Then time on noiseless pinions flew, And life like one bright morning beam'd: Then love around us roses threw, Which ever fresh and fragrant seem'd. And are these moments gone for ever? And can they ne'er return? NO NEVER. For oh! that cruel traitor Time, Although he might unheeded move, Bore off our YOUTH'S luxuriant prime, And _also_ stole the _bloom of_ LOVE. Yet still the thought of raptures past Shall gild life's dull remaining store, As sinking suns a _splendour_ cast On scenes their _presence lights_ no more. But are those raptures gone for ever? And will they ne'er return? NO NEVER. The other song was only in unison with my feelings in the last lines of the last verse. Still, while my morbid fancy made me consider them as the expression of my own sentiments, I listened with such a tell-tale countenance, that my delicacy was wounded; for I saw that my emotion was visible to those who sat opposite to me. The song was as follows:-- FAIREST, SWEETEST, DEAREST, A SONG. "Say, by what name can I impart My sense, dear girl, of what thou art? Nay, though to frown thou darest, I'll say thou art of _girls the pride_: And though that modest lip may chide, Mary! I'll call thee 'FAIREST.' "Yet no--that word can but express The soft and winning loveliness In which the sight thou meetest. But not thy heart, thy temper too, So good, so sweet--Ha! that will do! Mary! I'll call thee 'SWEETEST.' "But 'fairest, sweetest,' vain would be To speak the love I feel for thee: Why smilest thou as thou hearest?" "Because," she cried, "one little name Is all I wish from thee to claim-- That _precious_ name is 'DEAREST.'" You will not, I conclude, imagine that I remember these songs only from having heard them that night, especially as they have very little merit; but the truth is, I was so pleased with them, because I fancied them applicable to my own feelings, that I requested them of the gentlemen who sung, and they were given to me. Lord Charles meanwhile listened to the singing with great impatience, as he had had enough of the company, which was very numerous, and by no means as select as it had been before. Indeed at one table were many persons in whom the observant eye of Lord Charles discovered associates whose evident vulgarity made him feel himself out of his place. However, he could not presume to break up the party; and as our indefatigable host and hostess still kept forcing the talents of their guests into their service, song succeeded to song, and duet to duet. From one of the latter, however, sung by a lady and gentleman, I at length derived a soothing feeling; and in one moment, an observation of Seymour's, with, as I fancied, a correspondent and intended expression of countenance, removed a load from my heart, and my clouded brow became consciously to myself unclouded again. The words of this healing duet were as follows:-- DUET.