XIV. It might be months, or years, or days, I kept no count-I took no note, I had no hope my eyes to raise, And clear them of their dreary mote; At last men came to set me free, I ask'd not why, and reck'd not where, It was at length the same to me, I learn'd to love despair. And thus when they appear'd at last, And watch'd them in their sullen trade, 370 380 Had power to kill-yet, strange to tell! 390 SONNET. ROUSSEAU-Voltaire our Gibbon-and de Staël 5 Leman! these names are worthy of thy shore, Thy shore of names like these, wert thou no more, Their memory thy remembrance would recall: To them thy banks were lovely as to all, But they have made them lovelier, for the lore Of human hearts the ruin of a wall Where dwelt the wise and wondrous; but by thee How much more, Lake of Beauty! do we feel, In sweetly gliding o'er thy crystal sea, The wild glow of that not ungentle zeal, Which of the heirs of immortality Is proud, and makes the breath of glory real! STANZAS TO I. THOUGH the day of my destiny's over, The faults which so many could find; Though thy soul with my grief was acquainted, It shrunk not to share it with me, And the love which my spirit hath painted It never hath found but in thee. II. Then when nature around me is smiling The last smile which answers to mine, I do not believe it beguiling Because it reminds me of thine; And when winds are at war with the ocean, As the breasts I believed in with me, If their billows excite an emotion It is that they bear me from thee. III. Though the rock of my last hope is shiver'd, There is many a pang to pursue me: They may crush, but they shall not contemnThey may torture, but shall not subdue me "Tis of thee that I think-not of them. IV. Though human, thou didst not deceive me, Though slander'd, thou never could'st shake,— Though trusted, thou didst not disclaim me, Though parted, it was not to fly, |