Then thus I rav'd-Behold thy husband kneel,
And judge! O judge what agonies I feel!
Oh! be no longer, if unkind, thus fair;
Take Horror's fhape, and fright me to defpair! 320
Ratter than thus, pitying, fee my moan,
Far rather frown,d fix me here in stone!
But mock not thu Alas (the charmer faid,
Smiling, and in her smile soft radiance play'd)
Alas! no more elu te ftrength employ, 325
To clafp a fhade!— hat more is mortal joy?
Man's blifs is, like his knowledge, but formis'd;
One ignorance, the other pain difguis'd!
Thou wert (had all thy wifh been still poffeft)
Supremely curft from being greatly bleft;
For oh! fo fair, fo dear was I to thee,
Thou hadft forgot thy God, to worship me;
This he forefaw, and fnatch'd me to the tomb;
Above I flourish in unfading bloom.

330

Think me not loft: for thee I heaven implore! 335
Thy guardian angel, though a wife no more!
I, when abftracted from this world you feem,
Hint the pure thought, and frame the heavenly

dream!

340

Clofe at thy fide, when morning streaks the air,
In Mufic's voice I wake thy mind to prayer!
By me, thy hymns, like pureft incenfe, rife,
Fragrant with grace, and pleasing to the skies!
And when that form shall from its clay refine,
(That only bar betwixt my foul and thine!)
When thy lov'd fpirit mounts to realms of light, 345
Then fhall Olympia aid thy earliest flight;
Mingled we'll flame in raptures that aspire
Beyond all youth, all fenfe, and all defire.
She ended. Still fuch fweetnefs dwells behind,
Th'inchanting voice ftill warbles in my mind: 350
But lo! th' unbodied vifion fleets away!-
-Stay, my Olympia!-I conjure thee, flay!
Yet ftay-for thee my memory leans to smart!
Sure every vein contains a bleeding heart!
Sooner fhall fplendor leave the blaze of day,
Than love, fo pure, fo vaft as mine, decay!
From the fame heavenly fource its luftre came,
And glows, immortal, with congenial fiame!
Ah!-let me not with fires neglected burn;
Sweet mistress of my foul, return, return!

355

360

365

Alas!-fhe's fled-I traverfe now the place, Where my enamour'd thoughts her footsteps trace. Now, o'er the tomb, I bend my drooping head, There tears, the eloquence of forrow, thed. Sighs choak my words, unable to exprefs The pangs, the throbs of fpeechlefs tenderness! Not with more ardent, more transparent flame, Call dying faints on their Creator's name, Than I on her's;-but through yon yielding door, Glides a new phantom o'er th' illumin'd floor! 370 The roof fwift kindies from the beaming ground, And floods of living luftre flame around! In all the majefty of light array'd, Awful it fhines!-'tis Cato's honour'd fhade! As the heavenly vifitant purfue, Sublimer Glory opens to my view!

375

But from my frailty, it receives a stain,
I grow, unlike my great inspirer, vain;
And burn, once more, the bufy world to know,
And would, in fcenes of action, foremoft glow!
Where proud ambition points her dazzling rays! 385
Where coronets and crowns, attractive, blaze!
When my Olympia leaves the realms above,
And lures me back to folitary love.
She tells me truth, prefers an humble flate,
That genuine greatnefs fhuns the being great! 390
That mean are thofe, who falfe-term'd honour
prize;

Whose fabricks from their country's ruin rise;
Who look the traitor, like the patriot, fair;
Who, to enjoy the vineyard, wrong the heir.
I hear!-through all my veins new transports
roll!

I gaze! warm love comes rufhing on my foul:
Ravish'd I gaze!-again her charms decay!
Again my manhood to my grief gives way!
Cato returns!-Zeal takes her course to reign!
But zeal is in ambition loft again!

