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diff --git a/old/64057-0.txt b/old/64057-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 13b31f8..0000000 --- a/old/64057-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1121 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Agnes Mary Clerke and Ellen Mary Clerke, by -Margaret Lindsay (Lady) Huggins - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Agnes Mary Clerke and Ellen Mary Clerke - An Appreciation - -Author: Margaret Lindsay (Lady) Huggins - Ellen Mary Clerke - -Release Date: December 16, 2020 [EBook #64057] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Fay Dunn, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The Internet - Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AGNES MARY CLERKE AND ELLEN MARY -CLERKE *** - - - - - AGNES MARY CLERKE - AND - ELLEN MARY CLERKE - - - - - ... “_above these heavens, which here we see, - Be others farre exceeding these in light._” - - _E. SPENSER._ - [_An Hymne of Heavenly Beautie._] - - -[Illustration: _H. S. Mendelssohn._ - -AGNES MARY CLERKE.] - - - - - AGNES MARY CLERKE - AND - ELLEN MARY CLERKE - - AN APPRECIATION - BY - LADY HUGGINS - HON. MEM. R.A.S. - - PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION - 1907 - - - - -FOREWORD - - -Lady Huggins in her original draft of the obituary notice of my sister -Agnes, which appeared in the _Astrophysical Journal_, included some -words of personal appreciation and of reference to her family which -were omitted from the copy sent for publication, as being, possibly, -somewhat beyond the scope of a purely scientific journal. At my request -Lady Huggins has consented to the full original draft, with a few -additions, being published for private circulation. She has also, to -my great gratification, and entirely on her own initiative, taken this -opportunity of adding an appreciation of my elder sister. - -My sisters’ acquaintance with Lady Huggins commenced only after -they had been some time permanently resident in London; and for the -accuracy of the statements relating to their earlier lives I am -alone responsible. Their father had died before the period of which -Lady Huggins speaks from personal knowledge; and perhaps it is fit -that I should supplement what she says as to the influence of family -life upon the characters and careers of my sisters by mentioning a -few facts connected with my father. Although a classical scholar -of Trinity College, Dublin, his interests were for the most part -scientific. In our earliest years his recreation was chemistry, the -consequential odours of which used to excite the wrath of our Irish -servants. Later a “big telescope” (4 inch aperture) was mounted in -the garden, and we children were occasionally treated to a glimpse of -Saturn’s rings, or Jupiter’s satellites. In an age before railways -and telegraphs had reached the remote parts of Ireland and before -clocks were “synchronised with Greenwich,” the local time would have -gone “all agley” had it not been for my father’s observations with -his “orthochronograph.” These trivial things show that it was in -an environment of scientific suggestion that our early lives were -passed; and to me, at all events, my father’s influence was more than -suggestion, for to his painstaking teaching I have to attribute any -little successes which I subsequently achieved. - -It is difficult for me to express to Lady Huggins my thanks in fitting -terms, for to thank implies a service; and her work has been not a -service to me, but a labour of love for those whose simple lives she -records. Still I may say that I am deeply gratified by this finished -product of her pen, and that I rejoice that she should have conceived -the idea of writing this Appreciation, thereby enabling me to place it -before the eyes of many friends. - -I have to thank Director Frost of the Yerkes Observatory for his -permission to reprint that part of the “Appreciation” which has already -appeared. - - AUBREY ST. JOHN CLERKE. - - 68 REDCLIFFE SQUARE, S.W. