SPIRIT OF THE YEARS

THY Lisbon earthquake, THY French Terror. Wait.
Thinking thou will'st, thou dost but indicate.

[A stage-coach enters, with passengers outside. Their voices
after the foregoing sound small and commonplace, as from another
medium.]


FIRST PASSENGER

There seems to be a deal of traffic over Ridgeway, even at this time
o' year.


SECOND PASSENGER

Yes. It is because the King and Court are coming down here later
on. They wake up this part rarely! . . . See, now, how the Channel
and coast open out like a chart. That patch of mist below us is the
town we are bound for. There's the Isle of Slingers beyond, like a
floating snail. That wide bay on the right is where the "Abergavenny,"
Captain John Wordsworth, was wrecked last month. One can see half
across to France up here.


FIRST PASSENGER

Half across. And then another little half, and then all that's