The Complete Novels Of The Bronte Sisters E-Book

Anne Bronte

• Herausgeber: Zenith Crescent Moon Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 5311

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Rediscover the literary genius of three extraordinary sisters with "The Complete Novels of the Brontë Sisters" 🖋️✨. This exceptional collection brings together the most celebrated works of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, whose novels have left an everlasting imprint on the literary world 🌍📖. 🌟 Featuring masterpieces such as Jane Eyre 💕, Wuthering Heights 🌫️, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 🏡, and more, these novels weave powerful tales of love, ambition, betrayal, and resilience. Set against hauntingly atmospheric landscapes 🌄, each story captures the depth of human emotions and the timeless struggles of identity, freedom, and morality. 📚 Whether you are captivated by Charlotte's compelling heroines, Emily's brooding passion, or Anne's groundbreaking exploration of social issues, this anthology offers a glimpse into the unique brilliance of each Brontë sister. This complete collection is an essential treasure for lovers of classic literature and moving storytelling ✨💫. ✨ Immerse yourself in the unforgettable worlds of the Brontë sisters. Add this literary classic to your bookshelf today and experience stories that continue to resonate through the ages. 🌌📖

Leseprobe

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë:

Novels     & Poems

charlotte, emily, and anne brontë

Poems.

by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. 1846

charlotte brontë

Jane Eyre.

An Autobiography, edited by Currer Bell. 1847

emily and anne brontë

Wuthering Heights.

A Novel, by Ellis Bell.

Agnes Grey.

A Novel, by Acton Bell.

1847

anne brontë

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

By Acton Bell.

1848

charlotte brontë

Shirley.

A Tale, by Currer Bell. 1849

charlotte brontë

Villette.

By Currer Bell. 1853

charlotte brontë

charlotte, emily, and anne brontë

Poems

by CURRER, ELLIS, AND ACTON BELL.

London: Aylott and Jones, 8, Paternoster-Row.

1846

[The text follows the 1848 Smith, Elder, and Co. edition.]

poems.

« ~ « ~ «

Pilate’s Wife’s Dream.[C]

Faith and Despondency.[E]

A Reminiscence.[A]

Mementos.[C]

Stars.[E]

The Philosopher.[E]

The Arbour.[A]

Home.[A]

The Wife’s Will.[C]

Remembrance.[E]

Vanitas Vanitatum, Omnia Vanitas.[A]

The Wood.[C]

A Death-Scene.[E]

Song.[E]

The Penitent.[A]

Music on Christmas Morning.[A]

Frances.[C]

Anticipation.[E]

Stanzas.[A]

Gilbert.[C]

The Prisoner.[E]

If This Be All.[A]

Life.[C]

Hope.[E]

Memory.[A]

The Letter.[C]

A Day Dream.[E]

To Cowper.[A]

Regret.[C]

To Imagination.[E]

The Doubter’s Prayer.[A]

Presentiment.[C]

How Clear She Shines.[E]

A Word to the “Elect.”[A]

The Teacher’s Monologue.[C]

Sympathy.[E]

Past Days.[A]

Passion.[C]

Preference.[C]

Plead for Me.[E]

The Consolation.[A]

Evening Solace.[C]

Self-Interrogation.[E]

Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day.[A]

Stanzas.[C]

Death.[E]

Views of Life.[A]

Parting.[C]

Stanzas to ——[E]

Appeal.[A]

Honour’s Martyr.[E]

The Student’s Serenade.[A]

Apostasy.[C]

Stanzas.[E]

The Captive Dove.[A]

Winter Stores.[C]

My Comforter.[E]

Self-Congratulation.[A]

The Missionary.[C]

The Old Stoic.[E]

Fluctuations.[A]

1 Pilate’s Wife’s Dream.

I’ve quenched my lamp, I struck it in that start

Which every limb convulsed, I heard it fall—

The crash blent with my sleep, I saw depart

Its light, even as I woke, on yonder wall;

Over against my bed, there shone a gleam

Strange, faint, and mingling also with my dream.

It sunk, and I am wrapt in utter gloom;

How far is night advanced, and when will day

Retinge the dusk and livid air with bloom,

And fill this void with warm, creative ray?

Would I could sleep again till, clear and red,

Morning shall on the mountain-tops be spread!

I’d call my women, but to break their sleep,

Because my own is broken, were unjust;

2 They’ve wrought all day, and well-earned slumbers steep

Their labours in forgetfulness, I trust;

Let me my feverish watch with patience bear,

Thankful that none with me its sufferings share.

Yet, Oh, for light! one ray would tranquilise

My nerves, my pulses, more than effort can;

I’ll draw my curtain and consult the skies:

These trembling stars at dead of night look wan,

Wild, restless, strange, yet cannot be more drear

Than this my couch, shared by a nameless fear.

All black—one great cloud, drawn from east to west,

Conceals the heavens, but there are lights below;

Torches burn in Jerusalem, and cast

On yonder stony mount a lurid glow.

I see men stationed there, and gleaming spears;

A sound, too, from afar, invades my ears.

Dull, measured, strokes of axe and hammer ring

From street to street, not loud, but through the night

Distinctly heard—and some strange spectral thing

Is now upreared—and, fixed against the light

Of the pale lamps; defined upon that sky,

It stands up like a column, straight and high.

I see it all—I know the dusky sign—

A cross on Calvary, which Jews uprear

3 While Romans watch; and when the dawn shall shine

Pilate, to judge the victim will appear,

Pass sentence—yield him up to crucify;

And on that cross the spotless Christ must die.

Dreams, then, are true—for thus my vision ran;

Surely some oracle has been with me,

The gods have chosen me to reveal their plan,

To warn an unjust judge of destiny:

I, slumbering, heard and saw; awake I know,

Christ’s coming death, and Pilate’s life of woe.

I do not weep for Pilate—who could prove

Regret for him whose cold and crushing sway

No prayer can soften, no appeal can move;

Who tramples hearts as others trample clay,

Yet with a faltering, an uncertain tread,

That might stir up reprisal in the dead.

Forced to sit by his side and see his deeds;

Forced to behold that visage, hour by hour,

In whose gaunt lines, the abhorrent gazer reads

A triple lust of gold, and blood, and power;

A soul whom motives, fierce, yet abject, urge

Rome’s servile slave, and Judah’s tyrant scourge.

How can I love, or mourn, or pity him?

I, who so long my fettered hands have wrung;

4 I, who for grief have wept my eye-sight dim;

Because, while life for me was bright and young,

He robbed my youth—he quenched my life’s fair ray—

He crushed my mind, and did my freedom slay.

And at this hour—although I be his wife—

He has no more of tenderness from me

Than any other wretch of guilty life;

Less, for I know his household privacy—

I see him as he is—without a screen;

And, by the gods, my soul abhors his mien!

Has he not sought my presence, dyed in blood—

Innocent, righteous blood, shed shamelessly?

And have I not his red salute withstood?

Aye,—when, as erst, he plunged all Galilee

In dark bereavement—in affliction sore,

Mingling their very offerings with their gore.

Then came he—in his eyes a serpent-smile,

Upon his lips some false, endearing word,

And, through the streets of Salem, clanged the while,

His slaughtering, hacking, sacrilegious sword—

And I, to see a man cause men such woe,

Trembled with ire—I did not fear to show.

