

Transcribed from the 1891 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org

                        CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY

                                * * * * *





                                   THE
                           ANGEL IN THE HOUSE.


                                * * * * *

                                    BY
                            COVENTRY PATMORE.

                                * * * * *

    “Par la grace infinie, Dieu les mist au monde ensemble.”

                                                      _Rousier des Dames_.

                      [Picture: Decorative graphic]

                       CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
                       _LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE_.
                                  1891.

                                * * * * *

                                THIS POEM
                               IS INSCRIBED
                                    TO
                            THE MEMORY OF HER
                  BY WHOM AND FOR WHOM I BECAME A POET.

                                * * * * *




INTRODUCTION.


THERE could be but one answer to the suggestion of Mr. Coventry Patmore
that his “Angel in the House” might usefully have a place in this
“National Library.”  The suggestion was made with the belief that wide
and cheap diffusion would not take from the value of a copyright library
edition, while the best use of writing is fulfilled by the spreading of
verse dedicated to the sacred love of home.  The two parts of the Poem
appeared in 1854 and 1856, were afterwards elaborately revised, and have
since obtained a permanent place among the Home Books of the English
People.  Our readers will join, surely, in thanks to the author for the
present he has made us.

                                                                     H. M.




CONTENTS

                       BOOK I.
                                                  PAGE
                   THE PROLOGUE.                    13
CANTO
       I.  THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE                      17
           Preludes:
               1.  The Impossibility                17
               2.  Love’s Really                    17
               3.  The Poet’s Confidence            18
           The Cathedral Close                      19
      II.  MARY AND MILDRED                         24
           Preludes:
               1.  The Paragon                      24
               2.  Love at Large                    26
               3.  Love and Duty                    27
               4.  A Distinction                    28
           Mary and Mildred                         28
     III.  HONORIA                                  32
           Preludes:
               1.  The Lover                        32
               2.  Love a Virtue                    34
               3.  The Attainment                   34
           Honoria                                  35
      IV.  THE MORNING CALL                         39
           Preludes:
               1.  The Rose of the World            39
               2.  The Tribute                      41
               3.  Compensation                     42
           The Morning Call                         42
       V.  THE VIOLETS                              46
           Preludes:
               1.  The Comparison                   46
               2.  Love in Tears                    48
               3.  Prospective Faith                48
               4.  Venus Victrix                    49
           The Violets                              49
      VI.  THE DEAN                                 53
           Preludes:
               1.  Perfect Love rare                53
               2.  Love Justified                   54
               3.  Love Serviceable                 55
               4.  A Riddle Solved                  56
           The Dean                                 56
     VII.  ÆTNA AND THE MOON                        60
           Preludes:
               1.  Love’s Immortality               60
               2.  Heaven and Earth                 61
           Ætna and the Moon                        62
    VIII.  SARUM PLAIN                              66
           Preludes:
               1.  Life of Life                     66
               2.  The Revelation                   67
               3.  The Spirit’s Epochs              67
               4.  The Prototype                    68
               5.  The Praise of Love               68
           Sarum Plain                              69
      IX.  SAHARA                                   74
           Preludes:
               1.  The Wife’s Tragedy               74
               2.  Common Graces                    75
               3.  The Zest of Life                 76
               4.  Fool and Wise                    76
           Sahara                                   77
       X.  CHURCH TO CHURCH                         81
           Preludes:
               1.  The Joyful Wisdom                81
               2.  The Devices                      84
           Going to Church                          84
      XI.  THE DANCE                                89
           Preludes:
               1.  The Daughter of Eve              89
               2.  Aurea Dicta                      91
           The Dance                                93
     XII.  THE ABDICATION                           97
