But they sleep in sheltered rest,
Like helpless birds in the warm nest
On the castle’s southern side,
Where feebly comes the mournful roar
Of buffeting wind and surging tide,
Through many a room and corridor. 
Full on the window the moon’s ray
Makes their chamber as bright as day. 
It shines upon the blank white walis,
And on the snowy pillow falls. 
And on two angel heads doth play,
Turn’d to each other:  the eyes closed,
The lashes on the cheek reposed. 
Round each sweet brow the cap close set
Hardly lets peep the golden hair;
Through the soft opened lips the air
Scarcely moves the coverlet. 
One little wandering arm is thrown
At random on the counterpane,
And often the fingers close in haste,
As if their baby owner chased
The butterflies again. 
This stir they have and this alone,
But else they are so still—­
Ah, you tired madcaps, you lie still;
But were you at the window now,
To look forth on the fairy sight
Of your illumined haunts by night,
To see the park glades where you play
Far lovelier than they are by day,
To see the sparkle on the eaves,
And upon every giant bough
Of those old oaks whose wan red leaves
Are jewelled with bright drops of rain—­
How would your voices run again! 
And far beyond the sparkling trees,
Of the castle park, one sees
The bare heath spreading clear as day,
Moor behind moor, far far away,
Into the heart of Brittany. 
And here and there locked by the land
Long inlets of smooth glittering sea,
And many a stretch of watery sand,
All shining in the white moonbeams;
But you see fairer in your dreams.”

This is very beautiful; a beautiful description of one of the most beautiful objects in nature; but it is a description which could never have been composed except by a person whose mind was in tune with all innocent loveliness, and who found in the contemplation of such things not merely a passing emotion of pleasure but the deepest and most exquisite enjoyment.

Besides “Tristram and Iseult,” we select for especial mention out of this second volume, “A Farewell,” “Self-Dependence,” “Morality “; two very highly-finished pieces called “The Youth of Nature,” and “The Youth of Man,” expressing two opposite states of feeling, which we all of us recognize, and yet which, as far as we know, have never before found their way into language; and “A Summer Night,” a small meditative poem, containing one passage, which, although not perfect—­for, if the metre had been more exact, the effect would, in our opinion, have been very much enhanced—­is, nevertheless, the finest that Mr. Arnold has yet written.