 | My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays |  |
185
INSCRIPTION.
FOUND AT CHANTILLY, ON AN ALTAR OF WHITE MARBLE, IN THE ISLAND OF LOVE, A BEAUTIFUL SPOT IN THE GARDENS SURROUNDING THE CHATEAU, BELONGING TO THE PRINCE OF CONDE.
N'offront qu'on cœur a la beautè,
Aussi nud que LA Verite;
Sans ailes comme LA Constance—
Sans armes comme l'Innocence!
Tel fut l'Amour dans le siecle d'or,
On ne le trouve plus, mais on le chercher encore.
Aussi nud que LA Verite;
Sans ailes comme LA Constance—
Sans armes comme l'Innocence!
Tel fut l'Amour dans le siecle d'or,
On ne le trouve plus, mais on le chercher encore.
Here at Beauty's graceful shrine,
Thy devoted heart resign,
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Unwinged as changeless Constancy.
Like Truth unrobed to every sense,
—Unarmed as infant Innocence.
Such by fabling bards wer'e told,
Love appeared in age of gold,
Such no more—the God, we find,
Always courted—never kind.
For now the wanton child is seen,
With veiling vesture, fraudful mien,
Around his philtered arrow flings,
And cleaves the air with truant wings.
| My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays | |