374 THE SANCTUARIES OF TUSCANY. 



to offer that will occupy all the room you can afford to spare ; I shall, 

 therefore, only give the concluding stanza, which, like many others 

 in the poem, is truly Byronic : 



" Laverna, fare thee well ! one parting prayer 

 I fain would offer at thy mountain shrine. 

 If e'er to thee some heart-broke wretch repair, 

 In search of peace, to whom the sunbeams shine 

 With torturing- lustre who the graceful line 

 Of winding stream, or vale in verdure drest, 

 Marks with that loathing words can ill define 

 O ! shed thy holy influence o'er his breast ; 



Expel that burning pang, and bid that spirit rest." 



In her youth the authoress was distinguished for the most dazzling 

 beauty, of which a faint idea may be formed from her portrait in 

 the publication ; and at that period of life when the charms of cor- 

 poreal endowment lose their influence, she unfolds the possession of 

 mental faculties, not only in themselves superior, but which entitle 

 her to an eminent pedestal among her sex. I indeed think that a 

 production of such mind coming forth at the period of life, though 

 it may be ungallant to say so, to which Lady Charlotte Bury has 

 attained, is a phenomenon surprisingly rare. In the meantime it is 

 gratifying to confess that, while the spirit of the age runs so strong 

 against " the time-honoured" distinctions of aristocratic birth, there is 

 pleasure in seeing so much talent, with such an impress of genius, 

 in a member of one of the most distinguished historical houses of 

 the kingdom. But while we say this, we cannot disguise from our- 

 selves that the former v/orks by which her ladyship is celebrated are 

 not at all calculated to give an adequate idea of the genius which 

 scintillates in every page of " The Three Sanctuaries." I only 

 regret that the price of the publication, which appears to have been 

 published to bring forward the beautiful amateur drawings of the 

 Rev. Mr. Bury, is such as to prevent it from becoming popular. I 

 should rejoice to see it in a more accessible form, and no great space 

 of time can elapse till this is the case. 



