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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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THIS WORLD IS FULL OF BEAUTY . There lives a voice within me , a guest-angel of my heart , And its sw eet lispings win me till the tears do often start . Up evermore it springeth like hidden melody , And evermore it singeth this song of songs to me : — «« This world is full of Beauty as other worlds above , And if we did our duty it might be full of Love ! " Night ' starry tenderness doth dower with glory evermore ; Morn ' s budding , bright , melodious hour comes sweetly as of yore ! But there be million hearts accurst where no sweet sunbursts shine , And there be million hearts athirst for God ' s immortal wine ; Yet this world is full of Beauty as other worlds above , And if we did our duty it might be full of Love ! If men were more forgiving , and the kind word oft ' ner spoken , There might be few heart-grieving , there might be few heart-broken ; The dreary , dim , and desolate would wear a sunny bloom , And Love would spring from buried Hate like flowers o'er Winter ' s tomb ; For this world is full of Beauty as other worlds above , And if we did our duty it might be full of Love ! There ' s Plenty round us smiling , why wakes this cry for bread ? "Why are the millions toiling , crushed , and clad in rags , unfed ? All the sunny hills and valleys wear the blush of fruit and grain ; But the lordling in the palace robs his own life ' s brother-men . Oh , this world is full of Beauty as other worlds above , And if we did our duty it might be full of Love ! If trustful faith and kindness passed coin 'twixt heart and heart , How thro' the eyes' tear-blindness the sudden soul should start ; Were Truth our uttered language , angels might talk with men , And God-illumined Earth should see the Golden Age again ! For this world is full of Beauty as other worlds above , And if we . did our duty it might be full of Love ! Dear God ! what hosts are trampled ' mid this killing crush for gold ! What noble hearts are sapped of love—what spirits lose life ' s hold ! And yet upon this God-blessed earth there ' s space for every one , Millions of acres wait the seed , and food rots in the sun . Oh ! this world is full of Beauty as other worlds above , Aud if we did our duty it might be full of Love ! The leaf-tongues of the forest , the flower-lips of the sod , The birds that hymn their raptures into the ear of God , And the living wind that bringeth low soft music from the sea , Have each a voice that singeth this sweet song of songs for me : — " This world is full of Beauty as other worlds above , And if we did our duty it might be full of Love ! " Gerald Massey ,
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CONFESSIONS OF A TIMID LOVER .
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Part II . Silent bovemaking My First Romantic Adventure : how I did not rescue a Heroine . —Courtship by the Flute . —Lines to an Ideal . [ left school , and was now really a man . The allowance made me by my T ather was liberal , and as I should one day be rich , there was no need of my tudying any profession . To pursue and finally attain my Ideal was therefore the occupation of my life ! My first deception—my first experience of the coquetry of woman , viz .,
\ rabella ' s treatment of me—was such as to make me for ever after suspicious of the sex . Indeed , had not this suspicion been counterbalanced by my irresistible tendency to fall in love , I think that one episode would have closed the story of my life as far as regards woman . But my extreme sensibility—the poetic fervour of my gushing soul—was too strong even for my timidity heightened by suspicion . I was formed for Love !
Several slight flirtations—mere skirmishings preparatory to greater combats—occupied me on my first entrance into society . I know not whether my vanity deceived me , but I freely confess that all the girls I met with were more than favourably disposed towards me . There was something in their manner which was certainly different from that which they adopted towards others . 1 could sec they miner avoided me ! They were afraid of me , and made mo feel that 1 was dangerous ! 1 had , it is true , : i certain way with mo which must have made their little hearts -flutter ; for although I said nothing 1 looked volumes . There is a great dual to be donct with the eyes . You look at a girl , and when she turns her eyes towards you , you suddenly throw yours down—but not before she has observed the manoeuvre . That makes : t very pleasing
impression ! 1 got the reputation of being very " Milage . " Mine was indeed a poet ' s heart— ' From Htwity passing on to Beauty , Constant to a coimtaut change , "
To this I attribute something of the conduct which the beauties exhibited towards me . I have more than once noticed that , after adopting my silent system with some sparkling beauty , on asking her again to dance she has declared herself to be already engaged—though I have known she was not . There was no mistaking that ! I was a great reader of novels . Beyond the entertainment to be derived from them there is also great good : they teach you life ! At your entrance into the world you can have no better guide than novels , which , representing society exactly as it is , and by the truthfulness of the characters and able exposition of passions and motives , give you the advantage of long experience . Whenever the author had succeeded in drawing some charming portrait of a
woman , I went into society with an intense desire to find such a heroine and throw myself at her feet . But I suppose authors are luckier than other men . I never met with the charming people to be found in books ; but perhaps my experience was limited . I was very fond of scheming out romantic adventures , in all of which I played a distinguished part . I don ' t know that these schemes were very original ; nay , I believe they were mostly made up from the novels I had read . Yet the little dramas I have thus enacted , the passions which have devoured me , the successes which have crowned me , would fill volumes . I was a desperate Lovelace—in imagination .
