,illustration ,,the ,,decadent3 ,,being ,,the ,,gospel ,,of ,,inaction3 ,,wherein ,,are ,,set ,,forth ,,in ,,romance ,,form ,,certain ,,reflections ,,touching ,,the ,,curious ,,characteristics ,,of ,,these ,,ultimate ,,years1 ,,and ,,the ,,divers ,,causes ,,thereof4 ,illustration ,,privately ,,printed ,,for ,,the ,,author ,,mdcccxciii ,,tibi ,,meo ,,caro ,b ,g ,g ,,cvivs ,,laboribvs ,,pretivm ,,non ,,proprivm ,,ei ,,fiebat ,,opera ,,tva ,,exarcho ,,fratribvsqve ,,eivs ,,ordinis ,,qvae ,,svmnia ,,sibi ,,fingit ,,deniqve ,,omnibvs ,,delectis ,,per ,,orbem ,,terrarvm ,,hvnc ,,librvm ,,grate ,,dico ,,the ,,decadent4 ,i4 ,the #c4bj train from ,boston slowed up as it drew into a way station1 and ,malcolm ,mc,cann1 grim and sullen from his weary ride in the dirt and cinders1 the coal-smoke and the foetid air1 the fretting babies and hot1 worrying men1 that characterise a railway journey in ,august1 hurried out with a grunt of relief4 ,it was not a pretty station where he found himself1 and he glared ill-naturedly around with restless1 aggressive eyes4 ,the brick walls1 the cheaply grained doors bearing their tarnished legends1 ,gents1 ,ladies1 ,refreshment ,saloon1 the rough raftered roof over the tracks1--everything was black and grimy with years of smoke1 belching even now from the big locomotive1 and gathering like an ill-conditioned thunder-cloud over the mob of scurrying1 pushing men and women1 a mob that swelled and scattered constantly in fretful confusion4 ,a hustling business-man with a fat1 pink face and long sandy whiskers1 his silk hat cocked on one side in grotesque assumption of jauntiness1 tripped over the clay-covered pick of a surly labourer1 red of face and sweaty1 blue of overalls and mud-coloured of shirt1 and as he stumbled over the annoying implement scowled coarsely1 and swore1 with his cigar between his teeth4 ,ragged and grimy children1 hardly old enough to walk1 sprawled and scrambled on the dirty platform1 and as ,mc,cann hurried by1 a five-year old cursed shrilly a still more youthful little tough1 who answered in kind4 ,vulgar theatre-bills in rank reds and yellows flaunted on the cindery walls2 discarded newspapers1 banana-skins1 cigar-butts1 and saliva were ground together vilely under foot by the scuffling mob4 ,dirt1 meanness1 ugliness everywhere1--in the unhappy people no less than in their surroundings4 ,mc,cann strode scornfully to the rear of the station and looked vaguely around to see if ,aurelian had sent any kind of a conveyance to take him to his home1--of the location of which1 save that it was to be reached from this particular station1 ,mc,cann knew nothing4 ,the prospect was not much better outside than in4 ,the air was thick with fine white dust1 and dazzling with fierce sunlight4 ,on one side was a wall of brick tenements1 with liquor saloons1 cheap groceries1 and a fish-market below1 all adding their mite to the virulence of the dead1 stifling air4 ,above1 men in dirty shirt-sleeves lolled out of the grimy windows1 where long festoons of half-washed clothes drooped sordidly4 ,on the other side1 gangs of workmen were hurriedly repairing the ravages of a fire that evidently had swept clear a large space in its well-meant but ineffectual attempts at purgation4 ,gaunt black chimneys wound with writhing gas-pipes1 tottering fragments of wall blistered white on one side1 piles of crumbling bricks where men worked sullenly loading blue carts1 mingled with new work1 where the walls1 girdled with yellow scaffolding1 were rising higher1 uglier1 than before2 the plain factory walls with their rows of square windows less hideous by far than those buildings where some ignorant contractor was trying by the aid of galvanised iron to produce an effect of tawdry1 lying magnificence4 ,dump-carts1 market-waggons1 shabby hacks1 crawled or scurried along in the hot dust4 ,a huge dray loaded with iron bars jolted over the granite pavement with a clanging1 clattering din that was maddening4 ,in fact1 none of the adjuncts of a thriving1 progressive town were absent1 so far as one could see4 ,mc,cann turned away from this spectacle of humiliating prosperity1 and ran his eyes over the vehicles about the station1 searching for some indication of his friend4 ,he had thought that perhaps ,aurelian might come himself2 but he saw no sign of a familiar figure1 no indication even of any conveyance that might belong to ,aurelian ,blake4 ,the greater part of the carriages had gone1 and now only remained an express-waggon or two1 a decrepit old hack1 an old-fashioned chaise1 one or two nondescript country conveyances1 and a particularly gorgeous victoria1 drawn by a pair of splendid grey horses1 a liveried driver sitting on the box in ,ethiopian state4 ,none of these vehicles could possibly belong to the fastidious but democratic ,aurelian1 and ,mc,cann almost thought his telegram must have miscarried4 ,a black footman in fawn-coloured livery1 wearing a small cockade of scarlet and silver1 touched his hat to the sulky traveller4 ,beg yo pahdon1 suh1 but ah yo ,mistuh ,mc,cann1 ,mistuh ,malcolm ,mc,cann1 of ,boston1 suh8 ,that is my name1 said ,mc,cann1 shortly4 ,i have the honnoh to be ,mistuh ,blake's footman1 suh1 and he touched the cockade in his hat again4 ,will yo have the kindness to follow me1 suh8 ,there was a touch of servile imperiousness in the voice1 and ,mc,cann followed in bewildered surprise4 ,aurelian ,blake's footman--that did not sound well4 ,could his pupil have become a backslider in the last two years8 ,aurelian ,blake's footman--the idea was surprising in itself2 but the fact of the big victoria with its luxurious trappings where he soon found himself being whirled swiftly on through the screaming1 clattering city was more surprising still1 and not a little disquieting4 ,the carriage threaded its way through the roaring crowd of vehicles1 passing the business part of the city1 and entering a tract given over to factories1 hideous blocks of barren brick and shabby clapboards1 through the open windows of which came the brain-killing whir of heavy machinery1 and hot puffs of oily air4 ,here and there would be small areas between the buildings where foul streams of waste from some factory of cheap calico would mingle dirtily with pools of green1 stagnant water1 the edges barred with stripes of horrible pinks and purples where the water had dried under the fierce sun4 ,all around lay piles of refuse1--iron hoops1 broken bottles1 barrels1 cans1 old leather stewing and fuming in the dead heat1 and everywhere escape-pipes vomiting steam in spurts4 ,over it all was the roar of industrial civilisation4 ,mc,cann cast a pitying look at the pale1 dispirited figures passing languidly to and fro in the midst of the din and the foul air1 and set his teeth closely4 ,presently they entered that part of the city where live the poor1 they who work in the mills1 when they are not on strike1 or the mills are not shut down1--as barren of trees or grass as the centre of the city1 the baked grey earth trodden hard between the crowded tenements painted lifeless greys1 as dead in colour as the clay about them4 ,children and goats crawled starvedly around or huddled in the hot shadow of the sides of the houses4 ,this