395

400

405

I'm now the flave of fondness!-now of pride!
-By turns they conquer, and by turns fubfide!
Thefe balanc'd each by each, the golden mean,
Betwixt them found, gives happiness serene;
This I'll enjoy!—He ended!—I reply'd,
O Hermit! thou art worth feverely try'd!
But had not innate grief produc'd thy woes,
Men, barbarous men, had prey'd on thy repose.
When fecking joy, we feldom forrow mifs,
And often mifery points the path to bliss.
The foil, moft worthy of the thrifty swain,
Is wounded thus, ere trufted with the grain;
The struggling grain mult work obfcure its way,
Ere the first green fprings upward to the day;
Up-fprung, fuch weed-like coarfenefs it betrays,415
Flocks on th' abandon'd blade permiffive graze;
Then fhoots the wealth, from imperfection clear,
And thus a grateful harvest crowns the year.

CANTO III.

410

HUS free our focial time from morning flows Till fifing fhades attempt the day to clofe. Thus my new friend: Behold the light's decay: Back to yon city let me point thy way. South-weft, behind yon hill, the floping fan, 5 To ocean's verge his fluent courfe has run : His parfing eyes a watery radiance shed, Glance through the vale, and tip the mountain's head:

He fpeaks! But, oh! what words fhall dare repeat His thoughts! They leave me fir'd with patriot

heat!

More than poetic raptures now I feel,
And own that godlike paffion, public zeal!

See! flames, condens'd now vary her attire ;
Her face, a broad circumference of fire.
Dark firs feem kindled in nocturnal blaze;
Through ranks of pines, her broken luftre plays,
Here glares, there brown-protecting fhade beftows,
And, glittering, sports upon the spangled fnows. 26
Now filver turn her beams!-yon den they gain;
The big, rouz'd lion shakes his brindled main.
Fierce, fleet, gaunt monsters, all prepar'd for gore,
Rend woods, vales, rocks, with wide-refounding

40

O dire prefage!-But fear not thou, my friend,
Our freps the guardians of the juft attend.
Homeward I'll wait thee on-and now furvey,
How men and spirits chace the night away! [35
Yon nymphs and fwains in amorous mirth advance;
To breathing mufic moves the circling dance.
Here the bold youth in deeds adventurous glow,
Skimming in rapid fleds the crackling fnow.
Not when Tydides won the funeral race,
Shot his light car along in fwifter pace.
Here the glaz'd way with iron feet they dare,
And glide, well-pois'd, like Mercuries in air.
There crowds, with ftable tread, and level'd eye,
Lift, and difmifs the quoits, that whirling fly.
With force fuperior, not with skill so true,
The ponderous difk from Roman finews flew.
Where neighbouring hills fome cloudy fheet futtain,
Freez'd o'er the nether vale a penfile plain,
Crofs the roof'd hollow rolls the maffy round,
The crack'd ice rattles, and the rocks refound! 50
Cenfures, difputes, and laughs, alternate, rife;
And deafening clangor thunders up the skies.

45

Thus, amid crowded images, ferene, From hour to hour we pafs'd, from feene to fcene: Faft wore the night. Full long we pac'd our way: Vain fteps! the city yet far diftant lay. 56 While thus the Hermit, ere my wonder fpoke, Methought, with new amusement, filence broke: Yon amber-hued cafcade, which fleecy flies Through rocks, and ftrays along the tracklefs fkies, To frolic fairies marks the mazy ring; 61 Forth to the dance from little cells they spring, Meafur'd to pipe or harp!-and next they ftand, Marfhal'd beneath the moon, a radiant band! in froft-work now delight the sportive kind: Now court wild fancy in the whistling wind. Hark! the funereal bell's deep-founding toll, To blifs, from mifery, calls fome righteous foul! Juft freed from life, life fwift-afcending fire, [70 Glorious it mounts, and gleams from yonder spire! Light claps its wings!-it views, with pitying fight,

The friendly mourner pay the pious rite;

65

The plume high wrought, that blackening nods in air;

The flow-pac'd weeping pomp; the folemn prayer; The decent tomb; the verfe, that Sorrow gives, 75 Where, to remembrance (weet, fair virtue lives.

Now to mid-heaven the whiten'd moon inclines, And fhades contract, mark'd out in clearer lines;

With noifeless gloom the plains are delug'd o'er : See!-from the north, what streaming meteors

pour!

