The Abbot of Muchelnaye; Sonnets Etc

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1841 edition. Excerpt: ... fancies pure; A night when solitude in bed and board Might frame itself celestial company Out of its peopled thoughts. Are two, on whom toil and the quiet time Have wrought sweet slumber--and by breathings soft They testify their presence to my heart, And waken kindly thoughts. But here with me My earliest loved--Thou, who in laughing childhood and ripe youth Wast ever mine--with whose advancing thought I grew entwined--and who in time didst yield Thy maiden coyness, and in mystic band Didst link thyself to me--one heart, one life Binds us together--in the innermost soul Either is known to other; and we walk The daily path of unrecorded life Blest with a double portion of God's love. And thou, in thy warm nook beside our bed Peacefully wrapt in slumber infantine, Thou treasure newly found of springing joy, --Thou jewel in the coronet of love, --Thou little flower, a choice plant's earliest gem--Thou brightest morning-star, by Love divine Set on the forehead of the hopeful East, --Thou reckest not of Time--our human names Mould not thy varying moods--if marking aught, Measuring thy days by still-expected hours Of soft appliance to thy Mother's breast; And yet methinks, so hallowed is the time, That even thy cushioned cheek hath trace of it, Clothed in a deeper and peculiar calm. The blessings of a kindly Providence Light on ye both--the way of life, not dark With gathering storms as yet, invites us on; We must advance, in threefold union strong, And strong in Him who bound our lives in God. WRITTEN IN A COPY OF ' THE REVOLT OF ISLAM, ' GIVEN AS A WEDDING PRESENT TO HER WHO IS ADDRESSED IN THE FOLLOWING LINES, BUT ORIGINALLY GIVEN TO MYSELF BY THE LA-MENTED ARTHUR HENRY HALLAM. BELOVED, to whose wedded hand I trust This treasure of sweet song, it is...