And now, the envious Jewish priests have brought

Jesus—whom they in mockery call their king—

5 To have, by this grim power, their vengeance wrought;

By this mean reptile, innocence to sting.

Oh! could I but the purposed doom avert,

And shield the blameless head from cruel hurt!

Accessible is Pilate’s heart to fear,

Omens will shake his soul, like autumn leaf;

Could he this night’s appalling vision hear,

This just man’s bonds were loosed, his life were safe,

Unless that bitter priesthood should prevail,

And make even terror to their malice quail.

Yet if I tell the dream—but let me pause.

What dream? Erewhile the characters were clear,

Graved on my brain—at once some unknown cause

Has dimmed and rased the thoughts, which now appear,

Like a vague remnant of some by-past scene;—

Not what will be, but what, long since, has been.

I suffered many things, I heard foretold

A dreadful doom for Pilate,—lingering woes,

In far, barbarian climes, where mountains cold

Built up a solitude of trackless snows,

There, he and grisly wolves prowled side by side,

There he lived famished—there methought he died;

But not of hunger, nor by malady;

I saw the snow around him, stained with gore;

6 I said I had no tears for such as he,

And, lo! my cheek is wet—mine eyes run o’er;

I weep for mortal suffering, mortal guilt,

I weep the impious deed—the blood self-spilt.

More I recall not, yet the vision spread

Into a world remote, an age to come—

And still the illumined name of Jesus shed

A light, a clearness, through the unfolding gloom—

And still I saw that sign, which now I see,

That cross on yonder brow of Calvary.

What is this Hebrew Christ? To me unknown,

His lineage—doctrine—mission—yet how clear,

Is God-like goodness, in his actions shewn!

How straight and stainless is his life’s career!

The ray of Deity that rests on him,

In my eyes makes Olympian glory dim.

The world advances, Greek, or Roman rite

Suffices not the inquiring mind to stay;

The searching soul demands a purer light

To guide it on its upward, onward way;

Ashamed of sculptured gods—Religion turns

To where the unseen Jehovah’s altar burns.

Our faith is rotten—all our rites defiled,

Our temples sullied, and methinks, this man,

With his new ordinance, so wise and mild,

Is come, even as he says, the chaff to fan

7 And sever from the wheat; but will his faith

Survive the terrors of to-morrow’s death?

* * * * *

I feel a firmer trust—a higher hope

Rise in my soul—it dawns with dawning day;

Lo! on the Temple’s roof—on Moriah’s slope

Appears at length that clear, and crimson ray,

Which I so wished for when shut in by night;

Oh, opening skies, I hail, I bless your light!

Part, clouds and shadows! glorious Sun appear!

Part, mental gloom! Come insight from on high!

Dusk dawn in heaven still strives with daylight clear,

The longing soul, doth still uncertain sigh.

Oh! to behold the truth—that sun divine,

How doth my bosom pant, my spirit pine!

This day, time travails with a mighty birth,

This day, Truth stoops from heaven and visits earth,

Ere night descends, I shall more surely know

What guide to follow, in what path to go;

I wait in hope—I wait in solemn fear,

The oracle of God—the sole—true God—to hear.

Currer.

« ~ « ~ «

8 Faith and Despondency.

“The winter wind is loud and wild,

Come close to me, my darling child;

Forsake thy books, and mateless play;

And, while the night is gathering grey,

We’ll talk its pensive hours away;—

“Iernë, round our sheltered hall

November’s gusts unheeded call;

Not one faint breath can enter here

Enough to wave my daughter’s hair,

And I am glad to watch the blaze

Glance from her eyes, with mimic rays;

To feel her cheek, so softly pressed,

In happy quiet on my breast.

“But, yet, even this tranquillity

Brings bitter, restless thoughts to me;

And, in the red fire’s cheerful glow,

I think of deep glens, blocked with snow;

I dream of moor, and misty hill,

Where evening closes dark and chill;

For, lone, among the mountains cold,

Lie those that I have loved of old.

And my heart aches, in hopeless pain

Exhausted with repinings vain,

That I shall greet them ne’er again!”

9 “Father, in early infancy,

When you were far beyond the sea,

Such thoughts were tyrants over me!

I often sat, for hours together,

Through the long nights of angry weather,

Raised on my pillow, to descry

The dim moon struggling in the sky;

Or, with strained ear, to catch the shock,

Of rock with wave, and wave with rock;

So would I fearful vigil keep,

And, all for listening, never sleep.

But this world’s life has much to dread,

Not so, my Father, with the dead.

“Oh! not for them, should we despair,

The grave is drear, but they are not there;

Their dust is mingled with the sod,

Their happy souls are gone to God!

You told me this, and yet you sigh,

And murmur that your friends must die.

Ah! my dear father, tell me why?

For, if your former words were true,

How useless would such sorrow be;

As wise, to mourn the seed which grew

Unnoticed on its parent tree,

Because it fell in fertile earth,

And sprang up to a glorious birth—

Struck deep its root, and lifted high

Its green boughs, in the breezy sky.

10 “But, I’ll not fear, I will not weep

For those whose bodies rest in sleep,—

I know there is a blessed shore,

Opening its ports for me, and mine;

And, gazing Time’s wide waters o’er,

I weary for that land divine,

Where we were born, where you and I

Shall meet our Dearest, when we die;

From suffering and corruption free,

Restored into the Deity.”

“Well hast thou spoken, sweet, trustful child!

And wiser than thy sire;

And worldly tempests, raging wild,

Shall strengthen thy desire—

Thy fervent hope, through storm and foam,

Through wind and ocean’s roar,

To reach, at last, the eternal home,

The steadfast, changeless, shore!”

Ellis.

« ~ « ~ «

10 A Reminiscence.

Yes, thou art gone! and never more

Thy sunny smile shall gladden me;

But I may pass the old church door,

And pace the floor that covers thee,

11 May stand upon the cold, damp stone,

And think that, frozen, lies below

The lightest heart that I have known,

The kindest I shall ever know.

Yet, though I cannot see thee more,

’Tis still a comfort to have seen;

And though thy transient life is o’er,

’Tis sweet to think that thou hast been;

To think a soul so near divine,

Within a form, so angel fair,

United to a heart like thine,

Has gladdened once our humble sphere.

Acton.

« ~ « ~ «

11 Mementos.

Arranging long-locked drawers and shelves

Of cabinets, shut up for years,

What a strange task we’ve set ourselves!

How still the lonely room appears!

How strange this mass of ancient treasures,

Mementos of past pains and pleasures;

12 These volumes, clasped with costly stone,

With print all faded, gilding gone;

These fans of leaves, from Indian trees—

These crimson shells, from Indian seas—

These tiny portraits, set in rings—

Once, doubtless, deemed such precious things;

Keepsakes bestowed by Love on Faith,

And worn till the receiver’s death,

Now stored with cameos, china, shells,

In this old closet’s dusty cells.

I scarcely think, for ten long years,

A hand has touched these relics old;

And, coating each, slow-formed, appears,

The growth of green and antique mould.

All in this house is mossing over;

All is unused, and dim, and damp;

Nor light, nor warmth, the rooms discover—

Bereft for years of fire and lamp.

The sun, sometimes in summer, enters

The casements, with reviving ray;

But the long rains of many winters

Moulder the very walls away.

