But all this is gone and past; and, as Galileo said of his lost sight, "It has pleased God it should be so, and it must please me also." 1

1

These are some of the epitaphs on the dead, and the devices in Denmark: "Not lost, but gone before.""I shall see you again." -"Rest, O sweetly rest, dear, in the garden of the dead, amid graves, and flowers, and tears, till little angels bearing the Forget me not' shall summon me to join thee in eternity.":

6

A pena si puo dir: questa fu rosa.3

As a beam on the face of the waters may glow,
While the tide runs in darkness and coldness below,
So the cheek may be tinged with a warm sunny smile,
Though the poor heart to ruin runs darkly the while.
One fatal remembrance, one sorrow, that throws
Its bleak shade alike o'er our joys and our woes;
To which life nothing darker or brighter can bring,
For which joy has no balm, and affliction no sting.+

With what a leaden and retarding weight does expectation load the wing of time."

Elle parcourut sa chambre à grands pas, et puis s'arrêtait soudain, -de peur de perdre le moindre bruit qui pourroit annoncer le retour."

Elle attendoit la gondole noire qui apportait les lettres de Venise; elle était parvenue à la distinguer à une très grande distance, et le cœur lui

Horner's death. (See Mem. by his brother.) 2 Elliot (Travels).

5 Elfrida.

3 Pastor Fido.

6 Corinne.

4 Moore.

66

battait avec une affreuse violence dès qu'elle l'apperçevait son messager descendait de la gondole, quelquefois il disait, "Madame, il n'y a point des lettres," -et continuait ensuite paisiblement le reste de ses affaires comme si rien n'était si simple que de n'avoir point des lettres. Une autre fois il lui disait, Oui, Madame, il y en a." Elle les parcourait toutes d'une main tremblante, et l'écriture d'Oswald ne s'offrait point à ses regards: alors le reste du jour était affreux; la nuit se passait sans sommeil, et le lendemain elle éprouvait la même anxiété qui absorbait toute la journée.' That sickness of the heart which arises from hope long deferred.2

All waste! no sign of life

But the track of the wolf and the bear!

No sound but the wild, wild wind,

And the snow cranching under his feet.

Only the light of the snow.3

Keen, hollow winds howl through the bleak recess.1

At length one whisper'd his companion, who
Whisper'd another, and thus it went round,
And then into a hoarser murmur grew,

An ominous, and wild, and desperate sound;
And when his comrade's thought each suff'rer knew,
'Twas but his own, suppress'd till now, he found,
And out they spoke of lots for flesh and blood,
And who should die to be his fellow's food."

1 Corinne.

2 Sterne.

3 Thalaba.

4 Pope (Dunciad).

5 Byron.

And first one universal shriek there rush'd,

Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash

Of echoing thunder; -and then-all was hush'd,—
Save the wild wind, and the remorseless roar
Of billows; but at intervals there gush'd,

Accompanied with a convulsive splash,
A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry
Of some strong swimmer in his agony.'

Then let the winds howl on! their harmony
Shall henceforth be my music, and the night
The sound shall temper with the owlets' cry,
As I now hear them, in the fading light,
Dim o'er the bird of darkness' native site,
Answering each other on the Palatine,

With their large eyes, all glistening, grey and bright,

And sailing pinions — →

Meanwhile the southwind rose, and with black wings
Wide hovering, all the clouds together drove

From under Heaven; the hills, to their supply,
Vapour and exhalation, dusk and moist,

Like a dark ceiling stood; down rush'd the rain
Impetuous, and continued till the earth

No more was seen; the floating vessel swam
Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow

Rode tilting o'er the waves; all dwellings else

Flood overwhelm'd, and then with all their pomp
Deep under water roll'd; sea cover'd sea,
Sea without shore; and in their palaces,
Where luxury late reign'd, sea-monsters whelp'd
And stabled.3

1 Byron.

2 Childe Harold.

3 Paradise Lost.

I saw from the beach, when the morning was shining,
A bark o'er the waters move gloriously on;
I came, when the sun o'er that beach was declining,
The bark was still there, but the waters were gone!
Ah! such is the fate of our life's early promise,

So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known;
Each wave, that we danc'd on at morning, ebbs from us,
And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alone!
Ne'er tell me of glories, serenely adorning

The close of our day, the calm eve of our night;

Give me back, give me back the wild freshness of morning, Her clouds and her tears are worth evening's best light.'

I took it for a faery vision

Of some gay creatures of the element

That in the colours of the rainbow live,
And play i'th plighted clouds.2

A wilderness of sweets; for nature here
Wanton'd as in her prime, and play'd at will
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweets,
Wild above rule or art.3

All was so still, so soft in earth and air,
You scarce would start to meet a spirit there,
Secure, that nought of evil could delight

To walk in such a scene, on such a night.1

With the birds of his native country' he had established a strict intimacy, watching, smiling, and thus moralising over their habits:-"That little fellow," he said of a bird going to roost, "has chosen his shelter, and is quietly rocking

1 Moore. 4 Byron.

2 Comus. 5 Luther.

3 Paradise Lost.

himself to sleep without a care for to-morrow's lodging, calmly holding by his little twig, and leaving God to think for him."1

The Prince de Ligne says he could form some idea of what Venice was, but not of London. L'indifférence, l'air de liberté et magnificence, des phaétons élégans, toute une ville au grand trot, des chevaux, des filles charmantes, du fruit excellent. Conçoit-on qu'il y ait là une seule raison pour se pendre ?2

Now morn, her rosy steps in th' Eastern clime
Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl.

'till morn,

Wak'd by the circling hours, with rosy hand,
Unbarr'd the gates of light.*

3

Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Where Beauty's living image, like the morn
That wakes in Zephyr's arms the blushing May,
Moves onward; or as Venus, when she stood
Effulgent on the pearly car, and smil❜d,
Fresh from the deep, and conscious of her form,
To see the Tritons tune their vocal shells,

And each cærulean sister of the flood,

With loud acclaim, attend her o'er the waves
To seek the Idalian bower.5

1 See Ed. Rev. No. 138.

2 Lettres et Pensées, ii. 197.

3 Par. Lost.

4 Ibid.

5 Akenside (Pleasures of Imagination).