Recent random ideas

POSSIBLE SPOILER NOTICE: Ideas in this and other posts may appear in the production, in which case the surprise factor may be lost.

1/04/08

-- preset two theatre seats (Don's?) off left so that, instead of moving into audience, Julia & Bianca sit on far left extension. Note: they would probably need to be struck before end of scene and Fraser's "trudging".

-- White Dwarf: If Louisa is wearing some kind of a mask, Dwarf would have to be even more incongruous. How? Full-body butoh-white makeup? With red clown nose? And red camera! Hair tied up in white dew-rag?

-- Moth sitting with musicians: contrast of white-on-black will look good unless Photographer is there, too. Wrap Photog in her black robe from Scene 2?

-- The White Zebra: I don't think using the rocking horse will work (though the baby carriage base is good. Life-sized stuffed 3-D zebra on wheels (as script calls for) would be best. 2nd best? 2-D cutout?
Also: Shouldn't it be a white zebra rather than black & white striped?

Notes during Break

In the midst of Winter Break now, and a hiatus from rehearsing... going back over the text and doing some detailed blocking (at times more like choreography) for some moments. Adapting from rehearsal but coming up with some new ideas, too. For instance (sorry--most line breaks have been lost in posting to blog):

MOTH (crossing a few steps down to audience): I am the only soft one; I am the only
soft one, because I am covered with
feathers. Yes, with feathers. Not with fur.
(crossing u.c. to gesture to Fraser and Julia)
With fur, look at them. Fur.

(Moth FREEZES. Bianca begins solo standing on s.l. wall)

BIANCA: And I was doing nothing harmful;
and I was doing nothing of the kind
and I was merely minding my own business
when the two of them, yes, the two
of them swept down upon me
like the spider;
yes, very much the spider.
The two of them, with their eight legs
arranged just so. The two of them, yes.

(Bianca crosses down the wall, doing the spider; sticks her tongue out at Fraser and Julia; looks back at audience and speak from beginning of speeches, each trying to be heard above the others.)

FRASER: Can you believe it? I am surrounded by
maniacs and idiots. It is hard to say
which is worse, the maniacs or the idiots.
(Fraser crosses to downstage center)
It is hard to say which is worse, the
mania of the maniacs, or the idiocy of the
idiots. For if there is one thing I
cannot abide it is the mania of maniacs;
for if there is something I hate even more
than that it is the idiocy of idiots.
And the worst

(All FREEZE except Fraser, who continues solo)

And the worst is the idiocy of bad jazz,
and the noise of these infernal idiots and maniacs,
idiots and maniacs as you see arrayed all about me.
Me!

(All resume speaking from where they had left off; FRASER, BIANCA, and JULIA circle clockwise on the white wall as they speak; the PHOTOGRAPHER flees with camera s.r. into the orchestra; by the next freeze, FRASER ends up d.l., JULIA ends up d.r., BIANCA ends up u.c. on wall)

Photos from Actors Theatre production

References in the text (very partial)

Note: images didn't copy from my original document. Damn!

QUESTIONS (formulated pre-rehearsal):

1) Substitution for White Dwarf? Or actor pretending to be a dwarf? Or something else entirely? (mistake to make over racial statement here?)

2) Based on Humana production (and given the fact that I'm working with student actors, mostly), what are some acting pitfalls I should watch out for? I'm thinking that speaking and thinking exceptionally clearly and precisely are among the most important suggestions to give them--true?

3) I'm also thinking that we would attempt very little movement except when movement is clearly called for (and then strong, choreographed movement); sound right?

4) Why the family name "Ring" (or "Outermost Ring")? Suggests...? Disputant asks, "You are the fourth Ring to bear the family name of Ring?" (33)

Page 3: "Scene[Steam ]:" title of scene? (1st entr'acte "Steam") Scene 2:[Snowey ]
What is "steam" meant to suggest?

Page 9 of pdf: Moth: "... to greet the new century, and yes, the new millennium, yes..." Deliberate conflation of 19th-20th and 20th-21st centuries? Another meaning? (Am I being to literal here?)

Page 11 of pdf: Fraser: "I, the photographer, be damned." -- confused by the "I"

Page 27: Julia hopes that names are "... not mere slank appelatives." slank? not a typo for "rank"?

Page 46: "...the white triangular cake of St. Wolof." I can find no reference to Wolof beyond the people and language spoken in Senegal. Related to "Gift of Ivory"? Deliberate African reference? Significance to "white triangular cake"? Also: Significance of "Long White Man"? Reference?

Page 51: Stage directions say the White Dwarf enters and "narrates of the stage directions which follow"; is that intended to say "narrates some of the stage directions.."?

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References:

FRASER:
Simon Fraser (20 May 1776–18 August 1862) was a fur trader and an explorer who charted much of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. Fraser was employed by the Montreal-based North West Company. By 1805, he had been put in charge of all the company's operations west of the Rocky Mountains. He was responsible for building that area's first trading posts, and in 1808 he explored what is now known as the Fraser River, which bears his name. Simon Fraser's exploratory efforts were partly responsible for Canada's boundary later being established at the 49th parallel (after the War of 1812), since he as a British subject was the first European to establish permanent settlements in the area.
Contents

STAGE DESCRIPTION: "a Malevich white-on-white target"

Kasimir Malevich
Suprematist Composition: White on White (1918)

Gallery label text
2006

Malevich described his aesthetic theory, known as Suprematism, as "the supremacy of pure feeling or perception in the pictorial arts." He viewed the Russian Revolution as having paved the way for a new society in which materialism would eventually lead to spiritual freedom. This austere painting counts among the most radical paintings of its day, yet it is not impersonal; the trace of the artist's hand is visible in the texture of the paint and the subtle variations of white. The imprecise outlines of the asymmetrical square generate a feeling of infinite space rather than definite borders.



Publication excerpt
The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, revised 2004, originally published 1999, p. 85

A white square floating weightlessly in a white field, Suprematist Composition: White on White was one of the most radical paintings of its day: a geometric abstraction without reference to external reality. Yet the picture is not impersonal: we see the artist's hand in the texture of the paint, and in the subtle variations of the whites. The square is not exactly symmetrical, and its lines, imprecisely ruled, have a breathing quality, generating a feeling not of borders defining a shape but of a space without limits.

