PREFACE 
15 
now in the possession of the present editor, in which 
were found the MSS. which are here published. 
Mathilde, who knew how he treasured its contents, 
preserved it by saying to the officer, “ But, sir, that 
is mine. ”  On opening this it was found to contain, 
beside these MSS., his literary will.  All MSS. were 
to be published thirty years after his death, not before. 
He would gain no spurious popularity as a reflection 
of the age he lived in.  “ Tennyson,” he says, “ will 
die before sixty years are gone by :  if I am to be 
beloved of men, it shall be because my work is for 
all times and all men, because it is greater than all 
the gods of chance and change, because it has the 
heart of the human race beating in every line. ”  This 
is a patch of magenta to mauve, undoubtedly ;  but—! 
The present collection of verses will hardly be popular ; 
if the lost works turn up, of course it may be that 
there may be found “ shelter for songs that recede.”   
Still, even here, one is, on the whole, more attracted 
than repelled ;  the author has enormous power, and 
he never scruples to use it, to drive us half mad with 
horror, or, as in his earlier most exquisite works, to 
move us to the noblest thoughts and deeds.  True, 
his debt to contemporary writers is a little obvious