And outside all is ivy, clinging

To chimney, lattice, gable grey;

Scarcely one little red rose springing

Through the green moss can force its way.

13 Unscared, the daw, and starling nestle,

Where the tall turret rises high,

And winds alone come near to rustle

The thick leaves where their cradles lie.

I sometimes think, when late at even

I climb the stair reluctantly,

Some shape that should be well in heaven,

Or ill elsewhere, will pass by me.

I fear to see the very faces,

Familiar thirty years ago,

Even in the old accustomed places

Which look so cold and gloomy now.

I’ve come, to close the window, hither,

At twilight, when the sun was down,

And Fear, my very soul would wither,

Lest something should be dimly shown.

Too much the buried form resembling,

Of her who once was mistress here;

Lest doubtful shade, or moonbeam trembling,

Might take her aspect, once so dear.

Hers was this chamber; in her time

It seemed to me a pleasant room,

For then no cloud of grief or crime

Had cursed it with a settled gloom;

I had not seen death’s image laid

In shroud and sheet, on yonder bed.

14 Before she married, she was blest—

Blest in her youth, blest in her worth;

Her mind was calm, its sunny rest

Shone in her eyes more clear than mirth.

And when attired in rich array,

Light, lustrous hair about her brow,

She yonder sat—a kind of day

Lit up—what seems so gloomy now.

These grim oak walls, even then were grim;

That old carved chair, was then antique;

But what around looked dusk and dim

Served as a foil to her fresh cheek;

Her neck, and arms, of hue so fair,

Eyes of unclouded, smiling, light;

Her soft, and curled, and floating hair,

Gems and attire, as rainbow bright.

Reclined in yonder deep recess,

Ofttimes she would, at evening, lie

Watching the sun; she seemed to bless

With happy glance the glorious sky.

She loved such scenes, and as she gazed,

Her face evinced her spirit’s mood;

Beauty or grandeur ever raised

In her, a deep-felt gratitude.

But of all lovely things, she loved

A cloudless moon, on summer night;

15 Full oft have I impatience proved

To see how long, her still delight

Would find a theme in reverie.

Out on the lawn, or where the trees

Let in the lustre fitfully,

As their boughs parted momently,

To the soft, languid, summer breeze.

Alas! that she should e’er have flung

Those pure, though lonely joys away—

Deceived by false and guileful tongue,

She gave her hand, then suffered wrong;

Oppressed, ill-used, she faded young,

And died of grief by slow decay.

Open that casket—look how bright

Those jewels flash upon the sight;

The brilliants have not lost a ray

Of lustre, since her wedding day.

But see—upon that pearly chain—

How dim lies time’s discolouring stain!

I’ve seen that by her daughter worn:

For, e’er she died, a child was born;

A child that ne’er its mother knew,

That lone, and almost friendless grew;

For, ever, when its step drew nigh,

Averted was the father’s eye;

And then, a life impure and wild

Made him a stranger to his child;

Absorbed in vice, he little cared

On what she did, or how she fared.

16 The love withheld, she never sought,

She grew uncherished—learnt untaught;

To her the inward life of thought

Full soon was open laid.

I know not if her friendlessness

Did sometimes on her spirit press,

But plaint she never made.

The book-shelves were her darling treasure,

She rarely seemed the time to measure

While she could read alone.

And she too loved the twilight wood,

And often, in her mother’s mood,

Away to yonder hill would hie,

Like her, to watch the setting sun,

Or see the stars born, one by one,

Out of the darkening sky.

Nor would she leave that hill till night

Trembled from pole to pole with light;

Even then, upon her homeward way,

Long—long her wandering steps delayed

To quit the sombre forest shade,

Through which her eerie pathway lay.

You ask if she had beauty’s grace?

I know not—but a nobler face

My eyes have seldom seen;

A keen and fine intelligence,

And, better still, the truest sense

Were in her speaking mien.

But bloom or lustre was there none,

Only at moments, fitful shone

17 An ardour in her eye,

That kindled on her cheek a flush,

Warm as a red sky’s passing blush

And quick with energy.

Her speech, too, was not common speech,

No wish to shine, or aim to teach,

Was in her words displayed:

She still began with quiet sense,

But oft the force of eloquence

Came to her lips in aid;

Language and voice unconscious changed,

And thoughts, in other words arranged,

Her fervid soul transfused

Into the hearts of those who heard,

And transient strength and ardour stirred,

In minds to strength unused.

Yet in gay crowd or festal glare,

Grave and retiring was her air;

’Twas seldom, save with me alone,

That fire of feeling freely shone;

She loved not awe’s nor wonder’s gaze,

Nor even exaggerated praise,

Nor even notice, if too keen

The curious gazer searched her mien.

Nature’s own green expanse revealed

The world, the pleasures, she could prize;

On free hill-side, in sunny field,

In quiet spots by woods concealed,

Grew wild and fresh her chosen joys,

Yet Nature’s feelings deeply lay

18 In that endowed and youthful frame;

Shrined in her heart and hid from day,

They burned unseen with silent flame;

In youth’s first search for mental light,

She lived but to reflect and learn,

But soon her mind’s maturer might

For stronger task did pant and yearn;

And stronger task did fate assign,

Task that a giant’s strength might strain;

To suffer long and ne’er repine,

Be calm in frenzy, smile at pain.

Pale with the secret war of feeling,

Sustained with courage, mute, yet high;

The wounds at which she bled, revealing

Only by altered cheek and eye;

She bore in silence—but when passion

Surged in her soul with ceaseless foam,

The storm at last brought desolation,

And drove her exiled from her home.

And silent still, she straight assembled

The wrecks of strength her soul retained;

For though the wasted body trembled,

The unconquered mind, to quail, disdained.

She crossed the sea—now lone she wanders

By Seine’s, or Rhine’s, or Arno’s flow;

19 Fain would I know if distance renders

Relief or comfort to her woe.

Fain would I know if, henceforth, ever,

These eyes shall read in hers again,

That light of love which faded never,

Though dimmed so long with secret pain.

She will return, but cold and altered,

Like all whose hopes too soon depart;

Like all on whom have beat, unsheltered,

The bitter blasts that blight the heart.

No more shall I behold her lying

Calm on a pillow, smoothed by me;

No more that spirit, worn with sighing,

Will know the rest of infancy.

If still the paths of lore she follow,

’Twill be with tired and goaded will;

She’ll only toil, the aching hollow,

The joyless blank of life to fill.

And oh! full oft, quite spent and weary,

Her hand will pause, her head decline;

That labour seems so hard and dreary,

On which no ray of hope may shine.

Thus the pale blight of time and sorrow

Will shade with grey her soft, dark hair;

20 Then comes the day that knows no morrow,

And death succeeds to long despair.

So speaks experience, sage and hoary;

I see it plainly, know it well,

Like one who, having read a story,

Each incident therein can tell.

Touch not that ring, ’twas his, the sire

Of that forsaken child;

And nought his relics can inspire

Save memories, sin-defiled.

I, who sat by his wife’s death-bed,

I, who his daughter loved,

Could almost curse the guilty dead,

For woes, the guiltless proved.

And heaven did curse—they found him laid,

When crime for wrath was rife,

Cold—with the suicidal blade

Clutched in his desperate gripe.

’Twas near that long deserted hut,

Which in the wood decays,

Death’s axe, self-wielded, struck his root,

And lopped his desperate days.

