cat in t our first meeting  political interests or convictions, o a violent unionist and imperialist. I used to say or ; yet  so   t  actor of passion??cer?acting meant noto me for many years??and an actor of passion y of soul, personified again and again, just as a great poetical painter, titian, Botticelli, Rossetti may depend for ness upon a type of beauty wly we call by his name.

    Irving, t of t on tage, and in modern England and France it is t sort, never moved me but in tellectual pride; and t once, I am convinced t y. iculate??I am very costive,  up an image of poy till it became, at moments,  sougo bring life to tic crisis, and expression to t point of artifice s tongue. it opponents tism, for ion, s.

    play a ,  find beyond t, s o me in t of ell t t t go on. t fit for self?government but t is nonsense. It is as fit as any otry but  grant it.

    And to found and edit a Dublin ne ories, our modern literature??everyt did not demand any sc. yranny but it  of Cosimo de Medici.

 V

    e gatable . I can recall but one elderly man??Dunn  and full of good sense, an old friend of  establis. One evening I found ed.

    been round to ask my advice. ould I t a ed ;e determined to do it?quot; I asked ;Quite.quot; quot;ell,quot; I said, quot;in t case I refuse to give you any advice.quot; Mrs. B... iful talented ened to en obeyed ly because e plainly not upon ts. e mig ground of quarrel, but t seemed more important t manner and speec time, in victory. And besides, if ainly did, e it  did not move us to reverence.

    Once I found  returned from some art congress in Liverpool or in Mancer. tion Armyism of art, , amp; gave a grotesque description of some city councillor urner. ed all t Ruskin praised, turner, and finding ty councillor t day on te t Pre?Rape. taring disconsolately upon terrified us also, and certainly I did not dare, and I to speak our admiration for book or picture  ance, and no man among us could do good work, or s, and lack his praise.

    I can remember meeting of a Sunday nighe Golden Age,

    Barry Pain, no, R. A. M. Stevenson, art critic and a famous talker, George ynder on a cabinet minister and Irisary, and Oscar ilde, en older t. But faces and names are vague to me and,  but once may rise clearly before me, a face met on many a Sunday imes, I t I never met epniak, t,  t go more t is too exing.  t out of us all, because

    could neitened, nor curned aside. it is tion of ure being ever in my sigually forging so use; and certainly I al of C..., a fine classical scle man, as our chief swordsman and bravo.

    ts, afterional Observer, te articles and revieorious for savage ; and years afterwards wional Observer

    y, I met hink very poor.

    Nobody ory t o be kept dipped in poppy? juice t it mig go about killing people on its o. I e my first good lyrics and tolerable essays for tional Obsever and as I al a line or a stanza and ing in one of ed by my belief t e Kipling t flood of popularity. At first, indeed, I en and t t ot, and only began investigation ics??epigrams, arcicle upon Paris fas upon opium by an Egyptian Pas compelled to full conformity for verse is plainly stubborn; and in prose, t I migable opinions, I e not g or fairy stories, picked up from my mot at Rosses Point, and  I must needs mix a palette fitted to my subject matter. But if o   ?dome and te better te in some letter praising Co anot a fine tten by one of my lads.

 VI

    My first meeting onis. I never before alking  sentences, as if ten t  all spontaneous. t t nig  of propinquity or of accident, a man full of t spite of dullness, ed from time to time and alo c; and I noticed  mastery iced, too, t tificiality t I teners  rounding of tences and from tion t made it possible.

    t very impression  of metre, or of titical prose of teentury, rue metre, er, for  incongruity from some unforeseen s stroke of  to elaborate reverie. I s later: Give me quot;ters tale,quot; quot;Daffodils t come before t; but not quot;King Lear.quot;  is quot;King Learquot; but poor life staggering in ted  precision, sounded natural to my ears. t first niger Paters Essays on t is my golden book; I never travel any; but it is t trumpet s it ten. But,

    said t ime to read it? Oort, ty of time aftero us, baffled as y, a triump figure, and to some of us a figure from anotalian fifteentury figure. A ferol and praising ilde, so indolent but sucopic of our talk. en do you go to to go times a  five times a o strike off a day ttee meeting. Furtters. I o London full of brigs and seen te  of ansters. oo kne an aeste, ed later, being someanglement.

    One soon finds t leman. And rain every nerve to equal t man at all; and I oo loyal to speak my t: You amp; not  t of us  train of an intensity t seemed to  t of drama.  first meeting, terary friendsill, tonis of ting over, diversity of cer and ambition pus, and,   t first admiration, for after ildes doold my lads to attack  we mig under his banner.

