It is vain to dispute about the matter; moralists may moralize, preachers
may sermonize about it as much as they please; still beauty is a most
delightful thing,--and a really lovely woman a most enchanting object to
gaze on. I am aware of all that can be said about roses fading, and cheeks
withering, and lips growing thin and pale. No one, indeed, need be ignorant
of every change which can be rung upon this peal of bells, for every one
must have heard them in every possible, and impossible, variety of
combination. Give time, and complexion will decay, and lips and cheeks will
shrink and grow wrinkled, sure enough. But it is needless to anticipate the
work of years, or to give credit to old Time for his conquests before he
has won them. The edge of his scythe does more execution than that of the
conqueror's sword: we need not add the work of fancy to _his_,--it is more
than sufficiently sure and rapid already.
_Tales of Passion._
* * * * *