"
The passage grows more and more intelligible. Hitherto he has been
simply a dreamy seeker; but now, at last, he thinks that Fate has
answered his questioning exclamation, "Where?"
"There, one whose voice was venomed melody
Sat by a well, under the nightshade bowers;
The breath of her false mouth was like faint flowers;
Her touch was as electric poison; flame
Out of her looks into my vitals came;
And from her living cheeks and bosom flew
A killing air which pierced like honey-dew
Into the core of my green heart, and lay
Upon its leaves,--until, as hair grown gray
O'er a young brow, they hid its unblown prime
With ruins of unseasonable time."
This is a plain and only too intelligible reference to the college
experiences to which I have alluded. The youth for the moment thought
that he had encountered her whom he was seeking, but, instead of the
Florimel, he found her venal, hideous, and fatal _simulacrum_; and
he indicates even the material consequences to himself in his injured
aspect and hair touched with gray. He continues his search.
"In many mortal forms I rashly sought
The shadow of that idol of my thought:
And some were fair,--but beauty dies away;
Others were wise,--but honeyed words betray;
And one was true,--oh! why not true to me?
Then, as a hunted deer that could not flee,
I turned upon my thoughts and stood at bay.
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