TALE XVI.

THE CONFIDANT.

Think'st thou I'd make a life of jealousy,
To follow still the changes of the moon,
With fresh suspicion?- Othello.

Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks,

And given my treasure and my rights in thee

To thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?-1 Henry IV.

It is excellent

To have a giant's strength, but tyrannous

To use it as a giant. — Measure for Measure.

TALE XVI.

THE CONFIDANT. (1)

ANNA was young and lovely—in her eye
The glance of beauty, in her cheek the dye;
Her shape was slender, and her features small,
But graceful, easy, unaffected all :

The liveliest tints her youthful face disclosed;
There beauty sparkled, and there health reposed;
For the pure blood that flush'd that rosy cheek
Spoke what the heart forbad the tongue to speak;
And told the feelings of that heart as well,
Nay, with more candour than the tongue could tell:
Though this fair lass had with the wealthy dwelt,
Yet like the damsel of the cot she felt;
And, at the distant hint or dark surmise,
The blood into the mantling cheek would rise.

Now Anna's station frequent terrors wrought In one whose looks were with such meaning fraught: For on a Lady, as an humble friend,

It was her painful office to attend.

(1) [The reader will find the tale of " The Confidant" thrown into a little drama of seven scenes, by Mr. Charles Lamb, author of "Elia's Essays," &c. &c. in vol. xxiv. of Blackwood's Magazine, p. 764. The version is so close, that we need not quote specimens of it here; but the whole will cer tainly reward an attentive perusal. Our wonder is, that so little use has hitherto been made of our Poet's tales, as materials for dramatic composition.]

Her duties here were of the usual kind -
And some the body harass'd, some the mind:
Billets she wrote, and tender stories read,
To make the Lady sleepy in her bed ;
She play'd at whist, but with inferior skill,
And heard the summons as a call to drill ;
Music was ever pleasant till she play'd
At a request that no request convey'd ;
The Lady's tales with anxious looks she heard,
For she must witness what her Friend averr'd ;
The Lady's taste she must in all approve,

Hate whom she hated, whom she loved must love;
These, with the various duties of her place,
With care she studied, and perform'd with grace;
She veil'd her troubles in a mask of ease,
And show'd her pleasure was a power to please,

she was poor —

Such were the Damsel's duties;
Above a servant, but with service more:

Men on her face with careless freedom gazed.
Nor thought how painful was the glow they raised;
A wealthy few to gain her favour tried,
But not the favour of a grateful bride ;
They spoke their purpose with an easy air,
That shamed and frighten'd the dependent fair;
Past time she view'd, the passing time to cheat,
But nothing found to make the present sweet;
With pensive soul she read life's future page,
And saw dependent, poor, repining age.

But who shall dare t' assert what years may bring, When wonders from the passing hour may spring?