I and the wind together can roam
Over the green waves and their white foam,—
See, I have got this silver shell,
Mark how my breath will its smallness swell,
For the Nautilus is my boat
In which I over the waters float,—
The moon is shining over the sea,
Who is there will come sail with me?
CHORUS OF FAIRIES.
Our noontide sleep is on leaf and flower,
Our revels are held in a moonlit hour,—
What is there sweet, what is there fair,
And we are not the dwellers there?
Dance we round, for the morning light
Will put us and our glow-worm lamps to flight!*
* These beautiful lines are extracted from an early volume of Miss Landon's Poems, ("The Troubadour.") They were written a short time after the picture was painted. Mr. Howard's "Fairies on the Sea Shore" was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1825; and is the property of Sir Matthew White Ridley.
