brilliant and spotlessly
pure as adamant! But the dazzling and overwhelming effulgence of the
_Golden City_ as far surpasses the power of mortal speech to
declare, as did it that of mortal eyes to endure. The ever-living
wreathlets of odorous leaves and rainbow-coloured flowers, thickly
clustering and climbing around column and pinnacle, and the shadowing
trees, bending and waving with guardian air over and amidst temple and
palace, were no defence against this supernatural radiance; but as my
dazzled eyes unwittingly closed upon the brilliant vision of the Golden
City, my auricular organs became more exquisitely sensible to the tide
of heavenly melodies, now rolling in awful and inexpressible beauty
around me; my spirit, lapped in ecstacy, quaffed with avidity the
majestic stream, and upon me seemed opening the light and loveliness of
worlds more enrapturing even, and ineffable, than this! But there was a
pause in the music, and anon the magic bells of the Golden City were
heard chiming in harp-like notes, which dropped upon the ear, small,
distinct, and purely brilliant as the melodious tears of the Renealmia
into the near bosom of the waters. A rush of fervent feeling and
exhaustless poetry bore upon my yet subdued spirit;--resistless, but
pleasant sadness enwrapt my soul;--yes! an unearthly and delicious
mournfulness it was, more precious far than the transient sparklings and
flashes of unalloyed mirth. But, alas! inadequate are words to convey an
idea of the heavenly sensations--love, awe, sweet melancholy, divine
joy, and unspeakable devotion--which then struggled for ascendancy in my
softened, purified soul! An odorous, strong wind swept past me--in it
was the sound of a rushing multitude who trod not upon earth, but cut
the air alone; and in it, too, with the murmur of voices, was that of
many instruments, touched only by the breeze.

"Hark!" cried my exquisite companion, "they pass to meet, and to
welcome, to honour, to felicitate, and to crown, a Fairy emancipated
from mortal toil; and those bells, all tones of which speak so
eloquently of immortal peace and life--those liquid bells, at once so
mysteriously sad and so blessed, send forth, in token of gratulation,
their charmed songs. But hearken! for _thou_, O mortal! art
permitted to hear the lay of welcome and victory chanted by heavenly
essences, upon the arrival in this glorious region of our dear
companion, who shall depart from it no more!"

Thereupon