92 A DAY IN THE ELYSIAN FIELDS. 



and goes in quest of what she is yet to see in "realms 

 untravelled by the sun." It was "a pensive though 

 a happy place," full 



" Of all that is most beauteous, imaged there 



In happier beauty more pellucid streams, 



An ampler ether, a diviner air, 



And fields invested with purpureal gleams ; 



Climes which the sun, who sheds the brightest ray 



Earth knows, is all unworthy to survey." Wordsworth. 



But whence is it, that a slight susurrus is heard occa- 

 sionally through the depths of the Elysian stillness ? Is 

 it the hum from the groves of Platanus "musical with 

 bees," and grander far in their massive shades than those 

 which waved over Plato and his scholars on the banks of 

 the Cephisus ? Or is it the chirp of the Tettix or Cicada, 

 sitting on the bushes of Amaranth and Asphodel, "sing- 

 ing like a king," as Anacreon, the Greek wine poet, says, 

 "and sipping the dew of immortality"? It seems to 

 proceed from the earthward side of the Styx, and in 

 fact is a faint echo of the stir of the great Babel where 

 strife and noise incessantly prevail. What ! do the brawls 

 of earth reach even the Elysian fields ? No : but they are 

 not quite forgotten or unknown till the shades have 

 drunk of the waters of Lethe. Flora is for the present in 

 Elysium ; and she must maintain her authority and do 

 justice among her subjects even there. 



Hence the assembling of the rural deities ; hence the 

 air of expectation and the portentous silence, broken only 

 by fitful and approaching murmurs which reigned over 

 those shady groves and flowery plains. It was evident 

 that the time of some grave deliberation was at hand. A 

 calm thoughtfulness sat on every brow, while on the foot 

 of that emerald throne was inscribed, in letters formed 

 with diamonds, sapphires, and rubies, Justice to all and 

 favour to none. On a sudden the mystery was explained. 

 Pan was seen rising from the banks of the Styx, playing 

 on his rural pipe, attended by sundry satyrs, fawns, and 



