White Stains

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