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - AGNES MARY CLERKE 1 - - LIST OF PAPERS CONTRIBUTED TO THE _Edinburgh Review_ 37 - - ELLEN MARY CLERKE 39 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - AGNES MARY CLERKE _Frontispiece_ - From a Photograph - - MRS. CLERKE _Facing page_ 1 - From a Bust - - ELLEN MARY CLERKE ” 39 - From a Photograph - - - - -[Illustration: _C. E. Fry & Son._ - -MRS. CLERKE. - -From a bust executed in Rome in 1868.] - - - - -AGNES MARY CLERKE - - -Agnes Mary Clerke was born on February 10, 1842, at Skibbereen, a small -country town in a remote part of the County Cork. Her father was John -William Clerke; and her mother was a sister of the late Lord Justice -Deasy. - -Constitutionally delicate, Agnes Clerke from her earliest years, as -so often is to be noticed in cases of frail health, found her chief -delight in literary study and in music. From quiet talks often enjoyed -with her in her later life, it was clear that the thoughtfulness of -Agnes Clerke, and her liking for probing difficult problems, must have -developed early. - -This is not the place for enlarging upon the family influences of her -home life, but it should be said that these were truly fostering, -and that she was a devoted and loving daughter, to whom the parental -sympathy, strongly given on both sides, was at once inspiration and -joy. Mrs. Clerke was a remarkable woman, with rare powers of insight -and of capacity for love. Her conversational powers were of a high -order, as was her musical ability. Those privileged to be present -at her afternoon gatherings will not easily forget their pleasures; -and intimate friends will long remember the charms of her music. Her -rendering of old Irish airs on Ireland’s national instrument--the -harp--was delightful; and so indeed was her piano-playing. She told -me one day near the close of her life, when near her eightieth -birthday, that she practised on her instruments _every day_. This was -interesting; and showed that power of persevering work--even under the -natural disabilities of age--which was a marked feature in her daughter -Agnes. - -The bust, a photograph of which is here reproduced, was executed in -Rome when Mrs. Clerke was about fifty years of age. - -In considering the fostering influences of Agnes Clerke’s home life, -that of her only brother, Aubrey St. John Clerke, should be mentioned. - -Mr. Clerke won the first gold medal of Trinity College, Dublin, -in Mathematics at his Degree examination in 1865, and was awarded -a studentship of £100 a year for seven years--the highest honour -obtainable at the Degree examination. He also won the second gold medal -conferred by the University for Experimental and Natural Science. - -Mr. Clerke has told me--what indeed I always believed--that although -not professing to be a mathematician, his sister’s perception of -mathematical truth was singularly clear; and I feel sure that her -brother’s mathematical powers and knowledge of Natural Science were a -great advantage to her, for the helpfulness of thorough sympathy is -very great. In her later life she took lessons in mathematics, and -expatiated to me on the pleasure she felt in them. Not that she aimed -at making herself a mathematician; she was too wise to so err. Her -object was simply to go far enough to enable her to do better her -own particular work. No one that I have known--man or woman--better -understood that the half may be better than the whole; that the art of -doing, consists, greatly, in--_not_ doing. She could renounce. And in -these days great renunciation is necessary if useful work is to be done. - -In 1861 the Clerke family moved to Dublin, and in 1863 to Queenstown. -The winters of 1867 and of 1868 were spent at Rome; those of 1871 and -1872 at Naples; and the next four winters at Florence--the summers of -1874-76 being passed at the Bagni di Lucca. Both sisters profited to -the full from this sojourn in Italy, as their subsequent writings show; -but Agnes at Florence worked specially hard, reading constantly in the -Public Library there, and always, I believe, with one great object -before her. - -It is a question of much interest to examine into the early leanings -and aspirations of those who distinguish themselves later, and Agnes -Clerke early determined her life work. Before leaving Skibbereen, -about the age of fifteen, she had clearly before her the intention of -writing a history of Astronomy, and it is thought, had actually written -a few chapters. Her first article accepted for the _Edinburgh Review_, -is in harmony with the above facts. - -Agnes Clerke’s first wish to examine into Science generally, was roused -by the perusal of _Joyce’s Scientific Dialogues_; but as regards -Astronomy, Sir John Herschel’s _Outlines_ was her earliest guide--and -I can imagine how much this really great book was to her, from my own -early use of it. - - * * * * * - -Well do I remember reading an article in the _Edinburgh Review_ for -October 1880, on “The Chemistry of the Stars.” I admired it much: I -wondered who had written it, for it seemed to me to be unlike the -work of any one then known in the scientific world. Five years later -I solved my puzzle, for in 1885 appeared the _History of Astronomy -in the Nineteenth Century_; and I had not looked far into it before -I exclaimed: “Now I know who wrote that article in the _Edinburgh -Review_!” - -Shortly after--dining at a house where to dine was always to share in a -feast of reason and flow of soul--and sitting between our distinguished -and kindly host Sir William Bowman, and Sir Robert Ball, Sir Robert -and I exchanged ideas about the new _History of Astronomy_, and about -its author, the new “Unknown.” With all his own acuteness, Sir Robert -showed that the writer could not be a practical astronomer. But I was -delighted to find that my admiration for the _History_ was fully shared -by him, and that his praise of it was very warm. - -Shortly afterwards I entered upon a friendship, and upon a -companionship in Astronomy, which have been among my best pleasures. - - * * * * * - -Agnes Clerke’s literary life may be said to have begun in 1877 with the -acceptance of her article “Copernicus in Italy,” by Henry Reeve, then -editor of the _Edinburgh Review_, who recognised the value of his new -contributor and kept her at work. The number of her contributions to -the _Edinburgh_ is fifty; and they are all of a high order. - -Agnes Clerke, with her family, returned to England in 1877, and settled -in London. With the publication of the _History of Astronomy_ in 1885 -may be said to have begun her astronomical life. - -She read systematically, and cultivated personal relations with a wide -circle of astronomical workers, in person, or by correspondence. I -consider that these relations had much to do with the success of her -work. Her sympathies were so keen, her interest so warm, her longing -for further truth so intense,--that every one liked to offer her all -they could! - -In 1890 appeared her second book, _The System of the Stars_. - -The _Observatory_ for December 1890 contains an article by me on this -work. A review, in the strict sense of the term, it was not, because -there was much in the book which, for obvious reasons, I could not -discuss without becoming controversial. But upon one important question -I spoke strongly; and I venture now to recall and re-urge the position -I then tried to expound. Briefly it is this. The progress of Science -and the growth of its literature during the last quarter of a century -has been so enormous, that a new order of worker is imperatively -called for; and I hailed in Agnes Clerke an admirable example of -such a worker, devoting herself to Astronomy, which is at once the -oldest and, in its new developments, the youngest of the Sciences--the -science which Poincaré has lately so eloquently declared has given the -conception of _law_ to all the others. - -I ventured to sketch what should be the qualifications and aims of such -workers; and the years which have gone by since 1890 have but deepened -my conviction that there is a splendid and ever-growing field--even now -white unto harvest--ready for these special workers. Their mission is -to collect, collate, correlate, and digest the mass of observations -and papers--to chronicle, in short, on one hand; and on the other, -to discuss and suggest, and to expound: that is, to prepare material -for experts, and at the same time to inform and interest the general -public. There is urgent need of better educated public opinion in this -country. - -That such a mission may be a splendid and fruitful one has been shown -by Agnes Clerke; what careful preparation it requires, and how much it -demands of those who would enter upon it, her career also shows. - -The immense increase in astronomical literature is hardly realised -except by those engaged in dealing with it. To give but one -instance--“The Annual Index of Astronomical Literature for 1905,” -published under the auspices of the _Astronomische Gesellschaft_, -contains over two thousand references, collated from three hundred -separate publications. - -The strain of such work as I am indicating is great indeed, involving, -as it should, the power of holding loose in the mind, so to speak, -an immense mass of facts, and also a power of rapidly associating or -dissociating them as work and discovery may suggest. - -In one of her latest works, _Modern Cosmogonies_, Agnes Clerke herself -dwelt upon this strain. “Year by year,” she says (p. 160), “details -accumulate, and the strain of keeping them under mental command becomes -heavier.” - -Pathetic words! written--almost in blood! For not long before had been -published her last large work, _Problems in Astrophysics_; a work she -feared she could not live to complete--a work which at times she was -only able to toil at for half-hour periods. - - * * * * * - -All through her life Agnes Clerke was a student. Lectures and Friday -Evening Discourses at the Royal Institution which bore upon her work -she was careful to attend. A three months’ visit to