untry places where Hanrahan
and his like wandered and are remembered." As they stand now they are
his best prose, rid almost entirely of preciousness, and simple and
full of mystery as the countryside they reflect. In "The Secret Rose"
are two "alchemical" tales and in "The Tables of the Law" (1904), two
others of like subject. To me, for all the qualities they share with
poetry of his of similar inspiration, they do not seem to be mastered
by him. Alone among his writings they are incomplete.

Mr. Yeats was unable until the last few years to give himself up to
the writing nearest his heart, drama. He continued to edit Irish
literature, to write on literature and fairy-lore for the magazines.
The articles about fairies he has published, and a great mass of
belief collected but as yet unprinted, he will gather some day into a
great book. Known now in the Irish countryside as a man with a power
to exorcise spirits, he will then no doubt attain a reputation that
will put him well above that of the Irish-American archbishop who was
his only rival in that practice in the belief of many Irish peasants.
Other of his magazine writing Mr. Yeats has gathered into "The Celtic
Twilight" and more of it into the later edition (1900) of this book.
Still other of these articles are to be found in "Ideas of Good and
Evil" (1903), some of them stating his philosophy, never too
definitely formulated. These two collections are very interesting in
themselves, but both, like his "Discoveries" (1907), are more
interesting as commentary on his powers. Mr. Yeats has used many notes
to explain obscure allusions in his poems, though the most obscure he,
perhaps with premeditation, fails to explain. Yet the reader
unacquainted with his use of symbols will find much interpretation in
these essays, especially those in "Ideas of Good and Evil."

Up to 1899, when Mr. Yeats's serious efforts to build up an Irish
national drama began with "The Irish Literary Theatre," he devoted his
happiest moments to lyric poetry, though the play of "The Countess
Cathleen" made half of his second volume of verse, and the third was
wholly given to the little play, "The Land of Heart's Desire." Since
1899, in which year "The Wind among the Reeds" appeared, Mr. Yeats has
published, of other than dramatic verse, only the little volume of "In
the Seven Woods," the little series on Flamel, and a few snatches, in
all about a thousand lines. Some of this verse Mr. Yeats wrot