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vat coke S UBIBCD FOR EURIPIDES: 
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aoki lgtsvoe AN HISTORICAL PORTRAIT. 
phar. a : a : . 
{The ensuing Poem, tong as it is, may, without impropriety, be called an impromptes. 
And..though,..in. the estimation of its -merits-or- defects, now that it comes deliberately 
before the world, the circumstances under which it was composed are entitled to no kind 
of influence,—yet, as a literary anecdote, it may not be impertinent to state them. 
_ In a select party, to a domestic concert, at the residence of the Author, during one of 
the pauses of instrument and song, the conversation happened to turn upon a portrait of 
Ninon de l’Enclos, which was hanging, with some other drawings, in the music room. 
The tragical-and-extrordinary, though well attested, incident which grew out-of the cir- 
cumstdnce of her unfading beauty, was related by one of the party, when a gentleman, 
well known for his wit and talent both in the regions of verse and prose, and to whose 
contributions some of the most respectable periodical publications of the day are much 
danas seemed deeply interested ; and exclaimed, with a sort of awful admiration, It 
is a subject for Euripides !” . WQS . ¢ 
‘The exclamation and the tone of feeling in which it was delivered, irresistibly im- 
pressed’ the imagination of the author with the fitness of the story to the purposes of 
poetry; and instantly taking out his pencil, and withdrawing to the piano-forte, ‘upon 
which some sheets of paper happened to be lying, while music and conversation were 
flowing around, he wrote, without a single pause, as rapidly as his hand could move, the 
effusion here presented. 3 
That in transcribing it, some weeks after, with the pen, some inaccuracies of haste 
‘been corrected, will be, of course, inferred ; and some few passages there are, par- 
ieularly towards the latter end, which, on re-perusal, have been revised and somewhat 
altered: but by far the major part of the poem remains as it originally flowed from the 
suggestion and impulse of the moment. And perhaps the hurry of the original com- 
position may be but too apparent. ] t ; 
: a 
: ER beauty was not as’ of mortal mould, 
} Or blossom of the earth: it was more like 
The morning star, that dims all other lights— 
f It was so clear and radiant. All around 
pe It shed a beaming glory so serene 
That the ethereal concave well might joy 
In its long lingering. But no star of heaven 
} Had such a destiny: for high it rode, 
i And at its heighth it stood: it had no wane, 
"The years—the generations, they roll’d on; 
; And yet it faded not. Successive stars, 
: In beauty’s gay horizon came and went; 
And bright they blaz’d: but they were stars of the earth— 
: Translated flowers, that glitter’d in their sphere 
boar For their short hour, and faded. But not such 
: Was her perennial charm: it faded not; 
; But, 2s exempt from mortal circumstance, 
_..Defied the wreck of time.——Such was Ninon !— 
ee A name fantastic Gallia’still reveres ! 
evil And while. the rival beauties of the court 
Ants Journey’d from smiles to wrinkles, she alone 
Still held her course in youth and jollity— 
Tn jollity and youth! and never thought 
But of youth’s joyfulness ;—its gay parade, 
Its revels, and its softer languishments :— 
= ute Heedless of all beside : for in her heart 
“That moral beauty that sweet sanctity 
That constitutes the soul’s true loveliness, 
» -- And makes immortal fragrance, ’mid the wreck _ 
“Of featural bloom and outward semblances, ie} 
~ -»- «» Had not-such residence’as might beseem= = 
“owe © A vision of such brightness :—earthly there. 
stn eet sr ver lai, i, a den. Pacns, oiaate mana, ry 
“Who. never yet, in deed or thought,-hast broken: 
Thy vestal-woven bond—yet with thy blame 
. Mingle some pity : weigh her frailties well 
With her seducements, ere with rigid taunt 
— (Mi neeey ey Man Nn ADK am eT 
