BECOMES A FREQUENT GUEST AT THE MANOR-HOUSE.--A WALK.--
CONVERSATION WITH DAME DARKMANS.--HER HISTORY.--POVERTY AND
ITS EFFECTS.


MAD. "Then, as Time won thee frequent to our hearth,

Didst thou not breathe, like dreams, into my soul

Nature's more gentle secrets, the sweet lore

Of the green herb and the bee-worshipp'd flower?

And when deep Night did o'er the nether Earth

Diffuse meek quiet, and the Heart of Heaven

With love grew breathless--didst thou not unrol

The volume of the weird chaldean stars,

And of the winds, the clouds, the invisible air,

Make eloquent discourse, until, methought,

No human lip, but some diviner spirit

Alone, could preach such truths of things divine?

And so--and so--"