Translator’s Dedication
To
Mrs. H———,
on her Birthday
Oberon, in the Athenian glade,
Reduced by deft Titania’s power,
Invented arts for Nature’s aid
And from a snowflake shaped a flower:
Nature, to outdo him, wrought of human clay
A fairy blossom, which we acclaim to-day.
Hebe, to high Olympus borne,
Undoomed to death, by age uncurst,
Xeres and Porto, night and morn,
Let flow, to appease celestial thirst:
Ev’n so, untouched by years that envious pass
Youth greets the guests to-night and fills the glass.
Hesione, for monstrous feast,
Against a rock was chained, to die;
Young Hercles came, he slew the beast,
Nor won the award of chivalry:
E. S. P. H., whom monsters hold in awe,
Shield thee from injury, and enforce the law!
C. K. S. M.
Note
The French text of Le Côté de Guermantes being extremely inaccurate, every care has been taken to correct it in the process of translation. In three places in this volume the sequence of paragraphs has been altered, as the reader may discover by comparing the French and English texts.