Collation :-Post octavo, pp. 14; consisting of Half-title (with blank reverse), pp. 1-2; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse), pp. 3-4; and Text pp. 5-14. The head-line throughout is: The Ballad of Dead Men's Bay. There is an imprint: "Printed Privately: 1889," at the foot of the last page.

Issued in paper wrappers, of a pale buff colour, with the title-page reproduced upon the front. There is a copy in the British Museum.

The Ballad was also printed in The Athenæum, No. 3229 (September 14th, 1889), pp. 352-353.

Afterwards included in Astrophel, and other. Poems, 1894, pp.

214-221.

(37.)

[THE BROTHERS: 1889.]

The Brothers. By Algernon Charles Swinburne. / Printed: 1889.

Collation:-Post octavo, pp. 8; consisting of Half-title (with blank

reverse), pp. 1-2; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse), pp. 3-4; and Text pp. 5-8. There are no head-lines, the pages being numbered centrally. There is also no imprint. Issued in plain thin blue paper wrappers.

The Brothers first appeared in The People, No. 428, for December 22nd, 1889. It was afterwards included in Astrophel, and other Poems, 1894, pp. 204-209. The separate edition, described above, is an exceedingly rough and unsightly production. It was printed at the newspaper office from the types of The People. A few copies only were so struck off, and distributed privately. One of these copies is in the British Museum.

(38.)

[A SEQUENCE OF SONNETS: 1890.]

A Sequence of Sonnets / on the Death of Robert Browning

By A. C. Swinburne / London / Printed for Private Circulation MDCCCXC.

Collation:-Square octavo, pp. 13; consisting of Half-title (with

*

blank reverse), pp. 1-2; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse), pp. 3-4; Prefatory Note (with blank reverse), pp. 5-6; and Text pp. 7-13. The head-line is A Sequence of Sonnets throughout, on both sides of the page. There is no imprint.

Issued in dark slate coloured paper wrappers, with the title-page reproduced upon the front.

These Sonnets also appeared in The Fortnightly Review for January, 1890. They were afterwards reprinted in Astrophel, and other Poems, 1894, pp. 136-142. There is a copy of the pamphlet in the British Museum.

Robert Browning died at Asolo on December 12th, 1889.

* This Prefatory Note states that "A few copies only have been printed in this separate form more befitting the occasion." It may safely be prophesied that these "few copies," forming as they do a connecting link between two of the foremost poets of the age, will at no distant date prove to occupy a conspicuous position in the list of modern poetical rarities.

(39.)

[THE BALLAD OF BULGARIE: 1893.]

The Ballad of Bulgarie | By / Algernon Charles Swinburne London / Printed for Private Circulation /

MDCCCXCIII.

Collation:-Post octavo, pp. 15; consisting of Half-title (with

blank reverse), pp. 1-2; leaf with blank recto, and with a portrait of the poet (to face the Title-page) upon the reverse, pp. 3-4; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse), pp. 5-6; leaf with a Note upon its recto, and blank reverse, pp. 7-8; and Text pp. 9-15. There is no imprint. The head-line is The Ballad of Bulgarie throughout, upon both sides of the page.

Issued in plain paper wrappers, of a pale orange colour.

The Ballad of Bulgarie appeared only in the private pamphlet here described. It has never been reprinted in any shape or form, and it is in the highest degree improbable that it ever will be revived. The following lines, extracted as a specimen of the Ballad, will therefore be of interest :

The gentle Knight, Sir John de Bright,

(Of Brummagemme was he,)
Forth would he prance with lifted lance
For love of Bulgarie.

No lance in hand for the other land,
Sir Bright would ever take;
For wicked works, save those of Turks,
No head of man would break;
But that Bulgarie should not be free,
This made his high heart quake.
From spur to plume a star of doom,
(Few knights be like to him,)
How shone from far that stormy star,
His basnet broad of brim!

'Twas not for love of Cant above,

Nor Cotton's holy call,

But a lance would he break for Bulgary's sake,
And Termagant should sprawl.

The mother-maid, Our Lady of Trade,

His spurs on heel she bound,

She belted the brand for his knightly hand,

Full wide the silk went round;

And the brand was bright as his name, to smite
The spawn of false Mahound.

His basnet broad that all men awed

No broader was to see,

From brim to brim that shadowed him

As forth to fight rode he,

South-east by south, with his war-cry in mouth,
"St. John for Bulgarie!"

Ha! Beauseant! said Sir Bright, Gods Bread!
And by God's mother dear!

By my halidom! nay, I might add, perfay!

What catiff wights be here?

Tho Sir Thomas look black and Sir William go back

What tongue is mine to wag

By the help of our Lady, tho' matters look shady,
It shall fight for the Red Cross flag;
Shout, gentlemen, for sweet Saint Penn!
Up, gallants, for Saint George!
(His name in his day was Fox, by the way)
Till the Paynim fiend disgorge,

Till he loosen his hold of the shrines of old
That yet his clutch is on,

Till the Sepulchre Blest by our arms repossessed,
As soon as his own shall be gone,

And the mount of night that Olivet bright,

Strike, strike for Sweet Saint John!

The prefatory Note reads thus :-The following lines were sent by Mr. Swinburne to an evening newspaper in December, 1876, but withheld from publication. They are here printed from the poet's manuscript without the slightest emendation, either in punctuation or any other matter.

A copy of this interesting booklet is preserved in the British Museum. Another is included in the important collection of Mr. Swinburne's writings possessed by Mr. Edmund Gosse, and is duly described (p. 172), in the beautiful Catalogue of his Library.

(40.)

[GRACE DARLING: 1893.]

Grace Darling By Algernon Charles Swinburne / London / Printed only for Private Circulation / 1893. Collation :-Post quarto, pp. 20; consisting of Half-title (with blank reverse), pp. 1-2; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse), pp. 3-4; Certificate of Issue (with blank reverse), pp. 5-6; Dedication to Grace Darling, in four lines of

verse (with blank reverse), pp. 7-8; and Text pp. 9-20. The head-line is Grace Darling throughout, upon both sides of the page. Facing the last page is a leaf with the following imprint upon its recto: "London: "Printed by Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, | Bread Street Hill, and Bungay, Suffolk. | 1893."

Issued in white 'Japanese Vellum' boards, lettered in gilt up the back: "Grace Darling-A. C. Swinburne-1893." Thirty copies only were printed upon Whatman's hand-made paper, and three upon fine Vellum.

Grace Darling also appeared in the Summer number of The Illustrated London News (June 1893), pp. 1-4, accompanied by six illustrations. The poem was reprinted in Astrophel, and other Poems, 1894, pp. 69-79.