 VII

    It became tom, bot  Bedford Park, to say t R. A. M. Stevenson, ter talker. ilde russed up like a turkey by undergraduates, dragged up and doo tub, ed in treets of various tooned, and no ne opposition and at times o see an unpardonable insolence. ematised, a mask o evensons talk became monologue  kno, because our one object o stention t  failed  combat  some ne  t it had been always so from childhood up.

    asy for pasys sake and ertainment in monologue as  Louis in poem or story. ? and Suppose you  our  Bedford Park, surrounded by my broters and a little group of my fatries. t, dressed in suc  for tside ter and say My friend Jones is dying for love of you. But  descriptions, so full of laug ifully dressed c as t of Stevensons party and mainly I tten a book in praise of Velasquez, praise at t time universal , and to my mind, t o pick its symbols ted, Velasquez seemed t bored celebrant of boredom. I ation, t Stevensons conversational meto my elders and to t  o be content  ive of youto take sides and ensely disliked by all  to be a p, and felt revenged upon a notorious er of romance,  fathom.

 VIII

    I sa t time?? 1887 or 1888???I e except t I  book t ilde  yet publis meeting, reviee its vagueness of intention, and tness of its speec qualification; and alked about it, and no my Xmas dinner  I was alone in London.

    renounced een, and even turned backo dress very carefully in t. tle  C tect God oo ler. te, no cupboard door  gold, no peacock blue, no dark background. I remember vaguely a ler etc in to , except for a diamond?sable under a terra cotta statuette, and I to a little above tatuette. It  in its unity,  of a feely, and I remember t t iful e artistic composition.

    tributing ceristics like o ry: e Irisoo poetical to be poets; ion of brilliant failures, but est talkers since to tence: Sc cerises modern t, but  invented it. t ; to quot;melanc;  ed a full sound at tence, and I t it no excuse and an example of t spoilt ing for me. Only ale,  enougo le ear.  as  hinking myself fool or dunce.

    tered tellect of every man ell ories and compared my art of story?telling to ing in ty talent, t, a young journalist fres sten? and old t it salent, infirmity genius. tle too yello become fasood travagence ell tle boy a fairy story, and I  got as far as Once upon a time t  of to t afflicts terary gossip for some provincial ne paid me a fe ing literary gossip leman. to be compared to ime pleasantly, I  been greatly perturbed opped me  a long story? as ainly  and man of t ed ty. One form of success  discovered  for ing comedy, yet I t t moment of alker  of aneity. One day ing a Cian old a detailed story, in tyle of some early fat recovered after tomb, lived on for many years, tianity. Once St. Paul visited oer did not go to ers noticed t  er upon t of   object to t insisted upon clot t t?critic  tic solemnity.

 VIII

    Of late years I en explained ilde to myself by ory. ance of my fatraditions tcory still current in Dublin of Lady ilde saying to a servant.  tes on ttle?  are t for? tories, and even a ory, tion of some Connaug, t tells ook out to consult , and laid te, intending to replace t, and en by a cat. As a certain friend of mine, ure of cats, said slove eyes. t t fed tion of Cy, untidy, daring, and ies, mig ive and learned. Lady ilde,  none migainly amid mucer and circumstance. S I  to live on somee, because I  all an imaginary life; perpetually performed a play   off completely  opening iful  erday  ed in Flaubert and Pater, read  as a scer reads oo, t because of all t  endure tary toil of creative art and so remained a man of action, exaggerating, for te effect, every trick learned from ers, turning ting into painted scenes.  a parvenu ory in tes to a lady of title, it  to s omime beanstalk. quot;Did you ever ; a friend of ; say the Duke of York

    ;

    old me once t  in Parliament and, ed,   of Beaconsfield, ement, for e triump ty, if at all, from tact of events; table  and made est talker of ime, and  merit tation, noen defend  ion for ry, for Broti, in t vogue isfy ion: never but once before ist seemed so great, never  seemed so difficult. I o Cellini o do so satisfactory as to turn bravo and assassinate the man who broke Michael Angelos nose.

 IX

    I cannot remember able beside Kelmscott  o tes  League. I tle group  at tantly alter Crane, Emery alker presently, in association er of many fine books, and less constantly Bernard S once or t Prince Krapotkin. too one al certain more or less educated o meet every turn. I old by one of t  I alked more nonsense in one evening t life. I  t of o Mict ional politics. e sat round a long unpolised trestle table of neis Pomegranate, a portrait of Mrs. Morris, and  Persian carpet. Morris  carpets  for people ered a  in place upon a tent floor. I tle disappointed in tent at last to gatiful to arrange a beautiful ion, founded upon ttis pictures, isfied by a big cupboard painted  even ts, pertle table, t seemed accidental, bougtle t, to make   opened eitime. t ales till my fato Keats, got angry about it and put me altoget of countenance. ioned  ceased to read; nor ten as yet t became, after  a joy t to read slo I mig come too quickly to t irred my interest, and I took to  because of some little tricks of speec reminded me of my old grandfat soon discovered aneity and joy and made o?day I do not set ry very  for an odd altoget; and yet, if some angel offered me to live ry and all, ration of rait by atts lepiece s grave , remind me of titians Ariosto,  ellect to remain sane, t give itself to every pasy, t is te European image t yet ionless meditation, and rait in common ion, t cannot but fill tain famous s of our stage. S semperament of t fat, and scant of breat between his fingers agile rapier and dagger.

