Then the bright-veiled Hekate came nigh them; much joy made she over the holy daughter of Demeter, and from that time forth has been minister and companion to the Queen. Then Zeus sent a messenger into the midst of these, even the beautiful-haired Rhea, with charge to bring the dark-cloaked Demeter among the companies of the gods; and he promised that he would grant her whatever honours she should choose among the immortal gods, and consented that her child should spend a third part of the revolving year beneath the nether darkness, but two parts beside her mother and the rest of the immortals. And Rhea disobeyed not, but made haste down from the summits of Olympos, and came to the Rharian plain, even the plain where crops plenteously sucked life of yore, but life at this time it yielded none, nay, but stood idle without one blade, and kept the white barley buried according to the intents of the fairy-ankled Demeter; nevertheless the hour was at hand when it would wave again all at once with spikes of corn. Thither Rhea descended first out of the empty air. And they beheld each other with gladness, and rejoiced at heart. And the brightveiled Rhea bespoke her thus:- Hither, child: the loud-thundering farseeing Zeus invites thee to come among the companies of the gods, and has promised to give thee whatever honours thou mayest choose,' (the text suffers here) and thy child shall spend a third part of the year in the nether shades, but two parts with thee and the other immortals. Hearken, then, to what I tell unto thee, and be not angry overmuch, but suffer to grow the fruit which giveth life to men.' Thus said she, and Demeter disobeyed not, but immediately let the seed spring up from the fat-clodded fields; and the whole broad earth was laden with leaves and flowers. And the goddess went, and taught the service of her mysteries to the justice-dealing kings, even Triptolemos, and the driver Diokles, and the strong Eumolpos, and Keleos the ruler of the people, and appointed the goodly rites and solemn ministries which it is in no wise lawful either to transgress nor to divulge," (these last words, again, are but conjectural, because of injury to the writing.) "Blessed among men," the poem goes on, impressively, "blessed among men upon the earth is he that hath beheld these things; but he that hath no part nor share in our solemnities, never shall he have the like blessings beneath the mouldering shades when his day is done. So when the divine goddess had made an end of her teaching, they set forth to go to Olympos among the assembly of the other gods. And there they dwell, beside Zeus that exulteth in his thunder; awe and majesty are upon them; very blessed upon the earth is the man to whom those holy ones incline favourably; lightly they send Ploutos, who giveth abundance to mortals, to abide beside the hearth in the mansion of him they love."

"Blessed is he that hath beheld these things"—" very blessed upon the earth is the man to whom those holy ones incline,"—such, and equally solemn, is the testimony of all antiquity from first to last. That which our singer avers, in early days of Greek society, Isokrates repeats, when

he ascribes to the Eleusinian goddesses the two best of all gifts-the fruits of the earth, and the rite of initiation-and Cicero re-echoes, when he speaks with bated breath of that holy and august Eleusis. But wherein, precisely, the excellence and sanctity of the Eleusinian rites consisted, and what the initiation was, we nowhere learn. Even of the ceremonial and circumstances of the festival, we know less than we know in the case of many festivals of far less importance. Volumes of erudition have been devoted to the subject; but the result comes to little more than this; that at the approach of the September full moon the multitudes desirous of attending the festival used to assemble at Athens; that before noon on a certain day, the procession used to set out, and move slowly by the Sacred Way, past the olive groves of the Kephissos, through the pass of Mount Aigealos (now called the pass of Daphni), and round the shores of the bay, to the Thriasian plain, where it would arrive at midnight; that this first night was spent in torchlight dances, with wild song and revelry, upon the plain; that the days which followed were days of fasting and purification; and then came the days dedicated to the successive stages of the mysteries properly so called. The efficacy of these depended, not on anything which the votary learned, but on something which he saw; not on any knowledge or dogmatic revelation imparted to him within the sanctuary, but on scenes witnessed there, and on the mood or state of feeling into which the scenes threw him. He is always spoken of not as a disciple, but as a spectator, or looker-on. The mysteries into which he is initiated are things done, acted, or performed. Scenes, they are reverentially called, "not to be talked of;" to divulge them was a sin; and undivulged, for us they accordingly remain. Pausanias, when he is coming near the point, checks himself and says: as to what I saw within the sanctuary, not only was I forbidden by a dream to tell it, but, as the uninitiated are kept from witnessing these things, so it is plain they have no right to learn them by hearsay." We can, however, with certainty infer from the hints that reach us, that what had so powerful an effect upon the minds of the worshippers was a kind of show, or series of stage representations, setting forth the episodes of the story we have just read. These representations the priests would conduct within the temple, according to a prescribed order, with music and great solemnity. They would be watched by those quick spectators with a passion of sympathy. The tribulation of Demeter would be entered into with tears. The resurrection of Persephone from Erebos, accompanied with illumination and acclaim, would be witnessed with an ecstasy of rejoicing. Having participated, after much discipline and preparation, in the triumph of that moment, the initiated would learn to realise and hold fast the hope of some kindred triumph for themselves. The goddesses who had so vindicated their power over death and the grave, and with whose sorrows their own hearts had beaten in unison but now, would surely not desert them in the latter day. Whatever might be the lot of others, they at least when they

