THE CREATION OF THE ANTELOPE.
| The tone of coming Ariel's voice was sweet To wise Prospero; he had flown the girth Of this green sphere, and gifts from wave and earth Were bound with flowers upon his pinions fleet, As singing came he to his master's feet. Four aspen leaves plucked in the shivering north— The Palmiste bough and fruit—of eastern birth— And leaf of Abelè—a thorny sheet— Were there: And in a cask of quaint device Was pent the flash thrown from the gaudy plume Of Sopor's empress-bird, of thousand dyes— Then by this flash begot—from glamour's womb, Gleamed into being two most gorgeous eyes Like those twin stars that lit creation's gloom. And hoofs most delicate the wise man wrought Of Ariel's gift of restless aspen leaves: And skilfully as slim Tarantul' weaves The curtain to her silken couch, soon brought The sheet of Abelè to beauty: naught Torn from Earth's Edens by his wily thieves So soothed their master as this gem of leaves! With downy softness from his magic caught, It lay a snowy skin. Next of the bough And fruit pluck'd from the Palmiste's sinewy stem, A neck and graceful head formed he: Life's glow Then tinged each vein. "'Tis done—gleam thou bright gem," Pleased Prospero said, "on Hemalaya's brow, A living jewel to his diadem!" |
E. D.
For the Southern Literary Messenger.
LETTERS FROM NEW ENGLAND.—NO. 3.
BY A VIRGINIAN.
Pittsfield, Mass., July 26th, 1834.
One means by which Prussian tyranny sought to break down the spirit and health of Baron Trenck, during his long and rigorous imprisonment at Magdeburg, was to have him roused by a sentinel, every fifteen minutes of his sleeping hours. You can form a lively conception of the efficacy of the plan, if you have ever been compelled by exhausted nature to woo her "sweet restorer" in a stage-coach, over a very uneven road: but what think you of dozing it outside, on the driver's seat? Instead of two this morning, the waiter called me at one; when I had not slept a single wink—("sleepless myself, to give my readers sleep.") Sickened by the motion of the close and crowded coach, I presently mounted beside the driver; where drowsiness soon overcame me. So, tying one arm with my handkerchief to the iron on the stage roof, I took, for about two hours, such slumber as was permitted by the heavings of our vehicle, on a hilly road: such slumber, as one might enjoy while tossed in a blanket, or "upon the high and giddy mast," rocking his brains, "in cradle of the rude imperious surge." On fully awaking, half an hour before sunrise, I found we were ascending a mountain (part of the Green Mountain,) by a gentle slope of three or four degrees, continuing for six miles. The scenery, (wildly picturesque in itself,) bursting thus suddenly upon the view, was particularly striking. Indeed, no day of my tour has presented a greater number of boldly beautiful landscapes. That I never try to spread these beauties upon my page, you must ascribe to the fear that they would but 'evanish' in the endeavor, and by no means to any profane contempt—unpardonable, you know according to Dr. Beattie, for