And now, broad, blue, bright, before them, spread that halcyon sea, fair as at this moment, seventeen centuries from that date, I behold it rippling on the same divinest shores. Clime that yet enervates with a soft and Circean spell--that moulds us insensibly, mysteriously, into harmony with thyself, banishing the thought of austerer labor, the voices of wild ambition, the contests and the roar of life; filling us with gentle and subduing dreams, making necessary to our nature that which is its least earthly portion, so that the very air inspires us with the yearning and thirst of love. Whoever visits thee seems to leave earth and its harsh cares behind--to enter by the Ivory gate into the Land of Dreams. The young and laughing Hours of the PRESENT--the Hours, those children of Saturn, which he hungers ever to devour, seem snatched from his grasp. The past--the future--are forgotten; we enjoy but the breathing time. Flower of the world's garden--Fountain of Delight--Italy of Italy--beautiful, benign Campania!--vain were, indeed, the Titans, if on this spot they yet struggled for another heaven! Here, if God meant this working-day life for a perpetual holiday, who would not sigh to dwell for ever--asking nothing, hoping nothing, fearing nothing, while thy skies shine over him--while thy seas sparkle at his feet--while thine air brought him sweet messages from the violet and the orange--and while the heart, resigned to--beating with--but one emotion, could find the lips and the eyes, which flatter it (vanity of vanities!) that love can defy custom, and be eternal? It was then in this clime--on those seas, that the Athenian gazed upon a face that might have suited the nymph, the spirit of the place: feeding his eyes on the changeful roses of that softest cheek, happy beyond the happiness of common life, loving, and knowing himself beloved. In the tale of human passion, in past ages, there is something of interest even in the remoteness of the time. We love to feel within us the bond which unites the most distant era--men, nations, customs perish; THE AFFECTIONS ARE IMMORTAL!--they are the sympathies which unite the ceaseless generations. The past lives again, when we look upon its emotions--it lives in our own! That which was, ever is! The magician's gift, that revives the dead--that animates the dust of forgotten graves, is not in the author's skill--it is in the heart of the reader! Still vainly seeking the eyes of Ione, as, half downcast, half averted, they shunned his own, the Athenian, in a low and soft voice, thus expressed the feelings inspired by happier thoughts than those which had colored the song of Nydia. THE SONG OF GLAUCUS