That moment, did the mingled eyes

Of Heaven and earth my madness view,
I should have seen, through earth and skies,
But you alone, but only you!

Did not a frown from you ́reprove,
Myriads of eyes to me were none;
I should have-oh, my only love!
My life! what should I not have done?

A DREAM OF ANTIQUITY.

I JUST had turn'd the classic page,
And traced that happy period over,
When love could warm the proudest sage,
And wisdom grace the tenderest lover!
Before I laid me down to sleep,

Upon the bank awhile I stood,
And saw the vestal planet weep
Her tears of light on Ariel's flood.

My heart was full of Fancy's dream,
And, as I watch'd the playful stream,

Entangling in its net of smiles

So fair a group of elfin isles,

I felt as if the scenery there

Were lighted by a Grecian skyAs if I breathed the blissful air

That yet was warm with Sappho's sigh !

And now the downy hand of rest
Her signet on my eyes imprest,
And still the bright and balmy spell,
Like star-dew, o'er my fancy fell!
I thought that, all enrapt, I stray'd
Through that serene luxurious shade,*
Where Epicurus taught the Loves

To polish Virtue's native brightness,
Just as the beak of playful doves

Can give to pearls a smoother whiteness! †

* GASSENDI thinks that the gardens which Pausanias mentions, in his first Book, were those of Epicurus; and STUART says, in his Antiquities of Athens, "Near this convent (the convent of Hagios Asomatos) is the place called at present Kepoi, or the Gardens: and Ampelos Kepos, or the Vineyard Garden; these were probably the gardens which Pausanias visited." Chap. ii. vol. 1.

+ This method of polishing pearls, by leaving them awhile to be played with by doves, is mentioned by the fanciful CARDANUS, de Rerum Varietat. lib. vii. cap. 34.

'Twas one of those delicious nights

So common in the climes of Greece, When day withdraws but half its lights,

And all is moonshine, balm, and peace! And thou wert there, my own beloved! And dearly by thy side I roved Through many a temple's reverend gloom, And many a bower's seductive bloom, Where beauty blush'd and wisdom taught, Where lovers sigh'd and sages thought, Where hearts might feel or heads discern, And all was form'd to soothe or move,

To make the dullest love to learn,

To make the coldest learn to love!

And now the fairy pathway seem'd

To lead us through enchanted ground,
Where all that bard has ever dream'd
Of love or luxury bloom'd around!
Oh! 'twas a bright, bewildering scene—
Along the alley's deepening green,

Soft lamps, that hung like burning flowers,

And scented and illumed the bowers,

Seem'd, as to him, who darkling roves
Amid the lone Hercynian groves,
Appear the countless birds of light,

That sparkle in the leaves at night,

And from their wings diffuse a ray
Along the traveller's weary way! *
'Twas light of that mysterious kind,
Through which the soul is doom'd to roam
When it has left this world behind,
And gone to seek its heavenly home!
And, NEA, thou didst look and move,

Like any blooming soul of bliss,

That wanders to its home above

Through mild and shadowy light like this!

But now, methought, we stole along
Through halls of more voluptuous glory

Than ever lived in Teian song,

Or wanton'd in Milesian story! †

* In Hercynio Germaniæ saltu inusitata genera alitum accepimus, quarum plumæ, ignium modo, colluceant noctibus. PLIN. lib. x. cap. 47.

tThe Milesiacs, or Milesian fables, had their origin in Miletus, a luxurious town of Ionia. Aristides was the most celebrated author of these licentious fictions. See PLUTARCH (in Crasso), who calls them axoλasa Bibdia.

And nymphs were there, whose very eyes

Seem'd almost to exhale in sighs;
Whose every little ringlet thrill'd,

As if with soul and passion fill'd!
Some flew, with amber cups, around,

*

Shedding the flowery wines of Crete, And, as they pass'd with youthful bound, The onyx shone beneath their feet!† While others, waving arms of snow Entwined by snakes of burnish'd gold, § And showing limbs, as loth to show, Through many a thin Tarentian fold, **

* "Some of the Cretan wines, which Athenæus calls ovos avDoopias, from their fragrancy resembling that of the finest flowers."-BARRY on Wines, chap. vij.

+ It appears that, in very splendid mansions, the floor or pavement was frequently of onyx. Thus MARTIAL: "Calcatusque tuo sub pede lucet onyx."-Epig. 50. lib. xii.

§ Bracelets of this shape were a favourite ornament among the women of antiquity. Οι επικαρπιοι οφεις και αἱ χρυ σαι πεδαι Θαιδός και Αρισαγόρας και Λαίδος Φαρμακα. PHILOSTRAT. epist. xl. LUCIAN too tells of the Caxto08 deaxovTES. See his Amores, where he describes the dressing-room of a Grecian lady, and we find the "silver vase," the rouge, the tooth-powder, and all the "mystic order" of a modern toilet.

**

Ταραντινίδιον, διαφανες ενδυμα, ωνομασμένον απο της Ταραντινων χρήσεως και τρυφης.-Pollux.