TO JENNY LIND:

ON SEEING HER PORTRAIT FOR GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.

———

BY J. R. FRY.

———

World-worshiped Jenny! if this counterfeit

Of woman be not only Art’s ideal;

If when in ecstasy we gaze on it

We know that all its loveliness is real—

That in this face, by guileless rapture lit,

We see the reflex of thy living features;

And if thy voice this seraph-face befit,

No marvel ’tis that over genial natures

Thy power is felt as more than of the earth—

A gift, among the myriads of God’s creatures,

To prove how much may spring from human birth

Of attributes, which faith or fancy blendeth

With visions only of celestial worth!

Not impiously then the warm heart bendeth

In homage at the altar of thy fame,

Where Virtue jealous of thy smile attendeth,

To watch the burning of its vestal flame

And share with Art the honors of thy name!

EDITOR OF GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE Geo. R. Graham Engraved by W.G. Armstrong from a painting by T.B. Read