Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/705

 679 THB ART* WOMEN POETS No. 2. VISCOUNTESS QALWAY WiscouNTESS Galway is a very charming and popular hostess, and a woman of exceptional literary ability. She has written not only many poems, but also a couple of plays. The daughter of the late Mr. Ellis Gosling, she married Lord Galway in 1879, and represents a type of a serious-minded married woman, with decided views of her own on religion and politics. Literature, however, has always appealed to her. Books were her favourite playthings as a child, and they afford her more pleasure than anything else to-day. Her passion for poetry was practically the outcome of her association with Lord Tennyson. "When quite a child," she informed the writer, " I saw a good deal of Lord Tennyson at the house of Mr. Brooke Greville, one of the most perfect reciters, both in French and English, and they taught m.: all I know about poetry and decla- mation." It was not, how- ever, until after her marriage that Viscountess Gal- way devoted her- self seriously to poetry. U 1 1 i- mately, however, her work attracted the attention of the editor of "Vanity Fair," and for some years verses by her ladyship appeared regularly in that paper. There is a charm and delicacy about Lady Galway's verse which makes it particularly impressive. No woman has prettier fancies. What could be more delightful, for instance, than the inscription, " Time passes, but not love," which she caused to be placed on the sundial erected in honour of her silver wedding in 1904 ? Moreover, like many modern women, she delights in gardening, and at Serlby Hall, the family seat in Yorkshire, Lady Galway has had a corner of the grounds laid out as what she calls the "Yeoman's Garden." It is dedicated to the Sherwood Rangers who fell in Viscountess Galway Who is not only a gifted writer but also a charming and popular hostess in the South African War, and is much used by Lady Galway as a place for meditation, or for an hour of peaceful reading. Here it was that she composed the poems published in a volume entitled "The Creed of Love." Here she also wrote the ' Pageant of Kmg Henry VIII.," with the Foreword and some of the lyrics, as well as the two plays "My Lady's Garden" and "His Wedded Wife," which have been acted her private theatre at Serlby. Her ladyship, however, recently confessed that she finds but little time for writing poems. There are many claims upon her time, for she is a familiar figure at bazaars and charitable func- tions, and as a Lady of Justice of the Order of St. John of Jeru- salem is much interested in the question of nurs- ing the sick poor. Lady Galway has kindly given permission to quote the follow- i ng — " Love's Palm " — from her book. " The Creed of Love." ' Love is a Palm, at first a tiny plant. The soil that suits it best is happiness. Give it but that, and it will grow apace ; Feed well its roots, and it will spathes put out X'igorous and strong. Give it the Sun of Love, And it will shoot across the fair blue sky Its feathery branches. But, charming Lovers, mind you ever this — Just one sharp frost, and you may find your palm No more as you would have it. strong and fair. But sickly, pinched, and yellow, dying fast — The frost of cold indifference has reached Its heart. Alas ! the truth is all too plain. It ne'er will grace Love's Garden fair again."