Light as the breeze that brushed the orient dew, From rock to rock the young adventurer flew ; And days last sunshine slept along the shore, When lo, a path the smile of welcome wore. Imbowering shrubs with verdure veiled the sky, And on the musk-rose shed a deeper dye; Save when a mild and momentary gleam

Glanced from the white foam of some sheltered streamı.
O'er the the still lake the bell of evening tolled,
And on the moor the shepherd penned his fold;
And on the green hill's side the meteor played;
When, hark! a voice sung sweetly through the shade,
It ceased-yet still in FLORIO's fancy sung,
Still on each note his captive spirit hung;
Till o'er the mead a cool sequestered grot
From its rich roof a sparry lustre shot.
A crystal water crossed the pebble floor,
And on the front these simple lines it bore:
Hence away, nor dare intrude!
In this secret, shadowy cell
Musing MEMORY loves to dwell,
With her sister Solitude.

Far from the busy world she flies,

To taste that peace the world denies.

Intranced she sits; from youth to age,
Reviewing life's eventful page;

And noting, ere they fade away,

The little lines of yesterday.

FLORIO had gained a rude and rocky seat,
When lo, the genius of this still retreat!
Fair was her form--but who can hope to trace

The pensive softness of her angel-face?

Can VIRGIL'S verse, can RAPHAEL'S touch impart
Those finer features of the feeling heart,

Those tenderer tints that shun the careless eye,
And in the world's contagious climate die?

She left the cave, nor marked the stranger there;} Her pastoral beauty, and her artless air,

Had breathed a soft enchantment o'er his soul!
In every nerve he felt her blest control!
What pure and white-winged agents of the sky,
Who rule the springs of sacred sympathy,
In form congenial spirits when they meet?
Sweet is their office,-as their nature sweet!
Florio, with fearful joy, pursued the maid
Till through a vista's moonlight-checquered shade,
Where the bat circled, and the rocks reposed,
Their wars suspended, and their councils closed;
An antique mansion burst in awful state,
A rich vine clustering round its gothic gate.
Nor paused he there. The master of the scene
Saw his light step imprint the dewy green;
And, slow advancing, hailed him as his guest,
Won by the honest warmth his looks exprest.
He wore the rustic manners of a squire,

Age had not quenched one spark of manly fire;
But giant gout had bound him in her chain,

And his heart panted for the chase in vain.

Yet here remembrance, sweetly-soothing power! Winged with delight confinements lingering hour. The foxes brush still emulous to wear, He scoured the county in his elbow-chair; And, with view-hallo, roused the dreaming hound, That rung, by starts, his deep-toned music round.

Long by the paddock's humble pale confined His aged hunters course the viewless wind; And each, with glowing energy pourtrayed, The far-famed triumphs of the field displayed: Usurped the canvass of the crowded hall, And chased a line of heroes from the wall. There slept the horn each jocund echo knew, And many a smile and many a story drew! High o'er the hearth his forest-trophies hung, And their fantastic branches wildly flung. How would he dwell on each vast antler there! This dashed the wave, that fanned the mountain air ; Each, as it frowned, unwritten records bore,

Of gallant feats and festivals of yore.

But why the tale prolong ?-his only child,

His darling JULIA on the stranger smiled.
Her little arts a fretful sire to please,

Her gentle gaiety and native ease,

Had won his soul; and rapturous fancy shed

Her golden lights and tints of rosy red:

But ah! few days had passed ere the bright vision fled.
When evening tinged the lake's ethereal blue,

And her deep shades irregularly threw ;
Their shifting sail dropt gently from the cove,
Down by St. Herbert's consecrated grove ;
Whence erst the chanted hymn, the tapered rite,
Amused the fisher's solitary night;

(26)

And still the mitred window, richly wreathed,
A sacred calm through the brown foliage breathed.
The wild deer, starting through the silent glade,
With fearful gaze, their various course surveyed.

High hung in air the hoary goat reclined,
His streaming beard the sport of every wind;
And as the coot her jet-wing loved to lave,
Rocked on the bosom of the sleepless wave;
The eagle rushed from Skiddaw's purple crest,
A cloud still brooding o'er her giant nest.

(27)

And now the moon had dimmed, with dewy ray, The few fine flushes of departing day; O'er the wide water's deep serene she hung, And her broad lights on every mountain flung; When lo! a sudden blast the vessel blew, And to the surge consigned its little crew. All, all escaped-but ere the lover bore His faint and faded JULIA to the shore, Her sense had fled!-exhausted by the storm, A fatal trance hung o'er her pallid form; Her closing eye a trembling lustre fired; "Twas life's last spark-it fluttered and expired. The father strewed his white hairs in the wind, Called on his child-nor lingered long behind: And FLORIO lived to see the willow wave, With many an evening whisper o'er their grave. Yes, FLORIO lived-and, still of each possest, The father cherished, and the maid carest ! For ever would the fond enthusiast rove, With JULIA's spirit through the shadowy grove; Gaze with delight on every scene she planned, Kiss every floweret planted by her hand. Ah! still he traced her steps along the glade, When hazy hues and glimmering lights betrayed Half viewless forms; still listened as the breeze Heaved its deep sobs among the aged trees;

And at each pause her melting accents caught,
In sweet delirium of romantic thought!

Dear was the grot that shunned the blaze of day;
She gave its to shoot a trembling ray.
spars
The spring, that bubbled from its inmost cell,
Murmured of JULIA's virtues as it fell;

And o'er the dripping moss, the fretted stone,
In FLORIO's ear breathed language not its own.
Her charm around the enchantress MEMORY threw,
A charm that sooths the mind, and sweetens too.
But is her magic only felt below?

(28)

Say, through what brighter realms she bids it flow;
To what pure beings, in a nobler sphere,
She yields delight but faintly imaged here?
All that till now their rapt researches knew,
Not called in slow succession to review;
But, as a landscape meets the eye of day,
At once presented to their glad survey!

Each scene of bliss revealed, since chaos filed,
And dawning light its dazzling glories spread;
Each chain of wonders that sublimely glowed,
Since first creation's choral anthem flowed,
Each ready flight, at mercy's smile divine,
To distant worlds that undiscovered shine;
Full on her table. flings its living rays,
And all, combined, with blest effulgence blaze.
There thy bright train, immortal friendship, soar

No more to part, to mingle tears no more!
And, as the softening hand of time endears

The joys and sorrows of our infant years,
So there the soul, released from human strife,
Smiles at the little cares and ills of life;