    tit itellectual suffering. ellect, unexed by speculation or casuistry, ever y, and if style and vocabulary  times monotonous,   ceasing to be ead of ts ed from abstraction, t only returned to its full vitality s of itical dream remely irascible??did  fling a badly baked plum pudding tellectual man of our ed nes amp; ladies of Burne Jones, y volumes, put out of temper. A blunderer, ed man at a socialist picnic in Dublin, to prove t equality came easy, I e s, and left  rankled after ty years, a man of ories ly no ot t  suations of poignant difficulty, t exquisite tact.

    project, like ion set on making and doing, tle self?knoions of making and doing; and, in teetific generalisations t co flying fis because it sougation to t out of he sea.

 X

    Soon after I began to attend tures, a Frencarted in tain young socialists  and ime a model student constantly encouraged by ts of tress. I told my fato get my sisters admitted. I made difficulties and put off speaking of tter, for I kne turn, under family eyes, into plain rag doll. end to be industrious, and even carry dramatization to t of learning my lessons,  I  I  I could use and my sisters ted. t in a inating idle self and  togeter stayed on and became an embroideress under Miss May Morris, and t Kelmscott  lying oree,  Kelmscott ion Icannot ale  of t tribe or guild o some  no man I ion and beauty, seeming, almost in tant, riump; and people loved   any racted Morris ts from an attack of gout by leading tion delicately to ted name of Milton.  Swinburne.

    Oorician; my masters s and Cures. Does not Milton make pictures? asked my informant. No, e makes pictures, but Milton, t earnest mind, expressed orician. Great earnest mind,

    sounded strange to me and I doubt not t  a simple man, Morris . Anotarted by praising C t h foreign words.

    actle of  t of all good talk, except t it matce boundaries inexible in fact and expression. ?like instinct and never ate strange meat. Balzac! Balzac! o me once, O  supper praising o be inspired by  been made by t and ted by  kind of e in one corner, cooked in anot in tion to t  t is to put it in a tube  eacoo t o ,  somebody ses. ttle, I do not doubt t, inued going t fire from urned my o some mediaeval  before I o go t my anderings of Uso er,  it mig er sending it I came upon him by chance in holborn.

    You e my sort of poetry, o praise me and to promise to send o tainty  caug of a neal cast?iron lamp?post and got very ed upon t subject.

    I did not read economics, urned socialist because of Morriss lectures and pamps, and I t unlikely t Morris  old dogma of mine seemed germane to tter. If ts  us say, Neions or as to live, tions t be t get rid of certain institutions turn from eccentricity. Perified  by as simple an argument, and  D... said to me one niger some lecture, an anarc  kno. Certainly I and all about me, including D... . Morris old us to o do ary socialists, represented for men in general by ty and  Democratic Federation and for us in particular by D... During transition mistakes must be made, and t of takes must be left to to talk of t ot of to reverse Sion of tiresias, lig darkness on takes Morris meant vexatious restrictions and compromises??If any man puts me into a labour squad, I  pionary tactics: ended to lie upon our back and kick. D..., pale and sedentary, did not dislike labour squads and o entertain Mrs. Morris, ales of icular uncle o commit suicide by sting o a carpet bag. At t time ty speaker at street corners and in Park demonstrations. ruculence and fury, cold logic, an universal gentleness, an unruffled courtesy, and yet could never close a speec being denounced by a journeyman ter alian name. Converted to socialism by D..., and to anarced voice ted our scruple about parliament. I lack, said D..., ted You ave a ole. ts  of tter, image of our eria, for I too became violent  solemnity of a religious devotee.

    I can even remember sitting be remember  I did quite suddenly; and I ting tles tles if erests ual argument. ttitude to everybody but Morris, oget upon my nerves, for I broke out after some lecture or ottacked religion, I said, or some suc t be a c and only religion could make it.  alking about some near revolution putting all t,  did, ronomical slo may  I oo angry to listen, and o ring it a second time before I sat do be a c, but it  come as slo. I rang my bell because you  being understood.  sion, but I never returned after t nig I did not aler.

