INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. XXI 



sublimity, in his boyhood; and with what ar- 

 dent sighs did he long after her with what 

 contempt did he turn from all other allure- 

 ments, and pour into her bosom the burning 

 language of his devotion ! He may be said to 

 have been her pilgrim into all lands in which 

 she displays the sovereignty of her beauty and 

 grandeur. 



All heaven and earth are still though not in sleep, 

 But breathless as we grow when feeling most ; 

 And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep : 

 All heaven and earth are still : from the high host 

 Of stars, to the lulled lake and mountain coast, 

 All is concentred in a life intense, 

 Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, 

 But hath a part of being, and a sense 

 Of that which is of all Creator and defence. 



Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt 

 In solitude, when we are least alone, 

 A truth which through our being then doth melt 

 And purifies from self ; it is a tone, 

 The soul and source of music, which makes known 

 Eternal harmony and sheds a charm, 

 Like to the fabled Cytherea's zone, 

 Binding all things with beauty ; 'twould disarm 

 The spectre Death, had he substantial power to harm. 