passed to the shadowy kingdom would be preferred in the sight of its Queen.

Something like this, for nearer we cannot come to it, was what the Greek experienced in the act of initiation. Therefore it is with no idle tongue, nor with thoughts too alien from our own, it is with a piety into which we do not find it hard to enter, that our singer turns again to the divine mother and her child, and takes leave of them with a last invocation:-"Be favourable unto us now, thou that holdest in thy hand the people of Eleusis, the sweet-smelling place of sacrifices, and Paros that the sea flows round, and rocky Antron; Mistress and Queen, Deo, giver of bright gifts and ripener of fair seasons, thou and thy beauteous daughter Persephone, be favourable unto us, incline thine ear towards us, and recompense our song with pleasantness of days."

S. C.

The Quick March of the Fourteenth Regiment.

[On May 23, 1793, my grandfather Welbore Ellis Doyle rallied his regiment—the 14th of the Line-then wavering under a heavy fire, and stormed the fortified camp of Famars, after a very severe action, to the tune of Ça Ira. For many years this tune continued to be the quick march of the 14th Regiment. I understand that of late years the tradition has ceased to operate, and that the march is disused, or, at least, that its origin has been forgotten.]

WHEN first the might of France was set
'Gainst creeds and laws, long years ago,
And the great strife-not ended yet-
Tossed crowns and nations to and fro,

Now buried deep beneath those wars
That since have made the earth their prey,

Our hard-won triumph at Famars

Was famous in its day.

Here-trained through stedfast work, and drilled

Till as one thought they moved along,
By the old land's old memories filled,
Our English lads were calm and strong.
There-drunk on hope as on new wine,
That in their veins like madness wrought,
With power half-devilish, half-divine,
Each restless Frenchman fought.

Wealth, numbers, skill they heeded not,
Trampling them down as common things;
Man's spirit was a fire, made hot

To burn away the strength of kings.
Thus armed, as roars before the blast

At forest trees a prairie flame,
On our firm silence, fiercely fast

Their howling frenzy came

Until (why shun the truth to speak?)
The courage rooted in the past

Struck, as by sudden storms, grew weak,
And wavered like a wavering mast:
Still kept their time the well-taught feet,
Nor dreamed the soldier yet of flight,
Though deepening shadows of defeat
Fell on him, like a blight.

Straight out in front their leader dashed
(A God-given king of men was he),

And from his bright looks on them flashed
One sparkle of heroic glee :

"They hold us cheap," (he cried) "too soon,
We'll break them, frantic as they are,
Unto their own accursed tune;

Strike up then Ça Ira.”

The drums exulting thundered forth,
Whilst yet with trumpet tones he spoke,
And in those strong sons of the North
The old Berserker laugh awoke.

Their bayonets glowed with life, their eyes
Shone out to greet that eagle glance,

And, in her rush, a strange surprise

Palsied the steps of France.

Then, like a stream that bursts its banks,*

To Ça Ira from fifes and drums,

Upon their crushed and shattered ranks

The cataract charge of England comes;

*This line is from Rokeby. I borrowed it unconsciously at the moment, and thought afterwards that Scott was quite rich enough to lend it to me without feeling the loss.