As searches on Wikipedia for excepts from the excerpt came up empty, I eventually tried Ode, where "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats is mentioned up-front. Now Greece could fit (I had immediately thought "Attic" referred probably to Attica), but how to verify it? I tried John Keats first, and discovered that we have an article Ode on a Grecian Urn. But then I had to go to WikiSource to verify that it indeed contains the lines you showed.
The second part was much more difficult. Various Wikipedia searches came up empty, and so did a perusal of what links here. But then I thought of using the Wikiquote link given on the John Keats page itself: and lo and behold, he wrote that letter in March 1820 to Fanny Brawne (which I had suspected all along, but had been unable to confirm it, even after checking the what links here on that non-existing article). The quote is, BTW, "You are always new. The last of your kisses was ever the sweetest; the last smile the brightest; the last movement the gracefullest."
After the first part was answered off en:, I really should have thought of checking Wikiquote earlier! Lupo 14:50, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- We really should add this to the article on Fanny Browne, after this round is over... JesseW 23:16, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)