 XI

    I spent my days at tis, I te, for I remember often putting off er ing some necessary book because I sing talogue; and yet to save money for my afternoon coffee and roll I often o Bedford Park. I ion from ts t   some tor, you must never again pay so mucy; but I did not the work for my own purposes.

    t to Sligo every summer, I o live out of Ireland ter part of every year and  keeping my mind upon  be t matter of my poetry. I believed t if Morris  ories amid to be of elsraction and supposed

    if Stis ered more intimately, more microscopically, as it o our t, and o modern poetry a breadtability like t of ancient poetry. tatues of Mausolus and Artemisia at tise, es and Egyptian kings in t stand in t above measuring it out unpersuadable justice, became to me, noer, images of an unpremeditated joyous energy, t neit and enquiry, can ac yet, if once ac seem to men and udy of t ruined tomb, raised by a queen to  sculptors after ale,  distinguiseles; and I ed to create once more an art, s  in some old Scots ballads or in some teentury Art yred no man for modelling ook great pleasure in certain allusions to t  because  , like portly Cion of a famisy to remember t in   old ballad singer  tle ? So masterful indeed  instinct t   of singers, ans;A blind man;  beautiful for ever.quot; Elaborate modern psycistical, I t,  person, but not tions o e many poems o a general pattern of myt says t  e, dear Ireland, and sorroradition, and if  move us deeply, it is because  comes at need,  compelling o sedentary toil and so driving  from  to create t sensuous, musical vocabulary, and not for myself only but t I mig to later Iriss, mucer left yle as an inance to o use a traditional manner and matter; yet did sometoget, c toil, impelled by my s sterile modern complication, by my originality as t. Morris set out to make a revolution t t ters of to my mind, in temisia and   my native scenery migants, ure. My mind began drifting vaguely to doctrine of t every passionate man (I o do , or p, or man orical or imaginary, uralistic ers and painters bid all men be, but tieres blood in ; and ing, ation  Emperors old suit.

 XII

    I oo discuss my ts t I could not bring to a man  meeting some competing t, but partly because tea amp; toast saved my pennies for t  from timate exc, I imid and abasting on a seat in front of tis near and began enticing my pigeons araig of me, very indignant, and presently  into t turning my oen ty or merely very young. Sometimes I told myself very adventurous love stories  otimes I planned out a life of lonely austerity, and at otimes mixed terity mitigated by periodical lapses. I ill tion, formed in Sligo in my teens, of living in imitation of ttle island in Loug Street very tle tinkle of er and saain in a stle ball upon its jet and began to remember lake er. From t lyric s ro loosen roric, and from t emotion of t roric brings, but I only understood vaguely and occasionally t I must, for my special purpose, use not tax. A couple of years later I  ten t first line s conventional arc stanza. Passing anots, a building t I admired because it  is not very good, Morris  it is better t and so te it.??I gre , tone and brick all round me, and presently added, If Joist, or o come again and  upon it,  into some y, and t t,  is still vivid in t a fe Oxford copying out a seventeentury translation of Poggios Liber Facetiarum or to?mac o my troubled family. I ea because I t t if antiquity found locust and ive, my soul rong enougo need no better. I  gesture, putting to one scale of to t ty years ters brave tropolis  some like stimulant; and all, after teen years, according to obstinacy, ood t le diligent sedentary stitcage from my stimulant: I could ink my socks, t t not s y mind, imagining myself, and my torn tackle, somees and crows.

    In London I saantly remembered t Ruskin o some friend of my fato my  tis.

    I convinced myself for a time, t on t  are no longer ticed: t blotcoo mucen too muc. In Dublin I en seen old   bodies, talking to ty, but t, to romance: Da Vinci heir bodies.

 XIII

    I attempted to restore one old friend of my fato tice of  failed t c me to dine tles igmore Street, once inventor of imaginative designs and noer of melodramatic lions. At dinner I alked a great deal??too muc I salked for effect and t talking for effect  never do; ed roric and empe it; and o great dejection. I called at Nettlesudio t day to apologise and Nettleso some  t I alk y c., etc. I  flattered, t not o apologise, for I soon discovered t y, o say, like an opera glass, and sipped cocoa all ternoon and evening from an enormous tea cup t must  caring ing and broken  , suffered great pain for along time. A little tle became a great deal and  y aain montely cured. antly. I brougion settled in early boyer but Nettlesill because my admiration ual energy a Saturnian passion and melancing evil

    tiger coming from tti??or  Bro or modern art , but t and oted. tation, especially a blind titan?like g floating reetops. I e a criticism, and arranged for reproductions or of an art magazine, but after it ten andaccepted tor, lifting yndall, Carolus Duran, Bastien?Lepage rookery, insisted upon its rejection. Nettles mind its rejection, saying,  ten people, but o s I ten. t I ten   art criticism. I ed ures, ed an art too mucoucness or rougely observed irregularity of surfaces, for . Rossetti used to call my pictures pot? boilers,  to ted o design gods and angels and lost spirits once more, o t, Nobody would be pleased. Everybody sre was one of his phrases.

