Maria Gowen Brooks

“ Where thro' the wakeful night,
By a dim taper's light,
Lies a pale youth, upon his pallet low,
Whose wan and woe-worn charms rekindle at thy touch.
Friendless—oppressed by fate—the restless fires
Of his thralled soul prey on his beauteous frame—
Till, strengthened by thine aid,
He shapes some kindred maid,
Pours forth in song the life consuming flame,
And for awhile forgets his sufferings and desires. ”

“ The Persian kings about the time of Artaxerxes, sat, when they gave audience under a vine, the leaves of which were formed of gold and the grapes of emeralds.
LVI. For Zophiel wore a mortal form; and blent
In mortal form, when perfect, nature shows
Her all that's fair, enhanc'd; fire, firmament,
Ocean, earth flowers and gems, all there disclose
Their charms epitomized: the heavenly power
To lavish beauty, in this last work crown'd—
And Egla form'd of fibres such as dower
Those who most feel, forgot all else around. ”

“ They waked in agony to wait the change.
"Darting thro' all her veins the subtle fire
The world's fair mistress first inhaled thy breath,
To lot of higher beings learned to aspire,—
Dared to attempt—and doomed the world to death.
"Thy thousand wild desires, that still torment
The fiercely struggling soul, where peace once dwelt,
But perished;—feverish hope—drear discontent,
Impoisoning all possest—Oh! I have felt
"As spirits feel—yet not for man we mourn
Scarce o'er the silly bird in state were he,
That builds his nest, loves, sings the morn's return,
And sleeps at evening ”

“ Genius, whatever its bent, supposes a refined and delicate moral sense and though sometimes perverted by sophistry or circumstance, and sometimes failing through weakness; can always, at least, comprehend and feel, the grandeur of honour and the beauty of virtue.
As to the faults of those to whom the world allows the possession of genius, there are, perhaps, good grounds for the belief that they have actually fewer than those employed about ordinary affairs ”

“ The beauty, though she may view herself, in her mirror, from the ringlets of her hair to the sole of her slipper, and appear most lovely to her own gaze, can never be certain of her power to please until the suffrage of society confirm the opinion formed in seclusion ”

“ Of soft proportion she, and sunny hair
He cast in manliest mould with ringlets murk as night.
XLII. All art could give with Nature's charms was blent,
His gorgeous country shone in his attire,
And as he moved with tread magnificent
She could but look and looking must admire. ”

“ One of the most striking absurdities in the lately- dispelled superstition of witchcraft, is the extreme hidiousness and misery usually ascribed to such as made use of the agency of evil spirits. I have therefore made it the result of an unforeseen necessity: no female can be supposed to purchase, voluntarily, the power of doing mischief to others at the price of beauty and every thing like happiness on her own part. ”

“ Earth still demands her due;
Gay health to guard e'en genius' palace stands—
And when she takes her flight—e'en genius, must despair.
Nor those alone doomed to incarnate birth
Painting, death-baffler, is it thine to save! ”

“ It gained an entrance thro' the leafy bower;
That scarcely shrank the tender lilly bell
Tranquil and lone in such a light to be,
How sweet to sense and soul!—the form recline
Forgets it ere felt pain; and reverie,
Sweet mother of the muses, heart and soul are thine. [FN#9]
[FN#9] Every one talks and reads of groves, but it is impossible for those who never felt it, to conceive the effect of such a situation in a warm climate. ”

“ Woos the full rose o'erpowering fragrance stole. (6)
Or when the lillies, sleepier perfume, move,
Disturbed by too young sister-fawns, that play
Among their graceful stalks at morn, and love
From their white cells to lip the dews away. ”

“ The quantity and beauty of the hair of Absalom is commemorated in holy writ. The modern oriental ladies also set the greatest value on their hair which they braid and perfume. Thus says the poet Hafiz, whome Sir William Jones styles the Anacreon of Persia,
"Those locks, each curl of which is worth a hundred musk-bags of China, would be sweet indeed, if their scent proceeded from sweetness of temper."
and again,
"When the breeze shall waft the fragrance of thy locks over the tomb of Hafiz, a thousand flowers shall spring from the earth that hides his corse." ”

