Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ... THE PIERROT OF THE MINUTE [Pierrot enters with his hands full of lilies. He is burdened with a little basket, tie stands gazing at the 'Temple and the Statue.] ]IERROT My journey's end! This surely is the glade Which I was promised: I have well obeyed! A clue of lilies was I bid to find, Where the green alleys most obscurely wind; Where tall oaks darkliest canopy o'erhead, And moss and violet make the softest bed; Where the path ends, and leagues behind me lie The gleaming courts and gardens of Versailles; The lilies streamed before me, green and white: I gathered, following; they led me right, To the bright temple and the sacred grove? This is, in truth, the very shrine of Love! THE PIERROT OF THE MINUTE [He gathers together his flowers and lays them at the foot of Cupid's statue; then he goes timidly up the first steps of the temple and stops. PIERROT It is so solitary, I grow afraid. Is there no priest here, no devoted maid? Is there no oracle, no voice to speak, Interpreting to me the word I seek? [A very gentle music of lutes floats out from the temple. Pierrot starts back; he shows extreme surprise; then he returns to the foreground, and crouches down in rapt attention until the music ceases. His face grows puzzlea and petulant.] PIERROT Too soon ! too soon 1 in that enchanting strain, Days yet unlived, I almost lived again: It almost taught me that I most would know-- Why am I here, and why am I Pierrot? [Absently he picks up a lily which has fallen to the ground, and repeats: ] PIERROT Why came I here, and why am I Pierrot? THE PIERROT OF THE MINUTE That music and this silence both affright; Pierrot can never be a friend of night. I never felt my solitude before-- Once safe at home, I will return no more. Yet the commandment of...
