Was it to clasp her in lifting, or was it to lift her by clasping,
Was it embracing or aiding was most in my mind? Hard question.
But a new thing was in me: I too was a youth among maidens.
Was it the air? who can say? But, in part, 'twas the charm of
the labor.'"
And he proceeds in a rapture to talk on the beauty of household
service.
Hereat Arthur remarks: "'Is not all this just the same that one hears
at common room breakfasts, Or perhaps Trinity-wines, about Gothic
buildings and beauty?'"--p. 13.
The character of Hobbes, called into energy by this observation, is
perfectly developed in the lines succeeding:
"And with a start from the sofa came Hobbes; with a cry from
the sofa,
There where he lay, the great Hobbes, contemplative, corpulent,
witty;
Author forgotten and silent of currentest phrase and fancy;
Mute and exuberant by turns, a fountain at intervals playing,
Mute and abstracted, or strong and abundant as rain in the tropics;
Studious; careless of dress; inobservant; by smooth persuasions
Lately decoyed into kilt on example of Hope and the Piper,
Hope an Antinous mere, Hyperion of calves the Piper.....
"'Ah! could they only be taught,' he resumed, 'by a Pugin of women
How even churning and washing, the dairy, the scullery duties,
Wait but a touch to redeem and convert them to charms and attractions;
Scrubbing requires for true grace but frank and artistical handling,
And the removal of slops to be ornamentally treated!"--pp.
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