"A learned monarch, faith! was he, "And sometimes these so froward are, 66 They made him wish himself at war; "But soon his wrath being o'er, he took "Another mistress, or new book: "And then he gave prodigious fêtes— "All Warsaw gather'd round his gates “To gaze upon his splendid court, “And dames, and chiefs, of princely port: "He was the Polish Solomon, "So sung his poets, all but one, "Who, being unpension'd, made a satire, "And boasted that he could not flatter. "It was a court of jousts and mimes, "Where every courtier tried at rhymes; “Even I for once produced some verses, "And sign'd my odes Despairing Thirsis. "There was a certain Palatine, "A count of far and high descent, "Rich as a salt or silver mine; * "And he was proud, ye may divine, "As if from heaven he had been sent: "He had such wealth in blood and ore "As few could match beneath the throne; "And he would gaze upon his store, “And o'er his pedigree would pore, "Until by some confusion led, "Which almost look'd like want of head, "He thought their merits were his own. "His wife was not of his opinion— "His junior she by thirty years— "Grew daily tired of his dominion; 66 And, after wishes, hopes, and fears, "To virtue a few farewell tears, "A restless dream or two, some glances "At Warsaw's youth, some songs, and dances, "Awaited but the usual chances, "Those happy accidents which render "The coldest dames so very tender, * This comparison of a "salt mine" may perhaps be permitted to a Pole, as the wealth of the country consists greatly in the salt mines. "To deck her Count with titles given, “Of these who have deserved them most. "I was a goodly stripling then; "For I had strength, youth, gaiety, "A port, not like to this ye see, "But smooth, as all is rugged now; 66 66 "For time, and care, and war, have plough'd My very soul from out my brow; "And thus I should be disavow'd By all my kind and kin, could they "Compare my day and yesterday; "This change was wrought, too, long ere age "Had ta'en my features for his page: "With years, ye know, have not declined "My strength, my courage, or my mind, "Or at this hour I should not be 66 Telling old tales beneath a tree, "With starless skies my canopy. "But let me on: Theresa's form- "The shape of her I loved so well: "She had the Asiatic eye, "Such as our Turkish neighbourhood "Hath mingled with our Polish blood, “Dark as above us is the sky; "But through it stole a tender light, "Like the first moonrise at midnight; 66 Large, dark, and swimming in the stream, "Which seem'd to melt to its own beam; "All love, half languor, and half fire, "As though it were a joy to die. "Transparent with the sun therein, "When waves no murmur dare to make, "And heaven beholds her face within. “A cheek and lip-but why proceed? "I loved her then-I love her still; "And such as I am, love indeed “In fierce extremes-in good and ill. "But still we love even in our rage, "And haunted to our very age "With the vain shadow of the past, "As is Mazeppa to the last. VI. "We met-we gazed-I saw, and sigh'd, "She did not speak, and yet replied; "There are ten thousand tones and signs "We hear and see, but none defines 66 Involuntary sparks of thought, "Which strike from out the heart o'erwrought, "And form a strange intelligence, "Alike mysterious and intense, “Which link the burning chain that binds, "Without their will, young hearts and minds; 66 Conveying, as the electric wire, "We know not how, the absorbing fire.— "I saw, and sigh'd-in silence wept, "And still reluctant distance kept, |