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Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir, 1863-1944

"On The Art of Reading"


what can you do with _that_? How can you examine on _that_? Well,
yes, you can request the candidate, to 'Write a short note on the
word _calumny_ above,' or ask 'From what is it derived?' 'What
does he know of "Blackwood's Magazine?"' 'Can he quote any
parallel allusion in Byron?' You can ask all that: but you are
not getting within measurable distance of _it._ Your mind is not
even moving on the right plane. Or let me turn back to some light
and artless Elizabethan thing--say to the Oenone duet in Peele's
"Arraignment of Paris":
_Oenone._ Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be:
The fairest shepherd on our green,
A love for any lady.
_Paris_ Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be:
Thy love is fair for thee alone,
And for no other lady.
_Oenone._ My love is fair, my love is gay,
As fresh as bin the flowers in May,
And of my love my roundelay,
My merry merry merry roundelay
Concludes with Cupid's curse:
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse.


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