Realms of Gold.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 9, 5 October 1907, Page 5

Realms of Gold.

• e OUR LADIES OF SORROW. The eldest of the threo is named Mator Lachrymnrum, Our Lady of Tears. She it is that night and day raves an moans, calling for vanished fares. Sho stood in Rama when a .voice was heard in lamenta-tion—-Rachel weeping for her children ! ' and refusing to he comforted. Sho it was who stood in Bethlehem on the . night when Horod's sword swept its nurseries of Innocents and the little feet wero stiffened for ever, which, hoard at times as thoy tottered along floors overhead woke pulses of lovo in household hearts that wero not unmarked in Heavon. Her eyes are -sweet, and subtle, wild and sleepy by turns; oftentimes rising to, the clouds; oftentimes challenging:'the Heavens. She wears a diadefa round hor head. And I knew by childish memories that she could go abroad upon tho winds, when, sho heard the sobbing of litanies, or the thundering of organs, and when she beheld tho mustering of summer clouds. This sister, the elder, it is that carries keys more than Papal at her girdle, which open ■overy cottage and palace. She, to my -knowledge, sat all last summer by the bedside of the blind beggar, him that so often and so gladly I talked with, whose pious daughter, eight years old; with the sunny 'countenance-, 'resisted the,, temptations of-play, and village mirth to travel all day long on dusty roads nith her afflicted father. For this did. God send her a great reward. In , the ; springtime of the year, and whilst yet her own spring was budding,- Ho recalled her to Himself. But her blind father mourns for ever .over her; still he dreams at midnight that the little, guiding hand is ■locked within ; his own; and still ho wakons to a. darkness that is now • within a second and deeper darkness. This Mater Lachrymarum also lias , been sitting all this winter of 1844-5 within the bedchamber of the Czar, bringing before his'eyes' a ; daughter (not less; pious)' that vanished 'to God not. less.Buddcnly, and left.behind -hor a .darkness not less'profound. ■' By tho power of her koys is is;that Our Lady of Tears glides ; a ghostly-intruder into the chambers of sleepless men, • sleepless women, -sleepless children, from Ganges to ; Nile, 1 from Nile to Mississippi. 'And' lior, because sho is, the. firstborn of her; bouse, and has. the widest empire,-let us honour with tho title of "Madonna." •;■ The second sister is'called'Mater Suspirioruni,, Our ,Lady of Sighs. Sho never scales the clouds, nor walks abroad upon the winds'. She wears no diadem. And her eyes, if thoy were ever, seen, would bo neithen sweet nor subtle;, no man could read their',' story; they would he found filled' with perishing dreams, and with wrecks of forgotten delirium. .But sho raises not her eye 3; her head, on ' which sits a dilapidated turban, droops . for 'ever; for over fastens on tho dust. Sho weeps not. , Sho groans not. But she sighs inaudibly. at intervals. Her sister, Madonna'-, is oftentimes stormy .''and frantic; . raging in the highest'.'against- Heaven; and demanding back "hor darlings. : But' Our Lady of .Sighs, never clamours, nover. defies,, dreams not of rebellious aspirations. She is humble to abjectness. Hers is the meekness that belongs ' to the hopeless. ' Murmur she may, but it is in.' her 6he: does at* times, but it is in ' solito herself in the twilight. Mutter ishe does at times, but Tfc is in solitary places-that are desolate as sho is desolate, in ruined cities, and when the sun has gone, down to his rest. This sister is tho visitor of the Pariah, of the Jew, of tho bondsman'to tho oar in the; Mediterranean galleys, of the English criminal in Norfolk Island, blotted out from ; the books of remembrance in sweet far-off Englandd, of tho baffled penitent reverting his eye for ever upon a solitary grave, which to him soems the • altar overthrown of somo past and bloody sacrifice, • on which altar no oblations can now be availing, ' whether towards pardon that he • might implore, or towards reparation that-, ho might attempt. Every slave that at noonday looks up to tho tropical sun with timid ' reproach, .as he points with one hand to the earth; our general mother, but for him a stepmother, as ho points with the othor hand