    Mrs??s articles are not good but tre. I  little kno, for ttle sc Sced ty of anyt could be connected  to give angelical, or diabolical names to   Nettlester, and liking tter ter painter. e  I could give a crude po mine en told me of certain ascetic ambitions, very muc all tion of youto ance??Yeats, t I ed by a policeman??s Park barefooted to keep t of to do??I s in my  I  me go till I o put on my boots before I met t policeman.

    imagine anybody asking ions, and so I ent to take tories as tions of stories I ory in particular irred my imagination, for, as ation.  t any

    of order. Presently  table, and got out to a stone ledge t ran along turning t, got in at a different urned to table. My nerves, ter t.

 XIV

    Nettleso me:  t of drink upon my genius? No, I ans Ellis range medical insigtleship drank his genius away.

    Ellis, but lately returned from Perugia, tlestles in ing urned a, o run t superficiality,  image at all. er and poet, but ing, erest me, s t of Leigarted peroo late for Pre?Rape influence, for no great Pre?Rape picture ed after 1870, and left England too soon for t of ters.

    imes moving as a poet and still more often an astonis. I  somet said into a dozen lines of musical verse,  apparently ceasing to talk; but t or  amend it, and my fat ion. Yet  times nobility of rinct for grandeur??and after ty years I still repeat to myself o Motoain ime to time or try to make ot poem is a little of t for t vision of C too ten ballad, o t fled to seek felicity,  and t at all. ies??seven silences like candles round e . o me, I am a matician ics left out?? matician??or A o me, quot;Mr. Ellis ainly ractions.  to mention sometime t I kno in conversation.

    e studios, and early in our acquaintance put into my e paper on erpretation of t begins ton to Marylebone to Primrose . Joood.

    ters of London represented Blakes four great myts. tences ion of all study of t requires an exact knos pursuit and t traces tion bet of Stributions, from imes called tian Cabala, of ation asy, ic Books of illiam Blake. e took it as almost a sign of Blakes personal  t joined our kno publisic Books, as t ablis t in anniversaries. After montical terms, and to be done in t Red s of Blakes friend and patron, ter, Jos. tful of Blakes ort imid old lady orical Jesus. One old man sat alensibly to s pero see t  steal ts, and t at lunc of Blakes Dante engravings. Going turning Ellis ertain me by pories, at first folk tales ed many folk tales, I did not see t. I ial memory of te tales, one of an Italian conspirator flying barefoot from I forget ure t alian city, in to be recognised by ,  ter at an el calling out number so and so as if ed guest. to door ried on ts, and just as  a pair to fit a voice cried from t?

    Merely me, sir, aking your boots. tyrs Bible round  of Blakes p ain jockey called upon ues, confused beted to tue interfered and turned o virtue,  credit and made, but for one sentence, a very  round in admiration and grief,  a dreadful expression. o raig ale, for ttempts to sin, as ures of t it ended ues returned to talk to any audience t offered, one audience being tmay  my fatious. eful to take ers of London.

    t saying, Anote and t. If t tupidest men in London, t romantic and ty account of all ts  in one s life.

    ion en pass out of my compreo a labyrintraction and subtilty, and turn  or turn of . to attain, in certain conditions of trance, a quickness so extraordinary t  times to imagine a condition of unendurable intellectual intensity, from y of t tantly upon trance. Once  all ternoon. I began talking ion, and after a moment Ellis, ion in a series of symbolic visions. In anot,

    into to get rid of t feeling, but presently ion, Ellis lying upon talking some time ting in t , and t t and t I ting up, and I find I am in t over t  it a reflection from some ligside the case.

 XV

    I  most of ts of my generation. I er tion of to tor of a series of ss, o compile tales of ts, and  Rer of elsranslations and original poems t en moved me greatly t years older tor kneo meet every nig eating rand called t Door Plarr, Ernest Radford, Jo. . Rolleston, Selion, Edantly for a time, Art antly,  never came and Francis t never joined; and sometimes, if  in a private  o invite o ted Boo me, is staying in t End because t is t  I old  I live in t End because noterests me but the mask.

    e read our poems to one anotalked criticism and drank a little imes say orians,  before us suco admit t I  alk of t, ly but  manners, o say a feer, You do not talk like a poet, you talk like a man of letters; and if all t been polite, if most of t been to Oxford or Cambridge, t, often very abstract t, longing all to be full of images, because I o t scead of a university.

    Yet even if I o a university, and learned all tions of Engliserature and Englisure, all t great erudition lessness, I so give up my Iris matter, or attempt to found a neradition. Lacking sufficient recognisedprecedent I must needs find out some reason for all I did. I kne from tart t to overfloo be not quite  t, seeing t my country  born at all. I o imperfect ac, and under a curse, as it o spend time, needed for t, in argument as to tting out, but tion s principally by Joies upon us, ion to all ideas, all generalisations t can be explained and debated. E... fresimes say??e are concerned  impressions,

    but t itself ion and met but stony silence. Conversation constantly do Do you like so and sos last book? No, I prefer t, and I t but for its Irisever came into t s first difficult mont I t like a man of letters, noed at to t Sennyson in a t I called impurities, curiosities about politics, about science, about ory, about religion; and t  create once more the pure work.

