explanation. It is of the great facts of the
world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters
of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has
its divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.
You smile? Ah! when you have lost it you won't smile.... People say
sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least
it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of
wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The
true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.... Yes, Mr.
Gray, the gods have been good to you. But what the gods give they
quickly take away. You have only a few years in which to live really,
perfectly, and fully. When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it,
and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for
you, or have to content yourself with those mean triumphs that the
memory of your past will make more bitter than defeats. Every month as
it wanes brings you nearer to something dreadful. Time is jealous of
you, and wars against your lilies and your roses. You will become
sallow, and hollow-cheeked, and dull-eyed. You will suffer horribly....
Ah! realise your youth while you have it. Don't squander the gold of
your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless
failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the
vulgar. These are the sickly aims, the false ideals, of our age. Live!
Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be
always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.... A new
Hedonism--that is what our century wants. You might be its visible
symbol. With your personality there is nothing you could not do. The
world belongs to you for a season.... The moment I met you I saw that
you were quite unconscious of what you really are, of what you really
might be. There was so much in you that charmed me that I felt I must
tell you something about yourself. I thought how tragic it would be if
you were wasted. For there is such a little time that your youth will
last--such a little time. The common hill-flowers wither, but they
blossom again. The laburnum will be as yellow next June as it is now. In
a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year after year
the green night of its leaves will hold its purple stars. But we never
get back our youth. The pulse of j