LYTTON, EDWARD ROBKKT BULWER. 



47:$ 



nn the trrusp of that hand which ho* hitherto l-i n 



!, '1111.1 ...fll!'..|-t throllifh tile life 1 owe to \M|I. 



W in i-li ill iln MM!, w ln-iii- \i-l.-in-r ha. I IHI t"i I !>< 



I till' llll\ V simple lessoll. Mil Illlllllti'lll I.I \.,||.l the 



hboring approval .*r tin- night, I brought t.. \-.u 



m. 'i iii H:.''.- tu>k for the evening's sun. -lion, *" now 



to \oii the self appointed tn.sk workof tnaturar 

 iiiti'lent indeed of your approval, but not 

 6M confident "i \oiirlo\e ; ana anxious only toreul- 



r jirc.senee between myself Ulld the public, UII<1 



mingle with those severer voices t.. whose tlnul 

 I Miluiiit my work Uie beloved und gracious 



\oiir own. 



l-'r.-iii many tin.- philosophical passages in the 

 in we select two : 



souree of the holiest joys we inherit, 



Sorrow, thou solemn, invisible spirit! 

 Ill fuivs it with inuii w hen, through life's desert sand, 

 tirown impatient txx> noon for the long-promised land, 

 "< turns t'roin tin- worship of then, us tnou art, 



n expressless und imogeless truth in the heart, 



lid takes of the jewel- of Ku'N pt, tlie pelf 



n. I the gold of the godless, to make to himselt 

 gaudy, id.ilatroiis linage of thee, 

 ' then bows to the sound of the cymbal the knee. 



be sorrows we make to ourselves are false gods : 

 lake the prophets of Baal, our bosoms with rods 



e may smite, we may gush at our hearts till they 



bleed, 



Jut these idols arc blind, deaf, and dumb to our need. 

 The land is uthirst. und erics out! . . . 'tis in vain; 

 "'ic great blessing of Heaven descends not in rain. 



Through all symbols I search for her sweetness in 



vain ! 



Judge her love by her life. For our life is but love 

 act Pure was hers : and the dear God above, 

 ho knows what his creatures have need of for life, 

 nd whose love includes all loves, through much 

 patient strife 



her soul into peace. Love, though love may bo 

 given 



n vain, is yet lovely. Her own native heaven 

 ktore clearly she mirrored, as life's troubled dream 

 Wore away ; and love sighed into rest, like a stream 

 ~hat breaks ite heart over wild rocks toward the 



ihore 



'the srtvat sea which hushes it up evermore 

 ith it** little wild wailing. No,stream from its source 

 lows seaward, how lonely soever its course, 

 ut what some hind is gladdened. No star ever rose 

 nd set, without influence somewhere. Who knows 

 hat earth needs from earth's lowest creature ? No 



life 



'an be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife 

 nd all life not be purer and stronger thereby, 

 he spirits of just men mode perfect on high, 

 he army of martyrs who stand by the Throne 

 ml L'u/e. into the Face that makes glorious their own, 

 now this, surely, at last Honest love, honest sor- 

 row, 



onest work for the dav, honest hope for the morrow 

 re these worth nothing more than the hand they 



make weary, 

 The heart they have saddened, the life they leave 



dreary I 



Hush ! the sevenfold heavens to the voice of the Spirit 

 *" ho: He thai o'ercometh shall all things inherit 



In January. 1863, he was transferred toCopen- 

 as secretary of legation, where he was 

 I- 11 -harf/t d'affaires and in 1864 he was sent in 

 ' ie same capacity to Athens. In October of that 

 'ear he married Kdith. second daughter <>f Hon. 

 'dward Villiers. and niece of the Karl of Claren- 

 don. As if to complete the round of foreign 

 courts, Lord Lytton was again transferred, this 



time to Lisbon, and hen; he again served wehargt 

 d'aflairrn. He mjweWully concluded tht: m-go- 

 (tiutiou of H commercial ircaty between < 

 Britain and Portugal, and, in 1K(W, was trans- 

 ferred to .Madrid. In l*b':{ lie had miblishcd hi-. 

 only work in |>ros4-, a novel entitled "Tin.- King 

 of AmaMs." In isr.'.i In- was promoted to the 

 secretaryship of legation at Vienna, again sett- 

 ing as fltaryf. d' affaire*. At this time he pub- 

 lished " Orval, or the Fool of Time," a dramatic 

 poem paraphrased from the Polish, ami founded 

 on the " undivine comedy " of Count N. A. '/.. 

 Knisinski, "Nie-boska Komedyja"; the volume 

 also contained i mil at ions and paraphrases in verse 

 from Greek, Latin, Italian, and Danish literature. 

 Another transference, in 1872, was to Paris, as 

 secretary of embassy. He was often left in entire 

 charge serving as minister plenipotentiary. While 

 there he succeeded to the title, as second Baron 

 Lytton, on the death of his father, in lb?;i He de- 

 clined the governorship of Madras, and was then 

 appointed Her Majesty's minister at Lisbon in 

 1874. While there he published a volume of 

 poems, entitled " Fables in Song," and a memo- 

 rial of his father, called, " Speeches of Edward, 

 Lord Lytton, with some of his Political Writings, 

 hitherto unpublished, and a Prefatory Memoir 

 by his Son." In 1876 he was appointed Viceroy 

 of India, and in 1877 he presided at the cere- 

 monies held on the plains of Delhi, at the proc- 

 lamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of In- 

 dia. In the same year he was honored with the 

 Grand Cross of the civil division of the Order of 

 the Bath. Lady Lytton was one of a small num- 

 ber who were given the Order of the Imperial 

 Crown of India, and their eldest son, Victor 

 Alexander George Robert, at the Queen's sug- 

 gestion, was made her godson. In 1880 Lord 

 Lytton was created Earl of Lytton and Viscount 

 Knebworth. In the same year he offered his 

 resignation as Viceroy of India. 



He was afterward minister to France. In 1881 

 appeared "Julian Fane, a Memoir," written to 

 commemorate his deceased friend, who had been 

 his collaborator in " Tannhauser" and other lit- 

 erary work. In 1883 appeared in two volumes 

 " The Life. Letters, and Literary Remains of Kd- 

 ward Bulwer, Lord Lytton," and in 1885 " Glen- 

 averil," a poem in two volumes. In 1887 appeared 

 " After Paradise, or Legends of Exile.' The 

 following extract is from " The Apple of Life," 

 one of his finest poems : 



He mused, as he went, " Life is good : 

 But not life in itself. It is well while the wine-cup 



is hot in the blood, 

 And a man goeth whither he listeth, and doc-th tho 



th\ng that lie will. 



And liveth his life as he lusteth, and taketh in free- 

 dom his fill 

 Of the pleasure that pleaseth his humor, and feareth 



no snare by the wav. 

 Shall I care to" be loved" by a queen, if my pride with 



my freedom I pav '. 

 BattaT far is a handful of quiet than both hands, 



though filled to o'erflow 

 With pride, in vexation of spirit And sweeter tho 



r.iM-s that blow 

 From the wild seeds the wind, where he wander*, 



with heedless beneficence tliiiL's, 

 Than those that are guarded by dragons to brighten 



the gardens of kinirs. 

 Let a man take his chance, and be happy. Tho hart 



by the hunter pursued, 



