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Stood near, of smaller size, and not unlike
To monumental pillars: and, from these
Some little space disjoined, a pair were seen,
That, with united shoulders bore aloft
A Fragment, like an Altar, flat and smooth.
Barren the tablet, yet thereon appeared,
Conspicuously stationed, one fair Plant,
A tall and shining Holly, which had found
A hospitable chink, and stood upright,
As if inserted by some human hand,
In mockery, to wither in the sun,
Or lay its beauty flat before a breeze,
The first that entered. But no breeze did now
Find entrance;—high, or low, appeared no trace
Of motion, save the Water that descended,
Diffused adown that Barrier of steep rock,
And softly creeping, like a breath of air,
Such as is sometimes seen, and hardly seen,
To brush the still breast of a chrystal Lake.
"Behold a Cabinet for Sages built,
Which Kings might envy!"—Praise to this effect
Broke from the happy Old Man's reverend lip;