to tho Bible, ' our' ■ general teacher, hut against him scaled and sequestered; —every woman sitting in darkness, without love: to shelter her head, or hope to illume-her solitudo, because tlio Heaven-born instincts kindling in her nature germs of. holy affections, which. God implanted in her -.womanly- bosom, having been stifled by social necessities, now burn sullenly to wasto, like- to sepulchral lamps amongst tho ancients ;—every nun defrauded of her unroturning May-time by wicked kinsmon, whom God will judge ;—every captive in overy dungeon;—all that aro' betrayed, and all. that are rojectod; outcasts by traditionary law, and children of hereditary disgrace—all thoso walk with " Our Lady of Sighs." She also carries a key; but she ' needs it little. For'her kingdom is chiefly amongst the tents of Shorn, and tho houseless ..vagrant of every clime. Yot in tho very highest ranks of man ' she finds chapels of her' own; and even in glorious England there aro • somo that, to tho world, carry ther heads as proudly as tho reindeer, who yet secretly have received her mark upon their foreheads. But the third sister, who is also tho youngest 1 Hush I whisper while wc talk of her ! Her kingdom is not largo, or else no flesh should live; but within that kingdom all power is hers. Hor head, turrctcd liko that of Cybclo, rises almost beyond the reach of sight. She droops not; and hor oyos rising so high, might be hidded by distance But, beng what thoy arc, they cannot be hidden; through tho treble veil of crapo which she wears the fierce light of n blazing misery that rests not for matins or for vespers—for noon of day orno on of night—for ebbug or for flowing tide—may bo read from tho very ground. Sho is tho deficr of God. Sho also is the mother of

lunacies, and tho suggestress of suicides. Deep lio tho roots of her power; but narrow is tho nation that sho rules. For sho can approach only thoso in whom a profound nature has been up-heaved by central convulsions; in whom tho heart trembles and the biain rocks under conspiracies of tempest from, without and tomposts from within. Madonna moves, with uncertain stops, fast or slow, but still wth tragic grace. Our Lady of Sighs creeps timidly and stealthily. . But this youngest sister moves with incalculable motions, hounding, and with a tiger's leaps. Sho carries no key; for though coming rarely amongst men, she storms all doors at which she is permitted to enter at all. And her name is Mater Tonebarum—Our Lady of Darkness. . . .-De Quincey. [Note—Under this heading wo intend to print each Saturday somo notable piece of prose or verso.' Our readers are invited to -mako suggestions.] THE REPRINT. AN INTERESTING HISTORY. This is the heyday of the 1 reprint. A weekly visit to the bookshops along Lambton Quay discovers fresh multitudes of new "scries," ever widening in their range of subjects and authors, and over improving in beauty and cheapness.. Every London publisher of any importance has had to fall into 'line and supply the already pampered public with something now in typo .and binding for tho classics that now ' slip into the peckot, but onco were availablo only in ponderous and expensive tones. Although it is only in the last four years that the fever for reprints has becomo tho commanding feature of tho book world, tho reprint ;has quite a venerable history. A writer in Routlcdgc's "Book Fair" points out that it was Aldus Mariu- ' tius, tho Venetian, who, in the early days of printing, 'first sought to popu- . lariso literature • by bringing cheap, weli-priutod books within tho reach ot the majority. Ho it was who invented ■the typo known as Italic;.and the first book printed in this type, then called Aldino, was a Vergil, sold at the modest prico of two shillings. Tho Anchor and Dolphin,' familiar' to us .-'on;the valuablo "Aldino Editions" of the i English poets, was tho mark Aldus set iipon nearly all the works ho ; issued. Elsewhere in Europe tho Etiennes, tho Elzevirs and their sons and successors carried on tho good work; and it is notable that most of these early printers and ..reprintcrs were.editors of tho books they issued, ao well as publishers and booksellers. Tho English. reprint, as wo understand it/ was ushered .in by tho editors of tho English poets,- for which Johnson wrote tho prefaces, and tho Dodsloy editions of old plays. ■Bell's ■ "Poets", and Cooke's "English Classics" sold well, and won tho praiso- of. Leigh Hunt and Coleridge. -, The first quarter of the 19th. century , saw Sharpe's "British Classics" anil "Select Editions of English; Prose , writors".