After the Revolution, Russian intellectuals hoped that human reason and modern technology would engineer a perfect society. Malevich was fascinated with technology, and particularly with the airplane, instrument of the human yearning to break the bounds of earth. He studied aerial photography, and wanted White on White to create a sense of floating and transcendence. White was for Malevich the color of infinity, and signified a realm of higher feeling.

For Malevich, that realm, a utopian world of pure form, was attainable only through nonobjective art. Indeed, he named his theory of art Suprematism to signify "the supremacy of pure feeling or perception in the pictorial arts"; and pure perception demanded that a picture's forms "have nothing in common with nature." Malevich imagined Suprematism as a universal language that would free viewers from the material world.



P. 3
WHITED SEPULCHERS:
Matthew 27-33
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
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P. 3
BLENCH
blench 1 |blen ch |
verb [ intrans. ]
make a sudden flinching movement out of fear or pain : he blenched and struggled to regain his composure.
ORIGIN Old English blencan [deceive,] of Germanic origin; later influenced by blink .
blench 2 |blɛntʃ| |blɛntʃ|
verb chiefly dialect
variant spelling of blanch .

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fugleman
n. soldier standing in front of others to demonstrate drill, etc.; model.

References: Frontenac Bay

From LoveToKnow 1911
FUGLEMAN (from the Ger. Flügelmann, the man on the Flügel or wing), properly a military term for a soldier who is selected to act as "guide," and posted generally on the flanks with the duty of directing the march in the required line, or of giving the time, &c., to the remainder of the unit, which conforms to his movements, in any military exercise. The word is then applied to a ringleader or one who takes the lead in any movement or concerted movement.


The Expedition Leaving Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario. November 18, 1678
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References:
Telegu (pronounced TEL-egu) (also Telugu)
Telugu Islands
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
telugu
noun
1. a member of the people in southeastern India (Andhra Pradesh) who speak the Telugu language
2. a Dravidian language spoken by the Telugu in southeastern India

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P. 13
FLEA CIRCUSES: http://www.flea-circus.com/ (includes a great video!)
A flea circus refers to a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas were attached to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing. Fresnel lenses were mounted on all sides of the housing to allow visitors to view the attraction.
A number of electrical, magnetic, and mechanical devices were used to augment the exhibit. In some cases these mechanisms were responsible for all of the "acts," with loose fleas in the exhibit maintaining the illusion. Some "flea circuses" do not contain any fleas at all and the skill of the performer convinces the audience of their existence.
The first records of flea performances were from watch makers who were demonstrating their metal working skills. Flea circuses were first advertised as early as 1833 in England, and were a main carnival attraction until 1930. Some flea circuses persisted in very small venues in the United States as late as the 1960s. Since the flea circus has largely become a lost art form, much information about them is anecdotal or steeped in lore, and is not authoritative.
-- wikipedia
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P. 13
Lepidopteran:
lep·i·dop·ter·an (lěp'ĭ-dŏp'tər-ən) Pronunciation Key
n. An insect belonging to the large order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths, characterized by four membranous wings covered with small scales.
- Cite This Source - Share This
lepidoptera
1773, "insects with four scaly wings," the biological classification that includes butterflies, coined 1735 by Swed. botanist Carolus Linnaeus (Karl von Linné, 1707-78) from Gk. lepis (gen. lepidos) "(fish) scale" (related to lepein "to peel") + pteron "wing, feather" (see petition).
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P. 13
Neman River:
is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches. The 14th largest river in Europe, the largest in Lithuania and the 3rd largest in Belarus, it is navigable for most of its 900-kilometer length.

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P. 14
dioptrical silver plate
dioptrics: the branch of geometrical optics dealing with the formation of images by lenses.
"silver plate photograph": Daguerreo-type
(see history of photography in file)

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P. 15
Diophantine Challenge Box:
Diophantine: \Di`o*phan"tine\, a. Originated or taught by Diophantus, the Greek writer on algebra.
Diophantine analysis (Alg.), that branch of indeterminate analysis which has for its object the discovery of rational values that satisfy given equations containing squares or cubes; as, for example, to find values of x and y which make x^{2} + y^{2} an exact square.
Diophantine Challenge:
Problem: Given that x, y, and b are positive integers, prove that the Diophantine equation, x2 + (bminusx)y = plus or minus1 in x and y, has at least four solutions for all values of b.

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P. 19 Wandering Albatross
The Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans), is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae which has a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It was the first species of albatross to be described, and was long considered the same species as the Tristan Albatross and the Antipodean Albatross (in fact a few authors still consider them all subspecies of the same species). Together with the Amsterdam Albatross it forms the Wandering Albatross species complex. The Wandering is the largest member of the genus Diomedea (the great albatrosses), and is one of the best known and studied species of bird in the world.

The Wandering Albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, with the average wingspan being 3.1 metres (10.2 ft).
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P. 19
Imp Obsidian
Imps were the common name given to familiar spirits that served witches in the middle ages. Imps were usually kept inside artifacts such as gemstone pieces or vials and summoned for service by magics. An example of such an imp is one that was supposedly under the service of the alchemist Paracelsus, who supposedly kept one locked inside a crystal in the pommel of his sword.[citation needed]

(Obsidian is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics.)
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P. 19
whyd·ah also whid·ah (hwĭd'ə, wĭd'ə) Pronunciation Key
n. Any of several African weaverbirds of the genus Vidua, the male of which grows long, drooping, predominantly black tail feathers during the breeding season. Also called widow bird.

Dahomey:
Dahomey was the name of a country in Africa now called the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state founded in the seventeenth century which survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey existed from 1960-1975. In 1975, the country was re-named Benin after the Bight of Benin (not the unrelated historical Kingdom of Benin) since "Benin", unlike "Dahomey", was deemed politically neutral for all ethnic groups in the state.
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P. 19
Leucoblast:
Main Entry: leu·ko·blast
Variant: or chiefly British leu·co·blast /'lü-k&-"blast/ noun
: a developing leukocyte : a cellular precursor of a leukocyte —compare LYMPHOBLAST, MYELOBLAST

Leucorrhea
noun
discharge of white mucous material from the vagina; often an indication of infection [syn: leukorrhea]

Leucocyte
blood cells that engulf and digest bacteria and fungi; an important part of the body's defense system [syn: leukocyte]

Leucocytosis
An abnormally large increase in the number of white blood cells in the blood, often occurring during an acute infection or inflammation.

