Were she less pure, less harmless, less the child, Not on the savage had the soft one smiled. Ev'n as the young Venetian loved the Moor, Love gains the shrine when Pity opes the door; Love like the Poet, whom it teaches, where Round it the Homely dwells, invents the Fair; And takes a halo from the air it gilds To crown a Seraph for the Heaven it builds. And both were children in this world of ours, Maiden and savage! the same mountain flowers, Not trimm'd in gardens, not exchanged their hues, Fresh from the natural sun and hardy dews, For the faint fragrance and the sickly dyes Which, Art calls forth by walling out the skies: _So_ children both, each seem'd to have forgot How poor the maid's--how rich the lover's lot; Ne'er did the ignorant Indian pause in fear, Lest friends should pity, and lest foes should sneer. "What will the world say?"--question safe and sage; The parrot's world should be his gilded cage; But fly, frank wilding, with free wings unfurl'd, Where thy mate carols--there, behold thy world! And stranger still that no decorous pride Warn'd her, the beggar, from the rich man's side. Sneer, ye world-wise, and deem her ignorance art; She saw her wealth (and blush'd not) in her heart!-- Saw through the glare of gold his lonely breast; He had but gold, and hers was all the rest. Pleased in the bliss to her, alas! denied, } Calantha hail'd her brother's plighted bride: } "Glad thou the heart which I made sad," she sigh'd. } Since Arden's tale, but once the friends had met, Nor known to one the other's rapture yet; Some fancied clue, some hope awhile restored, Had from the Babel lured the brilliant lord. The wonted commune Morvale fail'd to miss,-- We want no confidant in happiness. Baffled, and sick of hope, wealth, life, and all, One night return'd the noble to his hall; He found some lines, stern, brief, in Morvale's hand,-- Brief with dark meaning,--stern with rude command,-- Bidding his instant presence. Arden weigh'd } Each word; some threat was in each word convey'd; } A chill shot through his heart--foreboding he obey'd. } III.