AKINETOS.     And  you  maintain  your  strength  ?

ORION.  Yes,  and  a  fair  appetite.  As  to  muscular
strength,  look  here.  I  can  take  up  those  dumb-bells,  which
weigh  half  a  hundredweight,  with  my  left  hand,  lift  them
across  my  chest,  and  deposit  them  on  the  bed  between  me
and  the  wall — {suiting  the  action  to  the  words).     There  !

AKINETOS.  Well,  well!  We  shall  have  you  back  in
your  cold  tub  again,  yet !

Shortly  after  this  incident,  Home  rallied  sufficiently  to
be  removed  to  Margate,  the  invigorating  air  of  which  place
he  eagerly  desired  to  breathe.  But  at  81  even  Margate
air  will  scarcely  annul  the  effects  of  typhoid  ;  and  Orion
disappeared  below  the  western  horizon  on  the  13th  of
March  1884.  The  poet  was  buried  at  Margate  on  the  18th
of  the  same  month,  leaving  behind  him  many  unpublished
poems,  dramas,  and  romances,  among  them  a  long  poem  in
Spenserian  stanza  called  John  Femcliffe ;  a  blank  verse
poem  which  he  regarded  as  his  magnum  opus,  entitled
Ancient  Idols ;  or,  the  Fall  of  the  Gods;  a  tragedy  on  the
subject  of  Charlotte  Corday  ;  and  a  remarkable  little  drama
in  five  scenes,  entitled  Te  Ayah :  a  Maori  Tragedy.
There  are  many  things  which  go  far  to  account  for
the  comparative  indifference  of  the  public  to  him  in
his  old  age.  No  doubt  Home  scattered  himself  too
much,  or  rather  circumstance  diverted  his  energies  into
too  many  channels.  His  central  bent  was  for  work
of    a    high    kind — for  poetry   and    drama   in    the    grand


246  RICHARD  HENR  Y  HORNE.