Leucoderma
n. Partial or total loss of skin pigmentation, often occurring in patches. Also called vitiligo.
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P. 20
Sikkimese hangover (Sikkim)
a kingdom in NE India, in the Himalayas between Nepal and Bhutan. 315,682; 2818 sq. mi. (7298 sq. km). Capital: Gangtok.
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P. 23
Shrike
1. any of numerous predaceous oscine birds of the family Laniidae, having a strong, hooked, and toothed bill, feeding on insects and sometimes on small birds and other animals: the members of certain species impale their prey on thorns or suspend it from the branches of trees to tear it apart more easily, and are said to kill more than is necessary for them to eat.
2. any of several other birds having similar bills, as the vanga shrikes.
3. (initial capital letter) Military. a 10-foot (3-m), 400-pound (180-kg) U.S. air-to-ground missile designed to destroy missile batteries by homing in on their radar emissions.
O.E. scric "thrush," lit. "bird with a shrill call," probably echoic of its cry and related to shriek (cf. O.N. skrikja "shrieker, shrike").
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P. 26
Chiffonnier
3. a shallow, tall, open piece of furniture, of the 18th century, having shelves for the display of china.
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P. 27
Pseudo-Mennipus (no ref.)
Mennipus:
There is another tale, known by both the Greeks and Romans, about the wedding of a young man called Mennipus. At the wedding, the bride was carefully observed by a philosopher called Appolonius of Tyana. Appolonius accused the bride of being a vampire and then, according to a later tale, the bride confessed to vampirism, saying that she planned to marry Mennipus so she could have a fresh source of blood to drink from. (from website on vampires!)

Also: Painting by Diego Velazquez
"Mennipus"
Oil on Canvas
Completed in 1640

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P. 27
Kama-Loka
in Buddhism, the world of feeling.
Arupa-loka is, in Buddhist thought, the highest of the three spheres of existence in which rebirth takes place. The other two are rupa-loka, “the world of form,” and kama-loka, “the world of feeling” (the three are also referred to as arupa-dhatu, rupa-dhatu, and kama-dhatu, the “realms” of formlessness, form, and feeling).

In Theosophy, Kamaloka (derived from Sanskrit) is the semi-material plane, subjective and invisible to humans, where the disembodied "personalities", the astral forms, called Kamarupa remain, until they fade out from it by the complete exhaustion of the effects of the mental impulses that created these eidolons of human and animal passions and desires. It is associated with Hades of ancient Greeks and the Amenti of the Egyptians, the land of Silent Shadows; a division of the first group of the Trailõkya. (See "Kamãdhatu")

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P. 30
Melanesian
1849, in ref. to Melanesia, one of three large divisions of Pacific islands, from Gk. melano-, comb. form of melas (gen. melanos) "black" (see melanin) + nesos "island." Modeled after Polynesia and meant to signify "the islands inhabited by blacks."

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P. 32
Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House (http://www.newporthistorical.org/sites_wlhh.htm)
The oldest surviving house in Newport, the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House was built for Stephen Mumford in ca.1697. Mumford was a merchant and a founding member of Newport's Seventh Day Baptist congregation.The house passed to Mumford's son, Stephen Mumford, Jr., and then was sold to Richard Ward, a lawyer who became governor of the colony of Rhode Island in 1741. During the Revolution, Ward's son Samuel also was elected to that office.

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P. 35
"Shake shake shake
Shake the devil off
in the name of Jesus" -- gospel tune--check out this clip on UTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOoU-gbAXqE

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P. 35
"Taji...Yillah"
From Melville's Mardi:
From a blog (http://rodneywelch.blogspot.com/2003_06_01_archive.html):
Our protagonist is joined by a Nordic Sailor named Jarl and, eventually, a couple they meet on what appears to be a deserted ship, Samoa and Aleema. Along the way they encounter a group of savages who are about to sacrifice the beautiful maiden Yillah, whom they also rescue.
The five eventually land on the archipelago of Mardi -- whose geography I have not quite mapped out in my head, and which if I'm not mistaken is ruled by King Media -- where the protagonist is recognized as the god Taji. Yillah suddenly goes missing, and a search for her ensues amidst the surrounding area -- a long and somewhat loping search in which Melville gazes and dreams and thinks and philosophizes on a great deal.

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P. 50
The Winter War (Finnish: Talvisota, Swedish: Vinterkriget, Russian: Зимняя война, also known as the Soviet-Finnish War or the Russo-Finnish War began when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939, three months after the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union that started World War II. Because the attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had expected to conquer the whole country by the end of 1939, but Finnish resistance frustrated the Soviet forces, who outnumbered the Finns 4:1 in men, 200:1 in tanks and 30:1 in aircraft[4]. Finland held out until March 1940, when the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed ceding about 10% of Finland's territory (excluding its population) and 20% of its industrial capacity to the Soviet Union.
For two and a half years following the offensive period, December 1941 until June 1944, the Continuation War was conducted as a stabilized war in the trenches. The Finns had assumed Germany’s success in their war plans. They expected a relatively easy advance following the retreating Soviet troops to Finland’s new frontier - where that was may not have been so clear in the beginning. The war that was supposed to be a short one continued and seemed to turn into something else as the winter came and the Germans were still far from their objectives. The Soviets had already achieved some local successes forcing the Germans to retreat in places. The Finns had already lost more lives than in the Winter War. By December fighting stabilized into trench warfare in all parts of the front line. Continuous field fortifications formed across the Karelian isthmus.

Karelian Isthmus is bridge of land between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga joining Russia and Finland
Map of Karelian Isthmus: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Karelian_Isthmus.png
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(Scene Three)

WHITE WATER CROW FOOT

Common water-crowfoot - Ranunculus aquatilisCommon water-crowfoot - Ranunculus aquatilis
UK distribution - East Anglia, Midlands, North, South East, South West

Common water-crowfoot can be seen either floating or submerged in ponds and ditches. It has deeply dissected submerged leaves and dark green three-lobed floating leaves. The floating leaves appear just before the papery white, yellow-centred flowers, which can very attractively cover the surface of a pond in early summer.

