Page:Ainsworth's Magazine - Volume 1.djvu/198
The bright throng ended ; for, untouch'd by time,
Came Falstaff, laughter-laurell'd, young in age;
With many a ripe and sack-devoted sage!
And deathless clowns sublime
Crowded the leaf, to vanish at a swoop,
Like Oberon and his troop.
Malvolio, leg-trapp'd;—he who served the Jew
Still with the fiend seem'd running;—then advanced
Messina's pretty piece of flesh, and danced
With Bottom and his crew;—
Mercutio, Benedick, press'd points of wit,
And Osrick made his hit.
Awoke my laughter, and the spell was past;
Of the gay multitude, a marvellous throng,
No trace is here—no tints, no word, no song,
On these bare leaves are cast.
The altar has been rear'd, an offering fit—
The flame is still unlit.
In humble reverence, hopes one wreath to bind
Worthy of him, whose genius, strangely blent,
Could kindle "wonder and astonishment"
In Milton's starry mind!
Who stood Alone, but not as one Apart,
And saw man's inmost heart!
STRAWBERRY HILL RE-VISITED.
BY DUDLEY COSTELLO.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, BY W. ALFRED DELAMOTTE.
Strawberry Hill is once more our theme. Diffuse as our account in last month's Number may have been, we feel that we have by no means done justice to the contents of this celebrated house, even as regards the mere enumeration of its treasures. We, therefore, resume the subject, with the intention of particularizing many of those objects of virtù which before we only glanced at.
Returning to "The Tribune," (which takes its name from a chamber adapted to similar uses, in the Gallery at Florence,) we find that we have ample scope for description. The sketch which was given last month has, we trust, conveyed a tolerable idea of its form; and by the annexed quotation from Walpole's Catalogue, we hope to render the picture complete:—
"It is a square with a semi-circular recess in the middle of each side, painted stone colour with gilt ornaments, and with windows and niches, the latter taken from those on the sides of the north door of the great church at St. Albans; the roof, which is taken from the chapter-house at York, is terminated by a star of yellow glass that throws a golden gloom all over the room, and with the painted windows gives it the solemn air of a rich