You know the spot, where three black trees,

Lift up their branches fell,

21 And moaning, ceaseless as the seas,

Still seem, in every passing breeze,

The deed of blood to tell.

They named him mad, and laid his bones

Where holier ashes lie;

Yet doubt not that his spirit groans,

In hell’s eternity.

But, lo! night, closing o’er the earth,

Infects our thoughts with gloom;

Come, let us strive to rally mirth,

Where glows a clear and tranquil hearth

In some more cheerful room.

Currer.

« ~ « ~ «

21 Stars.

Ah! why, because the dazzling sun

Restored our Earth to joy,

Have you departed, every one,

And left a desert sky?

All through the night, your glorious eyes

Were gazing down in mine,

And, with a full heart’s thankful sighs,

I blessed that watch divine.

22 I was at peace, and drank your beams

As they were life to me;

And revelled in my changeful dreams,

Like petrel on the sea.

Thought followed thought, star followed star,

Through boundless regions, on;

While one sweet influence, near and far,

Thrilled through, and proved us one!

Why did the morning dawn to break

So great, so pure, a spell;

And scorch with fire, the tranquil cheek,

Where your cool radiance fell?

Blood-red, he rose, and, arrow-straight,

His fierce beams struck my brow;

The soul of nature, sprang, elate,

But mine sank sad and low!

My lids closed down, yet through their veil,

I saw him, blazing, still,

And steep in gold the misty dale,

And flash upon the hill.

I turned me to the pillow, then,

To call back night, and see

Your worlds of solemn light, again,

Throb with my heart, and me!

23 It would not do—the pillow glowed,

And glowed both roof and floor;

And birds sang loudly in the wood,

And fresh winds shook the door;

The curtains waved, the wakened flies

Were murmuring round my room,

Imprisoned there, till I should rise,

And give them leave to roam.

Oh, stars, and dreams, and gentle night;

Oh, night and stars return!

And hide me from the hostile light,

That does not warm, but burn;

That drains the blood of suffering men;

Drinks tears, instead of dew;

Let me sleep through his blinding reign,

And only wake with you!

Ellis.

« ~ « ~ «

23 The Philosopher.

“Enough of thought, philosopher!

Too long hast thou been dreaming

Unlightened, in this chamber drear,

While summer’s sun is beaming!

Space-sweeping soul, what sad refrain

Concludes thy musings once again?

24 “Oh, for the time when I shall sleep

Without identity,

And never care how rain may steep,

Or snow may cover me!

No promised heaven, these wild desires,

Could all, or half fulfil;

No threatened hell, with quenchless fires,

Subdue this quenchless will!”

“So said I, and still say the same;

Still, to my death, will say—

Three gods, within this little frame,

Are warring night and day;

Heaven could not hold them all, and yet

They all are held in me;

And must be mine till I forget

My present entity!

Oh, for the time, when in my breast

Their struggles will be o’er!

Oh, for the day, when I shall rest,

And never suffer more!”

“I saw a spirit, standing, man,

Where thou dost stand—an hour ago,

And round his feet three rivers ran,

Of equal depth, and equal flow—

A golden stream—and one like blood;

And one like sapphire seemed to be;

But, where they joined their triple flood

It tumbled in an inky sea.

25 The spirit sent his dazzling gaze

Down through that ocean’s gloomy night

Then, kindling all, with sudden blaze,

The glad deep sparkled wide and bright—

White as the sun, far, far more fair

Than its divided sources were!”

“And even for that spirit, seer,

I’ve watched and sought my life-time long;

Sought him in heaven, hell, earth, and air—

An endless search, and always wrong!

Had I but seen his glorious eye

Once light the clouds that wilder me,

I ne’er had raised this coward cry

To cease to think, and cease to be;

I ne’er had called oblivion blest,

Nor, stretching eager hands to death,

Implored to change for senseless rest

This sentient soul, this living breath—

Oh, let me die—that power and will

Their cruel strife may close;

And conquered good, and conquering ill

Be lost in one repose!”

Ellis.

« ~ « ~ «

26 The Arbour.

I’ll rest me in this sheltered bower,

And look upon the clear blue sky

That smiles upon me through the trees,

Which stand so thickly clustering by;

And view their green and glossy leaves,

All glistening in the sunshine fair;

And list the rustling of their boughs,

So softly whispering through the air.

And while my ear drinks in the sound,

My winged soul shall fly away;

Reviewing long departed years

As one mild, beaming, autumn day;

And soaring on to future scenes,

Like hills and woods, and valleys green,

All basking in the summer’s sun,

But distant still, and dimly seen.

Oh, list! ’tis summer’s very breath

That gently shakes the rustling trees—

But look! the snow is on the ground—

How can I think of scenes like these?

27 ’Tis but the frost that clears the air,

And gives the sky that lovely blue;

They ’re smiling in a winter’s sun,

Those evergreens of sombre hue.

And winter’s chill is on my heart—

How can I dream of future bliss?

How can my spirit soar away,

Confined by such a chain as this?

Acton.

« ~ « ~ «

27 Home.

How brightly glistening in the sun

The woodland ivy plays!

While yonder beeches from their barks

Reflect his silver rays.

That sun surveys a lovely scene

From softly smiling skies;

And wildly through unnumbered trees

The wind of winter sighs:

Now loud, it thunders o’er my head,

And now in distance dies.

But give me back my barren hills

Where colder breezes rise;

28 Where scarce the scattered, stunted trees

Can yield an answering swell,

But where a wilderness of heath

Returns the sound as well.

For yonder garden, fair and wide,

With groves of evergreen,

Long winding walks, and borders trim,

And velvet lawns between;

Restore to me that little spot,

With grey walls compassed round,

Where knotted grass neglected lies,

And weeds usurp the ground.

Though all around this mansion high

Invites the foot to roam,

And though its halls are fair within—

Oh, give me back my Home!

Acton.

« ~ « ~ «

28 The Wife’s Will.

Sit still—a word—a breath may break

(As light airs stir a sleeping lake,)

The glassy calm that soothes my woes,

The sweet, the deep, the full repose.

29 O leave me not! for ever be

Thus, more than life itself to me!

Yes, close beside thee, let me kneel—

Give me thy hand that I may feel

The friend so true—so tried—so dear,

My heart’s own chosen—indeed is near;

And check me not—this hour divine

Belongs to me—is fully mine.

’Tis thy own hearth thou sitt’st beside,

After long absence—wandering wide;

’Tis thy own wife reads in thine eyes,

A promise clear of stormless skies,

For faith and true love light the rays,

Which shine responsive to her gaze.

Aye,—well that single tear may fall;

Ten thousand might mine eyes recall,

Which from their lids, ran blinding fast,

In hours of grief, yet scarcely past,

Well may’st thou speak of love to me;

For, oh! most truly—I love thee!

Yet smile—for we are happy now.

Whence, then, that sadness on thy brow?

What say’st thou? “We must once again,

Ere long, be severed by the main?”

I knew not this—I deemed no more,

Thy step would err from Britain’s shore.

30 “Duty commands?” ’Tis true—’tis just;

Thy slightest word I wholly trust,

Nor by request, nor faintest sigh

Would I, to turn thy purpose, try;

But, William—hear my solemn vow—

Hear and confirm!—with thee I go.

