'Tell me, Orlando,' then young Edwin cried, 'O tell me why this lily droops beneath So stern a fate? ah, would to heav'n my hand, 'My fost'ring hand, could prop its falling bloom! 'I would sustain it with a lover's care, 'And grace with all his favor.' orlando. Oh my friend There dwelt not on our plains a lovlier maid, Or one of sweeter nature, modesty, Calm innocence, and mild simplicity, Spread their chaste colours o'er her tender form; No care disturb'd the dimple on her cheek, In the dust!—ken'st thou, Edwin yonder halls Noble by birth, but of a soul as mean As yon vile worm that creeps in slime along: By subtile fraud and flatt'ry's soothing charms He caught poor Mary's unsuspecting heart, And villian as he was, and under plea Of holy rites betray'd the heart he won, Left her the soul-tormenting pang to feel Of disappointed love, left her to prove Maternal care imbitter'd by remorse, To curse those charms that lur'd the spoiler's eye And broke a parent's heart:—since that sad hour She roams the fields, her infant in her arms, The gentle Mourner sings; it is her voice edwin. Blest be the soul that touch'd so sweetly wild The tender note of woe! Ah, Mourner dear! Long as thou breath'st this vital air, so long The ray of hope shall tint thy passing day, And when at length the wish'd for hour shall come That giv'st thy sorrows to the mould'ring grave, orlando. Mark yon grass-grown cloyster, Her lone, yet fav'rite walk! here oft at noon, At eve and dewy morn, with tearful eye She comes, to meditate past scenes of dark And pensive hue, and oft her fancy deems The dear deceiver dead, with all the sad And horrid circumstance of tragic woe. edwin. Poor Mary! fare thee well! oft shall Edwin stray From yonder neighb'ring vale, oft gently try To dissipate thy cheerless gloom, and check Thy falling tear—till then, meek nature's child! Till then, thou pilgrim mourner! fare thee well. NUMBER XVII. Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu, Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris; Quam superhaud ullæ poterant impune volantes Tendere iter pennis: talis sese halitus atris Faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat. Virgil. Objects of terror may with propriety be divided into those which owe their origin to the agency of super-human beings, and form a part of every system of mythology, and into those which depend upon natural causes and events for their production. In the essay on gothic superstition the former species has been noticed, and a tale presented to the reader whose chief circumstances are brought about through the influence of preternatural power; on the latter we shall now deliver a few observations, and terminate them with a fragment in which terror is attempted to be excited by the interference of simple material causation. Terror thus produced requires no small degree of skill and arrangement to prevent its operating more pain than pleasure. Unaccompanied by those mysterious incidents which indicate the ministration of beings mightier far than we, and which induce that thrilling sensation of mingled astonishment, apprehension and delight so irresistibly captivating to the generality of mankind, it will be apt to create rather horror and disgust than the grateful emotion intended. To obviate this result, it is necessary either to interpose picturesque description, or sublime and pathetic sentiment, or so to stimulate curiosity by the artful tex ture of the fable, or by the uncertain and suspended fate of an interesting personage, that the mind shall receive such a degree of artificial pleasure as may mitigate and subdue what, if naked of decoration and skilful accompaniment, would shock and appal every feeling heart. A poem, a novel, or a picture may however, notwithstanding its accurate imitation of nature, |