The central feeling of all happiness,
Not as a refuge from distress or pain,
A breathing-time, vacation, or a truce,
But for its absolute self; a life of peace,
Stability without regret or fear;

That hath been, is, and shall be evermore !—
Such the reward he sought; and wore out life,
There, where on few external things his heart
Was set, and those his own; or, if not his,
Subsisting under nature's stedfast law.

What other yearning was the master tie
Of the monastic brotherhood, upon rock
Aërial, or in green secluded vale,
One after one, collected from afar,

An undissolving fellowship?-What but this,
The universal instinct of repose,

The longing for confirmed tranquillity,
Inward and outward; humble, yet sublime :
The life where hope and memory are as one;
Where earth is quiet and her face unchanged.
Save by the simplest toil of human hands
Or seasons' difference; the immortal Soul
Consistent in self-rule; and heaven revealed
To meditation in that quietness !—

Such was their scheme: and though the wished for end

By multitudes was missed, perhaps attained

By none, they for the attempt, and pains employed, Do, in my present censure, stand redeemed

From the unqualified disdain, that once

Would have been cast upon them by my voice
Delivering her decisions from the seat

Of forward youth-that scruples not to solve
Doubts, and determine questions, by the rules
Of inexperienced judgment, ever prone

To overweening faith; and is inflamed,
By courage, to demand from real life
The test of act and suffering, to provoke
Hostility-how dreadful when it comes,
Whether affliction be the foe, or guilt!

A child of earth, I rested, in that stage Of my past course to which these thoughts advert, Upon earth's native energies; forgetting That mine was a condition which required Nor energy, nor fortitude—a calm Without vicissitude; which, if the like Had been presented to my view elsewhere, I might have even been tempted to despise. But no-for the serene was also bright; Enlivened happiness with joy o'erflowing,

With joy, and-oh! that memory should survive To speak the word—with rapture! Nature's boon, Life's genuine inspiration, happiness

Above what rules can teach, or fancy feign;

Abused, as all possessions are abused

That are not prized according to their worth.
And yet, what worth? what good is given to men,
More solid than the gilded clouds of heaven?

What joy more lasting than a vernal flower?-
None! 'tis the general plaint of human kind
In solitude: and mutually addressed

From each to all, for wisdom's sake :-This truth
The priest announces from his holy seat:

And, crowned with garlands in the summer grove,
The poet fits it to his pensive lyre.

Yet, ere that final resting-place be gained,
Sharp contradictions may arise, by doom
Of this same life, compelling us to grieve
That the prosperities of love and joy
Should be permitted, oft-times, to endure
So long, and be at once cast down for ever.
Oh! tremble, ye, to whom hath been assigned
A course of days composing happy months,
And they as happy years; the present still
So like the past, and both so firm a pledge
Of a congenial future, that the wheels
Of pleasure move without the aid of hope:
For Mutability is Nature's bane;

And slighted Hope will be avenged; and, when
Ye need her favours, ye shall find her not;
But in her stead-fear-doubt-and agony!"

This was the bitter language of the heart: But, while he spake, look, gesture, tone of voice, Though discomposed and vehement, were such As skill and graceful nature might suggest To a proficient of the tragic scene

Standing before the multitude, beset
With dark events. Desirous to divert
Or stem the current of the speaker's thoughts,
We signified a wish to leave that place
Of stillness and close privacy, a nook
That seemed for self-examination made;
Or, for confession, in the sinner's need,
Hidden from all men's view. To our attempt
He yielded not; but, pointing to a slope
Of mossy turf defended from the sun,
And on that couch inviting us to rest,
Full on that tender-hearted Man he turned
A serious eye, and his speech thus renewed.

"You never saw, your eyes did never look On the bright form of Her whom once I loved :— Her silver voice was heard upon the earth,

A sound unknown to you; else, honoured Friend!
Your heart had borne a pitiable share

Of what I suffered, when I wept that loss,
And suffer now, not seldom, from the thought
That I remember, and can weep no more.
Stripped as I am of all the golden fruit
Of self-esteem; and by the cutting blasts
Of self-reproach familiarly assailed;

Yet would I not be of such wintry bareness
But that some leaf of your regard should hang
Upon my naked branches :-lively thoughts
Give birth, full often, to unguarded words;

I grieve that, in your presence, from my tongue
Too much of frailty hath already dropped;

But that too much demands still more.

You know,

Revered Compatriot-and to you, kind Sir,
(Not to be deemed a stranger, as you come
Following the guidance of these welcome feet
To our secluded vale) it may be told -

That my

demerits did not sue in vain

To One on whose mild radiance many gazed
With hope, and all with pleasure. This fair Bride-
In the devotedness of youthful love,
Preferring me to parents, and the choir

Of gay companions, to the natal roof,
And all known places and familiar sights
(Resigned with sadness gently weighing down.
Her trembling expectations, but no more
Than did to her due honour, and to me
Yielded, that day, a confidence sublime
In what I had to build upon)-this Bride,
Young, modest, meek, and beautiful, I led
To a low cottage in a sunny bay,
Where the salt sea innocuously breaks,
And the sea breeze as innocently breathes,
On Devon's leafy shores ;- -a sheltered hold,
In a soft clime encouraging the soil
To a luxuriant bounty!-As our steps

Approach the embowered abode-our chosen seat-
See, rooted in the earth, her kindly bed,

The unendangered myrtle, decked with flowers,