Sesame and Lilies




Contents:

Lecture I--Sesame
Lecture II--Lilies
Preface to the Later Editions
Lecture III--The Mystery of Life and its Arts



LECTURE I--SESAME. OF KING'S TREASURIES



"You shall each have a cake of sesame,--and ten pound."
Lucian: The Fisherman.


My first duty this evening is to ask your pardon for the ambiguity
of title under which the subject of lecture has been announced: for
indeed I am not going to talk of kings, known as regnant, nor of
treasuries, understood to contain wealth; but of quite another order
of royalty, and another material of riches, than those usually
acknowledged. I had even intended to ask your attention for a
little while on trust, and (as sometimes one contrives, in taking a
friend to see a favourite piece of scenery) to hide what I wanted