Poetical Fragments from Ethel Churchill Volume I/Affection

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

CHAPTER XXVI.

LADY MARCHMONT TO SIR JASPER MEREDITH.

There is in life no blessing like affection:
It soothes, it hallows, elevates, subdues,
And bringeth down to earth its native heaven.
It sits besides the cradle patient hours,
Whose sole contentment is to watch and love;
It bendeth o'er the death-bed, and conceals
Its own despair with words of faith and hope.
Life has nought else that may supply its place:
Void is ambition, cold is vanity,
And wealth an empty glitter, without love.

Blanchard’s title is:

AFFECTION

First line used as title of a picture by John Sartain after Wright (1808-1897)

In the Bouquet (1846), under (Gilly Flower) Cheiranthus incanus as Bonds of Affection