TO
MY DEAR WIFE MY PROSE FOR HER POETRY
IN MEMORY OF TWO HAPPY YEARS
OCTOBER 22, 1891
DECEMBER 6
1893
CONTENTS
[A SPRING MORNING]
[A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE]
[LIFE IN INVERTED COMMAS]
[FRACTIONAL HUMANITY]
[THE WOMAN'S HALF-PROFITS]
[GOOD BISHOP VALENTINE]
[IRRELEVANT PEOPLE]
[THE DEVILS ON THE NEEDLE]
[POETS AND PUBLISHERS]
[APOLLO'S MARKET]
[THE 'GENIUS' SUPERSTITION]
[A BORROWED SOVEREIGN]
[ANARCHY IN A LIBRARY]
[THE PHILOSOPHY OF 'LIMITED EDITIONS']
[A PLEA FOR THE OLD PLAYGOER]
[THE MEASURE OF A MAN]
[THE BLESSEDNESS OF WOMAN]
[VIRAGOES OF THE BRAIN]
[THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER]
[TRANSFERABLE LIVES]
[THE APPARITION OF YOUTH]
[THE PATHETIC FLOURISH]
[A TAVERN NIGHT]
[SANDRA BELLONI'S PINEWOOD]
[WHITE SOUL]
NOTE
The reader will, doubtless, feel the greater confidence in the following essays, from the fact that they have already passed their first and second readings through the hands of the editors and subscribers of The Speaker, The Star, The Illustrated London News, and The Sketch. To the several editors of these papers I am indebted for their kind permission to reprint, and I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to Mr. CLEMENT SHORTER for many other kindnesses. I venture also particularly to thank my friend Mr. T.P. GILL—but for whose kind incitement many of the following 'Fancies' had not been written at all.