passed1 and then came the circle of suburban residences1 as crowded almost as the tottering tenements1 but with green grass around them4 ,frightful spectacles these1--,queen ,anne and colonial vagaries painted lurid colours1 and frantic in their cheap elaboration4 ,between two affected little cottages painted orange and green and with round towers on their corners1 stood a new six-story apartment-house with vulgar front of brown stone1 ,romanesque in style1 but with long flat sides of cheap brick4 ,mc,cann caught the name on the big white board that announced ,suites to let1 ,hotel ,plantagenet1 and grinned savagely4 ,then1 at last1 even this region of speculative horrors came to an end1 giving place to a wide country road that grew more and more beautiful as they left the town far behind4 ,mc,cann's eyebrows were knotted in a scowl4 ,the ghastly nonsense1 like a horrible practical joke1 that the city had been to him1 excited1 as it always did1 all the antagonism within his rebellious nature4 ,slowly and grimly he said to himself1 yet half aloud1 in a tone of deliberation1 as though he were cursing solemnly the town he had left3 ,i hope from my soul that ,i may live to see the day when that damned city will be a desolate wilderness2 when those chimneys shall rise smokeless2 when those streets shall be stony valleys between grisly ridges of fallen brick2 when ,nature itself shall shrink from repairing the evil that man has wrought2 when the wild birds shall sweep widely around that desolation that they may not pass above2 when only rats and small snakes shall crawl through the ruin of that 'thriving commercial and manufacturing metropolis2' when the very name it bore in the days of its dirty glory shall have become a synonym for horror and despair6 ,having thus relieved himself he laughed softly1 and felt better4 ,presently a flash of recollection passed over his face1 and he eagerly dropped his hand into a side pocket1 pulling therefrom a brierwood pipe1 discovered with a sigh of satisfaction that a sweet heel of ,dills ,best still lurked in the bottom of the bowl1 and1 regardless of the amazement of the immaculate footman1 lighted it1 and sank back in the cushions1 well content4 ,as he smoked1 his thoughts went back to ,aurelian with some uneasiness4 ,i am afraid he is a backslider1 he mused seriously4 ,now1 when ,i went over to ,england a couple of years ago1 he was a good socialist1 the best pupil ,i ever had4 ,he would rail at the world in good set terms1 better than ,i myself4 ,and now he runs a trap like this1 with a coon slave for a driver and a footman beside him4 ,now1 ,i can't lose a man like that2 he was a born leader of men1 when leaders are what we lack4 ,besides1 he had a lot of money1 and we need money as badly as we need leaders4 ,i must get him back some way1 if gone he is2 and ,i very much expect bad news from the boy when ,i get to--,now1 what did he call his place8 he pulled a letter from his pocket1 shaking tobacco ashes out of its folds4 ,oh1 yes1 ',vita ,nuova4' ,now1 why the devil did he name his place that8 ,the stubby pipe sucked and sputtered1 and ,mc,cann knocked the ashes into the road4 ,they had driven already nearly an hour1 and he was growing impatient2 how much farther had they to go8 ,he asked the coachman1 who only replied1 ,just a fractional bit further1 suh1 which was indefinite4 ,they left the highway and struck into a hilly road where the hedgerows grew thick on either side1 with rough pastures beyond1 on the one hand1 and on the other thick and ancient pine forests1 where the low sunlight struck under the sighing branches and rested on mossy boulders and level patches of golden ferns4 ,now and then a grey farmhouse appeared in its orchard1 and once they passed a dingy white meeting-house1 with pointed wooden spikes on the four corners of its belfry1 its green blinds faded a sickly yellow4 ,just beyond they met the country milk-team with its cantering horses and clattering cans1 the driver nodding on his seat1 with a watchful collie beside him4 ,then the pastures on the right ended1 and they plunged into deep forests1 black1 almost lightless1 where the road wound like the bed of a dry torrent in a vast green caon4 ,the carriage climbed steeply up the rocky road1 with no sound around but the rattle of pebbles under the feet of the horses1 and the melancholy calling of the wood thrushes4 ,on the crown of the hill heavy wrought-iron gates closed their passage1 gates that swung back slowly as the footman whistled twice4 ,they passed through1 turned sharply to the left1 and in a flash were out of the forest4 ,malcolm ,mc,cann had not a very keen sense of beauty1 but even to him the vision that lay before him startled him into sudden enthusiasm4 ,they were riding along the comb of a ridge of high hills thick with ink-black pine forests to the left1 while to the right they swept down in gracious undulations into a basin-shaped valley1 the level floor of which was1 it may be1 something over a thousand acres in extent1 shaped like an elongated ellipse1 with lofty hills rising on all sides4 ,the sun dropped down and lay on the edge of the world2 from the farther side of the valley it poured a suave1 golden glory of molten light down over the purple1 serrated hills1 that lay in the valley like amber wine4 ,smooth fields of ripening grain and velvet meadow-land chequered the valley irregularly1 slim elms and dark1 heavy oaks rising among them4 ,in the midst1 curling like level smoke1 wound a narrow river with black poplars and golden chestnut-trees leaning above4 ,in all the valley was no sign of a dwelling save far away at the distant end1 where from the midst of thick foliage rose dark roofs and towers and chimneys1 as of some chteau on the ,loire4 ,mc,cann caught his breath4 ,is that the place8 he said quickly4 ,suh1 that is ,vita ,nuova1 answered the footman4 ,,ii4 ,this1 said ,eveleth1 languidly1 turning his head in the valley of silken pillows until he could see the long figure of ,aurelian drooping in the ,mexican hammock across the big room through the dim strata of blue smoke that1 in the silence1 lay almost motionless1 swirled now and then into subtle curlings and windings as some drowsy smoker breathed more white vapour into the slowly moving and rising tide1--,this is the peace of the land of ,proserpina1 the faultless content of perfect possession4 ,philistinism is not without honour1 for behold6 it has conceived and brought forth--the ,decadence4 ,non sentir m'e gran ventura ,por non mi distar3 deh6 parla basso6 said ,aurelian1 softly4 ,it is only a dream after all1 even a dream of the land of endless afternoon4 ,there is lotos mingled with the tobacco1 but we wake easily4 ,a deeper voice came from a motionless figure prone on a tiger skin before the crumbling fire4 ,opium and ,burgundy are not faultless substitutes for the true lotos after all1 but--they do very well--for the time4 ,murmurs of inarticulate assent rose and faded in the opium-heavy air1 and then the smoke grew still again4 ,now and then a bit of wood fell in the fireplace4 ,aurelian's narghileh gurgled and sighed in slow cadence4 ,these things were only a modulation of the silence4 ,the room was vast and dim1 seemingly