LOVE me to-day and think not on to-morrow; Come, take my hands, and lead me out of doors; There in the fields let us forget our sorrow, Talking of Venice and Ionian shores; Talking of all the seas innumerable Where we will sail and sing when I am well; Talking of Indian roses gold and red, Which we will plait in wreaths - when I am dead. TELL me a story, dear, that is not true, Strange as a vision, full of splendid things: Here will I lie and dream it is not you, And dream it is a mocking-bird that sings. For if I find your voice in any part, LET us forget we loved each other much, Once let in either to the other's heart. Only we'll sit upon the daisied grass, And hear the larks and see the swallows pass; FAR, far away and in the middle sea, So still I dream, although the dream is vain, There lies a valley full of rest for me, Where I shall live and you shall love again. O ships that sail, O masts against the sky, O prayers that hope, O faith that never knew, AH, LOVE, I cannot die, I cannot go Down in the dark and leave you all alone: Ah, hold me fast, safe in the warmth I know, And never shut me underneath a stone. Dead in the grave! And I can never hear COME away, Sorrow, Sorrow come away Let us go sit in some cool, shadowy place; There shall you sing and hush me all the day, While I will dream about my lover's face. Hush me, O Sorrow, like a babe to sleep, You, that were all of my love and my care, But though I have lost you, and though I despair Out of the window the trees in the square LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (1613-1680) HE 'Maxims of La Rochefoucauld are perhaps most clearly understood in the light of his life. He was a gentleman, a soldier, a courtier, a cavalier, a lover, in one of the most picturesque periods of French history,- one which afforded the man of affairs unique opportunities for the study of human nature, especially of those weaknesses of human nature which the atmosphere of courts seems to foster. The Maxims' are the very essence of a luminous and seductive worldliness. They are the conclusions drawn by a man whose intellect was always guided by his judgment; they exhibit tact which amounts to genius. They might serve as rules alike for courtiers and Christians. La Rochefoucauld was born in Paris in 1613, in the reign of Louis XIII. His family was ancient and noble; his father enjoyed the royal favor. He himself, as Prince de Marcillac, became early a prominent figure in the army and at court. Throughout his long life he was peculiarly susceptible to the influence of women: it was through his attachment to Madame de Chevreuse that he became the devoted champion of the Queen, Anne of Austria, the neglected wife of Louis; infusing into his devotion to her that romanticism which is sometimes discoverable in the 'Maxims,' under their brilliant worldwisdom. Caballings against Richelieu engaged him until the great statesman's death in 1642. He was then prominent in effecting a reconcilement between the Queen and Condé, that they might league together against Gaston of Orléans. Cardinal Mazarin, however, was to thwart his plans as Richelieu had done. From 1642 to 1652 his life was one of confusion and of intrigue, with nothing better to steady it and to direct it than the fascinations of the Duchesse de Longueville, for whose sake he became a Frondeur. At the battle of the Faubourg St. Antoine in 1652, he was shot in the head; this misfortune in his military career proved to be of most happy significance in his career as a man of letters, for it forced him into that semi-retirement from which issued his famous Maxims' and 'Memoirs.' The remainder of his life was spent chiefly in Paris, in that brilliant and cultured society of which glimpses are obtained in the letters of Madame de Sévigné, whose intimate friend he was. La Rochefoucauld—the passionate soldier, the restless gallant, the |