Water crowfoot provides cover for most aquatic life including water spider and the larvae of dragonflies and damselflies. Some species of beetle are attracted to the flowers.
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Rauschenberg's "Erased deKooning"

Robert Rauschenberg's "Erased deKooning" drawing (1953) seems relevant...

Here a link to a great article (Tate website): http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue8/erasuregenteel.htm

The Masque of Blackness

THE MASQUE OF BLACKNESS,

PERSONATED AT THE COURT AT WHITEHALL, ON THE TWELFTH-NIGHT, 1605.


Salve festa dies, meliorque revertere semper. — OVID.

THE honor and splendor of these Spectacles was such in the performance, as, could those hours have lasted, this of
mine, now, had been a most unprofitable work. But when it is the fate even of the greatest, and most absolute births,
to need and borrow a life of posterity, little had been done to the study of magnificence in these, if presently with the
rage of the people, who, (as a part of greatness) are privileged by custom, to deface their carcasses, the spirits had also
perished. In duty therefore to that Majesty, who gave them their authority and grace, and, no less than the most royal
of predecessors, deserves eminent celebration for these solemnities, I add this later hand to redeem them as well from
ignorance as envy, two common evils, the one of censure, the other of oblivion.
Pliny,1 Solinus,2 Ptolemy,3 and of late Leo 4 the African, remember unto us a river in Æthiopia, famous by the name
of Niger ; of which the people were called Nigritæ, now Negroes ; and are the blackest nation of the world. This river 5
taketh spring out of a certain lake, eastward ; and after a long race, falleth into the western ocean. Hence (because it
was her majesty's will to have them blackmoors at first) the invention was derived by me, and presented thus :

First, for the scene, was drawn a landtschap (landscape) consisting of small woods, and here and there
a void place filled with huntings ; which falling, an artificial sea was seen to shoot forth, as if it flowed to
the land, raised with waves which seemed to move, and in some places the billows to break, as imitating
that orderly disorder which is common in nature. In front of this sea were placed six tritons,6 in moving and
sprightly actions, their upper parts human, save that their hairs were blue, as partaking of the sea-color :
their desinent parts fish, mounted above their heads, and all varied in disposition. From their backs were
borne out certain light pieces of taffata, as if carried by the wind, and their music made out of wreathed
shells. Behind these, a pair of sea-maids, for song, were as conspicuously seated ; between which, two
great sea-horses, as big as the life, put forth themselves ; the one mounting aloft, and writhing his head from
the other, which seemed to sink forward ; so intended for variation, and that the figure behind might come
off better : 7 upon their backs, Oceanus and Niger were advanced.
Oceanus presented in a human form, the color of his flesh blue ; and shadowed with a robe of sea-green ;
his head grey, and horned,8 as he is described by the ancients : his beard of the like mixed color : he was
garlanded with alga, or sea-grass ; and in his hand a trident.
Niger, in form and color of an Æthiop ; his hair and rare beard curled, shadowed with a blue and bright
mantle : his front, neck, and wrists adorned with pearl, and crowned with an artificial wreath of cane and
paper-rush.
These induced the masquers, which were twelve nymphs, negroes, and the daughters of Niger ; attended
by so many of the Oceaniæ,9 which were their light-bearers.
The masquers were placed in a great concave shell, like mother of pearl, curiously made to move on
those waters and rise with the billow ; the top thereof was stuck with a cheveron of lights, which indented
to the proportion of the shell, struck a glorious beam upon them, as they were seated, one above another :
so they were all seen, but in an extravagant order.
On sides of the shell did swim sixe huge sea-monsters, varied in their shapes and dispositions, bearing on
their backs the twelve torch-bearers, who were planted there in several graces ; so as the backs of some
were seen ; some in purfle, or side ; others in face ; and all having their lights burning out of whelks, or
murex-shells.
The attire of the masquers was alike in all, without difference : the colors azure and silver ; but returned
on the top with a scroll and antique dressing of feathers, and jewels interlaced with ropes of pearl. And for
the front, ear, neck, and wrists, the ornament was of the most choice and orient pearl ; best setting off from
the black.
For the light-bearers, sea-green, waved about the skirts with gold and silver ; their hair loose and flowing, gyrlanded with sea-grass, and that stuck with branches of coral.
These thus presented, the scene behind seemed a vast sea, and united with this that flowed forth, from
the termination, or horizon of which (being the level of the state, which was placed in the upper end of the
hall) was drawn by the lines of prospective, the whole work shooting downwards from the eye ; which
decorum made it more conspicuous, and caught the eye afar off with a wandering beauty : to which was
added an obscure and cloudy night-piece, that made the whole set off. So much for the bodily part, which
was of master Inigo Jones's design and act.
By this, one of the tritons, with the two sea-maids, began to sing to the others' loud music, their voices
being a tenor and two trebles.

SONG.

Sound, sound aloud
The welcome of the orient flood,
Into the west ;
Fair Niger,1 son to great Oceanus,
Now honor'd, thus,
With all his beauteous race :
Who, though but black in face,
Yet are they bright,
And full of life and light.
To prove that beauty best,
Which, not the color, but the feature
Assures unto the creature.

Ocea. Be silent, now the ceremony's done,
And, Niger, say, how comes it, lovely son,
That thou, the Æthiop's river, so far east,
Art seen to fall into the extremest west
Of me, the king of floods, Oceanus,
And in mine empire's heart, salute me thus ?
My ceaseless current, now, amazed stands
To see thy labor through so many lands,
Mix thy fresh billow with my brackish stream ; 2
And, in thy sweetness, stretch thy diadem,
To these far distant and unequall'd skies,
This squared circle of celestial bodies.

Niger. Divine Oceanus, 'tis not strange at all,
That, since th' immortal souls of creatures mortal,
Mix with their bodies, yet reserve for ever
A power of separation, I should sever
My fresh streams from thy brackish, like things fix'd,
Though, with thy powerful saltness, thus far mix'd.
“ Virtue, though chain'd to earth, will still live free ;
And hell itself must yield to industry.”

Ocea. But what's the end of thy Herculean labors,
Extended to these calm and blessed shores ?

