The Angel in the House

by Coventry Patmore

H. M.

CONTENTS

BOOK I.
			PAGE
		THE PROLOGUE.	[13]
CANTO
I.	THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE		[17]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Impossibility	[17]
	2.	Love’s Really	[17]
	3.	The Poet’s Confidence	[18]
	The Cathedral Close		[19]
II.	MARY AND MILDRED		[24]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Paragon	[24]
	2.	Love at Large	[26]
	3.	Love and Duty	[27]
	4.	A Distinction	[28]
	Mary and Mildred		[28]
III.	HONORIA		[32]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Lover	[32]
	2.	Love a Virtue	[34]
	3.	The Attainment	[34]
	Honoria		[35]
IV.	THE MORNING CALL		[39]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Rose of the World	[39]
	2.	The Tribute	[41]
	3.	Compensation	[42]
	The Morning Call		[42]
V.	THE VIOLETS		[46]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Comparison	[46]
	2.	Love in Tears	[48]
	3.	Prospective Faith	[48]
	4.	Venus Victrix	[49]
	The Violets		[49]
VI.	THE DEAN		[53]
	Preludes:
	1.	Perfect Love rare	[53]
	2.	Love Justified	[54]
	3.	Love Serviceable	[55]
	4.	A Riddle Solved	[56]
	The Dean		[56]
VII.	ÆTNA AND THE MOON		[60]
	Preludes:
	1.	Love’s Immortality	[60]
	2.	Heaven and Earth	[61]
	Ætna and the Moon		[62]
VIII.	SARUM PLAIN		[66]
	Preludes:
	1.	Life of Life	[66]
	2.	The Revelation	[67]
	3.	The Spirit’s Epochs	[67]
	4.	The Prototype	[68]
	5.	The Praise of Love	[68]
	Sarum Plain		[69]
IX.	SAHARA		[74]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Wife’s Tragedy	[74]
	2.	Common Graces	[75]
	3.	The Zest of Life	[76]
	4.	Fool and Wise	[76]
	Sahara		[77]
X.	CHURCH TO CHURCH		[81]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Joyful Wisdom	[81]
	2.	The Devices	[84]
	Going to Church		[84]
XI.	THE DANCE		[89]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Daughter of Eve	[89]
	2.	Aurea Dicta	[91]
	The Dance		[93]
XII.	THE ABDICATION		[97]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Chace	[97]
	2.	Denied	[100]
	3.	The Churl	[101]
	The Abdication		[102]
BOOK II.
	THE PROLOGUE		[105]
I.	ACCEPTED		[109]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Song of Songs	[109]
	2.	The Kites	[110]
	3.	Orpheus	[111]
	4.	Nearest the Dearest	[111]
	5.	Perspective	[112]
	Accepted		[112]
II.	THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE		[116]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Changed Allegiance	[116]
	2.	Beauty	[120]
	3.	Lais and Lucretia	[120]
	The Course of True Love		[121]
III.	THE COUNTRY BALL		[126]
	Preludes:
	1.	Love Ceremonious	[126]
	2.	The Rainbow	[127]
	3.	A Paradox	[127]
	The County Ball		[128]
IV.	LOVE IN IDLENESS		[132]
	Preludes:
	1.	Honour and Desert	[132]
	2.	Love and Honour	[133]
	3.	Valour Misdirected	[134]
	Love in Idleness		[134]
V.	THE QUEEN’S ROOM		[139]
	Preludes:
	1.	Rejected	[139]
	2.	Rachel	[140]
	3.	The Heart’s Prophecies	[141]
	The Queen’s Room		[141]
VI.	THE LOVE-LETTERS		[145]
	Preludes:
	1.	Love’s Perversity	[145]
	2.	The Power of Love	[147]
	The Love-Letters		[148]
VII.	THE REVULSION		[152]
	Preludes:
	1.	Joy and Use	[152]
	2.	‘She was Mine’	[153]
	The Revulsion		[153]
VIII.	THE KOH-I-NOOR		[158]
	Preludes:
	1.	In Love	[158]
	2.	Love Thinking	[160]
	3.	The Kiss	[161]
	The Koh-i-noor		[161]
IX.	THE FRIENDS		[165]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Nursling of Civility	[165]
	2.	The Foreign Land	[166]
	3.	Disappointment	[166]
	The Friends		[167]
X.	THE EPITAPH		[170]
	Preludes:
	1.	Frost in Harvest	[170]
	2.	Felicity	[171]
	3.	Marriage Indissoluble	[172]
	The Epitaph		[172]
XI.	THE WEDDING		[176]
	Preludes:
	1.	Platonic Love	[176]
	2.	A Demonstration	[177]
	3.	The Symbol	[178]
	4.	Constancy Rewarded	[178]
	The Wedding		[179]
XII.	HUSBAND AND WIFE		[183]
	Preludes:
	1.	The Married Lover	[183]
	2.	The Amaranth	[184]
	Husband and Wife		[185]
	The Epilogue		[189]

Book I.

THE PROLOGUE.

1

‘Mine is no horse with wings, to gain
The region of the spheral chime;
He does but drag a rumbling wain,
Cheer’d by the coupled bells of rhyme;
And if at Fame’s bewitching note
My homely Pegasus pricks an ear,
The world’s cart-collar hugs his throat,
And he’s too wise to prance or rear.’

2

Thus ever answer’d Vaughan his Wife,
Who, more than he, desired his fame;
But, in his heart, his thoughts were rife
How for her sake to earn a name.
With bays poetic three times crown’d,
And other college honours won,
He, if he chose, might be renown’d,
He had but little doubt, she none;
And in a loftier phrase he talk’d
With her, upon their Wedding-Day,
(The eighth), while through the fields they walk’d,
Their children shouting by the way.

3