80

85

90

Beneath Bootes fprings the radiant train,
And quiver through the axle of his wain.
O'er altars thus, impainted, we behold
Half-circling glories fhoot in rays of gold.
Crofs æther fwift elance the vivid fires!
As swift again each pointed flames retires!
In Fancy's eye encountering armies glare,
And fanguine enfigns wave unfurl'd in air!
Hence the weak vulgar deem impending fate,
A monarch ruin'd, or unpeopled state.
Thus comets, dreadful vifitants! arife
To them wild omens! science to the wife!
These mark the comet to the fun incline,
While deep-red flames around its centre shine!
While its fierce rear a winding trail displays, 95
And lights all æther with the sweepy blaze!
Or when, compell'd, it flies the torrid zone,
And fhoots by worlds unnumber'd and unknown;
By worlds, whofe people, all-aghast with fear,
May view that minifter of vengeance near!
Till now, the tranfient glow, remote and loft,
Decays, and darkens 'mid involving frost!
Or when it, funward, drinks rich beams again,
And burns imperious on th' ætherial plain!
The learn'd-one curious eyes it from afar,
Sparkling through night, a new illuftrious ftar!

100

105

The moon, defcending, faw us now pursue The various talk:-the city near in view! Here from ftill-life (he cries) avert thy fight, [110 And mark what deeds adorn, or fhame the night! But, heedful, each immodeft profpe& fly; Where decency forbids enquiry's eye. Man were not man, without love's wanton fire, But reafon's glory is to quell defire, [115 What are thy fruits, O Luft? Short bleffings, bought Wit.."ong remorse, the seed of bitter thought; Perhaps fome babe to dire diseases born, Doom'd for another's crimes, through life, to mourn; Or murder'd, to preserve a mother's fame; Or cast obscure; the child of want and fhame! 120 Falfe pride! What vices on our conduct steal, From the world's eye one frailty to conceal! Ye cruel mothers!-Soft! those words command; So near fhall cruelty, and mother stand? Can the dove's bofom fnakey venom draw? 125 Can its foot fharpen, like the vulture's claw? Can the fond goat, or tender, fleecy dam Howl, like the wolf, to tear the kid, or lamb? Yes, there are mothers-There I fear'd his aim, And, confcious, trembled at the coming name; 130 Then, with a figh, his iffuing words oppos'd! Straight with a falling tear the fpeech he clos'd. That tenderness, which ties of blood deny, Nature repaid me from a stranger's eye. [135 Pale grew my cheeks!-But not to general views Our converfe turns, which thus my friend renews. Yon manfion, made by beaming tapers gay, Drowns the dim night, and counterfeits the day,

140

From lumin'd windows glancing on the eye,
Around, athwart, the frisking shadows fly.
There midnight riot spreads illufive joys,
And fortune, health, and dearer time destroys.
Soon death's dark agent to luxuriant ease,
Shall wake sharp warnings in fome fierce disease.
O man! thy fabric's like a well-form'd ftate; 145
Thy thoughts, first rank'd, were sure design'd the
great;

Paffions plebeians are, which faction raise;
Wine, like pour'd oil, excites the raging blaze:
Then giddy anarchy's rude triumphs rife:
Then fovereign reafon from her empire flies:
That ruler once depos'd, wisdom and wit,
To noife and folly, place and power fubmit;
Like a frail bark thy weaken'd mind is toft,
Unfteer'd, unbalanc'd, till its wealth is loft.

165

Faft-leffens, when gay hours return no more;
Smile at thy heir, beholding, in his fall,
Men once oblig'd, like Him, ungrateful all!
Then thought-infpiring woe his heart fhall mend,
And prove his only wife, unflattering friend.
Folly exhibits thus unmanly fport, [170
While plotting Mischief keeps referv'd her court.
Lo! from that mount, in blasting fulphur broke,
Stream flames voluminous, enwrapp'd with smoke!
In chariot-shape they whirl up yonder tower,
Lean on its brow, and like deftruction lower!
From the black depth a fiery legion springs; 175
Each bold, bad fpectre claps her founding wings:
And ftraight beneath a fummon'd, traiterous band,
On horror bent, in dark convention ftand:
From each fiend's mouth a ruddy vapour flows,
Glides thro' the roof, and o'er the council glows:
The villains, close beneath th' infection pent, 181
Feel, all-poffefs'd, their rifing galls ferment;
And burn with faction, hate, and vengeful ire,
For rapine, blood, and devastation dire! [185
But Juftice marks their ways: the waves, in air,
The fword, high-threatening, like a comet's glare.
While here dark Villainy herself deceives,
There ftudious Honesty our view relieves.
A feeble taper, from yon lonesome room,
Scattering thin rays, juft glimmers thro' the gloom.
There fits the fapient BARD in museful mood,
And glows impaffion'd for his country's good!
All the bright fpirits of the juft, combin'd,
Inform, refine, and prompt his towering mind!
He takes the gifted quill from hands divine,
Around his temples rays refulgent shine!
Now rapt! now more than man!-I fee him climb,
To view this fpeck of earth from worlds fublime!