Niger. To do a kind, and careful father's part,
In satisfying every pensive heart
Of these my daughters, my most loved birth :
Who, though they were the first form'd dames of earth,3
And in whose sparkling and refulgent eyes,
The glorious sun did still delight to rise ;
Though he, the best judge, and most formal cause
Of all dames beauties, in their firm hues, draws
Signs of his fervent'st love ; and thereby shows
That in their black, the perfect'st beauty grows ;
Since the fixt color of their curled hair,
Which is the highest grace of dames most fair,
No cares, no age can change ; or there display
The fearful tincture of abhorred gray ;
Since death herself (herself being pale and blue)
Can never alter their most faithful hue ;
All which are arguments, to prove how far
Their beauties conquer in great beauty's war ;
And more, how near divinity they be,
That stand from passion, or decay so free.
Yet, since the fabulous voices of some few
Poor brain-sick men, styled poets here with you,
Have, with such envy of their graces, sung
The painted beauties other empires sprung ;
Letting their loose and winged fictions fly
To infect all climates, yea, our purity ;
As of one Phaëton,4 that fired the world,
And that, before his heedless flames were hurl'd
About the globe, the Æthiops were as fair
As other dames ; now black, with black despair :
And in respect of their complexions chang'd,
Are eachwhere, since, for luckless creatures rang'd ; 5
Which, when my daughters heard, (as women are
Most jealous of their beauties) fear and care
Possess'd them whole ; yea, and believing them,6
They wept such ceaseless tears into my stream,
That it hath thus far overflow'd his shore
To seek them patience : who have since e'ermore
As the sun riseth,7 charg'd his burning throne
With vollies of revilings ; 'cause he shone
On their scorch'd cheeks with such intemperate fires.
And other dames made queens of all desires.
To frustrate which strange error, oft I sought,
Tho' most in vain, against a settled thought
As women are, till they confirm'd at length
By miracle, what I, with so much strength
Of argument resisted ; else they feign'd :
For in the lake where their first spring they gain'd,
As they sat cooling their soft limbs, one night,
Appear'd a face, all circumfused with light ;
(And sure they saw't, for Æthiops 8 never dream)
Wherein they might decipher through the stream,
These words :

1 All rivers are said to be the sons of the Ocean ; for, as
the ancients thought, out of the vapors exhaled by the heat
of the sun, rivers and fountains were begotten. And both
by Orph. in Hym. and Homer, Il. §. Oceanus is celebrated
tanquam pater, et origo diis, et rebus, quia nihil sine
humectatione nascitur, aut putrescit.
2 There wants not enough, in nature, to authorize this
part of our fiction, in separating Niger from the ocean,
(beside the fable of Alpheus, and that, to which Virgil
alludes of Arethusa, in his 10. Eclog.

Sic tibi, cum fluctus subter labêre Sicanos,
Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam.)

Examples of Nilus, Jordan, and others, whereof see Nican.
lib. 1. de flumin. and Plut. in vita Syllæ, even of this our
river (as some think) by the name of Melas.
3 Read Diod. Sicul. lib. 3. It is a conjecture of the old
ethnics, that they which dwell under the south, were the
first begotten of the earth.
4 Notissima fabula, Ovid. Met. lib. 2.
5 Alluding to that of Juvenal, Satyr. 5. Et cui per
mediam nolis occurrere noctem.
6 The poets.
7 A custom of the Æthiops, notable in Herod. and Diod.
Sic. See Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 8.
8 Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 8.


662

That they a land must forthwith seek,
Whose termination, of the Greek,
Sounds T A N I A ; where bright Sol, that heat
Their bloods, doth never rise or set,1
But in his journey passeth by,
And leaves that climate of the sky,
To comfort of a greater light,
Who forms all beauty with his sight.

In search of this, have we three princedoms past,
That speak out Tania in their accents last ;
Black Mauritania, first ; and secondly,
Swarth Lusitania ; next we did descry
Rich Aquitania : and yet cannot find
The place unto these longing nymphs design'd.
Instruct and aid me, great Oceanus,
What land is this that now appears to us ?

Ocea. This land, that lifts into the temperate air
His snowy cliff, is Albion the fair ; 2
So call'd of Neptune's son,3 who ruleth here :
For whose dear guard, myself, four thousand year,
Since old Deucalion's days, have walk'd the round
About his empire, proud to see him crown'd
Above my waves.—

At this, the Moon was discovered in the upper part
of the house, triumphant in a silver throne, made
in figure of a pyramis. Her garments white and
silver, the dressing of her head antique, and
crowned with a luminary, or sphere of light :
which striking on the clouds, and heightened with
silver, reflected as natural clouds do by the splendor
of the moon. The heaven about her was
vaulted with blue silk, and set with stars of silver,
which had in them their several lights burning.
The sudden sight of which made Niger to interrupt
Oceanus with this present passion.

O see, our silver star !
Whose pure, auspicious light greets us thus far !
Great Æthiopia goddess of our shore,4
Since with particular worship we adore
Thy general brightness, let particular grace
Shine on my zealous daughters : shew the place,
Which long their longings urg'd their eyes to see,
Beautify them, which long have deified thee.

Æthi. Niger, be glad : resume thy native cheer.
Thy daughters labors have their period here,
And so thy errors. I was that bright face
Reflected by the lake, in which thy race
Read mystic lines ; which skill Pythagoras
First taught to men, by a reverberate glass.
This blessed isle doth with that T A N I A end,
Which there they saw inscribed, and shall extend
Wish'd satisfaction to their best desires.
Britannia, which the triple world admires,
This isle hath now recover'd for her name ;
Where reign those beauties that with so much fame
The sacred Muses' sons have honored,
And from bright Hesperus to Eous spread.
With that great name Britannia, this blest isle
Hath won her ancient dignity, and style,
A WORLD DIVIDED FROM THE WORLD : and tried
The abstract of it, in his general pride.
For were the world, with all his wealth, a ring,
Britannia, whose new name makes all tongues sing,
Might be a diamant worthy to inchase it,
Ruled by a sun, that to this height doth grace it :
Whose beams shine day and night, and are of force
To blanch an Æthiop, and revive a corse.
His light sciential is, and, past mere nature,
Can salve the rude defects of every creature.
Call forth thy honor'd daughters then :
And let them, 'fore the Britain men,
Indent the land, with those pure traces
They flow with, in their native graces.
Invite them boldly to the shore ;
Their beauties shall be scorch'd no more :
This sun is temperate, and refines
All things on which his radiance shines.

