This page needs to be proofread.
BALAUSTION'S ADVENTURE.
19
Pretends she saw what was not to be seen,Making the mask of the actor move, forsooth!'Then a fear flitted o'er the wife's white face,'—'Then frowned the father,'—'then the husband shook,'—'Then from the festal forehead slipt each spray,'And the heroic mouth's gay grace was gone;'—As she had seen each naked fleshly face.And not the merely-painted mask it wore!"Well, is the explanation difficult?What's poetry except a power that makes?And, speaking to one sense, inspires the rest,Pressing them all into its service; soThat who sees painting, seems to hear as wellThe speech that 's proper for the painted mouth;And who hears music, feels his solitudePeopled at once—for how count heart-beats plainUnless a company, with hearts which beat,Come close to the musician, seen or no?
