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INTRODUCTORY.

THE SENSE OF TRAVEL.

ΤΟ

HAST thou not read the wild but all-true story
Of the brave Pilgrim and his Georgian bride,
Pietro and Maäni, who in glory

And cloudless joy went wandering side by side?

Now by the Turcoman's ferocious hordes

Guarded, and tended with religious care, Now proudly feasted at the imperial boards Of Isfahan and Shiras, peerless pair!

* Pietro della Valle, il Pellegrino, commenced his strange wanderings in 1614. The chivalry of his character, his singular marriage, and the novelty of the world he opens to Europe in all truth and simplicity, make these volumes most agreeable reading.

B

What was to them the peril and the toil,
The shifting troubles of that novel way?
They were together, and no power could soil
The
pure love-calm that at their spirits lay

Till envious Death forbade the further sight
Of that rare interchange of bliss and pain,
And nations lost a wonder and delight,

Which never might refresh their souls again.

:

But though thus late, why should'st not Thou and I, Before our lives' short seasons downward tend, Renew that long-extinguished memory,

My falcon-eyed, my falcon-hearted Friend?

It is a high vocation, to go out

Upon the dædal Earth, and watch the sun
Rise above unknown hills, and wide about
Strange plains extend our sight's dominion :-

Through scenes, which to the habitants of each
Are worlds distinct, as if they planets were,
And ever-varying moods of garb and speech,

To pass light-winged, and free as birds of air

To live whole years in some short span of days,―
To feel new wisdom falling, like a dew,
Upon our passive temples, and the maze
Of life unravel with a ready clue!

When close before us spreads some famous land,
How well we think! how faithfully we know!
Imagination lays her regal hand

On Memory's shoulder, and she dare not go :—

For then the Soul can best its ear apply,
Piercing our daily path's discordant sound,
To that low-paced, long-echoing, melody,

To which the Earth, in its pure prime, went round.

Such generous ends will surely energise

Thy flower-frail form, till it becomes so strong, That in dark ways and under sternest skies, Serene and fearless thou wilt move along;

And Nature's shapes and each historic place
Fresh earnest of their inner life will find,
Taking the mould of thy supernal grace,

And lucid with the light of thy clear mind.

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