Here the Tritons sounded, and they danced on shore,
every couple, as they advanced, severally presenting
their fans : in one of which were inscribed
their mixt names, in the other a mute hieroglyphic,
expressing their mixed qualities.5 Their own single
dance ended, as they were about to make choice
of their men : one, from the sea, was heard to
call them with this CHARM, sung by a tenor voice.

Come away, come away,
We grow jealous of your stay ;
If you do not stop your ear,
We shall have more cause to fear
Syrens of the land, than they
To doubt the Syrens of the sea.

Here they danced with their men several measures
and corantos. All which ended, they were again
accited to sea, with a SONG of two trebles, whose
cadences were iterated by a double echo from
several parts of the land.

Daughters of the subtle flood,
Doe not let earth longer entertain you ;
1 Ech. Let earth longer entertain you.
2 Ech. Longer entertain you.

'Tis to them enough of good,
That you give this little hope to gain you.
1 Ech. Giive this little hope to gain you.
2 Ech. Little hope to gain you.

If they love,
You shall quickly see ;
For when to flight you move,
They'll follow you, the more you flee.
1 Ech. Follow you, the more you flee.
2 Ech. The more you flee.

If not, impute it each to other's matter ;
They are but earth, and what you vow'd was water.
1 Ech. And what you vow'd was water.
2 Ech. You vow'd was water.

Æthi. Enough, bright nymphs, the night grows old,
And we are grieved we cannot hold
You longer light ; but comfort take.
Your father only to the lake

1 Consult with Tacitus, in vita Agric. and the Paneg. ad
Constant.
2 Orpheus, in his Argonaut. calls it Greek: Leukaion Cerson
3 Alluding to the right of styling princes after the name
of their princedoms : so is he still Albion, and Neptune's
son that governs. As also his being dear to Neptune, in
being so embraced by him.
4 The Æthiopians worshipped the moon by that surname.
See Step. Greek: peri poleun in voce Greek: AITHIPION
5 Which manner of symbol I rather chose, than imprese,
as well for strangeness, as relishing of antiquity, and more
applying to that original doctrine of sculpture, which the
Egyptians are said first to have brought from the Æthio-
pians. Diod. Sicul. Herod.


663

Shall make return : yourselves, with feasts,
Must here remain the Ocean's guests.
Nor shall this veil, the sun hath cast
Above your blood, more summers last,
For which you shall observe these rites :
Thirteen times thrice, on thirteen nights,
(So often as I fill my sphere
With glorious light throughout the year)
You shall, when all things else do sleep
Save your chaste thoughts, with reverence, steep
Your bodies in that purer brine,
And wholesome dew, call'd ros-marine :
Then with that soft and gentler foam,
Of which the ocean yet yields some
Whereof, bright Venus, beauty's queen,
Is said to have begotten been,
You shall your gentler limbs o'er-lave,
And for your pains perfection have :
So that, this night, the year gone round,
You do again salute this ground ;
And in the beams of yond' bright sun,
Your faces dry, — and all is done.

At which, in a dance, they returned to the sea, where
they took their shell, and with this full SONG
went out.

Now Dian, with her burning face,
Declines apace :
By which our waters know
To ebb, that late did flow.

Back seas, back nymphs ; but with a forward grace,
Keep still your reverence to the place :
And shout with joy of favor, you have won,
In sight of Albion, Neptune's son.

So ended the first Masque ; which, beside the sin-
gular grace of music and dances, had the success
in the nobility of performance, as nothing needs
to the illustration, but the memory by whom it
was personated.

Excerpts from "The White People" by Arthur Machen

(note: Wellman adapts portions of this story for the final speech of the play)

from The white people (1899, 1922 ed)
by Arthur Machen
from The house of souls, Knopf, New York (1906, 1922 ed.)
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/whtpeopl.htm
(CITED AS SOURCE TEXT BY WELLMAN)


from "Prologue":

"And what is sin?" said Cotgrave.

"I think I must reply to your question by another. What would your feelings be, seriously, if your cat or your dog began to talk to you, and to dispute with you in human accents? You would be overwhelmed with horror. I am sure of it. And if the roses in your garden sang a weird song, you would go mad. And suppose the stones in the road began to swell and grow before your eyes, and if the pebble that you noticed at night had shot out stony blossoms in the morning?

"Well, these examples may give you some notion of what sin really is."
. . .
"Then, to return to our main subject, you think that sin is an esoteric, occult thing?"

"Yes. It is the infernal miracle as holiness is the supernal. Now and then it is raised to such a pitch that we entirely fail to suspect its existence; it is like the note of the great pedal pipes of the organ, which is so deep that we cannot hear it. In other cases it may lead to the lunatic asylum, or to still stranger issues. But you must never confuse it with mere social misdoing. Remember how the Apostle, speaking of the 'other side,' distinguishes between 'charitable' actions and charity. And as one may give all one's goods to the poor, and yet lack charity; so, remember, one may avoid every crime and yet be a sinner"
. . .

from "The Green Book"