Sir David and Lady -Gill at the Cape in 1888 gave her some Observatory opportunities which -increased her power of clearly realising the records of observatory -and laboratory work. Sir George Baden-Powell invited her to accompany -his yachting party to Novaya Zemlya for the solar eclipse of August -1896. When I expressed very strongly my regret that she had declined -this invitation (chiefly I now know because she feared she might be -prevented from keeping literary engagements absolutely to time), she -surprised me a week later with an earnest request that she and I -should form a little expedition of two, and try what _we_ could see. -She had divined an unspoken longing of mine, and I cannot refrain from -recording the unselfish love that would fain have gratified me. But it -could not be. - -She was awarded in 1892 the Actonian Prize of one hundred guineas -for her works on Astronomy, by the Royal Institution; and in 1901 -was commissioned by the Managers to write the first Essay under the -Hodgkins Trust, on Low Temperature Research at the Royal Institution -by Professor Sir James Dewar from 1893-1900. - -In 1903 she received the distinction of being elected an Hon. Member -of the Royal Astronomical Society--an honour and title held previously -only by Mrs. Somerville, Caroline Herschel, and Ann Sheepshanks. I may -perhaps be permitted to say that my own deep gratification in my share -of this great honour conferred on us by the Society was heightened by -receiving it with Agnes Clerke. - -She was a frequent attendant at the meetings of both the Royal -Astronomical Society and the British Astronomical Association, and -always an interested one. Occasionally she spoke; but she had no liking -for speaking in public, nor indeed was she well suited for it. - - * * * * * - -A complete list of Agnes Clerke’s papers it would be difficult to -compile. They were, in truth, innumerable. Her articles on astronomers -for the _Dictionary of National Biography_--out of the sixty-six -volumes which constitute this great work there are only eleven -to which she did not contribute,--articles for the _Encyclopædia -Britannica_, and for other encyclopædias were many, and all of them -were models of painstaking inquiry and of clear, concise statement. -The more important of these, that on Laplace in the _Encyclopædia -Britannica_, for instance, are of lasting interest and value. - -Her larger works are:-- - - _History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century_ (4 editions). - - _The System of the Stars._ - - _Familiar Studies in Homer._ - - _The Herschels and Modern Astronomy._ - - _Concise History of Astronomy._ - - _Modern Cosmogonies._ - - _Problems in Astrophysics._ - -I venture to think that the _History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth -Century_ is the most important of her works. It is admirable in -its completeness of references, its wide inclusiveness, and in its -lucidity. It deserves to live, and it assuredly will live--the -invaluable continuation of Grant’s fine work. _The System of the -Stars_ and the _Problems in Astrophysics_ are works of a different -order. Treasuries of knowledge and of suggestion they certainly are. - -The _Homeric Studies_, except in one chapter, are not specially -astronomical; but they are evidence of width of culture and of wide -intellectual interest, and are full of delightful touches of wit and of -humour. - -_The Herschels_ is excellent and agreeable biographical reading. Three -lives are vividly set forth in little more than two hundred octavo -pages. - -It seems to me a mistake to regard Agnes Clerke’s smaller works as of -less importance than her larger ones. - -I have said that I consider the _History_ her greatest work. But, -in some respects, I venture to think that her greatest achievement -is _Modern Cosmogonies_. I claim for this book that it is not only -a history, but a work of philosophical thinking and of imaginative -insight of a very high order. - -Its small size is an accident. It is a work essentially great. In these -superbly brilliant sketches Agnes Clerke’s style is at its best. -Usually, it suffers from effort; the lucidity may be laboured, and the -perpetual antithesis may sometimes be wearying. I have spoken of her -laboriousness in study and in work, and can adorn the tale by relating -what was surely a very remarkable performance. She had at the time no -knowledge of Portuguese, but as part of her preparation for an article -in the _Edinburgh Review_ “Don Sebastian and his Personators,” in six -weeks she not only acquired considerable knowledge of the language, -but read the whole of the _Lusiad_ in the original! - -_Le Style, c’est l’homme_; is it surprising