without bounds1 save on that side where the violet flames of a drift-wood fire flickered quiveringly1 making a centre1 a concentration of dull light2 for the rest1 a mysterious wilderness of rugs and divans1 ,indian chairs and hammocks1 where silent figures lay darkly1 each a primal cause of one of the many thin streams of smoke that curled heavily upward2--smoke from strange and curious pipes from ,lahore and ,gualior2 small sensitive pipes from ,japan2 here and there the short thick stems of opium-pipes1 and by the motionless ,mexican hammock a splendid and wonderful hookah with writhing stem4 ,as the thin flames of the dying fire flashed into some sudden brightness1 they revealed details unseen in the general gloom1--a vast and precious missal gorgeous with scarlet and gold and purple illumination1 open1 on a carved oak lectern1 spoil of some ,spanish monastery2 the golden gloom of a ,giovanni ,bellini reft from its home in ,venice1 and as yet unransomed2 the glint of twisted and gilded glass in an ebony cabinet2 great folios and quartos in ancient bindings of vellum and ivory and old calf-skin1 heavily tooled with gold1 and with silver and jewelled medallions and clasps1 stacked in heaps in careless indifference2 the flash and sparkle of a cabinet of gems1 the red splendour of old lacquer2 the green mystery of wrought jade4 ,and everywhere a heavy atmosphere that lay on the chest like a strange yet desirable dream2 the warm1 sick odour of tobacco and opium1 striving with the perfume of sandal-wood1 and of roses that drooped and fluttered in pieces in the hot air4 ,around a brazier of green bronze1 on the floor1 before the fire1 lay the three men who were gently breathing in the bland opium1 their dark figures radiating from the queer brazier wrought of two ugly dragons chasing each other around a great globe of ,japanese chrystal1 the firelight gleaming on the tall glasses of champagne where the little column of gold bubbles rose steadily4 ,the fire fell together1 and a leaping flame cast a fitful light on heavy tapestry curtains wrought with the story of the loves of ,cupid and ,psyche4 ,its two halves parted slowly1 and a flush of red light fell through as1 in the midst1 appeared a dark figure with closed eyes1 swaying softly as it leaned forward1 and1 while the curtains closed1 fell with a long sweep gently toward the brazier1--not as men fall1 but as a snake with its head lifted high might advance slidingly1 and as it came1 droop lower and lower until it rested prone on the uncrushed flowers4 ,so ,enderby1 heavy with the suave sleep of haschish1 came among the smokers and dropped motionless in the midst of the cushions4 ,the movement set a tall glass quivering until it fell to one side1 and the yellow wine sank slowly into the silky fur of a leopard skin4 ,aurelian lifted his hand to a gold cord that hung over the hammock4 ,presently a slim girl with flesh like firelight on ivory1 clad in translucent silk of a dusky purple that made no sound as she came1 appeared in the darkness of the farther doorway4 ,she came to the hammock where ,aurelian was lying4 ,will the honourable master be served with the august sak8 she asked with a voice that was like the fluttering of cherry blossoms in ,yoshiwara4 ,no1 ,o ,shiratsuyu1 said ,aurelian1 drawing the slim figure toward him1 kissing the scarlet mouth that drooped above as he lay full length1 looking sleepily upward4 ,no1 ,o ,shiratsuyu1 but fill the glasses of the honourable guests with the wine1 there on the table4 ,the girl glided among the drowsy figures1 filling the glasses4 ,as she knelt by the brazier to lift the overturned glass1 her slim fingers lingered2 a head turned sleepily1 and1 as the lips fell on the little hand1 kissed it softly4 ,at a movement of ,aurelian's eyes the girl vanished4 ,eveleth half rose to look after her with delight4 ,where did you find that bauble1 ,aurelian8 he said4 ,aurelian neither moved nor opened his eyes as he replied1 ,in ,kioto4 ,she is more precious than your ,delhi topaz4 ,she cost me more4 ,what is she called8 ,the ,honourable ,white ,dew4 ,i have never seen her before4 ,nor any other than myself4 ,i think she is a dream4 ,no1 only part of a dream4 ,how long will the dream last8 ,until dawn4 ,what is the dawn8 ,death4 ,the word roused ungracious thoughts in ,eveleth1 and he turned his face to the wall1 falling into a half dream4 ,when next he looked toward his host it was at the instigation of low voices4 ,a servant was standing by the hammock1--not the mysterious ,japanese girl1 but a black boy in a red fez4 ,aurelian looked toward ,eveleth sleepily4 ,one is without and craves entrance1 said he4 ,what shall ,i say to him8 ,he has come as my guest2 shall ,i receive him here8 ,is he an ',elect'8 ,no1 he is not an ',elect4' ,a ,philistine then4 ,neither a ,philistine1 wholly4 ,what then8 ,a product of ,philistinism1 an ,agitator4 ,eveleth looked vaguely around over the silent room1--at ,wentworth1 throned in a stately chair of mahogany and brass that had belonged to the great ,napoleon1 still crowned with the garland of gold bay leaves he had placed on his head after dinner1 half in defiance1 half in jest1 now sleeping1 his chibouk lying between his knees2 at the abandoned figures motionless about the bronze brazier2 at ,aurelian1 clothed gloriously in a sleeveless gaberdine of blood-red silk over a white crpe kimono heavy with embroidery2 at his own figure half wrapped in a big mantle of rose-coloured damask4 ,and everywhere the stillness of ,oriental sleep4 ,as he looked he said dubiously1 ,an agitator8 ,do you think an agitator would do--here8 ,isn't there rather too much to agitate8 ,yes1 and for that reason ,i will let him come2 as it is1 this is almost stagnation4 ,he will amuse me1 ,i feel1--,i feel1 that in a little while1 ,i--might be bored4 ,eveleth sank back resignedly and not without curiosity4 ,aurelian nodded1 and the servant glided away4 99 99 99 99 99 ,hello1 ,aurelian6 ,the words were like a stone dashed in the midst of a pool of brown water1 still1 under willows4 ,wentworth1 looking like a ,napoleonic revenant1 shivered into wakefulness2 ,eveleth sat bolt upright with a start2 even the opium-smokers1 all but ,enderby1 turned their heavy heads1 wakened from mysterious dreams4 ,the new-comer stopped in the door and stared1--stared mightily4 ,he coughed and blinked in the smoky air4 ,it was the clash of ,east and ,west1 of a fictitious1 exotic ,east1 of a commonplace1 hard-headed1 practical ,west4 ,where are you8 ,mc,cann cried loudly1 making his way through the twilight toward the sound of ,aurelian's voice4 ,i'm glad to see you at last1 he said doubtfully1 but ,i'm not quite used to this sort of thing1 you know2 ,i feel as though ,i had drank too much4 ,his eyes fell on the confused heap of drowsy humanity around the brazier4 ,aurelian1 he said sternly1 is this a 'joint' ,i have happened on8 ,it is my house1 said ,aurelian1 in his gentle voice1 wherein ,i have the honour to count you for the moment a guest4 ,i beg pardon1 grimly2 but as ,i said1 you must remember ,i am not familiar with this sort of thing4 ,i think ,i had better wait until you are less busily engaged4 ,my dear fellow1 ,i am never busily