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ALCIPHRON:

A FRAGMENT.

LETTER I.

FROM ALCIPHRON AT ALEXANDRIA TO CLEON AT ATHENS.

WELL may you wonder at my flight

From those fair Gardens in whose
bowers

Lingers whate'er of wise and bright,
Of Beauty's smile or Wisdom's light,
Is left to grace this world of ours.
Well may my comrades as they roam
On such sweet eves as this inquire
Why I have left that happy home

Where all is found that all desire, And Time hath wings that never tire; Where bliss in all the countless shapes

That Fancy's self to bliss hath given Comes clustering round like road-side

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- what I fear at- - why I'm

And now to tell thee
Thou 'lt gravely smile
here.
Tho' thro' my life's short, sunny dream,
I've floated without pain or care
Like a light leaf down pleasure's stream,
Caught in each sparkling eddy there;
Tho' never Mirth awaked a strain
That my heart echoed not again;
Yet have I felt, when even most gay,
Sad thoughts I knew not whence or
why-

Suddenly o'er my spirit fly,

Like clouds that ere we 've time to say "How bright the sky is!" shade the sky.

Sometimes so vague, so undefined Were these strange darkenings of my mind

While naught but joy around me beamed

So causelessly they 've come and flown, That not of life or earth they seemed,

But shadows from some world unknown.

More oft, however, 't was the thought How soon that scene with all its

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Thou know'st that night the very last
That 'mong my Garden friends I past-
When the School held its feast of mirth
To celebrate our founder's birth.
And all that He in dreams but saw

When he set Pleasure on the throne
Of thi. bright world and wrote her law
In human hearts was felt and known -
Not in unreal dreams but true,
Substantial joy as pulse e'er knew
By hearts and bosoms, that each felt
Itself the realm where Pleasure dwelt.

That night when all our mirth was o'er,
The minstrels silent, and the feet
Of the young maidens heard no more
So stilly was the time, so sweet,
And such a calm came o'er that scene,
Where life and revel late had been-
Lone as the quiet of some bay
From which the sea hath ebbed away
That still I lingered, lost in thought,
Gazing upon the stars of night,
Sad and intent as if I sought

Some mournful secret in their light; And asked them mid that silence why Man, glorious man, alone must die, While they, less wonderful than he, Shine on thro' all eternity.

That night-thou haply may'st forget Its loveliness- but 't was a night To make earth's meanest slave regret Leaving a world so soft and bright.

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Of all the choice of Nature's grace
To which so oft I 've knelt and sworn,
That could a living maid like her
Unto this wondering world be born,
I would myself turn worshipper.

Sleep came then o'er me-and I seemed
To be transported far away
To a bleak desert plain where gleamed
One single, melancholy ray,
Throughout that darkness dimly shed

From a small taper in the hand
Of one who pale as are the dead
Before me took his spectral stand,
And said while awfully a smile

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Came o'er the wanness of his cheek"Go and beside the sacred Nile "You'll find the Eternal Life you seek."

Soon as he spoke these words the hue
Of death o'er all his features grew
Like the pale morning when o'er night
She gains the victory full of light;

1 See "Evenings in Greece," p. 346.

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Farewell when to our Garden friends
Thou talk'st of the wild dream that send
The gayest of their school thus far,
Wandering beneath Canopus' star,
Tell them that wander where he will
Or howsoe'er they now condemn
His vague and vain pursuit he still

Is worthy of the School and them;
Still all their own-nor e'er forgets

Even while his heart and soul pursue The Eternal Light which never sets,

The many meteor joys that do, But seeks them, hails them with delight Where'er they meet his longing sight. And if his life must wane away Like other lives at least the day, The hour it lasts shall like a fire With incense fed in sweets expire.

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Couldst thou but see how like a poet's dream

This lovely land now looks! — the glori

ous stream

That late between its banks was seen to glide

'Mong shrines and marble cities on each side

Glittering like jewels strung along a chain

Hath now sent forth its waters, and o'er plain

And valley like a giant from his bed Rising with outstretched limbs hath grandly spread.

While far as sight can reach beneath as clear

And blue a heaven as ever blest our sphere,

Gardens and pillared streets and porphyry domes

And high-built temples fit to be the homes

Of mighty Gods, and pyramids whose hour

Outlasts all time above the waters tower !

Then, too, the scenes of pomp and joy

that make

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