been a favourite resort of Adrian; it was secluded;
and he often said that in boyhood, his happiest hours
were spent here; having escaped the stately bondage
of his mother, he sat on the rough hewn steps that
led to the spring, now reading a favourite book, now
musing, with speculation beyond his years, on the still
unravelled skein of morals or metaphysics. A
melancholy foreboding assured me that I should never
see this place more; so with careful thought, I noted
each tree, every winding of the streamlet and irregularity
of the soil, that I might better call up its idea
in absence. A robin red-breast dropt from the
frosty branches of the trees, upon the congealed rivulet;
its panting breast and half-closed eyes shewed that
it was dying: a hawk appeared in the air; sudden
fear seized the little creature; it exerted its last
strength, throwing itself on its back, raising its
talons in impotent defence against its powerful enemy.
I took it up and placed it in my breast. I fed
it with a few crumbs from a biscuit; by degrees it
revived; its warm fluttering heart beat against me;
I cannot tell why I detail this trifling incident—but
the scene is still before me; the snow-clad fields
seen through the silvered trunks of the beeches,—the
brook, in days of happiness alive with sparkling waters,
now choked by ice—the leafless trees fantastically
dressed in hoar frost—the shapes of summer
leaves imaged by winter’s frozen hand on the
hard ground—the dusky sky, drear cold,
and unbroken silence—while close in my bosom,
my feathered nursling lay warm, and safe, speaking
its content with a light chirp— painful
reflections thronged, stirring my brain with wild commotion—cold
and death-like as the snowy fields was all earth—misery-stricken
the life-tide of the inhabitants—why should
I oppose the cataract of destruction that swept us
away?—why string my nerves and renew my
wearied efforts—ah, why? But that my
firm courage and cheerful exertions might shelter
the dear mate, whom I chose in the spring of my life;
though the throbbings of my heart be replete with
pain, though my hopes for the future are chill, still
while your dear head, my gentlest love, can repose
in peace on that heart, and while you derive from its
fostering care, comfort, and hope, my struggles shall
not cease,—I will not call myself altogether
vanquished.
One fine February day, when the sun had reassumed some of its genial power, I walked in the forest with my family. It was one of those lovely winter-days which assert the capacity of nature to bestow beauty on barrenness. The leafless trees spread their fibrous branches against the pure sky; their intricate and pervious tracery resembled delicate sea-weed; the deer were turning up the snow in search of the hidden grass; the white was made intensely dazzling by the sun, and trunks of the trees, rendered more conspicuous by the loss of preponderating foliage, gathered around like the labyrinthine columns of a vast temple; it was impossible not to receive pleasure