Supported him-no pulse, or breath they found, 310 And, in its marriage robe, the heavy body wound. 311 The following extract is appended in Keats's edition as a note to the last line : "Philostratus, in his fourth book de Vita Apollonii, hath a memorable instance in this kind, which I may not omit, of one Menippus Lycius, a young man twenty-five years of age, that going betwixt Cenchreas and Corinth, met such a phantasm in the habit of a fair gentlewoman, which, taking him by the hand, carried him home to her house, in the suburbs of Corinth, and told him she was a Phoenician by birth, and if he would tarry with her, he should hear her sing and play, and drink such wine as never any drank, and no man should molest him; but she, being fair and lovely, would live and die with him, that was fair and lovely to behold. The young man, a philosopher, otherwise staid and discreet, able to moderate his passions, though not this of love, tarried with her a while to his great content, and at last married her, to whose wedding, amongst other guests, came Apollonius; who, by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia; and that all her furniture was, like Tantalus' gold, described by Homer, no substance but mere illusions. When she saw herself descried, she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent, but he would not be moved, and thereupon she, plate, house, and all that was in it, vanished in an instant : many thousands took notice of this fact, for it was done in the midst of Greece." Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' Part 3. Sect. 2. Memb. 1. Subs. I. KEATS ISABELLA; OR, THE POT OF BASIL. A Story from Boccaccio. I. FAIR Isabel, poor simple Isabel! Lorenzo, a young palmer in Love's eye! They could not in the self-same mansion dwell Without some stir of heart, some malady; They could not sit at meals but feel how well It soothed each to be the other by ; They could not, sure, beneath the same roof sleep But to each other dream, and nightly weep. II. With every morn their love grew tenderer, To her, than noise of trees or hidden rill ; III. He knew whose gentle hand was at the latch II 6 noise] sigh Holograph. IV. A whole long month of May in this sad plight Made their cheeks paler by the break of June: "To-morrow will I bow to my delight, "To-morrow will I ask my lady's boon.""O may I never see another night, "Lorenzo, if thy lips breathe not love's tune."So spake they to their pillows; but, alas, Honeyless days and days did he let pass; V. Until sweet Isabella's untouch'd cheek "And yet I will, and tell my love all plain: "If looks speak love-laws, I will drink her tears, "And at the least 'twill startle off her cares." VI. So said he one fair morning, and all day For power to speak; but still the ruddy tide Fever'd his high conceit of such a bride, Yet brought him to the meekness of a child: Alas! when passion is both meek and wild! VII. So once more he had wak'd and anguished To every symbol on his forehead high; She saw it waxing very pale and dead, And straight all flush'd; so, lisped tenderly, IV 6 Lorenzo, if thy tongue speak not love's tune. Holograph. VI Opposite the close of this stanza, in the Woodhouse transcript, Keats has written in pencil Stop this as you please. VII The word said stands cancelled before lisped (line 6) in the holograph, in whick, as in the transcript, the stanza closes with a different "Lorenzo !"—here she ceas'd her timid quest, But in her tone and look he read the rest. VIII. "O Isabella, I can half perceive “That I may speak my grief into thine ear; "If thou didst ever anything believe, "Believe how I love thee, believe how near "My soul is to its doom: I would not grieve "Thy hand by unwelcome pressing, would not fear "Thine eyes by gazing; but I cannot live "Another night, and not my passion shrive. IX. "Love! thou art leading me from wintry cold, Great bliss was with them, and great happiness couplet from that of the text and is followed by a stanza ultimately rejected : here are the ten cancelled lines "Lorenzo, I would clip my ringlet hair About the neck I dote on, and that spot In another handwriting, on the blank page opposite this passage in the holograph, stand the verses Lorenzo in the twilight Morn was wont To rouse the clamorous Kennel to the Hunt; And then his cheek inherited the Ray Of the outpouring Sun; and ere the Horn His voice more softly woke me: Many a Morn More sweet; but now Lorenzo holds in scorn X. Parting they seem'd to tread upon the air, Sang, of delicious love and honey'd dart; XI. All close they met again, before the dusk Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil, Unknown of any, free from whispering tale. XII. Were they unhappy then?-It cannot be- Too many doleful stories do we see, Whose matter in bright gold were best be read; Except in such a page where Theseus' spouse Over the pathless waves towards him bows. XIII. But, for the general award of love, The little sweet doth kill much bitterness; Though Dido silent is in under-grove, And Isabella's was a great distress, Though young Lorenzo in warm Indian clove Was not embalm'd, this truth is not the lessEven bees, the little almsmen of spring-bowers, Know there is richest juice in poison-flowers. XIV. With her two brothers this fair lady dwelt, |