[190

195

O Thou, who form'd, who rais'd the poet's art, (Voice of thy will!) unerring force impart! If wailing worth can generous warmth excite, If verfe can gild instruction with delight, Infpire his honeft Muse with orient flame, To rife, to dare, to reach the nobleft aim!

220

But, O my friend! mysterious is our fate! How mean his fortune, though his mind elate! Æneas-like he paffes through the crowd, Unfought, unfeen beneath misfortune's cloud; Or feen with flight regard: Unprais'd his name: 225 His after-honour, and our after-shame. The doom'd defert, to avarice stands confefs'd; Her eyes averted are, and steel'd her breast. Envy afquint the future wonder eyes : Bold infuit, pointing, hoots him as he flies; 230 While coward Cenfure, fkill'd in darker ways, Hints fure detraction in diffembled praise ! Hunger, thirst, nakedness, there grievous fall! Unjuft derision too!-that tongue of gall! [235 Slow comes Relief, with no mild charms endued, Ufher'd by Pride, and by Reproach pursued. Forc'd Pity meets him with a cold respect, Unkind as Scorn, ungenerous as Neglect.

Yet, fuffering Worth! thy fortitude will shine: Thy foes are Virtue's, and her friends are thine! 240 Patience is thine, and Peace thy days shall crown; Thy treasure Prudence, and thy claim Renown : Myriads, unborn, fhall mourn thy hapless fate, And myriads grow, by thy example, great!

Hark! from the watch-tower rolls the trumpet's found, 1245 Sweet through ftill night, proclaiming safety

round!

Yon fhade illuftrious quits the realms of rest,
To aid fome orphan of its race diftreft,
Safe winds him through the fubterraneous way,
That mines yon manfion, grown with ruin grey,
And marks the wealthy, unfuspected ground, 251
Where, green with ruft, long-buried coins abound.
This plaintive ghost, from earth when newly fied,
Saw thofe, the living trufted, wrong the dead;
He faw, by fraud abus'd, the lifeless hand
Sign the falfe deed that alienates his land;
Heard, on his fame, injurious cenfure thrown,
And mourn'd the beggar'd orphan's bitter groan.

255

260

265

Commiffion'd now the falfehood he reveals,
To justice soon th' enabled heir appeals;
Soon, by his wealth, are costly pleas maintain'd,
And, by difcover'd truth, lost right regain'd.
But why (may fome enquire) why kind fuccefs,
Since myftic heaven gives mifery oft to bless?
Though mifery leads to happiness and truth,
Unequal to the load, this languid youth,
Unftrengthen'd virtue fcarce his bofom fir'd,
And fearful from his growing wants retir'd.
Oh, let not cenfure, if (untried by grief,
If, amidst woe, untempted by relief,)
He ftoop'd reluctant to low arts of shame,
Which then, ev'n then he scorn'd, and blush'd to

name.

