But the deed done, battle won,-nowhere to be descried On the meadow, by the stream, at the marsh,-look far and wide

From the foot of the mountain, no, to the last bloodplashed sea-side,

Not anywhere on view blazed the large limbs thonged and brown,

Shearing and clearing still with the share before which— down

To the dust went Persia's pomp, as he ploughed for Greece,

that clown!

"Care for no name at all!

How spake the Oracle ?
Say but just this: We praise one helpful whom we call
The Holder of the Ploughshare. The great deed ne'er

grows small."

Not the great name! Sing-woe for the great name Miltiadés,
And its end at Paros isle! Woe for Themistokles-
Satrap in Sardis court! Name not the clown like these!

The name, Echetlos, is derived from exérλn, a plough handle. It is not strictly a proper name, but an appellative, meaning "the Holder of the Ploughshare." The story is found in Pausanias, author of the "Itinerary of Greece" (1, 15, 32). Nothing further is necessary in order to understand this little poem and appreciate its rugged strength than familiarity with the battle of Marathon, and some knowledge of Miltiades and Themistocles, the one known as the hero of Marathon, and the other as the hero of Salamis. The lesson of the poem ("The great deed ne'er grows small, not the great name!") is taught in a way not likely to be forgotten. One is reminded of another, who wished to be nameless, heard only as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness!"

The ellipsis in thought between the eighth and ninth stanzas is so easily supplied that it is noticed here only as a simple illustration of what is sometimes the occasion of difficulty (see Introduction, p. iii). It would only have lengthened the poem and weakened it to have inserted a stanza telling in so many words that when the hero could not be found, a message was sent to the Oracle to enquire who it could be.

As a companion to "Echetlos" may be read the stirring poem of "Hervé Riel."

HELEN'S TOWER.

Ελένη ἐπὶ πύργῳ.

WHO hears of Helen's Tower, may dream perchance,
How the Greek Beauty from the Scean Gate
Gazed on old friends unanimous in hate,
Death-doom'd because of her fair countenance.

Hearts would leap otherwise, at thy advance,
Lady, to whom this Tower is consecrate :
Like hers, thy face once made all eyes elate,
Yet, unlike hers, was bless'd by every glance.

The Tower of Hate is outworn, far and strange :
A transitory shame of long ago,

It dies into the sand from which it sprang :
But thine, Love's rock-built Tower, shall fear no change :
God's self laid stable Earth's foundations so,

When all the morning-stars together sang.

The tower is one built by Lord Dufferin, in memory of his mother Helen, Countess of Gifford, on one of his estates in Ireland. "The Greek Beauty" is, of course, Helen of Troy, and the reference in the alternative heading is apparently to that fine passage in the third book of the " Iliad," where Helen meets the Trojan chiefs at the Scean Gate (see line 154, which speaks of "Helen at the Tower").

On the last two lines, founded of course on the well-known passage in Job (xxxviii. 4-7), compare Dante :

"E il sol montava in su con quelle stelle
Ch'eran con lui, quando l'Amor Divino
Mosse da prima quelle cose belle."

"Aloft the sun ascended with those stars

That with him rose, when Love Divine first moved

Those its fair works."

-Inferno I. 38-40.

SHOP.

I.

So, friend, your shop was all

your house!
Its front, astonishing the street,
Invited view from man and mouse
To what diversity of treat

Behind its glass-the single sheet !

II.

What gimcracks, genuine Japanese :
Gape jaw and goggle-eye, the frog;
Dragons, owls, monkeys, beetles, geese;
Some crush-nosed human-hearted dog:
Queer names, too, such a catalogue !

III.

I thought "And he who owns the wealth "Which blocks the window's vastitude,

“—Ah, could I peep at him by stealth

66

Behind his ware, pass shop, intrude

"On house itself, what scenes were viewed!

IV.

"If wide and showy thus the shop,
"What must the habitation prove?
"The true house with no name a-top-
"The mansion, distant one remove,
"Once get him off his traffic groove!

V.

"Pictures he likes, or books perhaps ;
"And as for buying most and best,
"Commend me to these city chaps.
"Or else he 's social, takes his rest
"On Sundays, with a Lord for guest.

VI.

"Some suburb-palace, parked about
"And gated grandly, built last year:
"The four-mile walk to keep off gout;
"Or big seat sold by bankrupt peer:
"But then he takes the rail, that 's clear.

VII.

"Or, stop! I wager, taste selects

"Some out o' the way, some all-unknown "Retreat the neighbourhood suspects

"Little that he who rambles lone

"Makes Rothschild tremble on his throne!"

VIII.

Nowise! Nor Mayfair residence

Fit to receive and entertain,—

Nor Hampstead, villa's kind defence

From noise and crowd, from dust and drain,

Nor country-box was soul's domain !

IX.

Nowise! At back of all that spread

Of merchandize, woe 's me, I find
A hole i' the wall where, heels by head,
The owner couched, his ware behind,
-In cupboard suited to his mind.

X.

For, why? He saw no use of life
But, while he drove a roaring trade,
To chuckle "Customers are rife!"

To chafe "So much hard cash outlaid
"Yet zero in my profits made!

XI.

"This novelty costs pains, but-takes? "Cumbers my counter! Stock no more!

"This article, no such great shakes,

"Fizzes like wild fire? Underscore

"The cheap thing-thousands to the fore!"

XII.

'T was lodging best to live most nigh
(Cramp, coffinlike as crib might be)
Receipt of Custom; ear and eye

Wanted no outworld: "Hear and see
"The bustle in the shop!" quoth he.