—excellently printed .' littlo volumes in leathor. Then came the day of tho abridgement and Hone's "Tablo Book" and "Everyday Book." Early in the. thirties Bentloy bdgan his immense library of "Standard Novels," with Henry Colburn to as- " sist him. "Richard Bentl'oy, 8, New . Burlington Streot (successor to Henry Colburn)", in 1834 issued No: XLI of his standard Novels, which, for a tasto, contained Vathek, The • Castle of Otrauto, and' Monk Lewis's transla-' tioir: Tho Bravo of Venice. Cooper, Godwin and tho rest'appeared in this 'series,'.'foiir or five authors mixed in a volume. Pespito tho. lack of a thin or India papcr ( , this kind of thing went on increasing under Charles Knight, W. ■and R. Chambers, John Cassell, and Nimmo, not always with ,d'ue rogard to tho fitness of things or 'tho comeliness of' the volumes. But the comely vblnmo, well edited, flourished as well, and the publications ot .William Pickering, whose "Aldino Editions" of tho English poets were referred to above, are books—to use an advertisement phrase—as neat anil satisfying as any book-lover could wish. ■''...' . ' It was Pickering who was tho soul of tho famous Chiswick Press, a member of which, Henry Bohn, originated the vast "Standard Library" associated with.his name. "Bonn's," with Professor Arbor's justly famous , scholarly "Reprints," practically conclude this period and bring us to tho really modern reprints. Among tho several shilling scries available not many, years ago, Routlcdgo's "Railway Library" was the most: popular. It. contained a goodly number' of reprints, . though . much , • modorn work was included as well.' Several more expensive series started in 1864; liot exorbitant' in price—indeed, since Macmillan's "Globe" and Routledge's •"Standard" Libraries were of tho. company, not in anywise expensive-. .Macmillan's splendid ■ "Golden Treasury", series have ' nover ceased to keep n firm place in tho affections ot all book-lovers. , Warne's "Chandos • Classics", the "Home and Colonial Library", Murray's "Travellers' Library", and Longman's "Travellers' Library" all contained work of' good quality. In 1833 tho era of tho really cheap reprint began. "Morley's Universal Library," begun by Routledgo with "Sheridan'sPlays" in an oat octtavo, at nincpcncc not, is too well known to need further referonco. It was followed by tl'.e same firm's "Pocket-Library," Scott's "Canterbury Poets," and' Casscll's "National Library" (at threepence in paper). The Morley scries- was. tho father of the. present admirable "New Universal Library" of Routledgo. Messrs. Dent took'a high place at onco with' their wonderful "Templo Edition" •of Shakespeare, followed by the "Temple.- Classics"—thoso exquisite littlo volumes that have survived all the competition of tho last few years. "Tho World's Classics"-was a-notable venture by Mr. Grant Richards, and, lately transferred to Henry Frowdc, is appearing in thin-paper editions. Mention must lie made of the "Mermaid Scries of Old Dramatists", tho "Cnmolot Classics", the "Muses Library", the. "York Library", the "King's .Classics", "Red Lett?:Library", "Library of Standard Biographies", Lane's "Pocket Library", the "Fnyourito Classics", thn "Ewerslev" series, and tho "Carlton Houso • Classics"—a fairly long, but far from exhaustive list. Most ot tho above ar-?. in the nature of pocket editions. The "Standard Library" of Messrs. Mothuen, which began-in 1905, promised grcr.t tliinfs. hut it fell short of that promise , Perhaps tho paper- . backed volumes had something' to do with it—the English public, unlike the French and German, concludes a bookis ephemeral or worthless coming to it unbound. Possibly it was the rigid austerity of the printed page; such things count whoro a popular public is concerned. All previous records were broken, however, by Dent's "Everyman's Li-. brar.v", a sorics that Ims sold in tens of thousands in littlo over a year. And the flood continues, for the public seems never to weary of the. allurements of the modern renrint.