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Published the 1st and 15th of each month.

T H E E G O I S TA N I N D I V I D U A L I S T R E V I E W .

Formerly the NEW FREEWOMAN.

N o . 9. VOL. I. F R I D A Y , MAY 1st, 1914. S I X P E N C E .Assistant: R I C H A R D A L D I N G T O N . Editor: DORA M A R S D E N , B.A,Editors : L E O N A R D A . C O M P T O N - R I C K E T T . C O N T E N T S

P A C K P A G E PA

POE MS. By Richard Aiding- 16 1 P A S S I N G P A R I S . By Sain t 169 P O E T R Y . By Charlotte M. 17ton. Fiacre. Mew.

V I E W S AND COMME NT S. 16 2 R E V O L T OF THE A N G E L S . By 170 ISerial Stor < A R CORRESPONDENCE. 17_ *~ . f I T n P r o p e r t y and T h ef t. " S e r v a n t s "

PORT RAI T OF THE A R T I S T AS A 165 ME MOI RS OF A CHARMING PER- 1 7 1 and the " P e o p l e . " D i v i n e I n s p i r -Y O U N G M A N . By Jam es J o y c e . SON. By M. DE V - M . a t i o n . The Hub of the U n i v e r s e .I d e a l s and I d o l s . On this S p i r i t u a lL I B E R A T I O N S : S T U D I E S OF IN- 167 ANDRC DUNOYE R DE SE GONZAC, 173 R e a l i t y . M a r r i a g e and the R o m a nDIVIDUALITY IN CoNTEMPOR- PAINTER. With illustrations. C a t h o l i c C h u r c h . M a r r i a g e andAR Y Mu si o By Leig h Henry. By Madame Ciolk owska . l l s R l v a I s -

P O E M S ,B Y RICHARD ALDINGTON.

A T M I T Y L E N E . The voice of Apollo is still,O most high gods;

O Artemis, We give you lor gar land s,Will you not leav e the dark fastn ess We give you for wine and for salt,A n d set your steel-white foot upon the foam, We give you for pa?ans and hymn s, our tea rs,A n d come acro ss the rustl ing sand Our silence.Set ti ng it adrift with the wind of your rai ment?

0 most high gods,F o r these women have laid out a purple cloth, We brin g you our silence.A n d they have builded you an altarO f white shells for the honey. E N N U I E S .O Artemi s, T o A P O E T .Girdle the gold about you,S e t the silver upon your hair May we not be spar edA n d remember us \ beseech yo uW e , who have grown weary even of music, T h ; s i n s i s t e n t cult of " N at ur e, "We who would scream behind the wild clogs of Thi s pitiless reit erat ion?

Scythia. May we not acceptTh e fact s of veget at ion and florescence

A F A R E W E L L . Without these reminders?1 grant you that hyacinths( F o r a few men of Po se idon ia ; for a few of to-da y.) ^r e blue, and that olivesA r e green in their season,

Many have wounded you with evil praise, That berries are juicy and vine-leav es delightful.O most high go ds , But may we not leav e them to WordsworthMany have spoken aga ins t yo u; And caterpillars,Many have uttered your names. And ourselve s make merry

With our own particularA n d you lie upon golden Olymp us Unveg eta ble artifices? Ju ne , 1 9 1 3 .Aphrodite, Apollo, HerA n d you muse of love or of fate,A n d you watch the gold thin mist L E S E N N U Y E S E X Q U I S .A s you lean by the golden cups.

Our immaculate boredomO most hig h gods Must have no stain of emotion ,Artemi s, Herm es, Ze us And even our amoursW e ha ve Ate or Isi s for queen. Must be frag ile and curi ous.

We would languidly fashionPerseph one has left us, has left us. . . The featu res of Ne roFrom emerald and basalt.Many men have wronged you,O most high g ods ; Le t us be indolentOur praise is as dust in your wine -cup s; But ver y remar kabl e.

