TO THOSE

Who lobe Romance and the Romancer,

WHETHER IN PROSE OR RHYME:

TO THOSE

WHO DARE TO LIFT THEIR SOULS FROM THE MATERIAL TO THE SPIRITUAL,

These Poems are Inscribed,

WITH THE BEST EMOTIONS OF THE HEART

FROM WHICH THEY RECEIVED THEIR VITALITY.

LOVES OF THE MINSTRELS.

THE CRUISE OF AUREANA.

A LIFE VOYAGE.

WHEN not a breath bespoke a gale,
And not a cloud eclipsed my vision,
I weighed my anchor, trimmed my sail-
And floated out to seas Elysian.

Onward I sailed by many a realm,
And many a spicy-breathing islet,
With Cupid smiling at the helm-
Nor wished for any other pilot.

The green-haired sea-maids laughing, sipping,
Hung, reeling round my cup of bliss ;
Old Neptune, briny-lipped, and dripping,
Upon my brow impressed a kiss.

The warblers piped, from dell and dingle,

To greet me as I neared the strands— The lilies made their snow-bells jingle

The wood-nymphs clapped their pearly hands.

Around me hung th' enamored hours;

From airy rifts that oped above me White fingers dropped celestial flowersThe very stars did seem to love me :

And my ecstatic pulse did play

To silvery feet of roseate blisses

That danced around my soul, which lay
Feeding upon aerial kisses.

Anon a sound came out from under

The wave, and smote my slumbering ear; A voice croaked out, like muttering thunder"Beware! beware! the shoals are near !"

Then starting from this sweet delirium,
I glanced around my sea-borne lodge—

A cloud was in the blue empyreum—
A shadow on my horologe.