[18]. The Book of Sun-Dials. Collected by Mrs. Alfred Gatty. New and enlarged edition. London: George Bell and Sons, 1889. Pp. viii, 502.
Le temps s’en va, le temps s’en va, madame!
Las! le temps non: mais nous nous en allons.[[19]]
[19].
Time goes, you say? Ah, no!
Alas, Time stays, we go!
(Austin Dobson’s translation.)
Singularly, the beautiful sonnet in which these lines occur was one which had been cast aside by Ronsard from the later editions of his works, and was only reprinted in Buon’s edition of 1609. Still more singular it seems that the “Prince of Poets” should have remained comparatively unappreciated for two centuries until reintroduced by St. Beuve. Am I mistaken in thinking there is a pronounced resemblance between this sonnet and Shakespeare’s “When I do count the clock that tells the time”?
Chaucer’s—
For tho’ we sleep, or wake, or rome, or ride,