“Distance and suffering,” did’st thou say?

“Danger by night, and toil by day?”

Oh, idle words, and vain are these;

Hear me! I cross with thee the seas.

Such risk as thou must meet and dare,

I—thy true wife—will duly share.

Passive, at home, I will not pine;

Thy toils—thy perils, shall be mine;

Grant this—and be hereafter paid

By a warm heart’s devoted aid:

’Tis granted—with that yielding kiss,

Entered my soul unmingled bliss.

Thanks, William—thanks! thy love has joy,

Pure—undefiled with base alloy;

’Tis not a passion, false and blind,

Inspires, enchains, absorbs my mind;

Worthy, I feel, art thou to be

Loved with my perfect energy.

This evening, now, shall sweetly flow,

Lit by our clear fire’s happy glow;

31 And parting’s peace-embittering fear,

Is warned, our hearts to come not near;

For fate admits my soul’s decree,

In bliss or bale—to go with thee!

Currer.

« ~ « ~ «

31 Remembrance.

Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled above thee,

Far, far, removed, cold in the dreary grave!

Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,

Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave?

Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover

Over the mountains, on that northern shore,

Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover

Thy noble heart for ever, ever more?

Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers,

From those brown hills, have melted into spring:

Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers

After such years of change and suffering!

32 Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,

While the world’s tide is bearing me along;

Other desires and other hopes beset me,

Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!

No later light has lightened up my heaven,

No second morn has ever shone for me;

All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given,

All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee.

But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,

And even Despair was powerless to destroy;

Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,

Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.

Then did I check the tears of useless passion—

Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;

Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten

Down to that tomb already more than mine.

And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,

Dare not indulge in memory’s rapturous pain;

Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,

How could I seek the empty world again?

Ellis.

« ~ « ~ «

33 Vanitas Vanitatum, Omnia Vanitas.

In all we do, and hear, and see,

Is restless Toil and Vanity.

While yet the rolling earth abides,

Men come and go like ocean tides;

And ere one generation dies,

Another in its place shall rise;

That, sinking soon into the grave,

Others succeed, like wave on wave;

And as they rise, they pass away.

The sun arises every day,

And, hastening onward to the West,

He nightly sinks, but not to rest:

Returning to the eastern skies,

Again to light us, he must rise.

And still the restless wind comes forth,

Now blowing keenly from the North;

Now from the South, the East, the West,

For ever changing, ne’er at rest.

The fountains, gushing from the hills,

Supply the ever-running rills;

The thirsty rivers drink their store,

And bear it rolling to the shore,

34 But still the ocean craves for more.

’Tis endless labour everywhere!

Sound cannot satisfy the ear,

Light cannot fill the craving eye,

Nor riches half our wants supply;

Pleasure but doubles future pain,

And joy brings sorrow in her train;

Laughter is mad, and reckless mirth—

What does she in this weary earth?

Should Wealth, or Fame, our Life employ,

Death comes, our labour to destroy;

To snatch the untasted cup away,

For which we toiled so many a day.

What, then, remains for wretched man?

To use life’s comforts while he can,

Enjoy the blessings Heaven bestows,

Assist his friends, forgive his foes;

Trust God, and keep his statutes still,

Upright and firm, through good and ill;

Thankful for all that God has given,

Fixing his firmest hopes on heaven;

Knowing that earthly joys decay,

But hoping through the darkest day.

Acton.

« ~ « ~ «

35 The Wood.

But two miles more, and then we rest!

Well, there is still an hour of day,

And long the brightness of the West

Will light us on our devious way;

Sit then, awhile, here in this wood—

So total is the solitude,

We safely may delay.

These massive roots afford a seat,

Which seems for weary travellers made.

There rest. The air is soft and sweet

In this sequestered forest glade,

And there are scents of flowers around,

The evening dew draws from the ground;

How soothingly they spread!

Yes; I was tired, but not at heart;

No—that beats full of sweet content,

For now I have my natural part

Of action with adventure blent;

Cast forth on the wide world with thee,

And all my once waste energy

To weighty purpose bent.

Yet—say’st thou, spies around us roam,

Our aims are termed conspiracy?

36 Haply, no more our English home

An anchorage for us may be?

That there is risk our mutual blood

May redden in some lonely wood

The knife of treachery?

Say’st thou—that where we lodge each night,

In each lone farm, or lonelier hall

Of Norman Peer—ere morning light

Suspicion must as duly fall,

As day returns—such vigilance

Presides and watches over France,

Such rigour governs all?

I fear not, William; dost thou fear?

So that the knife does not divide,

It may be ever hovering near:

I could not tremble at thy side,

And strenuous love—like mine for thee—

Is buckler strong, ’gainst treachery,

And turns its stab aside.

I am resolved that thou shalt learn

To trust my strength as I trust thine;

I am resolved our souls shall burn,

With equal, steady, mingling shine;

Part of the field is conquered now,

Our lives in the same channel flow,

Along the self-same line;

37 And while no groaning storm is heard,

Thou seem’st content it should be so,

But soon as comes a warning word

Of danger—straight thine anxious brow

Bends over me a mournful shade,

As doubting if my powers are made

To ford the floods of woe.

Know, then it is my spirit swells,

And drinks, with eager joy, the air

Of freedom—where at last it dwells,

Chartered, a common task to share

With thee, and then it stirs alert,

And pants to learn what menaced hurt

Demands for thee its care.

Remember, I have crossed the deep,

And stood with thee on deck, to gaze

On waves that rose in threatening heap,

While stagnant lay a heavy haze,

Dimly confusing sea with sky,

And baffling, even, the pilot’s eye,

Intent to thread the maze—

Of rocks, on Bretagne’s dangerous coast,

And find a way to steer our band

To the one point obscure, which lost,

Flung us, as victims, on the strand;—

All, elsewhere, gleamed the Gallic sword,

And not a wherry could be moored

Along the guarded land.

38 I feared not then—I fear not now;

The interest of each stirring scene

Wakes a new sense, a welcome glow,

In every nerve and bounding vein;

Alike on turbid Channel sea,

Or in still wood of Normandy,

I feel as born again.

The rain descended that wild morn

When, anchoring in the cove at last,

Our band, all weary and forlorn,

Ashore, like wave-worn sailors, cast—

Sought for a sheltering roof in vain,

And scarce could scanty food obtain

To break their morning fast.

Thou didst thy crust with me divide,

Thou didst thy cloak around me fold;

And, sitting silent by thy side,

I ate the bread in peace untold:

Given kindly from thy hand, ’twas sweet

As costly fare or princely treat

On royal plate of gold.

Sharp blew the sleet upon my face,

And, rising wild, the gusty wind

Drove on those thundering waves apace,

Our crew so late had left behind;

But, spite of frozen shower and storm,

So close to thee, my heart beat warm,

And tranquil slept my mind.

39 So now—nor foot-sore nor opprest

With walking all this August day,

I taste a heaven in this brief rest,

This gipsy-halt beside the way.

England’s wild flowers are fair to view,

Like balm is England’s summer dew,

Like gold her sunset ray.

But the white violets, growing here,

Are sweeter than I yet have seen,

And ne’er did dew so pure and clear

Distil on forest mosses green,

As now, called forth by summer heat,

Perfumes our cool and fresh retreat—

These fragrant limes between.

