424 MORE POT-POURRI 



sweet is mingled with bitter ; and the sweet too often is 

 soon forgotten, while the taste of the bitter remains. 

 And we hardly know whether to bless him or curse him, 

 for he has changed all things ; and we cannot tell 

 whether to weep for the old world we have lost, or shout 

 for joy at the new world we have found. Such is love 

 for the great majority ; a matter terrestrial rather than 

 celestial, and of doubtful happiness after all.' 



Mr. Mallock, in one of his clever novels, takes the 

 matter further in a way that may console those who 

 suffer from what appears such a wasted experience : 

 'A serious passion is a great educator. But its work 

 only begins when the pain it causes has left us. Strong 

 present feeling narrows our sympathies ; strong past 

 feeling enlarges them. Thus, a woman of the world 

 always should have been, but should not be, in love. 

 She should always have had a grief ; she should never 

 have a grievance.' 



How true it is, even with the commonplace, glorified 

 at the moment by their suffering : 'On a tant d'&me 

 pour souffrir et si pen d' esprit pour le dire' ! 



While on this subject, for the sake of those who have 

 not the pleasure of knowing Mr. "Wilfred Blunt's poems, 

 I quote three of his sonnets. First, because I think 

 them beautiful ; and secondly, because they strike a 

 note, very well recognised by those who have a knowledge 

 of human nature, of the danger of too great suppression 

 in youth. And I hold the sonnets up as a looking-glass 

 to some, and those by no means the worst, that they 

 may recognise what perhaps will be the trials and temp- 

 tations of their own future. These poems describe very 

 truthfully the phases many women go through, in a 

 more or less degree, according to their kind — women, 

 who, to all appearances, are just like everyone else, who 

 lead their quiet, dutiful lives, in all sincerity and 



