Be by this man beguiled.”
Her lowly judgment barred the plea,
So low, it could not reach her.
The man knows more of land and sea,
But she’s the truer teacher.
All the little girl could know about the matter was instinctive; she only saw the cunning face of the stranger, and felt sure that he was trying to deceive her father for a bad purpose—so she cried out, “Father, come away with me, or else that man will deceive you.” And she spoke truth, as her father immediately recognized.
There are several more classical studies of extraordinary beauty; but your interest in them would depend upon something more than interest in Greek and Roman history, and we can not study all the poems. So I prefer to go back to the meditative lyrics, and to give a few splendid examples of these more personal compositions. The following stanzas are from a poem whose Latin title signifies that Love conquers death. In this poem the author becomes the equal of Tennyson as a master of language.
The plunging rocks, whose ravenous throats
The sea in wrath and mockery fills,
The smoke that up the valley floats,