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1(32 THE EGOIST M a y i s i , 1 9 1 4The clots of people SOLEMN MEDITATION.Aljout PiccadillyAr e sordid and swea ty ; I am a-weary of this fecundity,W e suspect them of vices This monstrous clamour of babes,L i k e marr iage and business, This prod igious anima lit y;And we know they are ignorant For if I love WomanOf Hokkei and Rufinus ; It must be as the frail starsBut wecannot be troubled And the light of crystal waters,T o protest, or instruct them ; Not as two rabbitsOur immaculate boredom In a domestic den.Must have no stain of emotion. November, 1 9 1 2 .

B y Zeus,V E R O N A . I had l iever be an eunuch !

The heat is spread over the land Swe et God,L i k e thick gold petals of a rose Keep me unwedThat has the sun for heart ; Andsterile !It is spread out Eileithuia,L i k e three blankets too many Be thou a goddessOn a summer bridal couch. Unknown in my house,

Neither be thou summonedWhen they splash water Byhowling of women. April, 1 9 1 2 .On the hot flag-stonesOf the Piazza delle Erbe S T O D G E .The oldwomen laugh with pleasure.

Decency,The young women complain ; Reverence,They buyperfumes. The home,

The school,0 England, mydull England, The university,1 am glad to be away from you, The church,And in a joyous city The law(especially),Where it is actually too hot. June, 1 9 1 3 . Property,

The leisured classes,A L I V E R . Kensington,

The bibleY o u say " This is notmy lover !"O phallus of the Lampsacene,A h , dear little mistress, O Nero, Cybele, Isis, A t y s ,

Y o u strive vainly to goad mysoul into gaiety; O ithyphallic deities,It lies inert and bored, masculi ne, Hav e mercy on us.With a sick horror of eternal disgusts. J u l y , 1 9 1 3 . Kur ioi elei'sate. Sept ember, 1 9 1 3 .

V I EW S AND C O MM E N T S .On property. The mischief in all the debates one 's own. Whe n this hasbeen solved, " collective "

which turn on property is that unconsciously ownership wi l l begin to show livelier signs of beingthe debaters are infected by the cler ical habit acce ptable to blunt sense, but until then, " collect ive"

of labelling as to quality. They are so put about to ownership wil l remain what it at present is, anddecide whether property is good lor one or bad for always hasbeen, the cove r under which after winni ngone that they forget that their first concern is with a more or l ess grudging "co nse nt , " the few whowhat property is. The subject is by this means are sufficiently powerful to mount to " control " wi l llanded in the thorny region of attitudes, oughts, and own the various properties which nominally are theduties where the controversy born of ungranted possessions of the collective gro up. That is, the fewassumptions takes the place of the unrestrained tale wil l as long as they remain in power, work their wi l lreadily told. Out of the great clamour which in on the " organisation "the Dead Hand, and afore-modern times has raged about property two themes time prope rty, after hav ing been tra nsmut ed intoonly can be picked oat : one, that property is " bad " " substance," wil l again become property : thefor a man, therefore must men be influenced to properly of the controllers,acquiesce in the placing of their property in Mortmain : in the Dead Hand which cannot beharmed by, $3 t$3 j3or do harm to, itthe corporation, the commune, thestate, the gui ld; and two, a fainter-sounding but Property is " o n e ' s own," and driven from onemore tenacious onethat it is " good " and that there- owner it finds another as inevitably as water seeks itsfore the " influence " must be exercised to find out level. And an owner is a masterone who doesways and means whereby once got, property may with what he possesses according to his own nature,remain attached to its posse ssor s. Accor dingly when a group vests its " property " in a

Now both these lines of theor y become obviousl y Dead Hand , the Dead Hand of necessity must electfutile if one starts from the point of what property living agent s : the property finds its owners in the

Property, as its name sufficiently indicates, is agents. It is inevitable. Should the official be onewhat is one's own. What makes a thing into pro- who cannot " own " on an extended scale he at onceperty is the fact that a person owns it. Apart from appear s the " nithing," the " weak man " in thethis power of the owner to work his wil l upon system. The " group " detest him in a sense and aobjects, " property " is not property : it is mere sub- degree very far different from that in which they fearstancepart of the objective world, whatever wewil l a tyrant, for he reflects their folly back upon them,to name it. The tight little problem with which a The " group " appreciate even if they could notmodern tendency of thinking is faced is, how at one explain the difference between being governed by aand the same time to retain and abolish prop er ty, Napol eon and a Praise-God Bare-bones : evenhow to make commodities one's own and yet not between a SirEdward Carson and a Labour M . P .

