THE THREAD OF GOLD

BY ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON

FELLOW OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
AUTHOR OF "THE HOUSE OF QUIET"

Quem locum nôsti mihi destinatum?
Quo meos gressus regis?

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W
1912

FIRST EDITION, . . . . . . . . . . November 1905
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . November 1905
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . January 1906
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . October 1906
SECOND EDITION, . . . . . . . . . December 1906
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . January 1907
THIRD EDITION, . . . . . . . . . . October 1907
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . November 1907
FOURTH EDITION (1/- net) . . . . . May 1910
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . October 1910
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . January 1911
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . May 1911
Reprinted, . . . . . . . . . . . . July 1912

[Transcriber's note: The source book had no Table of Contents and its chapters were numbered only, not titled. However, its pages had running headers which changed with each chapter. Those headers have been converted to chapter titles, and collected here as the Table of Contents.]

CONTENTS

[Preface]
[Introduction (1906)]
[Introduction]
I. [The Red Spring]
II. [The Deserted Shrine, The Manor House]
III. [Leucocholy]
IV. [The Flower]
V. [The Fens]
VI. [The Well and the Chapel]
VII. [The Cuckoo]
VIII. [Spring-time]
IX. [The Hare]
X. [The Diplodocus]
XI. [The Beetle]
XII. [The Farm-yard]
XIII. [The Artist]
XIV. [Young Love]
XV. [A Strange Gathering]
XVI. [The Cripple]
XVII. [Oxford]
XVIII. [Authorship]
XIX. [Hamlet]
XX. [A Sealed Spirit]
XXI. [Leisure]
XXII. [The Pleasures of Work]
XXIII. [The Abbey]
XXIV. [Wordsworth]
XXV. [Dorsetshire]
XXVI. [Portland]
XXVII. [Canterbury Tower]
XXVIII. [Prayer]
XXIX. [The Death-bed of Jacob]
XXX. [By the Sea of Galilee]
XXXI. [The Apocalypse]
XXXII. [The Statue]
XXXIII. [The Mystery of Suffering]
XXXIV. [Music]
XXXV. [The Faith of Christ]
XXXVI. [The Mystery of Evil]
XXXVII. [Renewal]
XXXVIII. [The Secret]
XXXIX. [The Message]
XL. [After Death]
XLI. [The Eternal Will]
XLII. [Until the Time]
[Conclusion]