Endeared my wanderings; and the mother's kiss
And infant's smile awaited my return.

In privacy we dwelt, a wedded pair,
Companions daily, often all day long;
Not placed by fortune within easy reach
Of various intercourse, nor wishing aught
Beyond the allowance of our own fire-side,
The twain within our happy cottage born,
Inmates, and heirs of our united love;
Graced mutually by difference of sex,
And with no wider interval of time
Between their several births than served for one
To establish something of a leader's sway;
Yet left them joined by sympathy in age;
Equals in pleasure, fellows in pursuit.

On these two pillars rested as in air

Our solitude,

It soothes me to perceive,

Your courtesy withholds not from my words
Attentive audience. But, oh! gentle Friends,
As times of quiet and unbroken peace,
Though, for a nation, times of blessedness,
Give back faint echoes from the historian's page;
So, in the imperfect sounds of this discourse,
Depressed I hear, how faithless is the voice
Which those most blissful days reverberate.
What special record can, or need, be given
To rules and habits, whereby much was done,
But all within the sphere of little things;
Of humble, though, to us, important cares,
And precious interests? Smoothly did our life
Advance, swerving not from the path prescribed;

divine

Her annual, her diurnal, round alike
Maintained with faithful care. And you
The worst effects that our condition saw
If you imagine changes slowly wrought,
And in their progress unperceivable;
Not wished for; sometimes noticed with a sigh,
(Whate'er of good or lovely they might bring)
Sighs of regret, for the familiar good
And loveliness endeared which they removed.

Seven years of occupation undisturbed Established seemingly a right to hold That happiness; and use and habit gave < To what an alien spirit had acquired

A patrimonial sanctity. And thus,

With thoughts and wishes bounded to this world, I lived and breathed; most grateful-if to enjoy Without repining or desire for more,

For different lot, or change to higher sphere,
(Only except some impulses of pride
With no determined object, though upheld
By theories with suitable support)—
Most grateful, if in such wise to enjoy
Be proof of gratitude for what we nave;
Else, I allow, most thankless.-But, at once,
From some dark seat of fatal power was urged
A claim that shattered all.-Our blooming girl,
Caught in the gripe of death, with such brief time
To struggle in as scarcely would allow

Her cheek to change its color, was conveyed
From us to inaccessible worlds, to regions
Where height, or depth, admits not the approach
Of living man, though longing to pursue.

-With even as brief a warning—and how soon, With what short interval of time between, I tremble yet to think of our last prop, Our happy life's only remaining stayThe brother followed; and was seen no more!

Calm as a frozen lake when ruthless winds Blow fiercely, agitating earth and sky, The Mother now remained; as if in her, Who, to the lowest region of the soul, Had been erewhile unsettled and disturbed, This second visitation had no power To shake; but only to bind up and seal; And to establish thankfulness of heart In Heaven's determinations, ever just. The eminence whereon her spirit stood, Mine was unable to attain. Immense space that severed us! But, as the sight Communicates with heaven's ethereal orbs Incalculably distant; so, I felt

The

That consolation may descend from far
(And that is intercourse, and union, too,)
While, overcome with speechless gratitude,
And, with a holier love inspired, I looked
On her at once superior to my woes
And partner of my loss.-O heavy change!
Dimness o'er this clear luminary crept
Insensibly; the immortal and divine
Yielded to mortal reflux; her pure glory,
As from the pinnacle of worldly state
Wretched ambition drops astounded, fell
Into a gulf obscure of silent grief,

And keen heart-anguish--of itself ashamed,

Yet obstinately cherishing itself:

And, so consumed, she melted from my arms;
And left me, on this earth, disconsolate!

What followed cannot be reviewed in thought; Much less, retraced in words. If she, of life Blameless, so intimate with love and joy And all the tender motions of the soul, Had been supplanted, could I hope to stand— Infirm, dependent, and now destitute?

I called on dreams and visions, to disclose
That which is veiled from waking thought; conjured
Eternity, as men constrain a ghost

To appear and answer; to the grave I spake
Imploringly ;--looked up, and asked the Heavens
If Angels traversed their cerulean floors,

If fixed or wandering star could tidings yield
Of the departed spirit-what abode
It occupies-what consciousness retains
Of former loves and interests. Then my soul
Turned inward,—to examine of what stuff
Time's fetters are composed; and life was put
To inquisition, long and profitless!

By pain of heart-now checked-and now impelled-
The intellectual power, through words and things,
Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way!

And from those transports, and these toils abstruse,
Some trace am I enabled to retain

Of time, else lost;-existing unto me
Only by records in myself not found.

From that abstraction I was roused, and how? Even as a thoughtful shepherd by a flash

Of lightning startled in a gloomy cave

Of these wild hills. For, lo! the dread Bastile,
With all the chambers in its horrid towers,
Fell to the ground:--by violence overthrown
Of indignation; and with shouts that drowned
The crash it made in falling! From the wreck
A golden palace rose, or seemed to rise,
The appointed seat of equitable law

And mild paternal sway. The potent shock
I felt the transformation I perceived,
As marvellously seized as in that moment
When, from the blind mist issuing, I beheld
Glory-beyond all glory ever seen,
Confusion infinite of heaven and earth,

Dazzling the soul. Meanwhile, prophetic harps
In every grove were ringing, War shall cease;

Did ye not hear that conquest is abjured?

Bring garlands, bring forth choicest flowers, to deck

The tree of Liberty.'-My heart rebounded;

My melancholy voice the chorus joined;

- Be joyful all ye nations; in all lands, 'Ye that are capable of joy be glad! Henceforth, whate'er is wanting to yourselves 'In others ye shall promptly find;—and all, Enriched by mutual and reflected wealth, 'Shall with one heart honor their common kind.'

Thus was I reconverted to the world;
Society became my glittering bride,

And airy hopes my children.-From the depths
Of natural passion, seemingly escaped,
My soul diffused herself in wide embrace
Of institutions, and the forms of things;