    Our clot part unadventurous like our conversation, teen coat, a loose tie and a very old Inverness cape, discarded by my faty years before and preserved by my Sligo?born motions  no ot Le Gallienne, e ne fasume but t of an Englisleman. One se unnoticeable, Joo me. t carefully to ted furt from it in ting, udied, one poet??o knoter in later years ision, t from t I devoted myself to Lionel Jo and an old te Street, Fitzroy Square, typical figures of transition, doing as an ac of learning and of exquisite taste e, and sometimes one mig in ty, Simeon Solomon, te painter, once tti and of S freso a long term of imprisonment for a criminal offence, o drunkenness and misery. Introduced one nigo some man er and R. A., arted to  in a rage o mistake me for t mountebank? t one o t catered by t dropping from any yndall, Carolus Duran, Bastien?Lepage bundle of old ting t to t suspicion t I never became intimate o become test Englisy upon Italian life in teentury and to e tandard ticelli. Connoisseur in several arts, tle che Marble Arch.

    ttle cerpiece, its style ury too late to  my fancy at ty; and I accused o eigury t taugs to smoot till, like tain , tallied.

    Anoticism delayed my friendsters my cructors. Somebody, probably Lionel Jo me to tudio of Cts and Cainly  generation, and t ture of a lady and cin, suggesting t ed century. My eyes , and I told S  painted amot elegant people expecting visitors and I t t a great reproacing in t a picture of a p and an apple ure of someto eat, and I o subject, icism since Bastien?Lepage, t I could at times see not subject. I t t, t mig matter to te  or a regular communicant of trongly, it certainly did matter to ions and even under some circumstances to imes indeed, like some fatogeto admit t a trace of trace of colour, may lend piquancy, especially if tion be not permanent.

    Among test talents o live suce lives and die sucragic deat. . Rolleston, seemed al of place. It o set o some er on. I  of to see to make  ures; and ian religion tle too tall nor a little too s but exactly six feet  as do t understanding t, from t moment ien?Lepage, sed great creative poo men ed ravagance or curiosity or dulled ecting stupidity.

    I  all to make ties of t century tragic in tory of literature, but as yet  or in luck, and scarce even personalities to one anot at ts t talent. tain about us is t oo many.

 XVI

    I  image??ale to tural self or tural o copy, but I  said if I found an image for myself. I knotle about myself and muc anti?self: probably t my study kno is perure made me a gregarious man, going ion, and ready to deny from fear or favour  conviction, t I love proud and lonely images.  daily to tons dauging lessons, I found one poem in  delig of some metrical translation from Aristoper years my mind gave itself to gregarious Sudying poerranean sually in my ears??

    Some feign t e, and ion and of ruin. trutinence, And conquering penance of tinous flesemplation and unudy, In years outstretce of man, May tained to sovereignty and science Over trong and secret ts .

    MAalk ithis old Jew.

    o ion  sail alone at sunset ering as no bee?pasturing isle, Green Erebint proer, t ted, a faint meteor , And orm of terably s, and pilot  t tance Fit for tter of the desired communion.

    Already in Dublin, I tracted to ts because tence of t from ien?Lepage, I sa y. Presently  Madame Blavatsky  it time to look tter up. Certainly if ed any be in some sucting no duty to us, communing  all peoples, aste, believed t suced and paid t  to to ps and to men of learning?

    I found Madame Blavatsky in a little  Nor, as s??ty of Psyc reported on  in an outer room to keep out undesirable visitors, I  a long time kicking my ly I ted and found an old  of old Iris ill kept ing, for sion or.

    I strayed to t room and stood, in s a cuckoo clock. It ainly stopped, for ts  as I stood t and cuckooed at me. I interrupted Madame Blavatsky to say. Your clock ed me.

    It often s at a stranger, s in it? I said. I do not knoo kno. I  back to t and  break my clock. I  out, I suppose, o me, Of course ss up fraudulent miracles, but a person of genius o do somet sleeps in ly tor  asky explained t s for  ion did you give  men   I  ing because saken me for some man o persuade ness of th.

    sa urned constantly for long visits??for s nigtle table covered antly e cimes imes unintelligible figures, but tended to mark do room a large table en a great number, sat doo tarian meal, e nature, a sort of female Dr. Joo every man or  of tract idealism of t ience broke out inrailing amp; many nicknames: O you are a flapdoodle, but t and a brot devout and learned of all o me,  told me t tuck on to t t t ion contained all t must be some piece of Eastern myt is not,  I am certain, and t be somet or s .  kept for asy and  seemed to ific materialism. Once I saagonism, guided by some kind of telepation, take a form of brutal pasy. I brougo see  ion, to specialists alone, ific and modern. tainly unknoo Madame Blavatsky, yet I sa once in t  over time I ever sa tility, ther.

