Page:Tales of humour and romance translated by Holcroft.djvu/216

 suring lines, the latter, garlands over the moon, and over the earth too.—Thus then, my love, thou canst easily meet with thy knitting-school companions on a lime-tree terrace, and feelingly read over to them fancies such as mine, if it is not done in broad day-light, and if the worship of the mother-church of the earth is not forgotten in the supplementary chapel-service of the moon.

But thou gentle and pallid form, to whom I so often bend my looks to soften my heart,—thou who glimmerest so modestly and makest so modest—thou who displayest thy worth to the silent heavens and not to the noisy earth—to whom I willingly raise my eye when it contains a few superfluous tears, which fall upon the flowers of past happiness blooming in the memory, and lead my thoughts to wander beyond the clouds to the native land of our transplanted wishes, thou lovely form,———————Philippina, it rejoices thy brother's heart that it remains a matter of doubt whom I am here addressing, thee or the moon. To deserve such a doubt, dear sister, is so excellent, I know but one thing superior to it; namely, to be exempted from it,—for resembling the moon in all but its spots and its changeableness.

I am, however, with this latter distinction,

Your Brother.