| |
| GLASS antique, ’twixt thee and Nell | |
| Draw we here a parallel. | |
| She, like thee, was forced to bear | |
| All reflections, foul or fair. | |
| Thou art deep and bright within, | 5 |
| Depths as bright belong’d to Gwynne; | |
| Thou art very frail as well, | |
| Frail as flesh is,—so was Nell. | |
| |
| Thou, her glass, art silver-lin’d, | |
| She too, had a silver mind: | 10 |
| Thine is fresh till this far day, | |
| Hers till death ne’er wore away: | |
| Thou dost to thy surface win | |
| Wandering glances, so did Gwynne; | |
| Eyes on thee long love to dwell, | 15 |
| So men’s eyes would do on Nell. | |
| |
| Life-like forms in thee are sought, | |
| Such the forms the actress wrought; | |
| Truth unfailing rests in you, | |
| Nell, whate’er she was, was true. | 20 |
| Clear as virtue, dull as sin, | |
| Thou art oft, as oft was Gwynne; | |
| Breathe on thee, and drops will swell: | |
| Bright tears dimm’d the eyes of Nell. | |
| |
| Thine ’s a frame to charm the sight, | 25 |
| Fram’d was she to give delight, | |
| Waxen forms here truly show | |
| Charles above and Nell below; | |
| But between them, chin with chin, | |
| Stuart stands as low as Gwynne,— | 30 |
| Paired, yet parted,—meant to tell | |
| Charles was opposite to Nell. | |
| |
| Round the glass wherein her face | |
| Smil’d so oft, her “arms” we trace; | |
| Thou, her mirror, hast the pair, | 35 |
| Lion here, and leopard there. | |
| She had part in these,—akin | |
| To the lion-heart was Gwynne; | |
| And the leopard’s beauty fell | |
| With its spots to bounding Nell. | 40 |
| |
| Oft inspected, ne’er seen through, | |
| Thou art firm, if brittle too; | |
| So her will, on good intent, | |
| Might be broken, never bent. | |
| What the glass was, when therein | 45 |
| Beam’d the face of glad Nell Gwynne, | |
| Was that face by beauty’s spell | |
| To the honest soul of Nell. | |
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