Invest thee with his form?

ARNOLD.

Would that I had

Been born with it! But since I may choose further, I will look further.

Emanation of a thing more glorious still. Was he e'er human only?

STRANGER.

STRANGER.

I must commend Your choice. The god-like son of the sea-goddess, The unshorn boy of Peleus, with his locks As beautiful and clear as the amber waves Of rich Pactolus rolled o'er sands of gold, Softened by intervening crystal, and Rippled like flowing waters by the wind,

All vow'd to Sperchius as they were-behold them! And him-as he stood by Polyxena,

With sanction'd and with soften'd love, before

The altar, gazing on his Trojan bride,

With some remorse within for Hector slain
And Priam weeping, mingled with deep passion
For the sweet downcast virgin, whose young hand
Trembled in his who slew her brother. So
He stood i' the temple! Look upon him as
Greece look'd her last upon her best, the instant
Ere Paris' arrow flew.

As if I were his soul, whose form shall soon Envelop mine.

Deformity should only barter with
The extremest beauty, if the proverb 's true
Of mortals, that extremes meet.

ARNOLD.

Who is this?

Who truly looketh like a demigod,
Blooming and bright, with golden hair, and stature,
If not more high than mortal, yet immortal
In all that nameless bearing of his limbs,
Which he wears as the sun his rays-a something
Which shines from him, and yet is but the flashing

Before her glass. You both see what is not, But dream it is what must be.

ARNOLD.

Must I wait?

STRANGER.

No; that were pity. But a word or two:

His stature is twelve cubits: would you so far Outstep these times, and be a Titan? Or (To talk canonically) wax a son

Of Anak?

ARNOLD.

Why not?

STRANGER.

Glorious ambition!

I love thee most in dwarfs! A mortal of
Philistine stature would have gladly pared
His own Goliath down to a slight David;
But thou, my manikin, would'st soar a show
Rather than hero. Thou shalt be indulged,
If such be thy desire; and yet, by being
A little less removed from present men
In figure, thou canst sway them more;
for all
Would rise against thee now, as if to hunt
A new found mammoth; and their cursed engines,
Their culverins and so forth, would find way
Through our friend's armour there, with greater ease
Than the adulterer's arrow through his heel
Which Thetis had forgotten to baptise
In Styx.

ARNOLD.

Then let it be as thou deem'st best.

STRANGER.

Thou shalt be beauteous as the thing thou see'st, And strong as what it was, and

ARNOLD.

I ask not

For valour, since deformity is daring.
It is its essence to o'ertake mankind
By heart and soul, and make itself the equal-
Ay, the superior of the rest. There is
A spur in its halt movements, to become

All that the others cannot, in such things
As still are free to both, to compensate
For stepdame Nature's avarice at first.

They woo with fearless deeds the smiles of fortune,
And oft, like Timour the lame Tartar, win them.

STRANGER.

Well spoken! And thou doubtless wilt remain Form'd as thou art. I may dismiss the mould Of shadow, which must turn to flesh, to encase This daring soul, which could achieve no less Without it?

ARNOLD.

Had no power presented me The possibility of change, I would Have done the best which spirit may, to make Its way, with all deformity's dull, deadly, Discouraging weight upon me, like a mountain, In feeling, on my heart as on my shouldersA hateful and unsightly molehill to The eyes of happier man. I would have look'd On beauty in that sex which is the type Of all we know or dream of beautiful Beyond the world they brighten, with a sighNot of love but despair; nor sought to win, Though to a heart all love, what could not love me In turn, because of this vile crooked clog, Which makes me lonely. Nay, I could have borne It all, had not my mother spurn'd me from her. The she-bear licks her cubs into a sort

Of shape;-my dam beheld my shape was hopeless.

Had she exposed me, like the Spartan, ere
I knew the passionate part of life, I had
Been a clod of the valley,-happier nothing
Than what I am. But even thus, the lowest,
Ugliest, and meanest of mankind, what courage
And perseverance could have done, perchance,
Had made me something—as it has made heroes
Of the same mould as mine. You lately saw me
Master of my own life, and quick to quit it;
And he who is so is the master of
Whatever dreads to die..

STRANGER.
Decide between

What you have been, or will be.

ARNOLD.

I have done so.

You have open'd brighter prospects to my eyes,
And sweeter to my heart. As I am now,
I might be fear'd, admired, respected, loved,
Of all save those next to me, of whom I
Would be beloved. As thou showest me
A choice of forms, I take the one I view,
Haste! haste!

