Till o'er the mead a cool sequester'd grot Hence away, nor dare intrude In this secret shodowy cell Musing Memory loves to dwell, With her sister Solitude. Far from the busy world she flies, To taste that peace the world denies. Intranc'd sits from youth to age, Reviewing Life's eventful page; And noting, ere they fade away, The little lines of yesterday. Florio had gain'd a rude and rocky seat, Can Virgil's verse, can Raphael's touch impart She left the cave, nor mark'd the stranger there; Her pastoral beauty, and her artless air, Had breath'd a soft enchantment o'er his soul ! What pure and white wing'd agents of the sky, Sweet is their office, as their nature sweet! Florio with fearful joy pursued the maid, Till through a vista's moonlight chequer❜d shade, Where the bat circled, and the rook repos'd, (Their wars suspended, and their counsels clos'd) An antique mansion burst in awful state, A rich vine clustering round its Gothic gate. Nor paus'd he here. The master of the scene Mark'd his light step imprint the dewy green; And, slow advancing, hail'd him as his guest, Won by the honest warmth his looks express'd. He wore the rustic manners of a 'Squire : Age had not quench'd one spark of manly fire; But giant Gout had bound him in her chain, And his heart panted for the chase in vain. And now the moon had dimm'd, with dewy ray, The few fine flushes of departing day; O'er the wide water's deep serene she hung, His faint and faded Julia to the shore, The father strew'd his white hairs in the wind, Call'd on his child....nor linger'd long behind: And Florio liv'd to see the willow wave, With many an evening whisper, o'er their grave. Forever would the fond enthusiast rove, With Julia's spirit through the shadowy grove; Gaze with delight on every scene she plann'd, Kiss every floweret planted by her hand. Ah! still he trac'd her steps along the glade,. And o'er the dripping moss, the fretted stone, But is her magic only felt below? Say, through what brighter realms she bids it flow; 24 To what pure beings, in a nobler sphere, 2 Each scene of bliss reveal'd since chaos fled, And all, combin'd, with blest effulgence blaze. There thy bright train, immortal Friendship soar, No more to part, to mingle tears no more! So there the soul, releas'd from human strife, Its light and shade, its sunshine and its showers; Oft may the spirits of the dead descend, To watch the silent slumbers of a friend; To hover round his evening-walk unseen, And hold sweet converse on the dusky green; To hail the spot where first their friendship grew, And heaven and nature open'd to their view! |