of her mother
through a burning mist, as Sin, according to Milton, proceeded from
the head of the glorious and guilty archangel amid a whirlpool of
smoke? I know not what passes in the sacred courts; but here below
Neamede, Phila, Lais, Gnathene, the witty Phryne, the despair of the
pencil of Apelles, and the chisel of Praxiteles, Leena, beloved of
Harmodias, the two sisters named Aphyes, because they were small and
had large eyes, Dorica, the fillet of whose locks and embalmed robe
were consecrated in the temple of Venus,--all these enchantresses knew
only the perfumes of Arabia. It is true that Madame Sand has on her
side the authority of the Odalisques and the young Mexicans who dance
with cigars between their lips.

What effect has Madame Sand had upon me, after the few gifted women,
and many charming women whom I have known--after those daughters of
the earth, who like Madame Sand said with Sappho: "Come, Mother of
Love, to our delicious banquets, fill our cups with the nectar of
roses?" As I have placed myself now in fiction and now in reality, the
author of Valentine has made on me two very different impressions.

As for fiction, I do not speak of it, for I ought no longer to
understand its language; as for reality, a man of grave age,
cherishing the notions of propriety, attaching as a Christian the
highest value to the timid virtue of woman. I know not how to express
my unhappiness at such a mass of rich endowments bestowed on the
prodigal and faithless hours which are spent and vanish.

* * * * *

MARIA BROOKS AND SOUTHEY.

It is well known that our countrywoman MARIA DEL OCCIDENTE was on
terms of familiar intimacy with the poet-laureate, whose admiration
of her genius is illustrated in several allusions to her in his works,
and particularly in that passage of "The Doctor" in which she is
described as "the most impassioned and imaginative of all poetesses."
Southey superintended the publication of "Zophiel," in London, and
afterward was a frequent correspondent of Mrs. Brooks, during her
residence in New York and in Cuba. Among the souvenirs of Mrs.
Brooke's grateful recollection of his kindness, are two or three short
poems commemorating her visits to Keswick, and the following song, put
into a lyrical form by her, from the blank verse of "Madoc."

PRINCE HOEL'S LAY OF LOVE.

I've harnessed thee, my faithful steed--
Now, by the ocean, prove thy speed,
While, as