engaged1 and ,i am never more idle than now4 ,you will stay1 of course4 ,will you smoke8--,i mean tobacco4 ,i think you smoke narghilehs2 shall ,murad come and light you one8 ,thanks1 by your leave ,i will smoke my own1 and ,mc,cann pulled out his brier bull-dog1 filled it from his own pouch1 and sat down constrainedly1 his eyes fixed on the four men in their motley costumes1 strewn on the floor4 ,at once ,aurelian began to talk to him frankly and freely1 as though nothing had changed since last master and pupil had spoken together1 questioning him of his adventures in ,england and ,germany while on his mission among the socialist leaders4 ,mc,cann noted with surprise and with a feeling almost of reassurance that no detail of recent sociological events had escaped ,aurelian2 that he listened with equal interest to all that he told him2 that he showed keen satisfaction at the outcome of two or three recent strikes in which the strikers had been victorious4 ,but all the time the agitator's eyes were wandering over the dimly visible details of the strange treasure-house where he found himself4 ,he looked on it all with growing resentment2 it was hardly to be called socialistic1 and there seemed to be a lack of harmony between these luxurious surroundings and the words that ,aurelian was saying4 ,there was something awfully wrong2 but he shrunk from knowing what he feared to be the worst4 ,after the first convulsion which his entrance had caused1 the different men had all fallen back languidly in their places2 but now ,wentworth lifted himself lazily and came down toward ,aurelian and the agitator4 ,well1 citoyen1 he said1 nothing abashed by his fantastic garb1 which was far enough from being the same in which he generally met ,mc,cann1 ,well1 citoyen1 you come as a visitant from another world1 like the black steamers that crawl into the balmy vision known to the children of men as ,venice1--in it1 not of it4 ,can you bring a tale of the things without8 ,is there anything worthy of note in ,philistia8 ,how fare our friends the republics of the world1 there in the outer darkness8 ,oh1 said ,mc,cann1 with indifference1 there is another revolution on down in ,guatemala1 and one expected daily in ,brazil1 and one in the ,french ,republic-- ,and the smoke not yet cleared away from the last revolution in ,brazil1 nor yet from the last in ,chile1 nor yet from the last in ,honduras2 wars in half the republics in ,south and ,central ,america1 rumours of wars in ,mexico and all the rest2 the ,french ,republic counting the days that already are numbered by its dupes at length undeceived1--,i know the whole grotesque story1 and yet people talk about popular sovereignty and republics4 ,and you yourselves1 ,mc,cann1 bon citoyen1 you agitators and socialists1 hug to yourselves the vain phantom of popular government4 ,you ought to know better1 for you know something of sociology if you are sweetly ignorant on politics4 ,what was that ,balzac said1 ,aurelian8 ,tell me4 ,about popular government1 you mean8 ,yes4 ,why1 he called it the only government that is irresponsible and whose tyranny will be unchecked because exercised under the name of law4 ,ah1 this is it6 ,isn't that exact8 ',a bas la ,rpublique1' the ,king shall come to his own again6 and he sung the words gaily to a fragment of an old ,jacobite air4 ,don't interrupt me1 ,aurelian1 the spirit is on me and ,i must confound this blind leader4 ,his tone changed and he put his hand on ,mc,cann's shoulder4 ,malcolm1 you know as we all know here that the present condition of this happy world is very like the ,puritan idea of hell4 ,you know1 also1 that the preserving factor1 if not the original cause of this pleasant state of affairs1 is the modern theory of economics and its resulting industrial and commercial systems4 ,now1 what do you propose to substitute in place of this gigantic abortion1 this debauching incubus8 ,state ,socialism4 ,exactly6 ,out of your own mouth have you condemned yourself4 ,man1 man6 what would your ,state ,socialism be in the hands of such a ,state as we have now8 ,in ,chile8 ,in ,mexico8 ,in any ring-ruled mob-ruled ,state in this unhealthy republic8 ,why1 simply the biggest and most wholesale 'job1' the most arrant corruption1 the most awful and omnipotent succubus that ever waxed fat on the blood of a dying nation4 ,malcolm1 you and your ilk have made a dreary mistake2 you think only of industrial reforms1 while to make these of effect you must first have a political reform which will be in itself a revolution4 ,destroy the present system1 build up an honourable ,state1 and then it will be time to talk of ,state ,socialism4 ,mc,cann had chafed furiously under this tirade1 and as ,wentworth threw himself down in a low chair1 lighting his ,dimitrino cigarette at the flames of the brazier1 he burst out violently3 ,you are all wrong1 you don't know what you are talking about when you say we don't want a political reform6 ,we do1 a radical reform4 ,wentworth's eyes gleamed amusedly through the rings of white smoke as he said quietly1 ,how8 ,i would destroy the whole system of party and ring rule4 ,wentworth smiled disdainfully4 ,my dear ,malcolm1 he said1 blowing an ash from his cigarette1 ,i spare you the humiliation of trying to tell me how4 ,do you not realise that party and ring rule are the necessary results of three of your dearest idols8--idols that you would defend1 ,i believe1 with your life4 ,they are these3 ,manhood suffrage1 rotation in office1 and representative government4 ,until you are content to destroy these in your political revolution your attempts to abolish ring and partisan rule will fail4 ,they will not fail1 for we shall abolish those abuses through making the control of the people over their representatives more absolute and direct4 ,the exact contrary of the result you hope for would follow from the course you suggest4 ,i can't convince you of that now2 grant the truth of your position for a moment1 what would follow8 ,you would simply substitute for the repulsive rule of the 'bosses' a dreary and fleeting government of emancipated slaves4 ,we have seen the result of that in the ,south1 where we made fatal error in giving the black slaves a measure of political power4 ,you would do the same by giving the white slaves all political power4 ,i say1 emancipate them1--and govern them4 ,by whom8 ,their ,king and their peers4 ,where will you find them in this country8 ,choose them4 ,by whom8 ,the people4 ,aha6 ,then you lose your point4 ,by no means1 for the franchise should be a privilege1 not a right1 and while the people should choose1 only their leaders should govern4 ,you are a monarchist6 ,yes4 ,then you are a reactionist1 an aristocrat2 no socialist6 ,i am a monarchist and a vehement socialist4 ,that is a paradox4 ,so are most final truths1 since a paradox is only a concise statement of the colour on each side of the shield2 you remember the fable8 ,then you mean to say that socialism and monarchism do not negative each other8 ,no more than the silver of one side of the shield negatives the gold of the other4 ,you are a vain theorist6 ,it is you who are a vain theorist2 my position is based on history4 ,i know the record of the attempts