that the physical efforts -she made I fear only too often, tended to render her writing laboured -at times? - -But the writing in _Modern Cosmogonies_, good as it is, is a small -matter compared with the masterly grasp of, I may say, all things, and -of their inter-relations, which the work reveals. And where else is -shown in recent philosophical writing such vision and faculty divine -for seizing and pointing out the reasonable spiritual clues, set in -what we call Nature,--clues helping to sustainment of soul in the midst -of the majestic mysteries surrounding us? - - * * * * * - -No sketch of Agnes Clerke would be complete without reference to her -love of music. To her music was in the highest sense of the term a -recreation. She turned to it for very life. Her piano-playing was -truly musicianly, and her repertory was large. Perhaps on the whole, -her playing was at its best in rendering Chopin. As an accompanist -she excelled. Her teachers were,--in Dublin, Miss Flynn; in Florence, -Buonamici. - -I record here the complete story of her introduction to Liszt. One -moonlight night in the spring of either 1868 or 1869, Mrs. Clerke and -her daughters rambling about Rome were fascinated by such piano-playing -as they had never before heard, and they stopped outside the open -window of the villa and listened spellbound until the unknown Maestro -had finished and came to the window to look out upon the night. Then -the enthusiasm of the hearers overcame conventionality, and they gave -free expression to their admiration; and the fifth act of the little -drama was that Liszt invited his listeners to enter, promising to play -again on condition that Agnes first played for him, which I believe she -did. - -Remarkable as were the intellectual powers of Agnes Clerke, her -moral endowments were equally so. It was a question we frequently -debated--the influence of character on work; and as I write the memory -of certain talks is hauntingly present. As is the heart, is the work. -The best work is and must be associated with lofty character. It was -so with Agnes Clerke. No purer, loftier, and yet sweetly unselfish and -human soul has lived. She was so incapable of meanness that she even -incurred danger as a historian in crediting too readily all workers -with her own high ideals. - -As a friend and companion she was faithful and true, and full of charm; -and without her the world to those who had her friendship seems -darkened and empty. - -But her mission, I must believe, was accomplished. For twenty years -she had been to modern Astronomy an admirable historian, and had kept -before working astronomers clear charts, so to speak, of what was being -done, and of what should and might be done. In so doing she rendered -splendid service, and inaugurated a kind of work which must be more -and more needed--a kind of work which not only advances Astronomy, but -promotes a universal brotherhood and co-operation, golden indeed. - -Agnes Clerke’s death comes as a shock to many. A cold--I fear not -sufficiently nursed at first--led to pneumonia and complications, and -in spite of all that devoted love and skill could do, she passed gently -to the next life, peaceful and fully conscious almost to the last, on -the morning of January 20, 1907. - - _Note._--The portrait is from a photograph taken by Mendelssohn in - 1895. - - - - -“EDINBURGH” ARTICLES - -_List of Papers contributed to Edinburgh Review by Agnes Mary Clerke_ - - - 1. April 1877. Brigandage in Sicily. - 2. July ” Copernicus in Italy. - 3. Jan. 1878. Harvey and Cesalpino. - 4. July ” Origin and Wanderings of the Gypsies. - 5. Jan. 1879. Campanella and Modern Italian Thought. - 6. Oct. ” Spedding’s Life of Bacon. - 7. July 1880. The English Precursors of Newton. - 8. Oct. ” The Chemistry of the Stars. - 9. Oct. 1881. Albania and Scanderbeg. - 10. July 1882. Don Sebastian and his Personators. - 11. April 1883. Volcanoes and Volcanic Action. - 12. Oct. 1883. Prowe’s Life of Copernicus. - 13. July 1884. The Future of the Congo. - 14. Oct. ” Mountain Observatories. - 15. Oct. 1885. The Faith of Iran, Lady Marian. - 16. July 1886. Alford on Art Needlework. - 17. Oct. ” The Aurora Borealis. - 17_a_. Jan. 1887. The House of Douglas. - 18. July ” The Life and Works of Giordano Bruno. - 19. Jan. 1888. Sidereal Photography. - 20. Oct. ” The Law of Storms. - 21. Oct. 1889. East Africa. - 22. July 1890. Life and Works of Lavoisier. - 23. April 1891. Scandinavian Antiquities. - 24. Oct. ” A Moorland Parish. - 25. April 1892. The Ice Age in North America. - 26. July ” The Discovery of America. - 27. April 1893. Proctor’s Old and New Astronomy. - 28. Oct. ” Sir H. Howarth on the Great Flood. - 29. Jan. 1894. Among the Hairy