STRANGER.

And what shall I wear?

ARNOLD.

Surely he

Who can command all forms, will choose the highest,
Something superior even to that which was
Pelides now before us. Perhaps his

Who slew him, that of Paris: or-still higher-
The poet's god, clothed in such limbs as are
Themselves a poetry.

STRANGER. Less will content me;

For I too love a change.

ARNOLD.

Your aspect is

Dusky, but not uncomely.

STRANGER.

If I chose,

I might be whiter; but I have a penchant
For black-it is so honest, and besides
Can neither blush with shame nor pale with fear:
But I have worn it long enough of late,
And now I'll take your figure.

ARNOLD.

Mine!

STRANGER.

Yes. You

Shall change with Thetis' son, and I with Bertha Your mother's offspring. People have their tastes; You have yours-I mine.

ARNOLD.

Dispatch! dispatch!

STRANGER.

Even so.

[The Stranger takes some earth and moulds it along the turf; and then addresses the Phantom of Achilles.

Beautiful shadow

Of Thetis's boy!

Who sleeps in the meadow

Whose grass grows o'er Troy:

His stature is twelve cubits: would you so far
Outstep these times, and be a Titan? Or
(To talk canonically) wax a son
Of Anak!

ARNOLD.

Why not?

STRANGER. Glorious ambition!

I love thee most in dwarfs! A mortal of
Philistine stature would have gladly pared
His own Goliath down to a slight David;
But thou, my manikin, would'st soar a show
Rather than hero. Thou shalt be indulged,
If such be thy desire; and yet, by being
A little less removed from present men
In figure, thou canst sway them more;
for all
Would rise against thee now, as if to hunt
A new found mammoth; and their cursed engines,
Their culverins and so forth, would find way
Through our friend's armour there, with greater ease
Than the adulterer's arrow through his heel
Which Thetis had forgotten to baptise
In Styx.

Had she exposed me, like the Spartan, ere
I knew the passionate part of life, I had
Been a clod of the valley,-happier nothing
Than what I am. But even thus, the lowest,
Ugliest, and meanest of mankind, what courage
And perseverance could have done, perchance,
Had made me something-as it has made heroes
Of the same mould as mine. You lately saw me
Master of my own life, and quick to quit it;
And he who is so is the master of
Whatever dreads to die..

STRANGER

Evers on

[The Stranger takes me earth and nouits it along the turf and then ultrases

the Phantom of 4 miles

Beautiful shadow

Of Thetis s boy

Who sleeps in the meadow

Whose grass grows ser Trow

From the red earth, like Adam,'

Thy likeness I shape,

As the Being who made him,

Whose actions 1 ape.
Thou clay, be all glowing,

Till the rose in his cheek
Be as fair as, when blowing,
It wears its first streak!
Ye violets, I scatter,

Now turn into eyes!
And thou sunshiny water,
Of blood take the guise!
Let these hyacinth boughs
Be his long, flowing hair,
And wave o'er his brows,

As thou wavest in air!
Let his heart be this marble
I tear from the rock!
But his voice as the warble
Of birds on yon oak!

Let his flesh be the purest
Of mould, in which grew

The lily-root surest,

And drank the best dew! Let his limbs be the lightest Which clay can compound! And his aspect the brightest

On earth to be found! Elements, near me,

Be mingled and stirr'd, Know me and hear me, And leap to my word! Sunbeams, awaken

This earth's animation! "Tis done! He hath taken

His stand in creation!

But it cannot be. What! shrink already, being what you are, From seeing what you were?

ARNOLD.

Do as thou wilt.

earth).

Clay! not dead, but soul-less!

Though no man would choose thee, An immortal no less

Designs not to refuse thee.

Clay thou art; and unto spirit
All clay is of equal merit.

Fire! without which nought can live;
Fire! but in which nought can live,
Save the fabled salamander,
Or immortal souls which wander,
Praying what doth not forgive,
Howling for a drop of water,

Burning in a quenchless lot:

Fire! the only element

Where nor fish, beast, bird, nor worm,
Save the worm which dieth not,
Can preserve a moment's form,

But must with thyself be blent:
Fire! man's safeguard and his slaughter:
Fire! creation's first-born daughter,

And destruction's threaten'd son,
When Heaven with the world hath done:
Fire! assist me to renew

Life in what lies in my view