I must not write down the real names of the days and months which I found out a year ago, nor the way to make the Aklo letters, or the Chian language, or the great beautiful Circles, nor the Mao Games, nor the chief songs. I may write something about all these things but not the way to do them, for peculiar reasons. And I must not say who the Nymphs are, or the Dôls, or Jeelo, or what voolas mean. . . Besides these, I have the dances, and the Comedy, and I have done the Comedy sometimes when the others were looking, and they didn't understand anything about it. I was very little when I first knew about these things.
. . .
Then we came to a path through a wood, and a tall man came after us, and went with us till we came to a place where there was a deep pool, and it was very dark and shady. Nurse put me down on the soft moss under a tree, and she said: "She can't get to the pond now." So they left me there, and I sat quite still and watched, and out of the water and out of the wood came two wonderful white people, and they began to play and dance and sing. They were a kind of creamy white like the old ivory figure in the drawing-room; one was a beautiful lady with kind dark eyes, and a grave face, and long black hair, and she smiled such a strange sad smile at the other, who laughed and came to her. They played together, and danced round and round the pool, and they sang a song till I fell asleep.
. . . .
And this afternoon I walked a new way, and a little brook led me into a new country, but I tore my frock getting through some of the difficult places, as the way was through many bushes, and beneath the low branches of trees, and up thorny thickets on the hills, and by dark woods full of creeping thorns. And it was a long, long way. It seemed as if I was going on for ever and ever, and I had to creep by a place like a tunnel where a brook must have been, but all the water had dried up, and the floor was rocky, and the bushes had grown overhead till they met, so that it was quite dark.
. . . .
It reminded me of a tale my nurse had told me when I was quite little; it was the same nurse that took me into the wood where I saw the beautiful white people. And I remembered how nurse had told me the story one winter night, when the wind was beating the trees against the wall, and crying and moaning in the nursery chimney. She said there was, somewhere or other, a hollow pit, just like the one I was standing in, everybody was afraid to go into it or near it, it was such a bad place. But once upon a time there was a poor girl who said she would go into the hollow pit, and everybody tried to stop her, but she would go. And she went down into the pit and came back laughing, and said there was nothing there at all, except green grass and red stones, and white stones and yellow flowers.
. . .
So the king's son said he would marry her, and the king said he might. And the bishop married them, and there was a great supper, and after- wards the king's son went to his wife's room. But just when he had his hand on the door, he saw a tall, black man, with a dreadful face, standing in front of the door, and a voice said--

Venture not upon your life,
This is mine own wedded wife.

Then the king's son fell down on the ground in a fit. And they came and tried to get into the room, but they couldn't, and they hacked at the door with hatchets, but the wood had turned hard as iron, and at last everybody ran away, they were so frightened at the screaming and laughing and shrieking and crying that came out of the room. But next day they went in, and found there was nothing in the room but thick black smoke, because the black man had come and taken her away. And on the bed there were two knots of faded grass and a red stone, and some white stones, and some faded yellow flowers.
I remembered this tale of nurse's while I was standing at the bottom of the deep hollow; it was so strange and solitary there, and I felt afraid. I could not see any stones or flowers, but I was afraid of bringing them away without knowing, and I thought I would do a charm that came into my head to keep the black man away. So I stood right in the very middle of the hollow, and I made sure that I had none of those things on me, and then I walked round the place, and touched my eyes, and my lips, and my hair in a peculiar manner, and whispered some queer words that nurse taught me to keep bad things away.
. . .
and I was afraid it must be all a mistake, because it seemed impossible it could happen. It seemed like one of nurse's tales, which I didn't really believe in, though I was frightened at the bottom of the hollow; and the stories she told me when I was little came back into my head, and I wondered whether it was really there what I thought I had seen, or whether any of her tales could have happened a long time ago. It was so queer;
. . .
till I hardly knew what was new and what was old, or whether it was not all dreaming. And then I remembered that hot summer afternoon, so long ago, when nurse left me by myself in the shade, and the white people came out of the water and out of the wood, and played, and danced, and sang, and I began to fancy that nurse told me about something like it before I saw them, only I couldn't recollect exactly what she told me. Then I wondered whether she had been the white lady, as I remembered she was just as white and beautiful, and had the same dark eyes and black hair; and sometimes she smiled and looked like the lady had looked, when she was telling me some of her stories, beginning with "Once on a time," or "In the time of the fairies."
. . .
And sometimes nurse told me tales that she had heard from her great-grandmother, who was very old, and lived in a cottage on the mountain all alone, and most of these tales were about a hill where people used to meet at night long ago, and they used to play all sorts of strange games and do queer things that nurse told me of, but I couldn't understand, and now, she said, everybody but her great-grandmother had forgotten all about it, and nobody knew where the hill was, not even her great-grandmother.
. . .
And the noise and the singing would go on and on for a long time, and the people who were in a ring swayed a little to and fro; and the song was in an old, old language that nobody knows now, and the tune was queer. Nurse said her great-grandmother had known some one who remembered a little of it, when she was quite a little girl, and nurse tried to sing some of it to me, and it was so strange a tune that I turned all cold and my flesh crept as if I had put my hand on something dead.
. . .
Then they all rose up and danced, and secret things were brought out of some hiding place, and they played extraordinary games, and danced round and round and round in the moonlight, and sometimes people would suddenly disappear and never be heard of afterwards, and nobody knew what had happened to them.
. . .
and if I shut my eyes I can see the glaring blue sky, with little clouds very white floating across it, and nurse who went away long ago sitting opposite me and looking like the beautiful white lady in the wood. So we sat down and nurse took out the clay doll from the secret place where she had hidden it, and she said we must "pay our respects," and she would show me what to do, and I must watch her all the time. So she did all sorts of queer things with the little clay man, and I noticed she was all streaming with perspiration, though we had walked so slowly, and then she told me to "pay my respects," and I did everything she did because I liked her, and it was such an odd game. And she said that if one loved very much, the clay man was very good, if one did certain things with it, and if one hated very much, it was just as good, only one had to do different things, and we played with it a long time, and pretended all sorts of things. Nurse said her great-grandmother had told her all about these images, but what we did was no harm at all, only a game.
. . .
and he was more than ever certain that the Lady Avelin was deceiving him and the others. And he was so clever, and told the servant so many lies, that one night he managed to hide in the Lady Avelin's room behind the curtains. And he stayed quite still and never moved, and at last the lady came. And she bent down under the bed, and raised up a stone, and there was a hollow place underneath, and out of it she took a waxen image, just like the clay one that I and nurse had made in the brake. And all the time her eyes were burning like rubies. And she took the little wax doll up in her arms and held it to her breast, and she whispered and she murmured, and she took it up and she laid it down again, and she held it high, and she held it low, and she laid it down again. And she said, "Happy is he that begat the bishop, that ordered the clerk, that married the man, that had the wife, that fashioned the hive, that harboured the bee, that gathered the wax that my own true love was made of." And she brought out of an aumbry a great golden bowl, and she brought out of a closet a great jar of wine, and she poured some of the wine into the bowl, and she laid her mannikin very gently in the wine, and washed it in the wine all over. Then she went to a cupboard and took a small round cake and laid it on the image's mouth, and then she bore it softly and covered it up. And Sir Simon, who was watching all the time, though he was terribly frightened, saw the lady bend down and stretch out her arms and whisper and sing, and then Sir Simon saw beside her a handsome young man, who kissed her on the lips. And they drank wine out of the golden bowl together, and they ate the cake together. But when the sun rose there was only the little wax doll, and the lady hid it again under the bed in the hollow place. So Sir Simon knew quite well what the lady was, and he waited and he watched, till the time she had said was nearly over, and in a week the year and a day would be done. And one night, when he was watching behind the curtains in her room, he saw her making more wax dolls. And she made five, and hid them away. And the next night she took one out, and held it up, and filled the golden bowl with water, and took the doll by the neck and held it under the water. Then she said--

Sir Dickon, Sir Dickon, your day is done,
You shall be drowned in the water wan.

