THE SCHRECKHORN, Thomas Hardy (With thoughts of Leslie Stephen (!

une "#$% &loof, as if a thing of mood and 'him( )pon my nearing *ision, less it seems

No' that its spare and desolate figure gleams & looming &lp+height than a guise of him .ra'n on -y *ague imaginings, may-e, Of sem-lan,e to his personality /n its 0uaint glooms, 1een lights, and rugged trim2 &t his last ,hange, 'hen Life3s dull ,oils un'ind, Will he, in old lo*e, hither'ard es,ape, &nd the eternal essen,e of his mind Enter this silent adamantine shape, &nd his lo' *oi,ing haunt its slipping sno's When da'n that ,alls the ,lim-er dyes them rose4 56ehind the ,otton 'ool is hidden a pattern( that 'e7/ mean all human -eings7are ,onne,ted 'ith this( that the 'hole 'orld is a 'or1 of art( that 'e are parts of the 'or1 of art2 Hamlet or a 6eetho*en 0uartet is the truth a-out this *ast mass that 'e ,all the 'orld2 6ut there is no 'e are the musi,( 'e are the thing itself29 Sha1espeare, there is no 6eetho*en( ,ertainly and emphati,ally there is no 8od( 'e are the 'ords( :irginia Woolf, 5& S1et,h of the ;ast,9 <oments of 6eing2

Who s,aled its horn 'ith *entured life and lim-,

5On or a-out .e,em-er, "$"=, human ,hara,ter ,hanged29

:irginia Woolf, 5<odern No*els9 "$"$, 5<R 6ENNETT &N. <RS 6ROWN9 "$>?( 5Chara,ter in @i,tion9 "$>A( 5<odern @i,tion,9 The Common Reader "$>B

5Loo1 'ithin and life, it seems, is *ery far from -eing 5li1e this92 ECamine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day2 The mind re,ei*es a myriad impressions 7 tri*ial, fantasti,, of innumera-le atoms( and as they fall, as they shape themsel*es into the life of <onday or e*anes,ent, or engra*ed 'ith the sharpness of steel2 @rom all sides they ,ome, an in,essant sho'er Tuesday, the a,,ent falls differently from of old( the moment of importan,e ,ame not here -ut there( so that, if a 'riter 'ere a free man and not a sla*e, if he ,ould 'rite 'hat he ,hose, not 'hat he must, if he ,ould -ase his 'or1 upon his o'n feeling and not upon ,on*ention, there

'ould -e no plot, no ,omedy, no tragedy, no lo*e interest or ,atastrophe in the a,,epted style, and perhaps not a single -utton se'n on as the 6ond Street tailors 'ould ha*e it2 Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetri,ally arranged( life is a luminous halo, a semi+transparent en*elope

surrounding us from the -eginning of ,ons,iousness to the end2 /s it not the tas1 of the no*elist to ,on*ey this *arying, this un1no'n and un,ir,ums,ri-ed spirit, 'hate*er a-erration or ,ompleCity it may display, 'ith as little miCture of the alien and eCternal as possi-le4 We are not pleading than ,ustom 'ould ha*e us -elie*e it29 merely for ,ourage and sin,erity( 'e are suggesting that the proper stuff of fi,tion is a little other :irginia Woolf, 5<odern No*els9 "$"$, 5<R 6ENNETT &N. <RS 6ROWN9 "$>?( 5Chara,ter in @i,tion9 "$>A( 5<odern @i,tion,9 The Common Reader "$>B

The Dreadnought Hoax in the Daily Mirror, February 1910

@or Hea*en only 1no's 'hy one lo*es it so, ho' one sees it so, ma1ing it up, -uilding it round one, tum-ling it, ,reating it e*ery moment afresh( -ut the *eriest frumps, the most deDe,ted of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drin1 their do'nfall do the same( ,anEt -e dealt 'ith, she felt

positi*e, -y &,ts of ;arliament for that *ery reasonF they lo*e life2 /n peopleEs eyes, in the s'ing, tramp, and trudge( in the -ello' and the uproar( the ,arriages, motor ,ars, omni-uses, *ans, sand'i,h men shuffling and s'inging( -rass -ands( -arrel organs( in the triumph and the Dingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane o*erhead 'as 'hat she lo*ed( life( London( this moment of !une2 :irginia Woolf, <rs .allo'ay "$>B

5One might fan,y that day, the London day, 'as Dust -eginning2 Li1e a 'oman 'ho had slipped off her print dress and 'hite apron to array herself in -lue and pearls, the day ,hanged, put off stuff, too1 gauGe, ,hanged to e*ening, and 'ith the same sigh of eChilaration that a 'oman -reathes, tum-ling petti,oats on the floor, it too shed dust, heat, ,olour( the traffi, thinned( motor ,ars, tin1ling, darting, su,,eeded the lum-er of *ans( and here and there among the thi,1 foliage of the s0uares an intense light hung2 / resign, the e*ening seemed to say, as it paled and faded a-o*e the -attlements and prominen,es, moulded, pointed, of hotel, flat, and -lo,1 of shops, / fade, she 'as -eginning2 / disappear, -ut London 'ould ha*e none of it, and rushed her -ayonets into the s1y, pinioned her, ,onstrained her to partnership in her re*elry29 :irginia Woolf, <rs .allo'ay "$>B

56ig 6en stri1es2 ThereH Out it -oomed2 @irst a 'arning, musi,al( then the hour, irre*o,a-le2 The leaden ,ir,les dissol*ed in the air29 :irginia Woolf, <rs .allo'ay "$>B

57 -ut here the other ,lo,1, the ,lo,1 'hi,h al'ays stru,1 t'o minutes after 6ig 6en, ,ame

shuffling in 'ith its lap full of odds and ends, 'hi,h it dumped do'n as if 6ig 6en 'ere all *ery 'ell 'ith his maDesty laying do'n the la', so solemn, so Dust, -ut she must remem-er all sorts of little things -esides 7 <rs2 <arsham, Ellie Henderson, glasses for i,es 7 all sorts of little things ,ame flooding and lapping and dan,ing in on the 'a1e of that solemn stro1e 'hi,h lay flat li1e a on,e2

-ar of gold on the sea2 <rs2 <arsham, Ellie Henderson, glasses for i,es2 She must telephone no' at :olu-ly, trou-lously, the late ,lo,1 sounded, ,oming in on the 'a1e of 6ig 6en, 'ith its lap

full of trifles2 6eaten up, -ro1en up -y the assault of ,arriages, the -rutality of *ans, the eager ad*an,e of myriads of angular men, of flaunting 'omen, the domes and spires of offi,es and hospitals, the last reli,s of this lap full of odds and ends seemed to -rea1, li1e the spray of an 5/t is the flesh299 :irginia Woolf, <rs .allo'ay "$>B

eChausted 'a*e, upon the -ody of <iss Kilman standing still in the street for a moment to mutter