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SOUTHERN LIFE IN SOUTHERN LITERATURE

And yet to lack the charm that makes them ours,
The obedient vassals of that conquering spell,
Whose omnipresent and ethereal powers
Encircle Heaven, nor fear to enter Hell;

COPSE HILL
Paul Hamilton Hayne's unpretentious home after the war, situated about eighteen miles from Augusta, Georgia

This is the doom of Tantalus—the thirst
For beauty's balmy fount to quench the fires
Of the wild passion that our souls have nurst
In hopeless promptings—unfulfilled desires.

Yet would I rather in the outward state
Of Song's immortal temple lay me down,
A beggar basking by that radiant gate,
Than bend beneath the haughtiest empire's crown!