Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Mariamne.
torn in the city , in order that the inhabitants might enjoy ^ the only hours of coolness wliich the summer season afforded them . 1 here did the virtuous Simeon and his fair and innocent child await the arrival of their guests . Accustomed even as the younger had been to the voluptuous beauties of his father ' s court , he was electrified by the superior loveliness of Mariamne , who , half reclining on a pile of cushions , by the their
side of her venerable parent , gently inclined her head at approach . Her figure mig ht have been termed fragile , but for the exquisite harmony of its proportions , which the folds of her white cymar could not entirely conceal ; her face possessed all the characteristic regularity of the noble and hig h-born of her race—raven hair , arched brows , and black lustrous eyes , relieved hy a complexion which even the daughters of the North mig ht have envied for its fairness;—but it was in her garden , or while attending upon her father , her veil cast freely aside , moving like a spirit more than a being of the earth , that the full splendour of her beauty was revealed .
She seem'd a thing of God and light , Too pure for love or sin to blight ; A seraph prisoned from her birth , Within that loveliest shrine of earth .
Before commencing the repast , the hig h-priest offered up his thanksgiving to the bounteous Creator of all things , a duty in wliich the strangers joined , the elder having first , unseen by any but his brother , spat upon the ground , as in abhorrence of the rite . Eh was too wary to startle his intended victim by open and intense admiration , gently and imperceptibly , like the approach of the poisonous adder , he endeavoured to beguile her into conversationcarefullchoosing themes of
, y beauty and virtue as more congenial to her retiring nature ; while Aran , anxious to assist his brother ' s detestable design , engaged his unsuspecting host in deep discourse , who , charmed by the wisdom and seeming piety he displayed , congratulated himself on entertaining such an honourable guest . Time passed rapidly , and the Hig h Priest was surprised to find , on the first pause that ensued , that the shades of evening had already deepened into nig ht : meanwhile , the gifted , but impious with the unsuspicious
Eli , had made good use of his opportunity Mariamne . " Time hath passed swiftly , " observed her father ; " the hour of rest to man is come ; but first , child , thy lute ; 1 would not to my couch without my accustomed hymn . " The maiden obeyed ; but felt , in doing so , she knew not why , a tremour and hesitation , which subsided , however , as the sacred song hurst in harmony from her lips :
" I have read the Lord's mig ht in the fair evening star , In the pure worlds of light He hath scattered afar ; Not more wondrous their orbs , as the proof of His . power , Than the insect whose home is the brig ht tinted flower . I have heard His stern voice in the deep thunder ' s sound , In the roar of the tempest His wrath scatter'd round ; Yet His dread will is spoken , as plain as in these , When borne on the delicate voice of the breeze .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Mariamne.
torn in the city , in order that the inhabitants might enjoy ^ the only hours of coolness wliich the summer season afforded them . 1 here did the virtuous Simeon and his fair and innocent child await the arrival of their guests . Accustomed even as the younger had been to the voluptuous beauties of his father ' s court , he was electrified by the superior loveliness of Mariamne , who , half reclining on a pile of cushions , by the their
side of her venerable parent , gently inclined her head at approach . Her figure mig ht have been termed fragile , but for the exquisite harmony of its proportions , which the folds of her white cymar could not entirely conceal ; her face possessed all the characteristic regularity of the noble and hig h-born of her race—raven hair , arched brows , and black lustrous eyes , relieved hy a complexion which even the daughters of the North mig ht have envied for its fairness;—but it was in her garden , or while attending upon her father , her veil cast freely aside , moving like a spirit more than a being of the earth , that the full splendour of her beauty was revealed .
She seem'd a thing of God and light , Too pure for love or sin to blight ; A seraph prisoned from her birth , Within that loveliest shrine of earth .
Before commencing the repast , the hig h-priest offered up his thanksgiving to the bounteous Creator of all things , a duty in wliich the strangers joined , the elder having first , unseen by any but his brother , spat upon the ground , as in abhorrence of the rite . Eh was too wary to startle his intended victim by open and intense admiration , gently and imperceptibly , like the approach of the poisonous adder , he endeavoured to beguile her into conversationcarefullchoosing themes of
, y beauty and virtue as more congenial to her retiring nature ; while Aran , anxious to assist his brother ' s detestable design , engaged his unsuspecting host in deep discourse , who , charmed by the wisdom and seeming piety he displayed , congratulated himself on entertaining such an honourable guest . Time passed rapidly , and the Hig h Priest was surprised to find , on the first pause that ensued , that the shades of evening had already deepened into nig ht : meanwhile , the gifted , but impious with the unsuspicious
Eli , had made good use of his opportunity Mariamne . " Time hath passed swiftly , " observed her father ; " the hour of rest to man is come ; but first , child , thy lute ; 1 would not to my couch without my accustomed hymn . " The maiden obeyed ; but felt , in doing so , she knew not why , a tremour and hesitation , which subsided , however , as the sacred song hurst in harmony from her lips :
" I have read the Lord's mig ht in the fair evening star , In the pure worlds of light He hath scattered afar ; Not more wondrous their orbs , as the proof of His . power , Than the insect whose home is the brig ht tinted flower . I have heard His stern voice in the deep thunder ' s sound , In the roar of the tempest His wrath scatter'd round ; Yet His dread will is spoken , as plain as in these , When borne on the delicate voice of the breeze .