to put the visionary theory of popular government into practice4 ,we have never had a true popular government yet4 ,i agree with you2 but we have had true princes4 ,where8 ,for answer ,wentworth turned his head a little and raised his eyes toward a great picture hanging in the shadow4 ,mc,cann followed his glance1 and found himself looking at the sad face with the mournful eyes of ,vandyke's portrait of ,king ,charles ,i4 of ,england4 ,curtains of old purple velvet wrought with ,bourbon lilies of tarnished gold hung on either side1 and from their midst the ,king seemed looking on them as in a vision4 ,the picture annoyed ,mc,cann2 it was the presentment of a ,king1 a tyrant2 he scowled at it ill-naturedly4 ,you keep that there because it is a good picture1 ,i suppose1 he said1 turning to ,aurelian1 who had been listening silently4 ,because it is a copy of a good picture of a glorious ,king1 replied ,aurelian4 ,a good ,king6 ,a glorious ,king and most noble man4 ,you talk like a ,jacobite4 ,i am a ,jacobite4 ,mc,cann took his pipe out of his mouth4 ,what do you talk like that for8 ,you used to be a socialist4 ,i am still a socialist4 ,are you bedevilled with ,wentworth's theory that a man can be both a socialist and a royalist8 ,certainly4 ,how do you justify such nonsense8 ,by regarding both sides of the shield4 ,i deny that socialism is one side of a shield1 the other side of which is monarchism4 ,then you should study history more carefully1 interrupted ,wentworth4 ,will history prove to me that monarchism is not and has not been from the first the bitter enemy of the people8 cried the agitator1 derisively1 flashing his eyes savagely on the languid ,wentworth4 ,that is exactly what it will prove1 returned his tormentor1 sweetly4 ,well1 ,i have studied history for twenty years1 and it has taught me exactly the reverse4 ,histories1 you mean2 but you must remember that there is very little history in histories4 ,mc,cann gasped in impotent rage1 but ,aurelian interposed with his low voice4 ,you will reach nothing by such argument1 my children4 ,you are both visionaries1--you1 ,malcolm1 who dream of ideal1 impossible republics surrounded by the tottering ruins of your fantastic fabrics1 builded on the shifting sand of popular fancies2 you1 ,strafford ,wentworth1 dear dupe of futile hopes1 vainly watching for the ,king to come to his own again4 ,dreamers both of you6 ,i alone am the practical man2 ,i wait for that which the gods may give4 ,in the mean time ,i stand with the 'divine ,plato1' aside1 under the wall1 while the storm of dust goes by4 ,forsake your forlorn hope1 ,malcolm2 stand to one side with me1 and wait4 ,and in the mean time--he lifted a strange ,japanese viol--in the mean time1 sing1 and forget the imminent night4 ,malcolm1 there is beauty still left1 and a little art2 it will last us through the twilight4 ,art will not quiet my conscience1 nor blind my eyes to the sight of rotting slaves and foul fat drivers4 ,you take things too seriously6 cried ,wentworth1 biting the heavy leaves one by one from a drooping rose4 ,it is like putting new wine into old bottles to try to pour seriousness into this decrepit and degenerate age4 ,mc,cann laughed aloud4 ,i accept the omen2 for the bottles1 if ,i remember aright1 were burst6 ,and you will spill your wine4 ,the type of blood2 and the blood of martyrs is the seed of the new ,commonwealth6 ,but why not take new bottles and save your precious wine8 ,we have none1 and the old are at hand4 ,they are rotting fast4 ,the world cannot wait1--mothers and children starve every day4 ,if you die for them it is only a life for a life1 and the guilty thrive4 ,some will go down with us to hades6 ,aurelian laughed softly1 and rambled vaguely on over the strings of his samosen1 making strange music4 ,now we will quarrel no more1 for we are where we began4 ,malcolm1 if you must go to your death1 ,vale1 ,i will offer a kid and honey on the altar of ,mnemosyne4 ,go your ways1 and leave me to mine2 ,i am aweary of this servile and perishing world1 rheumy and gibbering4 ,here ,i have my books of the ,elect1 my fading pictures1 my treasures of dead civilisation4 ,this is my monastery1 like those of the old ,faith that1 during the night that came down on the world after the ruin of ,rome1 treasured as in an ark the seeds of the new life4 ,here ,i can gather my ,children of ,light and bar my doors against the ,philistines without1 among whom1 dear ,malcolm1 force me not yet to number you4 ,be lenient with me1 accept my hospitality2 it will strengthen you for your fight with the windmill that forces the wind of ,god to grind men and women like grain4 ,in the mean time1 it is still the youth of the night1 so ,i will give you more wine--or your favourite beer if you like2 ,i have some good ,bavarian4 ,those four decadents and the poor agnostic there on the floor are happy4 ,i never take the black smoke myself1 nor any of you3 wise1 all of you1 but ,god forbid that ,i should refuse any guest of mine aught6 ,they1 sleeping in opium-dreams1 have chosen their way4 ,we will choose another for ourselves4 ,,iii4 ,the night had grown old unnoticed1 and now in the first dim twilight of coming dawn ,aurelian and ,mc,cann were sitting on the wide terrace that stretched along the south side of the great house1 smoking lazily and drinking the fine rare wines that ,aurelian treasured as he treasured his precious books4 ,not far away the nightingales were singing in the thick wood2 other sound there was none save the sweet rustle and stir of the awakening trees under the first thin wind of morning4 ,at first ,mc,cann had raged inwardly at everything1--at the crowded treasures of art that filled the castle-like house1 at the dominant luxury1 at the opium1 the wine1 at all the unfamiliar splendour that surrounded ,aurelian4 ,he sat now listening unappreciatively to ,aurelian's quiet voice discoursing lovingly of the ,romane ,conti1 which he himself could not have told from ,mcon4 ,there are not two dozen of this vintage in ,america outside of my own cellars1 ,aurelian had said1 and the poor agitator heard him miserably4 ,he did remember1 indeed1 when a slim glass of amber ,madeira was placed on the ,indian table by his side and its name given him1 that some one had once told him that ,constitution ,madeira was last quoted in ,new ,york at seventy dollars a bottle1 and so he drank his glass with a kind of distant wonder1 but without pleasure2 he thought it musty1 he would have chosen ,bass4 ,yet1 even as he lay in the long ,indian chair1 the subtle influence of ,aurelian's ,lattakhia and of his ancient wine worked slowly in his system1 and already he began to think with something approaching tolerance of his pupil's apostasy4 ,he lay full length looking out over the carved balustrade through the silvery jasmine flowers amid their black leaves1 to where the sky of blazing stars1 already paling before the advancing day1 ceased at the edge of the dark hills2 and as he lay thus dreamily1 he even wondered if he had realised all that there was in life1 in his career of feverish action4 ,aurelian tossed the glowing end of his cigarette out through the jasmine leaves1 watching it fall like a scarlet star4 ,do you not