passion by the fresh wind blowing from Thrace. Of all the
Olympians, Diana has been most often hymned by M. De Banville: his
imagination is haunted by the figure of the goddess. Now she is
manifest in her Hellenic aspect, as Homer beheld her, "taking her
pastime in the chase of boars and swift deer; and with her the wild
wood-nymphs are sporting the daughters of Zeus; and Leto is glad at
heart, for her child towers over them all, and is easy to be known
where all are fair" (Odyssey, vi.). Again, Artemis appears more
thoughtful, as in the sculpture of Jean Goujon, touched with the
sadness of moonlight. Yet again, she is the weary and exiled spirit
that haunts the forest of Fontainebleau, and is a stranger among the
woodland folk, the fades and nixies. To this goddess, "being triple
in her divided deity," M. De Banville has written his hymn in the
characteristic form of the old French ballade. The translator may
borrow Chaucer's apology -


"And eke to me it is a grete penaunce,
Syth rhyme in English hath such scarsete
To folowe, word by word, the curiosite
Of Banville, flower of them that make in France."


"BALLADE SUR LES HOTES MYSTERIEUX DE LA FORET

"Still sing the mocking fairies, as of old,
Beneath the shade of thorn and holly tree;
The west wind breathes upon them pure and cold,
And still wolves dread Diana roving free,
In secret woodland with her company.