The Note-Books of Samuel Butler Part 70

But the righteous man will not plunder the defenceful - Not if he be alone and unarmed--for his conscience will smite him; He will not rob a she-bear of her cubs, nor an eagle of her eaglets - Unless he have a rifle to purge him from the fear of sin: Then may he shoot rejoicing in innocency--from ambush or a safe distance; Or he will beguile them, lay poison for them, keep no faith with them; For what faith is there with that which cannot reckon hereafter, Neither by itself, nor by another, nor by any residuum of ill consequences?

Surely, where weakness is utter, honour ceaseth.

Nay, I will do what is right in the eye of him who can harm me, And not in those of him who cannot call me to account.

Therefore yield me up thy pretty wings, O humming-bird!

Sing for me in a prison, O lark!

Pay me thy rent, O widow! for it is mine.

Where there is reckoning there is sin, And where there is no reckoning sin is not.

vii--To Critics and Others

O Critics, cultured Critics!

Who will praise me after I am dead, Who will see in me both more and less than I intended, But who will swear that whatever it was it was all perfectly right: You will think you are better than the people who, when I was alive, swore that whatever I did was wrong And d.a.m.ned my books for me as fast as I could write them; But you will not be better, you will be just the same, neither better nor worse, And you will go for some future Butler as your fathers have gone for me.

Oh! How I should have hated you!

But you, Nice People!

Who will be sick of me because the critics thrust me down your throats, But who would take me willingly enough if you were not bored about me, Or if you could have the cream of me--and surely this should suffice: Please remember that, if I were living, I should be upon your side And should hate those who imposed me either on myself or others; Therefore, I pray you, neglect me, burlesque me, boil me down, do whatever you like with me, But do not think that, if I were living, I should not aid and abet you.

There is nothing that even Shakespeare would enjoy more than a good burlesque of Hamlet.

viii--For Narcissus

(A)

(To be written in front of the orchestral score.)

May he be d.a.m.ned for evermore Who tampers with Narcissus' score; May he by poisonous snakes be bitten Who writes more parts than what we've written.

We tried to make our music clear For those who sing and those who hear, Not lost and muddled up and drowned In over-done orchestral sound; So kindly leave the work alone Or do it as we want it done.

(B)

Part II

Symphony

(During which the audience is requested to think as follows:)

An aged lady taken ill Desires to reconstruct her will; I see the servants hurrying for The family solicitor; Post-haste he comes and with him brings The usual necessary things.

With common form and driving quill He draws the first part of the will, The more sonorous solemn sounds Denote a hundred thousand pounds, This trifle is the main bequest, Old friends and servants take the rest.

'Tis done! I see her sign her name, I see the attestors do the same.

Who is the happy legatee?

In the next number you will see.

ix--A Translation

(Attempted in consequence of a challenge.)

"'Mrs. Harris,' I says to her, 'dont name the charge, for if I could afford to lay all my feller creeturs out for nothink I would gladly do it; sich is the love I bear 'em. But what I always says to them as has the management of matters, Mrs. Harris,'"--here she kept her eye on Mr. Pecksniff--"'be they gents or be they ladies--is, Dont ask me whether I wont take none, or whether I will, but leave the bottle on the chimley piece, and let me put my lips to it when I am so dispoged.'" (Martin Chuzzlewit, Chap. XIX).

[Translation in Greek]

x--In Memoriam

Feb. 14th, 1895

To

H. R. F.

Out, out, out into the night, With the wind bitter North East and the sea rough; You have a racking cough and your lungs are weak, But out, out into the night you go, So guide you and guard you Heaven and fare you well!

We have been three lights to one another and now we are two, For you go far and alone into the darkness; But the light in you was stronger and clearer than ours, For you came straighter from G.o.d and, whereas we had learned, You had never forgotten. Three minutes more and then Out, out into the night you go, So guide you and guard you Heaven and fare you well!

Never a cross look, never a thought, Never a word that had better been left unspoken; We gave you the best we had, such as it was, It pleased you well, for you smiled and nodded your head; And now, out, out into the night you go, So guide you and guard you Heaven and fare you well!

You said we were a little weak that the three of us wept, Are we then weak if we laugh when we are glad?

When men are under the knife let them roar as they will, So that they flinch not.

Therefore let tears flow on, for so long as we live No such second sorrow shall ever draw nigh us, Till one of us two leaves the other alone And goes out, out, out into the night, So guard the one that is left, O G.o.d, and fare him well!

Yet for the great bitterness of this grief We three, you and he and I, May pa.s.s into the hearts of like true comrades hereafter, In whom we may weep anew and yet comfort them, As they too pa.s.s out, out, out into the night, So guide them and guard them Heaven and fare them well!

The minutes have flown and he whom we loved is gone, The like of whom we never again shall see; The wind is heavy with snow and the sea rough, He has a racking cough and his lungs are weak.

Hand in hand we watch the train as it glides Out, out, out into the night.

So take him into thy holy keeping, O Lord, And guide him and guard him ever, and fare him well!

xi--An Academic Exercise

We were two lovers standing sadly by While our two loves lay dead upon the ground; Each love had striven not to be first to die, But each was gashed with many a cruel wound.

Said I: "Your love was false while mine was true."

Aflood with tears he cried: "It was not so, 'Twas your false love my true love falsely slew - For 'twas your love that was the first to go."

Thus did we stand and said no more for shame Till I, seeing his cheek so wan and wet, Sobbed thus: "So be it; my love shall bear the blame; Let us inter them honourably." And yet I swear by all truth human and divine 'Twas his that in its death throes murdered mine.

xii--A Prayer

Searcher of souls, you who in heaven abide, To whom the secrets of all hearts are open, Though I do lie to all the world beside, From me to these no falsehood shall be spoken.

Cleanse me not, Lord, I say, from secret sin But from those faults which he who runs can see, 'Tis these that torture me, O Lord, begin With these and let the hidden vices be; If you must cleanse these too, at any rate Deal with the seen sins first, 'tis only reason, They being so gross, to let the others wait The leisure of some more convenient season; And cleanse not all even then, leave me a few, I would not be--not quite--so pure as you.