Ainus. - 30. April ” The Liquefaction of Gases. - 31. Oct. ” The Letters of Edward FitzGerald. - 32. July 1895. Problems of the Far East. - 33. Oct. ” Argon and Helium. - 34. Oct. 1896. New Views about Mars. - 35. July 1897. Two Recent Astronomers. - 36. April 1898. Recent Solar Eclipses. - 37. Oct. ” Ethereal Telegraphy. - 38. April 1899. The Origin of Diamonds. - 39. Oct. ” The November Meteors. - 40. April 1900. The Evolution of the Stars. - 41. Oct. ” Hermann von Helmholtz. - 42. July 1901. Temporary Stars. - 43. July 1902. The last Voyage of Ulysses. - 44. Jan. 1903. Double Stars. - 45. Oct. ” The Revelations of Radium. - 46. Jan. 1904. Fahie’s Life of Galileo. - 47. July ” Life in the Universe. - 48. April 1905. Earthquakes and the New Seismology. - 49. July 1906. A Representative Philosopher. - 50. Jan. 1907. The Old and the New Alchemy. - - - - -[Illustration: _C. Skillman._ - -ELLEN MARY CLERKE.] - - - - -ELLEN MARY CLERKE - - -Ellen Mary Clerke, the only sister of Agnes Clerke, whose interest in -Astronomy was also keen, was born at Skibbereen on September 26, 1840. -She shared her sister’s life, and her devotion to her contributed not a -little to the perfect fulfilment of its mission. - -Acutely sensitive to the beautiful, and with a rare capacity for -enthusiasms, Ellen Clerke was first of all a poet. But she was much -besides. She was an accomplished linguist; and the years she spent in -Italy were devoted to such study of Italian literature as enabled her -later to do excellent original work in connection with it. An admirable -article by her in the _Dublin Review_ for October 1879, on “The Age -of Dante in the Florentine Chronicles,” well deserves remembrance, so -full is it of the illumination of wide reading and of careful thinking. -Alas! only too many articles by her have passed into magazine -oblivion. Some of these were written in foreign tongues--a sure proof -of mastery of them. For instance, in 1869 she published a pamphlet in -German with the title _Das Judenthum in der Musik_; while, besides -many articles and reviews in Italian in the Florentine periodicals, -she published in one of these a serial story in Italian, called _Sotto -le Sette Stelle_. She had also a knowledge of Arabic by no means -inconsiderable. - -Her interest in geographical science was not generally known; but -she was a valued member of the Manchester Geographical Society, and -contributed to its Journal. - -As regards Astronomy, she has left useful evidence of her warm interest -in the subject in two excellent popular monographs, and in various -articles. - -A list of Ellen Clerke’s works is given at the end of this sketch, but -special mention must be made of her work as a journalist. Her friends -might regret--as I did for one--that so much of her time was thus -spent; but, after all, journalism is what the journalist makes it; -and it cannot be denied that it is a great and increasing power in our -midst. - -Assuredly Ellen Clerke always used her opportunities as a journalist -for noble ends. For the last twenty years of her life she wrote a -weekly leader for the _Tablet_,--usually on subjects connected with the -Church abroad; and on several occasions during the temporary absence of -the Editor she filled his place at his request. - -Many of her literary articles contributed to various periodicals were -critical, and that she was a generous and encouraging as well as a -capable critic the following facts pleasingly illustrate. - -In the _Westminster Review_ for October 1878 she had an article -on “The later Novels of Berthold Auerbach.” It met the eye of the -novelist, and he directed to be sent to her a copy of his _Landolin -von Reutershöfen_, inscribed: “To the Author of the article in the -_Westminster Review_, October 1878, with kind regards of Berthold -Auerbach. Berlin, Nov. 14, 1878.” - -It is singular that the poems of Ellen Clerke, published in 1881, -should not have attracted more attention. The volume is now, I believe, -almost, if not entirely, out of print; and partly on this account, -partly because of its subject and of its beauty, I give here one of the -poems. - - -NIGHT’S SOLILOQUY - - Who calls me dark? for do I not display - Wonders that else man’s eye would never see? - Waste in the blank and blinding glare of Day, - The heavens bud forth their glories but to me. - - Is it not mine to pile their crystal cup, - Drain’d by the thirsty sun and void by day, - Brimful of living gems, profuse heap’d up, - The bounteous largesse of my royal way? - - Mine to call o’er at dusk the roll of heav’n, - Array its glittering files in order due? - To beckon forth the lurking star of Even, - And bid the constellations start to view? - - The wandering