Page:Eugene Aram vol 1 - Lytton (1832).djvu/255

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EUGENE ARAM.
239

CHAPTER III.

WHEREIN THE EARL AND THE STUDENT CONVERSE ON GRAVE BUT DELIGHTFUL MATTERS.—THE STUDENT'S NOTION OF THE ONLY EARTHLY HAPPINESS.

"Aram. If the witch Hope forbids us to be wise,

Yet when I turn to these—Woe's only friends, (pointing to his books.)

And with their weird and eloquent voices calm
The stir and Babel of the world within,
I can but dream that my vex'd years at last
Shall find the quiet of a hermit's cell:—
And, neighbouring not this hacked and jaded world.
Beneath the lambent eyes of the loved stars,
And, with the hollow rocks and sparry caves.
The tides, and all the many-music'd winds
My oracles and co-mates;—watch my life
Glide down the Stream of Knowledge, and behold
Its waters with a musing stillness glass
The thousand hues of Nature and of Heaven."
From Eugene Aram, a MS. Tragedy.

The Earl continued with the party he had joined; and when their occupation was concluded and they turned homeward, he accepted the