And the next day news came to the castle that Sir Richard had been drowned at the ford. And at night she took another doll and tied a violet cord round its neck and hung it up on a nail. Then she said--

Sir Rowland, your life has ended its span,
High on a tree I see you hang.

And the next day news came to the castle that Sir Rowland had been hanged by robbers in the wood. And at night she took another doll, and drove her bodkin right into its heart. Then she said--

Sir Noll, Sir Noll, so cease your life,
Your heart piercèd with the knife.

And the next day news came to the castle that Sir Oliver had fought in a tavern, and a stranger had stabbed him to the heart. And at night she took another doll, and held it to a fire of charcoal till it was melted. Then she said--

Sir John, return, and turn to clay,
In fire of fever you waste away.

And the next day news came to the castle that Sir John had died in a burning fever. So then Sir Simon went out of the castle and mounted his horse and rode away to the bishop and told him everything. And the bishop sent his men, and they took the Lady Avelin, and everything she had done was found out. So on the day after the year and a day, when she was to have been married, they carried her through the town in her smock, and they tied her to a great stake in the market-place, and burned her alive before the bishop with her wax image hung round her neck. And people said the wax man screamed in the burning of the flames. And I thought of this story again and again as I was lying awake in my bed, and I seemed to see the Lady Avelin in the market-place, with the yellow flames eating up her beautiful white body. And I thought of it so much that I seemed to get into the story myself, and I fancied I was the lady, and that they were coming to take me to be burnt with fire, with all the people in the town looking at me. And I wondered whether she cared, after all the strange things she had done, and whether it hurt very much to be burned at the stake.
. . .
I wanted to go out and be alone. It was a warm day, and I went to a nice turfy hill by the river, and sat down on my mother's old shawl that I had brought with me on purpose. The sky was grey, like the day before, but there was a kind of white gleam behind it, and from where I was sitting I could look down on the town, and b it was all still and quiet and white, like a picture. I remembered that it was on that hill that nurse taught me to play an old game called "Troy Town," in which one had to dance, and wind in and out on a pattern in the grass, and then when one had danced and turned long enough the other person asks you questions, and you can't help answering whether you want to or not, and whatever you are told to do you feel you have to do it. Nurse said there used to be a lot of games like that that some people knew of, and there was one by which people could be turned into anything you liked and an old man her great-grandmother had seen had known a girl who had been turned into a large snake. And there was another very ancient game of dancing and winding and turning, by which you could take a person out of himself and hide him away as long as you liked, and his body went walking about quite empty, without any sense in it. But I came to that hill because I wanted to think of what had happened the day before, and of the secret of the wood. From the place where I was sitting I could see beyond the town, into the opening I had found, where a little brook had led me into an unknown country. And I pretended I was following the brook over again, and I went all the way in my mind, and at last I found the wood, and crept into it under the bushes, and then in the dusk I saw something that made me feel as if I were filled with fire, as if I wanted to dance and sing and fly up into the air, because I was changed and wonderful. But what I saw was not changed at all, and had not grown old, and I wondered again and again how such things could happen, and whether nurse's stories were really true, because in the daytime in the open air everything seemed quite different from what it was at night, when I was frightened, and thought I was to be burned alive. I once told my father one of her little tales, which was about a ghost, and asked him if it was true, and he told me it was not true at all, and that only common, ignorant people believed in such rubbish. He was very angry with nurse for telling me the story, and scolded her, and after that I promised her I would never whisper a word of what she told me, and if I did I should be bitten by the great black snake that lived in the pool in the wood. And all alone on the hill I wondered what was true.
. . .
I went a second time to the secret place. It was at the deep brimming well, and when I was standing on the moss I bent over and looked in, and then I knew who the white lady was that I had seen come out of the water in the wood long ago when I was quite little. And I trembled all over, because that told me other things. Then I remembered how sometime after I had seen the white people in the wood, nurse asked me more about them, and I told her all over again, and she listened, and said nothing for a long, long time, and at last she said, "You will see her again." So I understood what had happened and what was to happen.

. . .

from "Epilogue":

"They discovered that green book somewhere in her room, and I found her in the place that she described with so much dread, lying on the ground before the image."

"It was an image?"

"Yes, it was hidden by the thorns and the thick undergrowth that had surrounded it. It was a wild, lonely country; but you know what it was like by her description, though of course you will understand that the colours have been heightened. A child's imagination always makes the heights higher and the depths deeper than they really are; and she had, unfortunately for herself, something more than imagination. One might say, perhaps, that the picture in her mind which she succeeded in a measure in putting into words, was the scene as it would have appeared to an imaginative artist. But it is a strange, desolate land."

"And she was dead?"

"Yes. She had poisoned herself--in time. No; there was not a word to be said against her in the ordinary sense. You may recollect a story I told you the other night about a lady who saw her child's fingers crushed by a window?"

"And what was this statue?"

"Well, it was of Roman workmanship, of a stone that with the centuries had not blackened, but had become white and luminous. The thicket had grown up about it and concealed it, and in the Middle Ages the followers of a very old tradition had known how to use it for their own purposes. In fact it had been incorporated into the monstrous mythology of the Sabbath. You will have noted that those to whom a sight of that shining whiteness had been vouchsafed by chance, or rather, perhaps, by apparent chance, were required to blindfold themselves on their second approach. That is very significant."

"And is it there still?"

"I sent for tools, and we hammered it into dust and fragments."

"The persistence of tradition never surprises me," Ambrose went on after a pause. "I could name many an English parish where such traditions as that girl had listened to in her childhood are still existent in occult but unabated vigour. No, for me, it is the 'story' not the 'sequel,' which is strange and awful, for I have always believed that wonder is of the soul."


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