270

275

Heaven fees, and makes th' imperfect worth its care,
And chears the trembling heart, unform'd to bear,
Now rifing fortune elevates his mind,
He shines unclouded, and adorns mankind.
So in fome engine, that denies a vent,
If unrefpiring is fome creature pent,

It fickens, droops, and pants, and gafps for breath,
Sad o'er the fight fwim fhadowy mifts of death; 280
If then kind air pours powerful in again,
New heats, new pulfes quicken every vein ;
From the clear'd, lifted, life-rekindled eye,
Difpers'd, the dark and dampy vapours fly. [285
From trembling tombs the ghofts of greatnefs rife,
And o'er their bodies hang with wistful eyes;
Or discontented ftalk, and mix their howls
With howling wolves, their screams with fcreaming
The interval 'twixt night and morn is nigh, [owls.
Winter more nitrous chills the shadow'd fky. 290
Springs with foft heats no more give borders
green,

301

Nor fmoaking breathe along the whiten'd scene;
While steamy currents, fweet in profpect, charm
Like veins blue-winding on a fair-one's arm. [295
Now Sleep to Fancy parts with half his power,
And broken flumbers drag the restless hour.
The murder'd seems alive, and ghaftly glares,
And in dire dreams the conscious murderer fcares,
Shews the yet-fpouting wound,th'enfanguin'd floor,
The walls yet-fmoaking with the fpatter'd gore;
Or fhricks to dozing justice, and reveals
The deed, which fraudful art from day conceals;
The delve obfcene, where no fufpicion pries,
Where the disfigur'd corfe unshrouded lies; [305
The fure, the ftriking proof, fo ftrong maintain'd,
Pale guilt starts felf-convicted, when arraign'd.
Thefe fpirits treafon of its power diveft,
And turn the peril from the patriot's breast.
Thofe folemn thought infpire, or bright defcend
To fnatch in vifion fweet the dying friend.
But we deceive the gloom, the matin bell
Summons to prayer!-Now breaks th' iachanter's
fpell!

And now-But yon fair fpirit's form furvey!
'Tis the !-Olympia beckons me away!

310

320

Ihafte!-I fly !-adieu!-and when you fee 315
The youth who bleeds with fondnefs, think on me:
Tell him my tale, and be his pain careft;
By love I tortur'd was, by love I'm bleft.
When worshipp'd woman we entranc'd behold,
We praise the Maker in his faireft mould;
The pride of nature, harmony combin'd,
And light immortal to the foul refin'd!
Depriv'd of charming women, foon we miss
The prize of friendflip, and the life of blifs! [325
Still through the shades Olympia dawning breaks!
What bloom, what brightness luftres o'er her cheeks!
Again fhe calls!-I dare no longer stay!
A kind farewell-Olympia, I obey.

He turn'd, no longer in my fight remain'd;
The mountain he, I fafe the city gain'd.

ST

CANTO IV.

330

TILL o'er my mind wild Fancy holds her sway; Still on ftrange, visionary land 1 ftray. Now icenes crowd thick! now indiftinct appear! Swift glide the months, and turn the varying year! Near the bull's horn light's rising monarch draws;

S

ΙΟ

15

20

Now on its back the Pleiades he thaws!
From vernal heat pale winter forc'd to fly,
Northward retires, yet turns a watery eye;
Then with an anguish breath nips infant blooms,
Deprives unfolding fpring of rich perfumes,
Shakes the flow-circling blood of human race,
And in sharp, livid looks contracts the face.
Now o'er Norwegian hills he strides away :
Such flippery paths Ambition's fteps betray.
Turning, with figns, far spiral firs he sees,
Which bow obedient to the fouthern breeze:
Now from yon Zemblan rock his crest he shrouds,
Like Fame's, obfcur'd amid the whitening clouds;
Thence his loft empire is with tears deplor'd:
Such tyrants fhed o'er liberty restor'd.
Beneath his eye (that throws malignant light)
Ten times the measur'd round of mortal sight)
A waste, pale glimmering, like a moon, that wanes
A wild expanfe of frozen fea contains. [25
It cracks!vaft floating mountains beat the fhore!
Far off he hears those icy ruins roar,
And from the hideous crash distracted flies,
Like one, who feels his dying infant's cries.
Near, and more near the rushing torrents found,
And one great rift runs through the vast profound,
Swift as a fhooting meteor; groaning loud, 31
Like deep-roll'd thunder through a rending cloud.
The late dark Pole now feels unfetting day:
In hurricanes of wrath he whirls his way;
O'er many a polar Alp to Froft he goes,
O'er crackling vales, embrown'd with melting
Inows:

Here bears stalk tenants of the barren space,
Few men, unsocial those!-a barbarous race!

35