    Madame Blavatsky seemed to bundle , and began complaining of s, more especially of  of late er??, or set it on to be cured. I ting er came in and broug over my knee, somet imes in mediaeval medicine. Sers, and traits, ideal Indian ed by some most incompetent artist, stood upon eit,  gazing to ted dining?room beyond. I noticed a curious red ligure and got up to see  ure of an Indian and as I came near it sloo my seat, Madame Blavatsky said,  did you see? A picture, I said. tell it to go a is already gone. So mucter, s  is only clairvoyance.

    is t  e of you. Beware of medium s is a kind of madness; I know, for I .

    I found  aly t, unlike t  alolerant. I o find , but expected every moment. S ttle suite of follo once in y. It contained a large family Bible. t for my maid, s! A Bible and not even anointed! said some s is to t oranges?  began to frequent antly, I noticed a ainly very muc of place, penitent t ly tent angled o groo ascetic sages. t t Madame Blavatsky o call tent before o speak after t it is necessary to crusure; you sity in act and t. Initiation is granted only to tirely ce, and so to run on for some time. er some minutes in t ve style, tent standing crus permit you more te sincere, but t t nottered but  master tions tle importance. One young man filled ion; for s t tled gloom came from ity. I omed to interrupt long periods of asceticism, in ables and drink er, breaks of break ion of ty ical r s and street lamps, and to  ime. I said to t  did you say to one anot t telling comic stories and laug deal. torn bety and visionary ambition,  devout of all, and told me t in t en tle astral bell er called tention, and t, alt  made t I found ing in to s of entrance on some nige, and as I passed o my ear, Madame Blavatsky is per a real  all. t tlefield. S moods, botreme activity, but one calm and p nigions upon em; and as I look back after ty years I often ask myself as omatic? as s, in every rance medium, or in some similar state? In tasy and inconsequent raillery. t is triangle like all true religion, I recall  a triangle on t disappear in meaningless scribbles it spread out and became a bramble?bus all out except one straigurned it into a broomstick arid t is Protestantism. And so it ural, and Laurence Olip records some tack upon , or upon  once, of Alfred de Musset, oget all in to overo  and pity to t noy t to o t, after some en, I e, e, e as tees, en and to turn every doctrine into a neion for tanical convictions of torian c t talk. One American said to me, S famous ting in a big cting us to talk. talked and sience, and totted up o listen, but sometimes sen no more. talked perpetually of til Madame Blavatsky stopped  very careful you ain Salvation Army captain probably pleased ion. arving in treets and ill pertle lig o ignorant men, icism, till I met a man  Garden to some croreet. My friends,  ake a pretty big pill to get t out.

 XVII

    Mean any nearer to proving t A one conclusion I certainly did come to,  in an old diary and dated 1887. Madame Blavatskys masters rance personalities, but by trance personalities I meant somet as exciting as Aable in t on Japanese art, and read ter so remarkable t ed upon a temple er and trampled to temple in tartled by a ser drops, looked up and seen a painted ill  from t norembling into stillness. I t t ers ed by suggestion, but ion came from Madame Blavatskys o distance, I did not kno tskys mind to ternal reality, and t it  talked and e. tion, er deat in ainly t ic place,  apparitions and excions like t separate myself from it by my oary, an intelligent and friendly man, asked me to come and see  I urbance, a certain fanatical iced red and tearful, amp; it e plain t I  in full agreement  all tic and fanatical because t t to t misfortune; but o do? e old t all spiritual influx into ty o an end in 1897 for exactly one  date our fundamental ideas must be spread trine and it  old rance personalities , for influx of some kind t aler tsky, or  test possible immediate effort?

 XVIII

    At tisen say?six or ty?seven, in a broeen coat,  resolute face, and an atic body, ly I roduced,  remember. udies  equal in o t old Jerine in tiso copy many more in continental libraries, and it  I began certain studies and experiences t o convince me t images   belie er years it became un a proud  poverty. One t boxed ly old me t for many er t during tarved. it an old ricken person I roduction es us to t adepts of antiquity. took me aside t  say??I s??t is a very dangerous to do. I am told t even tary spirits turn upon us in tion? O yes, once, ory in a cellar under my  see it. One day I step urned and sao kiss her.

    O do t. ? I said. O  po  smell and t colour, (t may ed England in ties, amp;  effect of t your nails fall out and your  I migake and t not  it ao drink it  do had all dried up.

 XIX

    I generalized a great deal and  t it o bean artist and a poet, and t to t. I refused to read books, and even to meet people o generalization, but all to no purpose. I said my prayers muc ty of o pray t my imagination migraction, and become as pre?occupied ion of Cen or tinual remorse, and only became content ions o picture and dramatization. My very remorse o spoil my early poetry, giving it an element of sentimentality to permit it any sellect o use generalizations, t ion of all I imid; for I am persuaded t our intellects at ty contain all trut as yet  knorut belong to us from opinions caugation or momentary pasy. As life goes on  certain ts sustain us in defeat, or give us victory, s, tested by passion, t ions. Among subjective men (in all t is,  of tory is an intellectual daily recreation of all t exterior fate snatc fates antit I ional antito all t comes out of ternal nature. e begin to live wragedy.

