The Testament of Beauty
THE TESTAMENT
OF
BEAUTY
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY
THIRD IMPRESSION
THE TESTAMENT
OF
BEAUTY
A POEM
IN FOUR BOOKS
BY
ROBERT BRIDGES
POET LAUREATE
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1929
ME VERO PRIMVM DVLCES ANTE OMNIA MVSAE
QVARVM SACRA FERO INGENTI PERCVSSVS AMORE
ACCIPIANT.
CONTENTS
| I | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
p. 1 | |
| II | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
37 | |
| III | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
81 | |
| IV | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
131 | |
PUBLISHER'S NOTE ON THE TEXT
THE slight approach to a simplified spelling in this book is copied from the author's MS., which the printer was instructed to follow. The simplification, as will be seen, is mainly confined to two particulars, namely the final e and the doubled consonant. Since this e is invariably mute he would reserve it to distinguish heavy from light syllables: thus hav, not have, and liv distinguished from live; and all the -ate, -ile, -ive, and -ite words can have their speech-values shown, as steril and puerile; and thus ther is no confusion there.
And so the doubled consonant, which following the short vowel denotes its accentuation, is retained for that purpose: and this allows the useful distinction of the demonstrative pronoun thatt, from the other thats which have no proper accented vowel.
Inconsistencies (except for possible oversights such as shear for sheer in IV. 241 and ethic for ethick in IV. 353) are intentional, any rule being stayed at that point where it would needlessly distract the reader: thus nature appears in two spellings, of which the explanation is that the final syllable (whether the word be pronounced as may be indicated by the spelling nāt1ur, or by nacher as recognized by our Southern-English authorities) is always light and unaccented; but since the syllable tur has an uncertain value and is very offensive to the eye, the common full spelling, ture, is always maintained, except in those places where it suffers liquid synalepha in the prosody, where the omission of the e guides the eye to the easy reading of the rhythm: and the author would explain that the use of -eth for the 3rd per. sing. of verbs is not an archaic fancy, but a practical advantage, indispensable to him, not only for its syllabic lightness, but because by distinguishing verbs from the identical substantives, it sharpens the rhetoric and often liberates the syntax.
THE TESTAMENT
OF
BEAUTY
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1930, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 94 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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