One favourite incident in my romantic reveries was the rescue of some lovely girl from peril . I was upset in a boat with her , and swam with her lifeless to the shore , where she opened her eyes , and exclaimed , " Where am I ? " and closed them again ( she always asked where she was , and always closed her eyes without awaiting an answer ) , and I gently impressed a kiss on her cold brow . Or else I heard cries—rushed to the spot—found a disconsolate maiden struggling with two ruffians—put them to flight—and caught her sinking form ( she always waited till the combat was ended before sinking ) as she exclaimed , " My deliverer !" h to h
The number of imaginary perils I went through were enoug ave blanched my hair ; the number of heroic exploits I performed were sufficient to have canonized me as a myth . But , unfortunately for us dreamers , the world of dreams and the world of acts , the world of intentions and the world of deeds are separated by a wide chasm . And , now , to the adventure which I have been thus minute in prefacing . It was a damp December day ; a dull , drear , misty , distanceless day , as I walked along the Gloucester road , dreaming as usual , and striving by vigorous exercise to shake off the chilly effect of the damp air . The ground was sloppyand my boots were covered with the red clay . Great formless
, mists rolled lazily before me . From a team of horses which passed , a column of steam rose into the damp air . From the hedges and the gaunt branches of the naked trees the mist collected into sparkling drops , and dripped upon the ground ; the palings were all covered with moisture ; there was no sky above , no sound of joy around . It seemed as if every living thing had cowered within its home to seek for warmth and comfort against the dreary day It was a desolate scene : ague , catarrh , and rheumatism seemed steaming forth from every point . Yet I walked sharply on , triumphing over the weather , wafted into a dreamland where all was sunshine .
Suddenly the loud trampling of horse ' hoofs caught my ear . I turned round to welcome this solitary thing of life in this dreary scene . I was aghast at beholding a horse tearing along the sloppy road in maddest speed , and seated on it , or rather clinging to it , a young girl whose hat had been blown off , and whose unconfined ringlets were now streaming in the wind . " Stop him ! stop him ! " she shrieked . Here was just t . he incident I had so impatiently awaited . I had often been the actor in such a scene in my reveries . In imagination I always sprang forward with resolute bravery , and' seizing the reins checked the horse in his full career ; then , gallantly offering my hand to the lady , assisted her to jump to the ground . I don't know how it was—I always did this so successfully in imagination , but , now , when the reality waslbefore me , I stood gazing at the girl—allowed the horse to dash past me without making a movement to arrest him—saw him stumble about thirty yards ahead , and fall with his precious burden .
_ _ „ , . ____„ Conceive my humiliation ! To make it worse , a horseman that instant galloped past me and shouted out : — " Why the devil didn't you stop him ? Were you afraid ?" In another instant he was by her side , and had extricated the girl from her danger . I ran up to explain my strange inaction . " I was so startled , " said I , " as really to have lost all presence of mind , and to be unaware of the peril until it was too late . " A sneer was my only answer from the gentleman . " Oh , I am not hurt , " said the lady . She again mounted her horse , which her companion now led by the bridle , and they disappeared .
I was deeply hurt . To a romantic mind the position was assuredly terrible . 1 would have given five years of my life to have had such an opportunity , and to have saved a lovely creature from such danger ; and yet * when tin ; opportunity presented itself , I was ludicrously incapable . It was not owing to any deficiency of courage , for I am truly brave—I feel within me rvln ' ffe of si Nelson ; but 1 suppose my indulgence of reverie , cultivating my tendency towards ideal action , has made me unfit for instantaneous decision . About four months after this I was at Bath . At the window opposite that of my room in the hotel I descried a charming girl with golden ringlets .
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We should do otir utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself .-
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GH amori Le cottesda l ' audace imprese io canto . —Akiosto .
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596 &tlC QeaiieV . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 14, 1850, page 596, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1853/page/20/
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