Memorials and Other Papers — Volume 1 by Thomas De Quincey
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page 22 of 299 (07%)
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he still wore the aspect of an impassioned lover.
"He beheld A vision, and adored the thing he saw. Arabian fiction never filled the world With half the wonders that were wrought for _him_. Earth breathed in one great presence of the spring Her chamber window did surpass in glory The portals of the dawn." And in no case was it more literally realized, as daily almost I witnessed, that "All Paradise Could, by the simple opening of a door, Let itself in upon him." [Footnote: Wordsworth's "Vandracour and Julia."] For never did the drawing-room door open, and suddenly disclose the beautiful figure of Lady Massey, than a mighty cloud seemed to roll away from the young Irishman's brow. At this time it happened, and indeed it often happened, that Lord Carbery was absent in Ireland. It was probable, therefore, that during the long couple of hours through which the custom of those times bound a man to the dinner-table after the disappearance of the ladies, his time would hang heavily on his hands. To me, therefore, Lady Carbery looked, having first put me in |
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