VI
I might call him
A thing divine; for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
Rosalind was deeply interested in Prospero; and when the Poet and I had
talked long and eagerly about him, she often threw into the current
some comment or suggestion that gave us quite another and clearer view
of his genius and work. But at heart Rosalind's chief interest was in
Miranda and Ferdinand. The presence of Prospero had given the island a
solemn and far-reaching significance in the geography of the world;
Miranda and Ferdinand had left an unfailing and beguiling charm about
the place. If we could have known the point where these two fresh and
unspoiled natures met, I am confident we should have stayed there by
common but unspoken consent. After all our discoveries in this
mysterious world, youth and love remain the first and sweetest in our
thoughts: there is nothing which takes their place, nothing which
imparts their glow, nothing which conveys such deep and beautiful hints
of the better things to be. Miranda had known no companionship but her
father's, no world but the sea-encircled island, no life but the
secluded and eventless existence in that wave-swept solitude. She had
had the rare good fortune to ripen under the spell of pure, high
thoughts, and so near to Nature that no grosser currents of influence
had borne her away from the most wholesome and consoling of all
companionships.
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