“ After sitting down upon the trunk of a fallen cedar or palm-tree, and breathing for a moment, the freshness of the air and the odour of the passion flower, which is one of the most abundant, and certainly the most beautiful of the climate ”

“ In the place where I now write amid several hundred Africans of different ages, and nations, the most debased of any on the face of the earth, I have been enabled to observe, even in this, last link of the chain of humanity, the strong natural love for music and poetry. ”

“ Woos the full rose o'erpowering fragrance stole.
This allusion must be familiar to every general reader of poetry.
"The nightingale if he sees the rose becomes intoxicated; he lets
go from his hand the reins prudence."
Fable of the Gardener and Nightingale.
Lady Montague also translates a song, if my memory does not deceive me, thus,
"The nightingale now hovers amid the flowers, her passion is to
seek roses."
And from the poet Hafiz,
"When the roses wither and the bower loses its sweetness, you have no longer the tale of the nightingale." ”

“ Whose kindling fires betray that he is chosen thine. [FN#1]
[FN#1] Genius, perhaps, has often, nay generally, been awakened and the whole future bent of the mind thus strongly operated upon, determined, by some circumstance trivial as this.
Or on some beetling cliff—where the mad waves
Rush echoing thro' the high-arched caves below,
I view some love-reft fair
Whose sighing warms the air,
Gaze anxious on the ocean as it raves
And call on thee-alone, of power to sooth her woe. ”

“ The women, I believe, among all nations of antiquity were accustomed to express violent grief by tearing their hair. This must have been a great and affecting sacrifice to the object bemoaned, as they considered it a part of themselves and absolutely essential to their beauty. Fine hair has been a subject of commendation among all people, and particularly the ancients. ”

“ Yet, as it is, I am induced to place it before the public, with that anxiety which naturally attends the doubtful accomplishment of any favourite object, on the principle that no artist can make the same improvement, or labour with so much pleasure to himself, in private, as when comparing his efforts with those of others, and listening to the opinions of critics and the remarks of connoisseurs. ”

“ Literary employments are necessary to the happiness and almost to the vitality of those who pursue them with much ardour; and though the votaries of the muses are, too often, debased by faults, yet, abstractedly considered, a taste for any art, if well directed, must seem a preservative not only against melancholy, but even against misery and vice. ”

“ The stanza in which his story is told though less complicate and beautiful than the Spencerian, is equally ancient; and favorable to a pensive melody, is also susceptible of much variety.
The marginal notes will be useless to such as have read much.
San Patricio, Island of Cuba, March 30, 1825.
INVOCATION. Thou with the dark blue eye upturned to heaven,
And cheek now pale, now warm with radiant glow,
Daughter of God,—most dear,—
Come with thy quivering tear,
And tresses wild, and robes of loosened flow,—
To thy lone votaress let one look be given! ”

“ Weary he fainted thro' the toilsome hours,
And then his mystic nature he sustained
On steam of sacrifices, breath of flowers.
Eusebe dans sa "Preparation Evangelique" raporte quantite de passages de Porphyre, ou ce philosophe Payen assure que les mauvais demons sont les auteurs des enchantemens, des philtres, et des malefices; que le mensonge est essentiel a leur nature; qu'ils ne font que tromper nos yeux par des spectres et par des fautomes; qu'ils excitent en nous la plupart de nos passions; qu'ils ont l'ambition de vouloir passer pour des dieux ”

“ Who would not brave a fiend to share an angel's smile?
[FN#7] The god who conducted the Hebrews sent a malignant spirit to speak from the mouth of the prophets, in order to deceive king Achab.
[FN#8] It is useless to note this stanza, as two well-known poems have lately been founded on the same passage of the Pentateuch to which it alludes.
II. 'Twas then there lived a captive Hebrew pair;
In woe th' embraces of their youth had past,
And blest their paler years one daughter—fair
She flourished, like a lonely rose, the last
And loveliest of her line. ”