planets to their paths recall, - And summon to the muster tenant spheres, - Till thronging to my standard one and all, - They crowd the zenith in unfathom’d tiers? - - Do _I_ not lure stray sunbeams from the day, - To hurl them broadcast as wing’d meteors forth? - Strew sheaves of fiery arrows on my way, - And blazon my dark spaces in the north? - - Is not a crown of lightnings mine to wear, - When polar flames suffuse my skies with splendour? - And mine the homage with the sun to share, - His vagrant vassals rush through space to render? - - Who calls me secret? are not hidden things, - Reveal’d to science when with piercing sight - She looks beneath the shadow of my wings, - To fathom space and sound the infinite? - - In plasmic light do I not bid her trace - Germs from creation’s dawn maturing slow? - And in each filmy chaos drown’d in space - See suns and systems yet in embryo? - -Miss Clerke specially enjoyed romantic subjects; and the sea and -shipping appealed to her strongly. Her ballad on _The Flying Dutchman_ -legend is one of the finest treatments of the subject I have met with, -and it is to be regretted that it is not better known, for it would -lend itself well both to the reciter and to the musician. - -The volume of poems gave evidence of a special gift which in later -years the author cultivated with great success,--that of verse -translation. Her delightful and valuable book, _Fable and Song in -Italy_, is illustrated throughout with her own versions; and although -I do not pretend to have compared each version with its original, I -venture to say that the translations are, as a whole, wonderfully -faithful, and that when the number of them, and the variety of subjects -and of measures, are considered, the verse part alone of the work is -a notable achievement. The prose part is more than a mere setting; -it is full of touches of illuminating thought, and many little-known -facts are brought together suggestively, while many of the descriptive -passages are wonderfully vivid. In Dr. Garnett’s _History of Italian -Literature_ the English versions selected by him from Boiardo and some -other poets were by Ellen Clerke. - -Ellen Clerke’s literary style was lighter and more spontaneous than her -sister’s. - -Like her sister she was highly musical, and her instrument was the -guitar. A pupil of Madame Pratten, she had through the practice -of many years acquired a mastery of the instrument unusual in an -amateur, managing it with great skill, and arranging for it many an -accompaniment. To the last almost, her singing to the guitar was full -of charm; and in earlier years when the sisters sang together to her -guitar accompaniment the performance was delightful. - -A devoted and exemplary Catholic, Ellen Clerke was untiring in her -zeal for all good works. Unselfish and loving, she was a devoted -daughter, sister, and friend. Fonder of society than her sister, it -was perhaps natural that she did not pursue literary work in the same -persistent way. And it fell in with her sociability that she pulled a -good oar and enjoyed riding. - -These sisters were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death -they were but little divided. Ellen Clerke died after a short illness -on March 2, 1906. - - - - -A LIST OF THE WORKS OF ELLEN CLERKE - - - Poems: _The Flying Dutchman and Other Poems_. (1881.) - - Versified translations of Italian poetry in Dr. Garnett’s _History of - Italian Literature_. (1898.) - - _Fable and Song in Italy._ (1899.) - - _Flowers of Fire_: a novel which gives an admirable account of the - phenomena of an eruption of Vesuvius. (1902.) - - An immense number of magazine articles, including a weekly leader - contributed for twenty years to the _Tablet_. - - Monograph on _Jupiter and his System_. (1892.) - - Monograph on _Venus_. (1893.) - - An article in the _Observatory_, vol. xv. p. 271. - -The monographs on Jupiter and on Venus, although unpretentious, are -based upon careful reading of the best authorities, and are written in -a way which places them above the ordinary popularisers. - -The article above referred to in the _Observatory_ was the outcome of -her Arabic reading, and showed that there can be little doubt that the -variability of Algol had been noticed by the Arabian astronomers. - - _Note._--The portrait is from a photograph taken not long before - death. - - MARGARET L. HUGGINS. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AGNES MARY CLERKE AND ELLEN MARY -CLERKE *** - -***** This file should be named 64057-0.txt or 64057-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/0/5/64057/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. 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