‘My dear Friend,—If you should happen to be disengaged to-morrow, and to have any evening engagement in this part of the world, you would perhaps oblige me with your company to dinner—or after it—but only on the last condition; and it would rejoice the heart of a very old and excellent friend. I expect only Blair and Dr. Holland from Albania. The new dedication to “Childe Harold” is very beautiful in his way. It is to a child I have often kissed on my knee—
‘Love’s image upon earth without his wing. |
‘Young Peri of the West, ‘tis well for me, My years already doubly number thine, ....... Happy I ne’er shall see thee in decline. |
‘“Thee hath it pleased. Thy will be done,” he
said, Then sought his cabin and the fervour fled; And round him lay the sleeping as the dead, When by his lamp to that mysterious guide. |