see how it is8 he said2 ,i know to the full the grotesque hideousness of life as it is1 and ,i long for revolution4 ,but ,i have seen every man who is fired with desire to bring the change yield to the baleful influence of that which he would destroy until he has come to see no ideals save those of materialism4 ,his ideal of life is a socialistic ideal of a dead1 gross1 physical ease and level uniformity2 his ideal of government a democracy2 his ideal of industry ,state factories with gigantic steam-engines1--his whole system but the present system with all its false ideals1 deprived of its individualism4 ,i have lived beyond this1 ,i can see the futility of all these things4 ,i believe only in art as the object of production1--art which shall glorify that which we eat1 that wherewith we clothe ourselves1 those things whereby we are sheltered2 art which shall be this and more1--the ultimate expression of all that is spiritual1 religious1 and divine in the soul of man4 ,i hate material prosperity1 ,i refuse to justify machinery1 ,i cannot pardon public opinion4 ,i desire only absolute individuality and the triumph of idealism4 ,i detest the republic1 and long for the monarchy again4 ,aurelian1 said ,mc,cann1 will you tell me straight what you mean when you say that1 yet claim to be a socialist8 ,i asked you once before that empty-headed ,rip ,van ,winkle called ,strafford ,wentworth in the other room1 and you made an evasive answer4 ,now1 tell me1 how do you reconcile the two8 ,because ,i believe that political socialism will destroy society and clear the ground for a new life2 because it will annihilate the ,republic1 and make monarchial government possible4 ,it will destroy neither1 but reform them both4 ,it cannot reform either1 for the principles of each are false4 ,what do you fancy those principles to be8 ,liberty1 ,equality1 ,fraternity4 ,do you dare to call those principles false8 ,liberty and equality false1 fraternity impossible so long as the first two pretend to exist4 ,mc,cann sat bolt upright4 ,look here1 ,aurelian1 he said seriously1 ,i can't talk in this way1 ,i am not that kind of man4 ,what has come over you8 ,i left you a socialist1 and ,i come back and find you an unreasoning royalist1 incapable of talking sense1 putting your defenceless fancies into the armour of paradox4 ,what in the name of common-sense do you mean by it8 ,aurelian turned his handsome head and looked at the red-bearded agitator4 ,malcolm1 he said gently1 as you would say1 we had best have it out4 ,i have changed1 but not exactly in the way you think4 ,as ,i say1 ,i am a socialist but also a royalist1 as well as many other things you would think equally bad4 ,i have done a good deal of reading of late1 a good deal of thinking2 so ,i have grown1--more than you1 for you have only acted4 ,and just that1 if you don't mind my saying so1 is precisely the trouble with most socialists4 ,look1 this is the situation1--he sat up with almost animation in his face4 ,the world is in a bad way1 never worse2 you taught me that1 and the more ,i study life the more convinced ,i am of its eternal truth4 ,reform must come if we are to save this decrepit world from a vain repetition of history2 that of course follows from the other assumption4 ,thus far we walk together2 but then arises the question of means1 and here we part1 for you say reform may be won by agitation1 ,i say man is helpless at the present juncture and can only wait4 ,men have not waited before2 they have acted and have won4 ,yes1 for it was dawn and not the eleventh hour4 ,what do you make of the ,french ,revolution8 ,a reform undertaken at the eleventh hour1 and therefore merging within three years into hideous deformity1--a reform that failed4 ,you dare to say that it failed when it destroyed feudalism and the rotten monarchial system8 ,yes1 for in their places it made possible capitalism and the ,french ,republic4 ,should your agitation succeed it would result in the ,french ,revolution over again1 together with all its corollaries1--anarchy1 kakistocracy1 a glorious tyranny on a false foundation1 kakistocracy again1 and chaos3 a counter revolution1 again a kakistocracy1 and finally impotence1 false and evil as the destroyed feudalism4 ,you are the worst pessimist ,i ever saw6 ,of course1 for ,i am an optimist2 and one can't be an optimist touching the future without being a pessimist touching the present4 ,but how can you be an optimist with regard to the future when you condemn not only the present but every effort toward rebellion and reform8 ,because you are trying to turn back a tide that is almost at its full4 ,have patience1 and the ebb will come4 ,a great ,persian greyhound1 with white silky hair1 paced solemnly down the terrace and dropped its head on its master's knees1 gazing at him with soft eyes4 ,aurelian stroked its nose gently4 ,malcolm1 he said1 if you persist you will fail1 either broken by the power you attack or through creating a condition more evil1 more intolerable still4 ,there is a depth of fall below the point the nineteenth century has now reached1 and until that destiny is accomplished1 you are helpless4 ,you break my heart1 ,aurelian1 said ,mc,cann1 sadly4 ,when ,i went away you promised to fight with me in the battle for reform4 ,i thought you understood me1 followed me4 ,and now--you lapse into awful luxury and vice1--opium and things4 ,this is pretty bad1 you force me to call you a recreant2 here on the very eve of battle you forsake the cause1 you go over to the enemy2 and worse1 you are a traitor1 for you debauch my men1--you have ,north now in there drugged with opium4 ,last of all1 you try to tempt me1 you urge me to give up the fight2 but ,i am not a deserter4 ,malcolm1 dear boy1 ,i don't deserve quite all of that1 said ,aurelian1 gently4 ,yes1 ,i have deserted as you say1 for ,i see more clearly than you2 the battle is already lost even before it is fought4 ,i thought once when you filled me with ardour of war that we could win4 ,i see further now4 ,dear ,malcolm1 you are waging war against the gods2 you have mistaken the light that is on the horizon2 you have waked from sleep1 but the flush of light that is in your eyes is not the dawn1--it is sunset4 ,you taught me that we lived in another ,renaissance2 ,i know it now to be another decadence1 inevitable1 implacable4 ,you are wrong2 the decadents have bedevilled you2 they are but the froth of the wave that has broken on the shore3 the wave of the ,new ,life follows behind to sweep them into nothingness4 ,leave the simile3 grant for the moment that you are right3 are you a coward to forsake a good cause that may fail8 ,have you forgotten ,john ,ball8 ,no1 ,i have not forgotten ,john ,ball1 but ,i am not made of the stuff of martyrs4 ,malcolm1 ,i love life and love1 and the beautiful things still saved from the wreck of worlds4 ,you would make me--an artist--forsake it all1 and go shoulder a rifle1 or carry a red flag4 ,i have a life given me1 let me live4 ,i am not a fighter1 let me be2 let me live here in this happy oasis in the desert of men4 ,i can't help you1 ,i can only lay down my life on a barricade4 ,that is brute selfishness6 ,no1 it is reason4 ,i know myself3 ,i am of no use to you2 ,i thought ,i might be once1 and ,i tried4 ,everything sickens me1--every detail of the life that is now1 the stock exchange and newspapers1 alleged art and trade1 and the whole false principle that is under it all4 ,i can't fight them1 the contest sickens me4 ,it is all wrong1 the principle of your reform2 you are wrong yourself4 ,i can't have hope1 and if ,i can't have hope ,i can't fight4 ,how can ,i fight for a reform that1 if it were carried1 would only take the power out of the hands of a sordid gang of capitalists and throw it into the hands of a sordid gang of emancipated slaves8 ,life would be as hideous under their rgime as now4 ,you would change the ownership of cities1 but you would not destroy them4 ,you would change the control of machinery1 but you would not destroy it4 ,you would1 in a word1 glorify the machine1 magnify the details1 ignore the soul of it all1--and the result8 ,stagnation4 ,i have read your ,utopias1--they are hopelessly ,philistine2 their remedies are stimulants that leave the disease untouched4 ,malcolm1 you will fail1 for you do not see far enough4 ',ill would change be at whiles1 were it not for the change beyond the change4' ,they are the words of your own prophet2 you will1 if you succeed1 bring in the change1 and it will be ill indeed4 ,i wait for 'the change beyond the change4' ,i deny that the change that we shall bring will be ill2 it will be the next step beyond where we are now4 ,there is no turning back3 the law of evolution drives us onward always2 each new position won is nobler than the last4 ,ah1 that 'law of evolution'--,i knew you would quote it to me sooner or later4 ,you hug the pleasant and cheerful theory to your hearts1 and twist history to fit its fancied laws4 ,you cannot see that the law of evolution works by a system of waves advancing and retreating2 yet as you say the tide goes forward always4 ,civilisations have risen and fallen in the past as ours has risen and is falling now4 ,does not history repeat itself8 ,can you not see that this is one of the periods of decadence that alternate inevitably with the periods of advance8 ,the tide-- ',was once too at the full1 and round earth's shore ,lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled2 ,but now ,i only hear ,its melancholy1 long-withdrawing roar ,retreating to the breath ,of the night-wind1 down the vast edges drear ,and naked shingles of the world4' ,yes1 it is the decadence1 the ,roman decadence over again4 ,were ,lucian to come among us now he would be quite at ease--no1 not that1 for in one thing we are utterly changed2 so sordid is our decadence1 so gross1 so contemptibly material1 that we are denied the consolations of art vouchsafed to his own land4 ,even in the days of her death ,rome could boast the splendour of a luxuriant literature1 the glory of beauty of environment1 the supremacy of an art-appreciation that blinded men's eyes to the shadow of the end4 ,but for us1 in the meanness of our fall1 we have no rags of art wherewith to cover our nakedness4 ,wagner is dead1 and ,turner and ,rossetti2 ,burne-,jones and ,watts will go soon1 and ,pater will follow ,newman and ,arnold4 ,the night is at hand4 ,he lifted a small hammer and struck a velvet-voiced bell that stood on the ,arabian table of cedar inlaid with nacre and ivory4 ,murad came out of the darkness1 and at a gesture from ,aurelian filled the great hookah of jade and amber with the tobacco mingled with honey and opium and cinnamon1 placed a bright coal in the cup1 and gave the curling stem wound with gold thread to his master4 ,malcolm watched it all as in a midsummer dream2 for once he was succumbing to the subtle influences that were seducing his yielding senses4 ,he could not reply to ,aurelian1 he lacked now even the desire4 ,the slow and musical voice1 so delicately cadenced1 had grown infinitely pleasing to his unfamiliar ears1 strangely fascinating in its mellow charm4 ,wondering1 he found himself yielding to it1--at first defiantly1 then sulkily1 then with careless enjoyment1 forgetful of everything save his new delight in his strange surroundings4 ,the rose-water gurgled and sobbed in the jade hookah2 thin lines of odorous smoke rose sinuously to the silken awning that hung above the terrace1 dead in the hot ,august night4 ,for a time neither spoke2 then at length ,aurelian said1 with a more sorrowful gravity than before1-- ,yes1 the night is at hand1 and the darkness at last will cover our shame4 ,it is better so4 ,i thought once that through art we might work revolution1 and so win the world to clearness of sight again2 that was because ,i did not know the nature of art4 ,art is a result1 not an accident1--a result of conditions that no longer exist4 ,we might as well work for the restoration of chivalry1 of the ,house of ,stuart1 of the spirit of the ,cinque-,cento1 or any other equally desirable yet hopeless thing4 ,what we are1 that our art is also4 ,every school of art1 every lecture on sthetics1 every art museum1 is a waste and a vanity1 their influence is nothing4 ,art can never happen again2 we who love it and know it for what it is1 the flowering of life1 may only dream in the past1 building for ourselves a stately pleasure-house in ,xanadu on the banks of that river measureless to man that runs to a sunless sea4 ,individualism begot materialism1 and materialism begot realism2 and realism is the antithesis of art4 ,what else could have been8 ,art is a result1--and a cause2 at once the flower of life and the seed of the age to come4 ,that age which through its meanness and poverty is barren of blooms leaves no seed for its own propagation4 ,good-night then to art2 for the time its day is done4 ,intelligence and erudition may create a creditable archology1 and a blind generation may--nay1 has--mistaken this for art4 ,well1 its folly is fond and pitiful4 ,do you not see1 then1 how the discovery of this thing must fill me with that despair which kills all effort8 ,you will say1 ',rise then1 gird thyself with the sword of scorn and invective1 and strike with exaltation at the false civilisation which is the death of art and of all that is worthy in life4' ,dear boy1 our fathers in their fond1 visionary idealism made for all time such warfare of no avail4 ,by cunning schemes and crafty mechanism they1 impelled by most honourable motives1 have woven a ,system which is now not alone the ,system of these ,united ,states but of that ,europe which we have dragged to our level2 a ,system which is now being accepted by that pure and happy civilisation1 the last to yield to our importunity1 ,japan1 and being accepted to its own damnation4 ,and that ,system has made impossible forever any successful result2 for so dominant is it1 so subtle in its influence1 so almighty in its power1 that human strength is helpless before it4 ,moreover1 it will1 through its infinite craft1 seem to yield now and then1 yet only in form2 for it will so debauch the reformers that they will think now and again their cause is won1 yet will it have lost every element of desirability4 ,nevertheless 'the ,people' will shout with acclamation1 ',victory6 glorious victory6 won through the strength of our immortal and matchless institutions4' ,and all the