"To gaze as one who is not satisfied
With gazing at the large, bright, breathing sea."


"Phantasies" (after Robert Schumann) is the most complete and perfect
poem of this period. Like "Epochs," it is a cycle of poems, and the
verse has caught the very trick of music,--alluring, baffling, and
evasive. This time we have the landscape of the night, the glamour
of moon and stars,--pictures half real and half unreal, mystic
imaginings, fancies, dreams, and the enchantment of "faerie," and
throughout the unanswered cry, the eternal "Wherefore" of destiny.
Dawn ends the song with a fine clear note, the return of day, night's
misty phantoms rolled away, and the world itself, again green,
sparkling and breathing freshness.

In 1874 she published "Alide," a romance in prose drawn from Goethe's
autobiography. It may be of interest to quote the letter she
received from Tourgeneff on this occasion:--


"Although, generally speaking, I do not think it advisable
to take celebrated men, especially poets and artists, as a
subject for a novel, still I am truly glad to say that I
have read your book with the liveliest interest. It is
very sincere and very poetical at the same time; the life
and spirit of Germany have no secrets for you, and your
characters are drawn with a pencil as delicate as it is
strong. I feel very proud of the approbation you give to
my works, and of the influence you kindly attribute to them
on your own talent; an author who write as you do is not