“ More bright than worlds can give;
O'er his pale lips thy soul infusive shed
That left his dust adored where kings decay untraced.
[FN#3] "On the banks of the Meles was shown the spot where Critheis, the mother of Homer, brought him into the world, and the cavern to which he retired to compose his immortal verses. A monument erected to his memory and inscribed with his name stood in the middle of the city—it was adorned with spacious porticos under which the citizens assembled." ”

“ A phantom's bride—wasting love, life and charms.
XXIII. "'Tis as a vine of Galilee should say,
Culturer, I reck not thy support, I sigh
For a young palm tree, of Euphrates; nay—
Or let me him entwine or in my blossom die.
"Thy heart is set on joys it may not prove,
And, panting ingrate, scorns the blessings given?—
Hoping from dust formed man, a seraph's love
And days on earth like to the days of heaven. ”

“ To praise his majesty: he stands—a tower.'
"The same, a false idolater no more,
Now bows him to the God, for whose dread ire
Fall'n on us loved but sinning, we deplore
This long but just captivity. Thy sire
"Receives him well and harkens his request
For know, he comes to ask thee-for a bride
And to be one among a people, blest
Tho' deep in suffering. Nor to him denied
"Art thou, sad daughter—weep—if't be thy will—
E'vn on the breast that nourished thee and ne'er
Distrest thee or compelled; this bosom still
Ev'n should'st though blight its dearest hopes, will share
"Nay, bear thy pains ”

“ Zophiel may or may not be called entirely a creature of imagination, as comports with the faith of the reader; he is not, however, endowed with a single miraculous attribute; for which the general belief of ages, even among christians, may not be produced as authority. ”

“ In this island the woods which are naturally so interwoven with vines as to be impervious to a human being, are in some places, cleared and converted into nurseries for the young coffee-trees which remain sheltered from the sun and wind till sufficiently grown to transplant. ”

“ And Gelaleddin Ruzbehar,
"While the nightingale sings thy praises with a loud voice, I am all ear like the stalk of the rosetree."
Pliny, however, in his delightful description of this bird, says nothing, I believe, about the rose.
(7) Les Perses semblent etre les premiers hommes connus de nous qui parlerent des anges comme d'huissiers celestes, et de porteurs d'ordres. ”

“ Has reached it thro' thy grief-dispelling power.
Fain thro' my native solitudes I'd roam
Bathe my rude harp in my bright native streams
Twine it with flowers that bloom
But for the deserts gloom,
Or, for the long and jetty hair that gleams
O'er the dark-bosomed maid that makes the wild her home. [FN#5]
[FN#5] This invocation when composed was intended to precede a series of poems entitled Occidental Eclogues; which work the writer has never found opportunity to finish. ”

“ Any little incident which occurs on the estate where they toil, and which the greater part of them are never suffered to leave, is immediately made the subject of a rude song which they, in their broken Spanish, sing to their companions ”

“ Or haply, rather bath some pagan youth"—
She with quick burst—'whate'er has happ'd I'll say!
Doubt thou my wisdom, but regard my truth!
XIII. "Long time ago, while yet a twelve years' child
These shrubs and vines, new planted, near this spot,
I sat me tired with pleasant toil, and whiled
Away the time with many a wishful thought
"Of desolate Judea. Every scene
Which thou so oft, while sitting on thy knee,
Wouldst sing of, weeping, thro' my mind has been
Successive; when from yon old mossy tree
"I heard a pitious moan. ”

“ Spoke from her quivering lips, or penned her mystic lines. [FN#13]
[FN#13] This passage merely accords with the belief that the responses of the ancient oracles were spoken by fiends, or evil spirits. We need only look into the "New Testament for a confirmation of the power which such beings were supposed to possess of speaking from the lips of mortals."
XXXVI. And now he wanders on from glade to glade
To where more precious shrubs diffuse their balms,
And gliding thro' the thick inwoven shade
Where the young Hebrew lay in all her charms,
He caught a glimpse. ”

“ To work thy robes, or twine amidst thy hair."
[FN#15] The ancient Hebrews had no idea of a future state.
[FN#16] I have not been able to discover whether the use of silk was known at so early a period. It is said to have been sold in Rome for its weight in gold, and was considered so luxurious an article that it was considered infamous for a man to appear drest in it. ”