Autumn 



where there is none of the Hfe and fresh- 

 ness of the meadow below, it seems to 

 decorate the grave of summer. Dr. 

 Holmes says concerning it: *'A some- 

 thing it has of sepulchral spicery, as if it 

 had been brought from the core of some 

 great pyramid, where it had lain on the 

 breast of a mummied Pharaoh. Some- 

 thing, too, of immortality in the sad, 

 faint sweetness lingering long in its life- 

 less petals. Yet this does not tell why it 

 fills my eyes with tears, and carries me in 

 blissful thought to the banks of asphodel 

 that border the River of Life. ' ' 



149 



