I'll spare the burning of your cheek,
And look it all in silence still.

Heard you the wish I dar'd to name,
To murmur on that luckless night,
When passion broke the bonds of shame,
And love grew madness in your sight?

Divinely through the graceful dance,
You seem'd to float in silent song,
Bending to earth that sunny glance,
As if to light your steps along.

Oh! how could others dare to touch

That hallow'd form with hand so free, When but to look was bliss too much, Too rare for all but Love and me!

With smiling eyes, that little thought How fatal were the beams they threw, My trembling hands you lightly caught, And round me, like a spirit, flew.

Heedless of all, but you alone,

And you, at least, should not condemn,

If, when such eyes before me shone,
My soul forgot all eyes but them,-

I dar'd to whisper passion's vow,

For love had ev'n of thought bereft me,

Nay, half-way bent to kiss that brow,
But, with a bound, you blushing left me.

Forget, forget that night's offence,

Forgive it, if, alas! you can;

'Twas love, 't was passion-soul and sense 'Twas all that's best and worst in man.

That moment, did th' assembled eyes

Of heaven and earth my madness view, I should have seen, through earth and skies, But alone you but only you.

Did not a frown from you reprove,
Myriads of eyes to me were none;
Enough for me to win your love,
And die upon the spot, when won.

A DREAM OF ANTIQUITY.

I JUST had turn'd the classic page,
And trac'd that happy period over,
When blest alike were youth and age,
And love inspired the wisest sage,

And wisdom graced the tenderest lover.

Before I laid me down to sleep

Awhile I from the lattice gaz'd

Upon that still and moonlight deep,
With isles like floating gardens rais'd,
For Ariel there his sports to keep;
While, gliding 'twixt their leafy shores
The lone night-fisher plied his oars.

I felt, so strongly fancy's power
Came o'er me in that witching hour,
As if the whole bright scenery there
Were lighted by a Grecian sky,

And I then breath'd the blissful air
That late had thrill'd to Sappho's sigh.

Thus, waking, dreamt I,- and when Sleep

Came o'er my sense, the dream went on;
Nor, through her curtain dim and deep,
Hath ever lovelier vision shone.
I thought that, all enrapt, I stray'd
Through that serene, luxurious shade,
Where Epicurus taught the Loves

To polish virtue's native brightness,
As pearls, we're told, that fondling doves
Have play'd with, wear a smoother whiteness.*
'Twas one of those delicious nights

So common in the climes of Greece,
When day withdraws but half its lights,

And all is moonshine, balm, and peace.

* This method of polishing pearls, by leaving them awhile to be played with by doves, is mentioned by the fanciful Cardanus, de Rerum Varietat. lib. vii. cap. 34.

And thou wert there, my own belov'd,
And by thy side I fondly rov'd

Through many a temple's reverend gloom,
And many a bower's seductive bloom,
Where Beauty learn'd what wisdom taught,
And sages sigh'd and lovers thought;
Where schoolmen conn'd no maxims stern,
But all was form'd to soothe or move,
To make the dullest love to learn,
To make the coldest learn to love.

And now the fairy pathway seem'd

To lead us through enchanted ground,
Where all that bard has ever dream'd
Of love or luxury bloom'd around.
Oh! 'twas a bright, bewildering scene
Along the alley's deepening green
Soft lamps, that hung like burning flowers,
And scented and illum'd the bowers,
Seem'd, as to him, who darkling roves
Amid the lone Hercynian groves,
Appear those countless birds of light,
That sparkle in the leaves at night,
And from their wings diffuse a ray ́
Along the traveller's weary way.*
'Twas light of that mysterious kind,

Through which the soul perchance may roam,

* In Hercynio Germaniæ saltu inusitata genera alitum accepimus, quarum plumæ, ignium modo, colluceant noctibus. Plin. lib. x. cap. 47.

When it has left this world behind,

And gone to seek its heavenly home.
And, Nea, thou wert by my side,

Through all this heav'n-ward path my guide.

But, lo, as wand'ring thus we rang'd
That upward path, the vision chang'd;
And now, methought, we stole along
Through halls of more voluptuous glory
Than ever liv'd in Teian song,

Or wanton'd in Milesian story.

And nymphs were there, whose very eyes
Seem'd soften'd o'er with breath of sighs;
Whose ev'ry ringlet, as it wreath'd,
A mute appeal to passion breath'd.
Some flew, with amber cups, around,
Pouring the flowery wines of Crete; *
And, as they pass'd with youthful bound,
The onyx shone beneath their feet.†
While others, waving arms of snow
Entwin'd by snakes of burnish'd gold, ‡
And showing charms, as loth to show,
Through many a thin Tarentian fold,

"Some of the Cretan wines, which Athenæus calls ovos avdoomas, from their fragrancy resembling that of the finest flowers." Barry on Wines, chap. vii.

† It appears that in very splendid mansions, the floor or pavement was frequently of onyx. Thus Martial: "Calcatusque tuo sub pede lucet onyx." Epig. 50. lib. xii.

Bracelets of this shape were a favourite ornament among the women of antiquity.