_St. Mark's Eve_,' to which reference is also made, was written several
years subsequently, and as may be gathered from its tone, under
circumstances of peculiar loneliness. It was while a solitary occupant
of his lodgings, a stranger in a foreign city, that he felt the
inspiration of precious memories, and improved his lonely hours by this
exquisite production. 'I am alone,' he writes, 'in my chamber; but these
themes have taken such hold upon me that I can not sleep. The room in
which I sit is just fitted to foster such a state of mind. The walls are
hung with tapestry, the figures of which are faded and look like
unsubstantial shapes melting away from sight.... The murmur of voices and
the peal of remote laughter no longer reach the ear. The clock from the
church, in which so many of the former inhabitants of this house lie
buried, has chimed the awful hour of midnight.' It was a fitting time to
yield to the power of that undying affection which abode with him under
all changes, and the serene presence of one snatched from him years ago
must at such times have invested him as with a spell. Thus he writes:

'Even the doctrines of departed spirits returning to visit the
scenes and beings which were dear to them during the body's
existence, though it has been debased by the absurd superstitions
of the vulgar, in itself is awfully solemn and sublime.... Raise it
above the frivolous purposes to which it has been applied; strip it
of the gloom and horror with which it has been surrounded; and
there is none of the whole circle of visionary creeds that could
more delightfully elevate the imagination or more tenderly affect
the heart.... What could be more consoling than the idea that the
souls of those we once loved were permitted to return and watch
over our welfare?--that affectionate and guardian spirits sat by
our pillows while we slept, keeping a vigil over our most helpless
hours?--that beauty and innocence which had languished in the tomb
yet smiled unseen around us, revealing themselves in those blest
dreams wherein they live over again the hours of past
endearments?.... There are departed beings that I have loved as I
never shall love again in this world--that have loved me as I never
again shall be loved. If such beings do ever retain in their
blessed spheres the attachments they felt on earth; if they take an
interes