That sunset! Look beneath the boughs,

Over the copse—beyond the hills;

How soft, yet deep and warm it glows,

And heaven with rich suffusion fills;

With hues where still the opal’s tint,

Its gleam of prisoned fire is blent,

Where flame through azure thrills!

Depart we now—for fast will fade

That solemn splendour of decline,

And deep must be the after-shade

As stars alone to-night will shine;

No moon is destined—pale—to gaze

On such a day’s vast Phœnix blaze,

A day in fires decayed!

40 There—hand-in-hand we tread again

The mazes of this varying wood,

And soon, amid a cultured plain,

Girt in with fertile solitude,

We shall our resting-place descry,

Marked by one roof-tree, towering high

Above a farm-stead rude.

Refreshed, erelong, with rustic fare,

We’ll seek a couch of dreamless ease;

Courage will guard thy heart from fear,

And Love give mine divinest peace:

To-morrow brings more dangerous toil,

And through its conflict and turmoil

We’ll pass, as God shall please.

Currer.

[The preceding composition refers, doubtless, to the scenes acted in France during the last year of the Consulate.]

« ~ « ~ «

40 A Death-Scene.

“O Day! he cannot die

When thou so fair art shining!

O Sun, in such a glorious sky,

So tranquilly declining;

41 He cannot leave thee now,

While fresh west winds are blowing,

And all around his youthful brow

Thy cheerful light is glowing!

Edward, awake, awake—

The golden evening gleams

Warm and bright on Arden’s lake—

Arouse thee from thy dreams!

Beside thee, on my knee,

My dearest friend! I pray

That thou, to cross the eternal sea,

Wouldst yet one hour delay:

I hear its billows roar—

I see them foaming high;

But no glimpse of a further shore

Has blest my straining eye.

Believe not what they urge

Of Eden isles beyond;

Turn back, from that tempestuous surge,

To thy own native land.

It is not death, but pain

That struggles in thy breast—

Nay, rally, Edward, rouse again;

I cannot let thee rest!”

42 One long look, that sore reproved me

For the woe I could not bear—

One mute look of suffering moved me

To repent my useless prayer:

And, with sudden check, the heaving

Of distraction passed away;

Not a sign of further grieving

Stirred my soul that awful day.

Paled, at length, the sweet sun setting;

Sunk to peace the twilight breeze:

Summer dews fell softly, wetting

Glen, and glade, and silent trees.

Then his eyes began to weary,

Weighed beneath a mortal sleep;

And their orbs grew strangely dreary,

Clouded, even as they would weep.

But they wept not, but they changed not,

Never moved, and never closed;

Troubled still, and still they ranged not—

Wandered not, nor yet reposed!

So I knew that he was dying—

Stooped, and raised his languid head;

Felt no breath, and heard no sighing,

So I knew that he was dead.

Ellis.

« ~ « ~ «

43 Song.

The linnet in the rocky dells,

The moor-lark in the air,

The bee among the heather bells,

That hide my lady fair:

The wild deer browse above her breast;

The wild birds raise their brood;

And they, her smiles of love caressed,

Have left her solitude!

I ween, that when the grave’s dark wall

Did first her form retain;

They thought their hearts could ne’er recall

The light of joy again.

They thought the tide of grief would flow

Unchecked through future years;

But where is all their anguish now,

And where are all their tears?

Well, let them fight for honour’s breath,

Or pleasure’s shade pursue—

The dweller in the land of death

Is changed and careless too.

And, if their eyes should watch and weep

Till sorrow’s source were dry,

44 She would not, in her tranquil sleep,

Return a single sigh!

Blow, west-wind, by the lonely mound,

And murmur, summer-streams—

There is no need of other sound

To soothe my lady’s dreams.

Ellis.

« ~ « ~ «

44 The Penitent.

I mourn with thee, and yet rejoice

That thou shouldst sorrow so;

With angel choirs I join my voice

To bless the sinner’s woe.

Though friends and kindred turn away,

And laugh thy grief to scorn;

I hear the great Redeemer say,

“Blessed are ye that mourn.”

Hold on thy course, nor deem it strange

That earthly cords are riven:

Man may lament the wondrous change,

But “there is joy in heaven!”

Acton.

« ~ « ~ «

45 Music on Christmas Morning.

Music I love—but never strain

Could kindle raptures so divine,

So grief assuage, so conquer pain,

And rouse this pensive heart of mine—

As that we hear on Christmas morn,

Upon the wintry breezes borne.

Though Darkness still her empire keep,

And hours must pass, ere morning break;

From troubled dreams, or slumbers deep,

That music kindly bids us wake:

It calls us, with an angel’s voice,

To wake, and worship, and rejoice;

To greet with joy the glorious morn,

Which angels welcomed long ago,

When our redeeming Lord was born,

To bring the light of Heaven below;

The Powers of Darkness to dispel,

And rescue Earth from Death and Hell.

While listening to that sacred strain,

My raptured spirit soars on high;

I seem to hear those songs again

Resounding through the open sky,

That kindled such divine delight,

In those who watched their flocks by night.

46 With them, I celebrate His birth—

Glory to God, in highest Heaven,

Good-will to men, and peace on Earth,

To us a Saviour-king is given;

Our God is come to claim His own,

And Satan’s power is overthrown!

A sinless God, for sinful men,

Descends to suffer and to bleed;

Hell must renounce its empire then;

The price is paid, the world is freed,

And Satan’s self must now confess,

That Christ has earned a Right to bless:

Now holy Peace may smile from heaven,

And heavenly Truth from earth shall spring:

The captive’s galling bonds are riven,

For our Redeemer is our king;

And He that gave his blood for men

Will lead us home to God again.

Acton.

« ~ « ~ «

46 Frances.

She will not sleep, for fear of dreams,

But, rising, quits her restless bed,

And walks where some beclouded beams

Of moonlight through the hall are shed.

47 Obedient to the goad of grief,

Her steps, now fast, now lingering slow,

In varying motion seek relief

From the Eumenides of woe.

Wringing her hands, at intervals—

But long as mute as phantom dim—

She glides along the dusky walls,

Under the black oak rafters, grim.

The close air of the grated tower

Stifles a heart that scarce can beat,

And, though so late and lone the hour,

Forth pass her wandering, faltering feet;

And on the pavement, spread before

The long front of the mansion grey,

Her steps imprint the night-frost hoar,

Which pale on grass and granite lay.

Not long she stayed where misty moon

And shimmering stars could on her look,

But through the garden arch-way, soon

Her strange and gloomy path she took.

Some firs, coeval with the tower,

Their straight black boughs stretched o’er her head,

Unseen, beneath this sable bower,

Rustled her dress and rapid tread.

48 There was an alcove in that shade,

Screening a rustic-seat and stand;

Weary she sat her down and laid

Her hot brow on her burning hand.

To solitude and to the night,

Some words she now, in murmurs, said;

And, trickling through her fingers white,

Some tears of misery she shed.

“God help me, in my grievous need,

God help me, in my inward pain;

Which cannot ask for pity’s meed,

Which has no license to complain;

Which must be borne, yet who can bear,

Hours long, days long, a constant weight—

The yoke of absolute despair,

A suffering wholly desolate?

Who can for ever crush the heart,

Restrain its throbbing, curb its life?

Dissemble truth with ceaseless art,

With outward calm, mask inward strife?”

