'If, when thou freely gave the life, that ne'er To thee had given either hope or fear, But quietly had shone; nor asked if joy Thy future course should cheer, or grief annoy;
'If then thoud'st seen, upon a summer sea, One, once in features, as in blood, like thee, On skies of azure blue and waters green, Melting to mist amid the summer sheen, In trouble gazing--ever hesitating 'Twixt miseries each hour new dread creating, And joys--whate'er they cost--still doubly dear, Those "troubled pleasures soon chastised by fear;" If thou _had'st_ seen him, thou would'st ne'er believe That thou had'st yet known what it was to live!
'Thine eyes could only see thy mother's breast; Thy feelings only wished on that to rest; That was thy world;--thy food and sleep it gave, And slight the change 'twixt it and childhood's grave. Thou saw'st this world like one who, prone, reposes, Upon a plain, and in a bed of roses, With nought in sight save marbled skies above, Nought heard but breezes whispering in the grove: I--thy life's source--was like a wanderer breasting Keen mountain winds, and on a summit resting, Whose rough rocks rose above the grassy mead, With sleet and north winds howling overhead, And Nature, like a map, beneath him spread; Far winding river, tree, and tower, and town, Shadow and sunlight, 'neath his gaze marked down By that mysterious hand which graves the plan Of that drear country called "The Life of Man."
'If seen, men's eyes would loathing shrink from thee, And turn, perhaps, with no disgust to me; Yet thou had'st beauty, innocence, and smiles, And now hast rest from this world's woes and wiles, While I have restlessness and worrying care, So sure, thy lot is brighter, happier far.
'So let it be; and though thy ears may never Hear these lines read beyond Death's darksome river, Not vainly from the borders of despair May rise a sound of joy that thou art freed from care!'
On the 6th of April of this year, Charlotte wrote to Messrs. Aylott & Jones, informing them that 'the Messrs. Bell' were preparing for the press a work of fiction, consisting of three distinct and unconnected tales, which might be published either together, as a work of three volumes of the ordinary novel size, or separately, as single volumes. It was not their intention to publish these at their own expense, and they wished to know if Messrs. Aylott would be likely to undertake the work, if approved.