Page:Eugene Aram vol 1 - Lytton (1832).djvu/255

CHAPTER III.

WHEREIN THE EARL AND THE STUDENT CONVERSE ON GRAVE BUT DELIGHTFUL MATTERS.—THE STUDENT'S NOTION OF THE ONLY EARTHLY HAPPINESS.

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"Aram. If the witch Hope forbids us to be wise,

Yet when I turn to these—Woe's only friends, (pointing to his books.)

And with their weird and eloquent voices calm
The stir and Babel of the world within,
I can but dream that my vex'd years at last
Shall find the quiet of a hermit's cell:—
And, neighbouring not this hacked and jaded world.
Beneath the lambent eyes of the loved stars,
And, with the hollow rocks and sparry caves.
The tides, and all the many-music'd winds
My oracles and co-mates;—watch my life
Glide down the Stream of Knowledge, and behold
Its waters with a musing stillness glass
The thousand hues of Nature and of Heaven."
⁠From Eugene Aram, a MS. Tragedy.

 

The Earl continued with the party he had joined; and when their occupation was concluded and they turned homeward, he accepted the