Page:Female Portrait Gallery.pdf/59

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EFFIE DEANS.
135

wild heath spreading its purple harvest for the bees; and the rock side, where the step can scarce find uneasy footing amid the lichen and groundsel. How often is bodily weariness resorted to, to subdue the weariness within; and fortunate, indeed, are those who have never known that feverish unrest, which change of place mocks with the hope of change of suffering. Moreover, for few are the sorrows which know no respite, an imaginative taste must have seen enjoyment in

"The grace of forest woods decayed,
And pastoral melancholy;"

while the wilder scenes elevate us into forgetfulness of those human troubles which sink into nothingness before their mighty and eternal presence. Equally natural, too, is Lady Staunton's retirement to a convent; penance and seclusion were framed for such minds whose very penitence would be excitement. It was an extreme; and the "Lily of St. Leonard's" had led a life of extremes.