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A LEGEND OF THE RHINE.
Rubies, and lighted amber; and thence spread
A wide heath covered with thick furze, whose flowers
So bright, are like the pleasures of this world,
Beautiful in the distance, but, once gained,
Little worth, piercing through the thorns which grow
Around them ever. Wilder and more steep
The banks upon the river's other side:
Tall pines rose up like warriors; the wild rose
Was therein all its luxury of bloom,
Sown by the wind, nursed by the dew and sun;
And on the steeps were crosses of grey and old,
Which told the fate of some poor traveller.
The dells were filled with dwarfed oaks and firs;
And on the heights which mastered all the rest,