 XX

    A conviction t t a bundle of fragments possessed me  ceasing. I ried tion on to greater silence an already too silent evening. Joomed to say, you are tured on it to some London Irisy, and I o lecture upon it later on in Dublin, but I never found but one interested man, an official of tive member of treme conservative apart from Ireland, I  t personal experience made  of any eye t sas. I  into a rage by tyndall, Carolus Duran and Bastien?Lepage, ed tance of subject, erature, but ts from one anoted in every age ist confined to some ined subject matter knoo t t in man and race alike ty of being, using t term as Dante used it o to a perfectly proportioned erm, preferred a comparison to a musical instrument so strong t if oucring all trings murmur faintly. t more desire,  true love; but in true love desire ay, ion, admiration, and, given appropriate circumstance, every emotion possible to man. o apply t to tate and to argue for a larades and occupations, my fat once t free?trader and propagandist of liberty. I t t ty raction, meaning by abstraction not tinction but tion of occupation, or class or faculty??

    Call do ill t are bare, the scullion gone wild.

    I kneminster, being a part of ab interest me; but I t constantly of e and tombs of Mausolus and Artemisa, t figures of King and Queen and taur and Greek. I t t all art saur finding in ts back and its strong legs. I got great pleasure too from remembering t  tale of Dante anza from tes meeting  sang Ariosto. Morris o care for any poet later to C Europe s, until bot began to break into fragments a little before So fall apart   give it greater meditation, tion or so minstrels o sing ed troilus and Cressida; painting parted from religion in ter Renaissance t it migudy effects of tangibility undisturbed;  migerise,  ined subject matter ly I o number cer itself among tractions, encouraged by Congreves saying t passions are too poo let er, s course. Nor ter under t, for pure reason oriously made but ligical reason, and  ligs turn, from t morning  ter in  of it; nor needed I original t to discover, being so late of t mac separated from  ice t tinction of classes ion. If ts of our day competed togeting lyrics t, like tudor mercs, dance in treet before tor; nor do t ladies of London finis before t Venetian ladies even in teentury, conscious of an all enfolding sympatless because fragments broke into even smaller fragments  of bitter comedy, and in ts, ion ed generation, and accomplisy c  engaged our affections. One t foresee, not ??the world.

    turning and turning in t ; tre cannot ide is loosed, and everyion, e intensity.

 XXI

    tyndall, Carolus Duran, Bastien?Lepage coven asserted t an artist or a poet must paint or e in tyle of s ears, and plain to t masterpieces of later Egypt, founded upon t  Kingdom already furtime from later Egypt ter Egypt is from us. I kne I could cyle o t po  simplicity. If I must be but a s among ty, I migake porp lay ready to my ead of t builders. If Cten ter sundry magnifications become, eacurn, tre of some Elizabeter split into ts, and so given birto romantic poetry, I need not reverse tograpake ted elements, all t abstract love and melanc Congued riders, but some procession of t per I not, o aid me, create some nerick or Columbcille, Oisin or Fion, in Prometead, and, instead of Caucasus, Croagrick or Ben Bulben?  all races  unity from a polyt marries to rock and ive stories, ories current among ted classes, re?discovering for t I s of literature, tion of literature, t is,  last, it migical passion of tion t all, artist and poet, craftsman and day labourer  a common design? Pered and associated ain, migurbulent life, like ted  trampled the rice fields of Japan.

 XXII

    I used to tell to s t I tempt in Ireland but fail, for our civilisation, its elements multiplying by divisions like certain lo in reality I  o?day I add to t first conviction, to t first desire for unity, tion, long a mere opinion vaguely or intermittently appreions, races and individual men are unified by an image, or bundle of related images, symbolical or evocative of tate of mind, es of mind not impossible, t difficult to t man, race or nation; because only test obstacle t can be contemplated  despair rouses to full intensity. A poerror, roric, and organised sentimentality, may drive to  t keep tions of t   equal arms? I ime turn from toric and gregarious ion and sco tary and proud Parnell as to i?self, buskin folloo seek unity as deliberately as it  by t, sculptor, arcect from to teentury. Doubtless  seek it differently, no longer considering it convenient to epitomise all  find it le passion.

 XXIII

    It  convinced me t t  for a time tion of young men urn from politics. ttle Irisriotic society of young people, clerks, serary Society. It o meet because eactee ured so many times t t tood up. I invited ttee to my fat Bedford Park and tion. After a fe in founding, . . Rolleston,  first meeting and tee erary Society,  to Dublin and founded ty.

    . B. Yeats.