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M a y 1 s t , 1 9 1 4 THE EGOIST 163The reason is that what one can own, i.e. control,

gives a mea su re of wha t one is : and the instinctiveknowledge which the masses have, all phrases to thecontrary notwithstanding, that the official in controlis the owner is revealed by the fact that they reckonsuch a one, be ing elected to the position and notacti ng as owner merely prov es himself to be incapabl e.They realise that they have not merely divested themselves of their own powers to own, but have perpetrated the foolishness in the interest of one too feebleto profit by it.

rThe misunde rstan ding s which are rife in relation

to the holding of property are due to the fact thatwe endeavour to limit the area over which it extends.W e own not only land and money (su pposin g wedo) : our " prop erty " ex ten ds to the limits exact lyof what we are : the nucleus of our prope rty is wha twe are born with : instincts, famil y, gra ce , beauty ,manner, brains, and the original dower of powerwhich we have which puts them into evidence. These,are, in a more absolute sense than material possessionsour property . In relation to wha t these are,the toll we can l e v y of such material possessions aswe desire wi l l be. Human calculations are likeliestto work out aright if we regard our " property,"that is, our " o wn , " rather as a native endowmen t,than as something which can be post-natal ly conferre d, as for instance , our kind of edu cat ion ; if wereg ard it as fundamental, a hazard of which the die iscast at birth : like our breath ing app ara tus rathe rthan a muffler or artificial res pi rator. In fac t, theanalogy between the power to acqu ire property andthe power to breathe might be usefully extended.Both are native endowments; both are necessary tocontinued existence; both are powers which can beadequately exercised only on one's own initiative;both requi re for their exer cis e access to a mediumexternal to the body through which they exercise;both require their needs to be measured by theirwan ts : both i nval idate the entire person by anyfailure to work effectually, both have a minimum ofspecific requ irements which they dra w from theenv iron ment in which they are pl ac ed ; and thesefailing in either case, only an advanced stage ofinanition explains the failure of fight to the lastdegree of savagery in order to enable them to augment their powe rs to the neces sary degr ee. Th at oneacquires food and clothing for its first satisfactionwhile the other acquires fresh air makes no real sortof difference to the para lle l. Th e ones are as essential as the other and their acquisition to be consideredas much a matter of course.

It wi l l of course be maintained that the power toacquire property and the actual coming by it are twovery different thin gs ; it is becau se they are r ega rdedas so different that those debater s who uphold the" theme " that property is " good " are so concernedwith the ways and means of keep ing property" s t a b l e " ; ready to go to any length towards thecreation of an authority which wi l l guarantee thatmen shall remai n secu re in their proper ty. Ye t afterall their efforts the nature of property defeats them :it rema ins fluid. It ga the rs as a refu lgence aboutthe individual powe rs, gro ws dense and diss ipatesexactly according to the force of the individual wi l labout which it settles. Th e authority which wa s tokeep it fluid, itself becomes the property of thosewho cho ose to expl oit it. All prop erti es ar e as fluidto the acqu ir ing as air i s : they know only oneauthority : the wi l l which can co mmand them ; andthe means which can command them can be as readilysought and found in the individual w i l l , as can theforce which primari ly conce ives them as desirabl e.There are no firm and fixed methods : there ar emerely convenient ones. Wha tev er method servesbest to the ge tti ng and holding is best. Th e line ofleast resistance to actual possession is the line for

