and who was the heroine of that most exquisite picture of feminine loveliness in all its aspects, "She was a Phantom of delight."[165]--No phantom, it is said, but a fair reality: A being, breathing thoughtful breath, A traveller betwixt life and death, yet fated not to die, while verse can live! Then we shall know whose tear has been preserved by Rogers with a power beyond "the Chymist's magic art;" who was the lovely bride who is destined to blush and tremble in his Epithalamium, for a thousand years to come; and to what fair obdurate is addressed his "Farewell." We may then learn who was that sweet Mary who adorned the cottage-home of Wilson; and who was the "Wild Louisa," of whom he has drawn such a captivating picture; first as the sprightly girl floating down the dance, With footsteps light as falling snow, and afterwards as the matron and the mother, hanging over the cradle of her infant, and blessing him in his sleep. Then we may _tell_ who was the "Bonnie Jean," sung by Allan Cunningham, whose destructive charms are so pleasantly, so naturally touched upon. Sair she slights the lads-- Three are like to die; Four in sorrow listed,-- And five flew to sea! This rural beauty, who caused such terrible devastation, and who, it is said, first made a poet of her lover, became afterwards his wife; and in her matronly character, she inspired that beautiful little effusion of conjugal tenderness, "The Poet's Bridal Song." When first published, it was almost universally copied, and committed to memory; and Allan Cunningham may not only boast that he has woven a wreath "to grace his Jean," While rivers flow and woods are green, but that he has given the sweet wife, seated among her children in sedate and matronly loveliness, an interest even beyond that which belongs to the young girl he has described with raven locks and cheeks of cream, driving rustic admirers to despair, or lingering with her lover at eve, --Amid the falling dew, When looks were fond, and words were few! Such is the charm of affection, and truth, and moral feeling, carried straight into the heart by poetry! What a new interest and charm will be given to many of Moore's beautiful songs, when we are allowed to trace the feeling that inspired them, whether derived from some immediate and present impression; or from remembered emotion, that sometimes swells in the breast, like the heaving of the waves, when the winds are still! Several of the most charming of his lyrics are said to be inspired by "the heart so warm, and eyes so bright," which first taught him the value of domestic happiness;--taught him that the true poet need not rove abroad for themes of song, but may kindle his genius at the flame which glows on his own hearth, and make the Muses his household goddesses.[166]