They who on thoughts eternal rest,
With earthly pleasures may be blest;
Since they know well these shadows gay,
Like wind and smoke, will pass away.
Tesselschade, who was much loved by her poet friends, disappointed
them all by marrying a dull sailor of Alkmaar named Albert
Krombalgh. Settling down at Alkmaar, she continued her intercourse
with her old companions, and some new ones, by letter. Among her new
friends were Barlaeus, or Van Baerle, the first Latinist of the day,
and Jacob Cats. When her married life was cut short some few years
later, Barlaeus proposed to the young widow; but it was in vain,
as she informed him by quoting from Cats these lines:--
When a valved shell of ocean
Breaks one side or loses one,
Though you seek with all devotion
You can ne'er the loss atone,
Never make again the edges
Bite together, tooth for tooth,
And, just so, old love alleges
Nought is like the heart's first troth.
These are Tesselschade's lines upon the nightingale in Mr. Gosse's
happy translation:--
THE WILD SONGSTER.
Praise thou the nightingale,
Who with her joyous tale
Doth make thy heart rejoice,
Whether a singing plume she be, or viewless winged voice;
Whose warblings, sweet and clear,
Ravish the listening ear
With joy, as upward float
The throbbing liquid trills of her enchanted throat;
Whose accents pure and ripe
Sound like an organ pipe,
That holdeth divers songs,
And with one tongue alone sings like a score of tongues.
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