"In privacy we dwelt, a wedded pair, Companions daily, often all day long; 585 Not placed by fortune within easy reach Of various intercourse, nor wishing aught Beyond the allowance of our own fire-side, The twain within our happy cottage born, Inmates, and heirs of our united love; 590 Graced mutually by difference of sex, And with[258] no wider interval of time Between their several births than served for one To establish something of a leader's sway; Yet left them joined by sympathy in age; 595 Equals in pleasure, fellows in pursuit. On these two pillars rested as in air Our solitude. "It soothes me to perceive, Your courtesy withholds not from my words Attentive audience. But, oh! gentle Friends, 600 As times of quiet and unbroken peace, Though, for a nation, times of blessedness, Give back faint echoes from the historian's page; So, in the imperfect sounds of this discourse, Depressed I hear, how faithless is the voice 605 Which those most blissful days reverberate. What special record can, or need, be given To rules and habits, whereby much was done, But all within the sphere of little things; Of humble, though, to us, important cares, 610 And precious interests? Smoothly did our life Advance, swerving not[259] from the path prescribed; Her annual, her diurnal, round alike Maintained with faithful care. And you divine The worst effects that[260] our condition saw 615 If you imagine changes slowly wrought, And in their progress[261] unperceivable;[262] Not wished for; sometimes noticed with a sigh, (Whate'er of good or lovely they might bring) Sighs of regret, for the familiar good 620 And loveliness endeared which they removed.