81

quences sometimes attend these qualities in beings of a higher rank: a homely woman is contemned, and a distinguished beauty is too often the victim of her adorer. Lord Byron, irs his " Giaour," has expressed this effect of beauty in so striking a manner, that I shall enrich my letter with the quotation.

As, rising on it purple wing,

The insect green of eastern spring, O'er emerald meadows of Kashmeer, Invites the young pursuer near,

And leads him on from flow'r to flow'r, A weary chase, a wasted hour, Then leaves him, as it soars on high, With panting heart and tearful eye: So beauty lures the full-grown child, With hue as bright, and wing as wild,

chase of idle hopes and fears,

Begun in folly, clos'd in tears. If won, to equal ills betray'd,

Woe waits the insect and the maid. A life of pain .the loss of peace,

From infant's play-and man's caprice. The lovely toy, so fiercely sought, Has lost its charm by being caught; For ev'ry touch that woo'd its stay, Has brush'd its brightest hues away. Till charm, and hue, and beauty gone, 'Tis left to fly and fall alone.

With wounded wing and bleeding breast, A1! where can either victim rest

Can