| | 1 | Author: | EDITED BY N. P. WILLIS. | Add | | | Title: | The legendary  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | `Have you ever read Undine, Tom? Did you conceive
of a river of wondrous and perfect beauty?
Was it fringed with all manner of stooping trees, and
kissed to the very lip by clover? Did it wind constantly
in and out, as if both banks were enamoured of its flow
and enticed it from each other's bosoms? Was it hidden
sometimes by thick masses of leaves meeting over
it, and sometimes by the swelling of a velvet slope that
sent it rippling away into shadow? and did it steal out
again like a happy child from a hiding place, and flash
up to your eye till you would have sworn it was living
and intelligent? Did the banks lean away in a rich,
deep verdure, and were the meadows sleeping beneath
the light, like a bosom in a silk mantle? and when
your ear had drank in the music of the running water,
and the loveliness of color and form had unsettled the
earthliness within you, did you believe in your heart
that a strip of Eden had been left unmarred by the angel? `She who brings you this letter is my only child—
all the treasure I possess in this world. Therefore, I
trust her to you, relying on your honor. If the walls of
Soleure fall, I shall be buried under their ruins; but if
you grant your protection to my daughter, I shall have
no more anxiety for her. Give me some token that
you grant my petition, and you will receive your reward
from that Being who watches over the innocent, and
who knows our hearts. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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