successful competition. Phr ase s " mor ali ty, "" leg alit y "f ro m the point of visio n of the pers onon the mak e are negl igib le qua ntit ies : they comeinto the reckoning only as possible factors with resis-ters one migh t encounter on the wa y. Th ey belongto the kind of forc es which, while not respected , ar erec ogn ise d : they enter into the calculat ion in theaccount of resistance to be met, but not in theaccount of the force whic h is to meet it. Mor al andlegal forces are part of the machinery whereby thosewho think property " g o o d " try to make us " re sp ec t"our n eig hbo ur' s property : whereas the fit andfeasible thing is for each of us to respect our own.The respect due to our neighbour's property is theaffair of our neigh bour. Mind ing each other 's businessand p roper tyis a dull laboriou s and irritatin gaffair. Mindi ng our own is our native interest; theproper affair of a sw ag ge r person . Fo r the posse ssion of property is nothing more than the expressionof our personality and w i l l , the material with whichwe are able to do as we please . Th e see king toacqu ire it is the endea vour to get a free scope for theexercising of our own power : it is the ave nue toself-expression and self-satisfac tion. Th os e who donot force open such an ave nue to some extent , arethose who hav e nothing to exp res s. A deterrin g" respect " that the aven ue is other people 's proper tyis a smug' excuse provided for those who cannotattend to their own prop er conc erns. It does nothold with strong er powe rs, nor does human admirationgo out to it. It go es to the " st rong " men : wheth erit is the exploi ter wh o sets out to buy human stuffbody and soulto express his wi l l uponlike Mr.F o rd ; or any " tyrant " who wi l l sacrifice his fellowslife and limbto please himself. Th ey like it. Wh enmen ga the r up all their scatter ed conce ption s of wha tis admirable and create God, they create him in theirimage and give him the wor ld to play with . Th eworld is his : we and all that therein is. He mak eshis wil l through the world and us : any thing lesswould be a deroga tion of his dig nity and power . Itis not an accident that men have conceived " god "under such an image : he is the embodiment of thestrong wil l which they fundamentally admire. Th atthe image entails their being hustled somewhat ismatter for gr im satis facti on. Ther e is a real pride inbeing treated sans ceremonie.

I f it is felt occasionally that God goes too far, hedoes not lack apo log ist s. " Ma y not God do wha tHe likes with His o w n ? " Of course God has theadvantage over earthly strong men of being veryremote and is thus sav ed from admini sterin g thoseaggravat ing personal pushes for which well-belovedearthly tyran ts usually pay with their necks : thoug heven a Job ultimately cursed him, in spite of his goodopinion of him. In short he ceased to resp ect himthoug h he continued to like him : and that is precisely what happ ens with the strong- willed here : thegr ea t of the ear ththo se wh o wo rk their own w i l lin the worldare admired and liked but, of necessity,tripped up, kept a s much as possib le on a leash ; asfor the small, the feeble-willed who respec t theirneighbour's possessionsthey are neither liked norre spe cte d; they are trodden upon : then actively disliked beca use they appear so mess y and dis figure d.

Cj j cj3 CjJIf then the person who respects only his own

property, placing on his neighbour the onus ofrespecting his, is the one who instinctively is appreciated as the worthier person, it remains to considerwh y the apparent practical forcing into effect of suchinstinctive impulses is spoken of with di sfav our :why, in short, the seizing of property is regardedwith abhorre nce. It is main ly acco unta ble to theuncalculated effects of the efforts of those who seekto make property stable, by guaranteeing a man's" security " in his poss ess ions . Wh at actual ly hap pens is that property follows its natu ral trend in thewake of the strong w i l l . The net which the invoked" authority " lays manages only to ensnare those too

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THE EGOIST M a y 1 s t , 1 9 1 4feeble to br ea k thr ough it. It is like a spi der 's n ewhich wi l l catch flies but through which a man':boot rips without recog nisi ng its presence. In effecthe pains and penalties which the state attaches tcattacks on property turn out to be han dic aps attachecto the slowe st runne rs. Pri son is the potential hom