Page:Wit, humor, and Shakspeare. Twelve essays (IA cu31924013161223).pdf/402

 may strip a burdensome tax from her husband's subjects:—

"She shook her head, And showered the rippled ringlets to her knee; Unclad herself in haste; adown the stair Stole on, and, like a creeping sunbeam, slid From pillar unto pillar."

So the brave and constant Imogen has eyes which are the "blue of heaven's own tinct;" and the flower that is like her face is the "pale primrose:" through her complexion the veins show like "the azur'd harebell."

Dante's forerunner, who is celebrated in Browning's "Sordello," is beloved by Palma, whose influence continually resists his poetic day-dreams. He, speculating too finely upon his relation to the politics of the epoch, and always wondering what way were best for him to take to benefit men,—through what party, Guelf or Ghibeline, he might approach his aspirations,—is obliged to turn for manhood and consistent purpose to Palma:—

"Conspicuous in his world Of dreams sat Palma. How the tresses curled Into a sumptuous swell of gold, and wound About her like a glory! Even the ground Was bright as with spilt sunbeams."

Julia, in "Two Gentlemen of Verona," iv. 4, hangs jealously over the picture of Sylvia, her unconscious rival:—

"And yet the painter flatter'd her a little, Unless I flatter with myself too much. Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow: If that be all the difference in his love, I'll get me such a color'd periwig. Her eyes are gray as glass; and so are mine: Ay, but her forehead's low, and mine's as high."