She waited—as for some reply;

The still and cloudy night gave none;

Erelong, with deep-drawn, trembling sigh,

Her heavy plaint again begun.

49 “Unloved—I love; unwept—I weep;

Grief I restrain—hope I repress:

Vain is this anguish—fixed and deep;

Vainer, desires and dreams of bliss.

My love awakes no love again,

My tears collect, and fall unfelt;

My sorrow touches none with pain,

My humble hopes to nothing melt.

For me the universe is dumb,

Stone-deaf, and blank, and wholly blind;

Life I must bound, existence sum

In the strait limits of one mind;

That mind my own. Oh! narrow cell;

Dark—imageless—a living tomb!

There must I sleep, there wake and dwell

Content, with palsy, pain, and gloom.”

Again she paused; a moan of pain,

A stifled sob, alone was heard;

Long silence followed—then again,

Her voice the stagnant midnight stirred.

“Must it be so? Is this my fate?

Can I nor struggle, nor contend?

And am I doomed for years to wait,

Watching death’s lingering axe descend?

50 And when it falls, and when I die,

What follows? Vacant nothingness?

The blank of lost identity?

Erasure both of pain and bliss?

I’ve heard of heaven—I would believe;

For if this earth indeed be all,

Who longest lives may deepest grieve,

Most blest, whom sorrows soonest call.

Oh! leaving disappointment here,

Will man find hope on yonder coast?

Hope, which, on earth, shines never clear,

And oft in clouds is wholly lost.

Will he hope’s source of light behold,

Fruition’s spring, where doubts expire,

And drink, in waves of living gold,

Contentment, full, for long desire?

Will he find bliss, which here he dreamed?

Rest, which was weariness on earth?

Knowledge, which, if o’er life it beamed,

Served but to prove it void of worth?

Will he find love without lust’s leaven,

Love fearless, tearless, perfect, pure,

To all with equal bounty given,

In all, unfeigned, unfailing, sure?

51 Will he, from penal sufferings free,

Released from shroud and wormy clod,

All calm and glorious, rise and see

Creation’s Sire—Existence’ God?

Then, glancing back on Time’s brief woes,

Will he behold them, fading, fly;

Swept from Eternity’s repose,

Like sullying cloud, from pure blue sky?

If so—endure, my weary frame;

And when thy anguish strikes too deep,

And when all troubled burns life’s flame,

Think of the quiet, final sleep;

Think of the glorious waking-hour,

Which will not dawn on grief and tears,

But on a ransomed spirit’s power,

Certain, and free from mortal fears.

Seek now thy couch, and lie till morn,

Then from thy chamber, calm, descend,

With mind nor tossed, nor anguish-torn,

But tranquil, fixed, to wait the end.

And when thy opening eyes shall see

Mementos, on the chamber wall,

Of one who has forgotten thee,

Shed not the tear of acrid gall.

52 The tear which, welling from the heart,

Burns where its drop corrosive falls,

And makes each nerve, in torture, start,

At feelings it too well recalls:

When the sweet hope of being loved,

Threw Eden sunshine on life’s way:

When every sense and feeling proved

Expectancy of brightest day.

When the hand trembled to receive

A thrilling clasp, which seemed so near,

And the heart ventured to believe,

Another heart esteemed it dear.

When words, half love, all tenderness,

Were hourly heard, as hourly spoken,

When the long, sunny days of bliss,

Only by moonlight nights were broken.

Till drop by drop, the cup of joy

Filled full, with purple light, was glowing,

And Faith, which watched it, sparkling high,

Still never dreamt the overflowing.

It fell not with a sudden crashing,

It poured not out like open sluice;

No, sparkling still, and redly flashing,

Drained, drop by drop, the generous juice.

53 I saw it sink, and strove to taste it,

My eager lips approached the brim;

The movement only seemed to waste it,

It sank to dregs, all harsh and dim.

These I have drunk, and they for ever

Have poisoned life and love for me;

A draught from Sodom’s lake could never

More fiery, salt, and bitter, be.

Oh! Love was all a thin illusion;

Joy, but the desert’s flying stream;

And, glancing back on long delusion,

My memory grasps a hollow dream.

Yet, whence that wondrous change of feeling,

I never knew, and cannot learn,

Nor why my lover’s eye, congealing,

Grew cold, and clouded, proud, and stern.

Nor wherefore, friendship’s forms forgetting,

He careless left, and cool withdrew;

Nor spoke of grief, nor fond regretting,

Nor even one glance of comfort threw.

And neither word nor token sending,

Of kindness, since the parting day,

His course, for distant regions bending,

Went, self-contained and calm, away.

54 Oh, bitter, blighting, keen sensation,

Which will not weaken, cannot die,

Hasten thy work of desolation,

And let my tortured spirit fly!

Vain as the passing gale, my crying;

Though lightning-struck, I must live on;

I know, at heart, there is no dying

Of love, and ruined hope, alone.

Still strong, and young, and warm with vigour,

Though scathed, I long shall greenly grow,

And many a storm of wildest rigour

Shall yet break o’er my shivered bough.

Rebellious now to blank inertion,

My unused strength demands a task;

Travel, and toil, and full exertion,

Are the last, only boon I ask.

Whence, then, this vain and barren dreaming

Of death, and dubious life to come?

I see a nearer beacon gleaming

Over dejection’s sea of gloom.

The very wildness of my sorrow

Tells me I yet have innate force;

My track of life has been too narrow,

Effort shall trace a broader course.

55 The world is not in yonder tower,

Earth is not prisoned in that room,

’Mid whose dark pannels, hour by hour,

I’ve sat, the slave and prey of gloom.

One feeling—turned to utter anguish,

Is not my being’s only aim;

When, lorn and loveless, life will languish,

But courage can revive the flame.

He, when he left me, went a roving

To sunny climes, beyond the sea;

And I, the weight of woe removing,

Am free and fetterless as he.

New scenes, new language, skies less clouded,

May once more wake the wish to live;

Strange, foreign towns, astir, and crowded,

New pictures to the mind may give.

New forms and faces, passing ever,

May hide the one I still retain,

Defined, and fixed, and fading never,

Stamped deep on vision, heart, and brain.

And we might meet—time may have changed him;

Chance may reveal the mystery,

The secret influence which estranged him;

Love may restore him yet to me.

56 False thought—false hope—in scorn be banished!

I am not loved—nor loved have been;

Recall not, then, the dreams scarce vanished,

Traitors! mislead me not again!

To words like yours I bid defiance,

’Tis such my mental wreck have made;

Of God alone, and self-reliance,

I ask for solace—hope for aid.

Morn comes—and ere meridian glory

O’er these, my natal woods, shall smile,

Both lonely wood and mansion hoary

I’ll leave behind, full many a mile.

Currer.

« ~ « ~ «

56 Anticipation.

How beautiful the earth is still,

To thee—how full of happiness!

How little fraught with real ill,

Or unreal phantoms of distress!

How spring can bring thee glory, yet,

And summer win thee to forget

57 December’s sullen time!

Why dost thou hold the treasure fast,

Of youth’s delight, when youth is past,

And thou art near thy prime?

When those who were thy own compeers,

Equals in fortune and in years,

Have seen their morning melt in tears,

To clouded, smileless day;

Blest, had they died untried and young,

Before their hearts went wandering wrong,

Poor slaves, subdued by passions strong,

A weak and helpless prey!

