There was no recognition in those orbs. 260 Grew hush; the stately music no more breathes; By faint degrees, voice, lute, and pleasure ceas'd; 265 A deadly silence step by step increas'd, Until it seem'd a horrid presence there, And not a man but felt the terror in his hair. "Lamia!" he shriek'd; and nothing but the shriek With its sad echo did the silence break. 270 ee Begone, foul dream!" he cried, gazing again 275 280 May pierce them on the sudden with the thorn Corinthians! look upon that gray-beard wretch ! 285 290 He sank supine beside the aching ghost. "Fool! Fool!" repeated he, while his eyes still Of life have I preserv'd thee to this day, Then Lamia breath'd death breath; the sophist's eye, 295 300 305 As were his limbs of life, from that same night. On the high couch he lay ! — his friends came round- 310 1" Philostratus, in his fourth book De Vita Apollonii, hath a memorable instance in this kind, which I may not omit, of one Menippus Lycius, a young man twenty-five years of age, that going betwixt Cenchreas and Corinth, met such a phantasm in the habit of a fair gentlewoman, which taking him by the hand, carried him home to her house, in the suburbs of Corinth, and told him she was a Phoenician by birth, and if he would tarry with her, he should hear her sing and play, and drink such wine as never any drank, and no man should molest him; but she, being fair and lovely, would live and die with him, that was fair and lovely to behold. The young man, a philosopher, otherwise staid and discreet, able to moderate his passions, though not this of love, tarried with her a while to his great content, and at last married her, to whose wedding, amongst other guests, came Apollonius; who, by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia; and that all her furniture was, like Tantalus's gold, described by Homer, no substance but mere illusions. When she saw herself descried, she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent, but he would not be moved, and thereupon she, plate, house, and all that was in it, vanished in an instant many thousands took notice of this fact, for it was done in the midst of Greece." Memb. 1. Subs. I. Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy.' Part 3. Sect. 2. ISABELLA; OR THE POT OF BASIL. A STORY FROM BOCCACCIO. I. FAIR Isabel, poor simple Isabel ! Lorenzo, a young palmer in Love's eye! II. With every morn their love grew tenderer, To her, than noise of trees or hidden rill; III. He knew whose gentle hand was at the latch, And from her chamber window he would catch 5 ΙΟ 15 20 And constant as her vespers would he watch, IV. A whole long month of May in this sad plight Made their cheeks paler by the break of June: "To-morrow will I bow to my delight, 25 To-morrow will I ask my lady's boon." may I never see another night, Lorenzo, if thy lips breathe not love's tune." 30 So spake they to their pillows; but, alas, V. Until sweet Isabella's untouched cheek ee How ill she is," said he, "I may not speak, If looks speak love-laws, I will drink her tears, VI. So said he one fair morning, and all day 35 40 And to his heart he inwardly did pray For power to speak; but still the ruddy tide Stifled his voice, and puls'd resolve away 45 Fever'd his high conceit of such a bride, Yet brought him to the meekness of a child : Alas! when passion is both meek and wild! VII. So once more he had wak'd and anguished A dreary night of love and misery, And straight all flush'd; so, lisped tenderly, "Lorenzo!" - here she ceas'd her timid quest, But in her tone and look he read the rest. VIII. "O Isabella, I can half perceive That I may speak my grief into thine ear; If thou didst ever any thing believe, Believe how I love thee, believe how near My soul is to its doom: I would not grieve Thy hand by unwelcome pressing, would not fear Thine eyes by gazing; but I cannot live IX. 50 55 60 "Love! thou art leading me from wintry cold; Lady! thou leadest me to summer clime, 65 And I must taste the blossoms that unfold In its ripe warmth this gracious morning time." So said, his erewhile timid lips grew bold, And poesied with hers in dewy rhyme : 70 X. Parting they seem'd to tread upon the air, 75 The inward fragrance of each other's heart. |