THE SPANISH STUDENT. AN EXTRACT. (a) VICTORIAN. OUR feelings and our thoughts Tend ever on, and rest not in the Present. PRECIOSA. I have felt it so, but found no words to say it! I cannot reason; I can only feel! But thou hast language for all thoughts and feelings. Thou art a scholar; and sometimes I think We cannot walk together in this world! The distance that divides us is too great! Henceforth thy pathway lies among the stars; VICTORIAN. Thou little skeptic! Dost thou still doubt? What I most prize in woman Is her affections, not her intellect ! The intellect is finite; but the affections Not that of man's ambition. In that stillness Feeding its flame. The element of fire Is pure. It cannot change nor hide its nature, But burns as brightly in a Gipsy camp As in a palace hall. Art thou convinced? PRECIOSA. Yes, that I love thee, as the good love heaven; By loving more. VICTORIAN. PRECIOSA. I cannot love thee more; my heart is full. VICTORIAN. Then let it overflow, and I will drink it, VICTORIAN. She lies asleep, And from her parted lips, her gentle breath. HYPOLITO. Which means, in prose, She's sleeping with her mouth a little open! VICTORIAN. O, would I had the old magician's glass HYPOLITO. And wouldst thou venture? VICTORIAN. Ay, indeed I would! HYPOLITO. Thou art courageous. Hast thou e'er reflected How much lies hidden in that one word, now? VICTORIAN. Yes; all the awful history of Life! That could we, by some spell of magic, change In the same attitudes they now are in, What groups should we behold about the death-bed, HYPOLITO. Ay, there it is! and, if I were in love, HYPOLITO. With much truth in it. I hope thou wilt profit by it; and in earnest Try to forget this lady of thy love. VICTORIAN. I will forget her! All dear recollections HYPOLITO. Then let that foolish heart upbraid no more! VICTORIAN. Yet good Hypolito, it is in vain I throw into Oblivion's sea the sword That pierces me; for, like Excalibar, With gemmed and flushing hilt, it will not sink. HYPOLITO. And yet at last Down sank Excalibar to rise no more. |