“Because, I hoped while they enjoyed,

And, by fulfilment, hope destroyed;

As children hope, with trustful breast,

I waited bliss—and cherished rest.

A thoughtful spirit taught me, soon,

That we must long till life be done;

That every phase of earthly joy

Must always fade, and always cloy:

This I foresaw—and would not chase

The fleeting treacheries;

But, with firm foot and tranquil face,

Held backward from that tempting race,

Gazed o’er the sands the waves efface,

To the enduring seas—

58 There cast my anchor of desire

Deep in unknown eternity;

Nor ever let my spirit tire,

With looking for what is to be!

It is hope’s spell that glorifies,

Like youth, to my maturer eyes,

All Nature’s million mysteries,

The fearful and the fair—

Hope soothes me in the griefs I know;

She lulls my pain for others’ woe,

And makes me strong to undergo

What I am born to bear.

Glad comforter! will I not brave,

Unawed, the darkness of the grave?

Nay, smile to hear Death’s billows rave—

Sustained, my guide, by thee?

The more unjust seems present fate,

The more my spirit swells elate,

Strong, in thy strength, to anticipate

Rewarding destiny!”

Ellis.

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59 Stanzas.

Oh, weep not, love! each tear that springs

In those dear eyes of thine,

To me a keener suffering brings,

Than if they flowed from mine.

And do not droop! however drear

The fate awaiting thee;

For my sake combat pain and care,

And cherish life for me!

I do not fear thy love will fail;

Thy faith is true, I know;

But, oh, my love! thy strength is frail

For such a life of woe.

Were ’t not for this, I well could trace

(Though banished long from thee,)

Life’s rugged path, and boldly face

The storms that threaten me.

Fear not for me—I’ve steeled my mind

Sorrow and strife to greet;

Joy with my love I leave behind,

Care with my friends I meet.

60 A mother’s sad reproachful eye,

A father’s scowling brow—

But he may frown and she may sigh:

I will not break my vow!

I love my mother, I revere

My sire, but fear not me—

Believe that Death alone can tear

This faithful heart from thee.

Acton.

60

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Gilbert.

I. The Garden.

Above the city hung the moon,

Right o’er a plot of ground

Where flowers and orchard-trees were fenced

With lofty walls around:

’Twas Gilbert’s garden—there, to-night

Awhile he walked alone;

And, tired with sedentary toil,

Mused where the moonlight shone.

61 This garden, in a city-heart,

Lay still as houseless wild,

Though many-windowed mansion fronts

Were round it closely piled;

But thick their walls, and those within

Lived lives by noise unstirred;

Like wafting of an angel’s wing,

Time’s flight by them was heard.

Some soft piano-notes alone

Were sweet as faintly given,

Where ladies, doubtless, cheered the hearth

With song, that winter-even.

The city’s many-mingled sounds

Rose like the hum of ocean;

They rather lulled the heart than roused

Its pulse to faster motion.

Gilbert has paced the single walk

An hour, yet is not weary;

And, though it be a winter night,

He feels nor cold nor dreary.

The prime of life is in his veins,

And sends his blood fast flowing,

And Fancy’s fervour warms the thoughts

Now in his bosom glowing.

Those thoughts recur to early love,

Or what he love would name,

62 Though haply Gilbert’s secret deeds

Might other title claim.

Such theme not oft his mind absorbs,

He to the world clings fast,

And too much for the present lives,

To linger o’er the past.

But now the evening’s deep repose

Has glided to his soul;

That moonlight falls on Memory,

And shows her fading scroll.

One name appears in every line

The gentle rays shine o’er,

And still he smiles and still repeats

That one name—Elinor.

There is no sorrow in his smile,

No kindness in his tone;

The triumph of a selfish heart

Speaks coldly there alone;

He says: “She loved me more than life;

And truly it was sweet

To see so fair a woman kneel,

In bondage, at my feet.

There was a sort of quiet bliss

To be so deeply loved,

To gaze on trembling eagerness

And sit myself unmoved.

63 And when it pleased my pride to grant,

At last some rare caress,

To feel the fever of that hand

My fingers deigned to press.

’Twas sweet to see her strive to hide

What every glance revealed;

Endowed, the while, with despot-might

Her destiny to wield.

I knew myself no perfect man,

Nor, as she deemed, divine;

I knew that I was glorious—but

By her reflected shine;

Her youth, her native energy,

Her powers new-born and fresh,

’Twas these with Godhead sanctified

My sensual frame of flesh.

Yet, like a god did I descend

At last, to meet her love;

And, like a god, I then withdrew

To my own heaven above.

And never more could she invoke

My presence to her sphere;

No prayer, no plaint, no cry of hers

Could win my awful ear.

I knew her blinded constancy

Would ne’er my deeds betray,

64 And, calm in conscience, whole in heart,

I went my tranquil way.

Yet, sometimes, I still feel a wish,

The fond and flattering pain

Of passion’s anguish to create,

In her young breast again.

Bright was the lustre of her eyes,

When they caught fire from mine;

If I had power—this very hour,

Again I’d light their shine.

But where she is, or how she lives,

I have no clue to know;

I ’ve heard she long my absence pined,

And left her home in woe.

But busied, then, in gathering gold,

As I am busied now,

I could not turn from such pursuit,

To weep a broken vow.

Nor could I give to fatal risk

The fame I ever prized;

Even now, I fear, that precious fame

Is too much compromised.”

An inward trouble dims his eye,

Some riddle he would solve;

Some method to unloose a knot,

His anxious thoughts revolve.

65 He, pensive, leans against a tree,

A leafy evergreen,

The boughs, the moonlight, intercept,

And hide him like a screen;

He starts—the tree shakes with his tremor,

Yet nothing near him pass’d,

He hurries up the garden alley,

In strangely sudden haste.

With shaking hand, he lifts the latchet,

Steps o’er the threshold stone;

The heavy door slips from his fingers,

It shuts, and he is gone.

What touched, transfixed, appalled, his soul?

A nervous thought, no more;

’Twill sink like stone in placid pool,

And calm close smoothly o’er.

II. The Parlour.

Warm is the parlour atmosphere,

Serene the lamp’s soft light;

The vivid embers, red and clear,

Proclaim a frosty night.

Books, varied, on the table lie,

Three children o’er them bend,

And all, with curious, eager eye,

The turning leaf attend.

66 Picture and tale alternately

Their simple hearts delight,

And interest deep, and tempered glee,

Illume their aspects bright;

The parents, from their fireside place,

Behold that pleasant scene,

And joy is on the mother’s face,

Pride, in the father’s mien.

As Gilbert sees his blooming wife,

Beholds his children fair,

No thought has he of transient strife,

Or past, though piercing fear.

The voice of happy infancy

Lisps sweetly in his ear,

His wife, with pleased and peaceful eye,

Sits, kindly smiling, near.

The fire glows on her silken dress,

And shows its ample grace,

And warmly tints each hazel tress,

Curled soft around her face.

The beauty that in youth he wooed,

Is beauty still, unfaded,

The brow of ever placid mood

No churlish grief has shaded.

Prosperity, in Gilbert’s home,

Abides, the guest of years;

There Want or Discord never come,

And seldom Toil or Tears.

67