while they are shouting for the shadow of revolution1 for the dead body from which the soul has fled4 ',what is this ,system1' do you say8 ,i will tell you2 it is the system of the nineteenth century1 by which it will be known in the histories of times to come1 should time continue1--the great three-fold system of ,equality1 ,the ,freedom of the ,press1 and ,public ,opinion4 ,you yourself do them honour1 for that you yourself have yielded to their evil influence2 until you have risen once for all superior to their plausible sophistry1 every thought you have1 every act you are guilty of1 will be tainted by them and made of no avail4 ,the whole world kneels before them now1 confessing their dominion4 ,so long as this is so1 so long will reform be impossible4 ,democracy1 ,public ,opinion1 ,freedom of the ,press1--the idolatrous tritheism of a corrupt generation4 ,through the ,institution of ,democracy you have bound yourself with invincible chains to a political system which is the government of the best1 by the worst1 for the few1--in other words1 the suppression of the intelligent few by the mob for the bosses4 ,by the ,institution of ,public ,opinion you have made ,democracy permanent1 preventing forever the rule of the 'saving remnant4' ,you have founded your unholy inquisition for the suppression of the martyrs to wisdom1 and by your ,institution of the ,freedom of the ,press you have raised a tyranny1 an irresponsible hierarchy of godless demagogues1 an impeccable final authority which will suppress1 as it suppresses now1 all honourable freedom of thought4 ,you have broken and destroyed the power of the ,church1 and you are proud thereof2 but beware6 for in its place you have builded a ,power1 more widespread1 more overwhelming1 more irresistible4 ,though you crushed ,democracy and discredited ,public ,opinion1 yet so long as the ,freedom of the ,press remained in existence1 ,journalism would by its bull of deposition1 its anathema of excommunication1 extinguish your labour in a breath4 ,here is your triple-headed ,cerberus that bars your exit from this hades you have made4 ,until he is slain you may never escape4 ,slain8 ,you cannot slay him2 he is sheathed in an impenetrable hide1 proof against all assaults4 ,listen1 only in one way may you pass by him4 ,wait6 ,in a little time his three horrid heads will growl with rising fury each to each1 over the enormous spoils of decaying life4 ,wait6 and the growls will grow fierce and more furious2 and at last in mortal and horrible combat the beast will strive with itself1 spreading chaos and death around4 ,so will it disable itself2 and when at last its triple head has collapsed in ghastly exhaustion1 then will the time have come3 pile upon it the hoary boulders of experience left by immemorial glaciers of time2 raise them into a mountain1 and though1 like imprisoned ,titan1 the horrid beast bellows and thunders below1 you may go forth fearlessly1 and on the dread ruin he has wrought build a new civilisation1 a new life4 ,aurelian's ardent eyes gazed on the man before him through the writhing smoke in the pallid dawn2 his voice was like the voice of a velvet bell4 ,yes1 it is the end of years2 the era of action is over1 night follows1 blotting from sight the shame of a wasted world2 but through the mute1 unutterable night rises and brightens the splendour of the new day1 the new life4 ,action has striven and failed1 and wreck and ruin are the ending thereof2 but across the desert of failure and despair bursts the flame of the ,dawn2 the far-forgotten spirit of the world rises toward dominion again1--the spirit of visions and dreams1 the mighty ,mother of worlds and men1 the ,soul of the ,eternal ,east4 ,aurelian had risen and stood facing ,mc,cann1 his white face lighted by a flame of sudden vigour and inspiration2 but even as he finished speaking it changed4 ,his eyes grew soft1 and he smiled gently4 ,malcolm1 he said1 coming to the speechless agitator1 and laying an arm lightly over his broad shoulders1 ,malcolm1 ,i shall hardly forgive you this4 ,you have made me almost enthusiastic again2 for a moment ,i could have believed once more there was virtue in action2 that has passed1 and ,i am myself again4 ,and now1 look6 ,the sun rose1 and its level river of light swept through the valley4 ,a mist like vaporous opals rose slowly from the winding river below them1 curling in the amber air and brushing itself in thin plumes over the pale sky4 ,down from the terrace stretched the great garden1 where multitudinous lilies flashed in the first light with iridescent dew4 ,a splendid peacock swept flauntingly through the mazy walks and among the white statues until it reached the central fountain1 where it spread itself in the sun4 ,at the foot of the last terrace1 where the marble steps turned to serpentine in the still water1 a small white boat with prow of gilded fretwork lay motionless among the opening water-lilies and the great blooms of the lotos4 ,the breath of honeysuckle and jasmine and day-lilies and tuberoses drifted slowly up in the first stirring wind4 ,the river-mist lifted1 showing the golden meadows with the slim elms here and there and the lofty hills fringed with dark forests beyond4 ,malcolm1 said ,aurelian1 beyond those fortress hills lies the world1--the nineteenth century1 seething with impotent tumult1--festering towns of shoe factories and cotton-mills1 lying tradesmen and legalised piracy2 pork-packing1 stock-brokers1 quarrelling and snarling sectaries1 and railroads2 politicians1 mammonism1 realism1 and newspapers4 ,within my walls1 which are the century-living pines1 is the world of the past and of the future1 of the fifteenth century and of the twentieth century4 ,here have ,i gathered all my treasures of art and letters2 here may those ,i love find rest and refreshment when worn out with hopeless lighting4 ,suffer me to live here and forget1 or live in a living dream of dreamless life4 ,against my hilly ramparts life may beat in vain1--it cannot enter4 ,here ,i am a ,king2 humour my fancy1 and give over your striving to make a poet into a warrior4 ,there is other work before me4 ,even as in the monasteries of the sixth century the wise monks treasured the priceless records of a dead life until the night had passed and the white day of medivalism dawned on the world1 so suffer me to dream in my cloister through evil days2 for the night has come when man may no longer work4 99 99 99 99 99 ,here ends the ,gospel of ,inaction called the ,decadent1 which is privately issued for the ,author by ,copeland and ,day1 of ,cornhill1 ,boston1 in an edition limited to one hundred and ten copies on this yellow ,french handmade paper1 and fifteen copies on thick ,lalanne paper1 which have been printed during ,october and ,november1 ,,mdcccxciii by ,john ,wilson and ,son1 ,cambridge1 at the ,university ,press4 ,the ,frontispiece and ,initial letters are designed by ,bertram ,grosvenor ,goodhue and cut upon wood by ,john ,sample1 ,jr4 ,illustration ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,page #a1 changed agressive to aggressive and changed oe ligature to oe in foetid4 7,ligature is retained in ,,html edition74 ,page #ag1 changed ,guatamala to ,guatemala4