But, no. In vain in the extensive empire that the
arts of sorcery and magic afford, shall felicity be sought. What avails
all this splendour? and to what purpose this mighty profusion? All the
possessions that I can boast, are my little flock, my wattled cottage,
and my slender pipe. And yet I carol as jocound a lay, my heart is as
light and frolic, and the tranquility of self-acquittal spreads her
wings as wide over my bosom, as they could were I lord of a hundred
hills, and called all the streamlets of the valley my own. The magician
possesses a large hoard of beauty, and he can wander from fair to fair
with unlimited and fearless licence. All merciful and benign beings, who
dwell above this azure concave, give me my Imogen! Restore her safe and
unhurt to these longing, faithful arms! Let not this arbitrary and
imperious tyrant, who grasps wide the fairest productions of thy
creation with a hundred hands,--let him not wrest from me my solitary
lamb,--let him not seize for ever upon that companion, in whom the most
expansive and romantic wishes of my heart had learned to be satisfied."
Such were the beautiful and virtuous sentiments of Edwin, as he beheld
the empire of his rival from the head of the rock, and as he crossed the
glade that still divided him from the object of all his exertions.
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