Awhile the Monarch, fearlessly amazed, It tower'd to heaven amidst a sandy waste; shone, It seem'd the footstool of Jehovah's throne. When suddenly the Bard had ceased to While all the Chieftains gazed upon their Whose changing looks a rising storm Ere from his lips the dread explosion broke, Unawed they see the fiery trial near; fear. To light the dusky scene, resplendent fires, Of pine and cedar, blazed in lofty pyres; While from the cast the moon with doubtful gleams CANTO IX. A GLEAM of joy, at that expected sight, Ere morn, these Sons of God shall prove my Offer'd by me, their blood shall be the price And instantly his visage changed its hue; around, As one who saw a spectre in the air, To flames, his ashes scatter'd to the wind." The Youth was pleading,-every breath was And every Mother loved him as her child. "Monarch! to thee no traitor,here I stand; In sheltering forests to escape thy power; Now tipt the hills, now glanced athwart And every eye was fixed on him alone. still, They know he can deliver, and HE WILL: seem “Thou shalt not die alone;" a voice replied, | Javan, in wonder, pity, and delight Then suddenly unloosed, his arm she grasp'd, "O I have wrong'd thee,Javan!—Let us be Espoused in death:—No, I will die for thee. -Tyrant! behold thy victim; on my head Love's lightest, fondest weakness, maiden shame, The strange illusions of a Lover's dress He dare not move, lest he himself But when she ceased to speak and he hear, The silence startled him;—cold, shiver fear Crept o'er his nerves;—in thought he his eye Back on the world, and heaved a bitter sig Thus from life's sweetest pleasures to torn, Just when he seem'd to new existence ben —It was not pride,—that hid my bosom-And cease to love, when Love no more va flame? pain; 'Twas but a pang of transient weakness:– Are all thy sorrows," faulteringly he said. And canst thou Javan's cruel scorn forgive And wilt thou mourn the poor transgressor's death, Who says, I love thee, with his latest breath! mind Gloried in leaving all I loved behind; Who, still his evil Genius, felly bent one bold purpose, went where'er he went; hat purpose, long in his own bosom seal'd, Lipe for fulfilment now, he thus reveal'd. *ull in the midst he rush’d; alarm'd, aghast, iants and Captives trembled as he pass'd, For scarcely seem'd he of the sons of earth; Jnchronicled the hour that gave him birth; Though shrunk his cheek, his temples deeply plough'd, Keen was his vulture-eye, his strength unbow'd; Swarthy his features; venerably grey, His ample locks were scatter'd to the wind; His body thrice in glittering volumes wound. All gazed with horror:-deep unutter'd thought ↑ In every muscle of his visage wrought. His eye, as if his eye could see the air, Was fix'd; up-writhing rose his horrent hair; His limbs grew dislocate, convulsed his frame; Deep from his chest mysterious noises came, Now purring, hissing, barking, then they swell'd To hideous dissonance; he shriek'd, he yell'd, As if the Legion-fiend his soul possess'd, And a whole hell were worrying in his breast; Then down he dash'd himself on earth, and roll'd In agony, till powerless, stiff, and cold, With face upturn'd to heaven, and arms outspread, A ghastly spectacle, he lay as dead; The living too stood round, like forms of death, And every pulse was hush'd and every breath. Meanwhile the wind arose, the clouds were driven In watry masses through the waste of heaven, The groaning woods foretold a tempest nigh, And silent lightnings skirmish'd in the sky. Ere long the Wizard started from the ground, Giddily reel'd, and look'd bewilder'd round, Till on the King he fix'd his hideous gaze; Then rapt with ecstacy and broad amaze, He kneel'd in adoration, humbly bow'd His face upon his hands, and cried aloud; Yet so remote and strange his accents fell, They seem'd the voice of an Invisible: “Hail! King and Conqueror of the peopled earth, And more than King and Conqueror! Know thy birth; Thou art a ray of uncreated fire, More great, more glorious in thine high career. As the young Eagle plies his growing wings Still upward tending to thy Sire, the Sun: Now midway meet him; from yon flaming height, Chace the vain phantoms of Cherubic light; There build a tower, whose spiral top shall rise, Circle o'er circle, lessening to the skies: The Stars, thy brethren, in their spheres shall stand To hail thee welcome to thy native land; The moon shall clasp thee in her glad embrace, The Sun behold his image in thy face, Rising and turning his terrific head, That chill'd beholders, thus the Enchanter said: -“Prepare, prepare the piles of sacrifice, The power that rules on earth shall rule the skies: Hither,oh Chiefs! the captivePatriarchsbring, And pour their blood an offering to your King; He, like his Sire, the Sun, in transient clouds, His veil'd Divinity from mortals shrouds, Too pure to shine till these his foes are slain, And conquer'd Paradise hath crown'd his reign. Haste, heap the fallen cedars on the pyres, Your Sovereign's wrath, or pluck them from With heaven-defying front, and clenched hands, And lips half-open'd, eager from his breast A frost was on his nerves, and in his veins A fire, consuming with infernal pains: Conscious, though motionless his limbs were grown: Alive to suffering, but alive in stone. In silent expectation. sore amazed, The King and Chieftains on the Sorcerer gazed: Awhile no sound was heard, save through the woods, The wind deep-thundering, and the dashing floods: At length, with solemn step, amidst the scene. Where that false prophet shew'd his frantic mien, Where lurid flames from green-wood altars burn'd, Enoch stood forth;-on him all eyes were turn'd, O'er his dim form and saintly visage fell The light that glared upon that priest of hell. Unutterably awful was his look; Through every joint the Giant - Monarch shook; Shook, like Belshazzar, in his festive hall, When the hand wrote his judgment on the wall; Shook, like Eliphaz, with dissolving fright, In thoughts amidst the visions of the night, When as the spirit pass'd before his face, Nor limb, nor lineament his eye could trace; A form of mystery, that chill'd his blood, Close at his couch in living terror stood, And death-like silence, till a voice, more drear, More dreadful than the silence reach'd his ear : Thus from surrounding darkness Enoch brake, And thus the Giant trembled while he spake. CANTO X. "The Lord is jealous :- He, who reigns on high, Upholds the earth, and spreads abroad the sky; His voice the Moon and Stars by night obey, He sends the Sun, his Servant, forth by day: From Him all beings came, on Him depend, To Him return, their Author, Sovereign, End. Who shall destroy when he would save? or stand, When he destroys, the stroke of his right hand? With none his name and power will He divide, For HE is GOD, and there is none beside. The Proud shall perish :— mark how wild his air In impotence of malice and despair. What frenzy fires the bold blasphemer's cheek! He looks the curses which he cannot speak. An hand hath touch'd him that he once defied; Touch'd, and for ever crush'd him in his pride; Yet shall he live, despised as fear'd before; The great deceiver shall deceive no more; Children shall pluck the beard of him, whose arts Palsied the boldest hands, the stontest hearts; His vaunted wisdom fools shall laugh to scorn. When muttering spells, a spectacle forlorn. A driveling Idiot, he shall fondly roam From house to house, and never find a home." The Wizard heard his sentence; nor re main'd A moment longer; from his trance unchain'd, He plunged into the woods;-the Prophet then Turn'd, and took up his parable again. “The Proud shall perish:-Monarch! know thy doom; Thy bones shall lack the shelter of a tomb; Not in the battle-field thine eyes shall close, Slain upon thousands of thy slaughter'd foes; Not on the throne of empire, nor the bed Of weary Nature, thou shalt bow thine head: Death lurks in ambush; Death, without a name, Shall pluck thee from thy pinnacle of fame; They ask in scorn:-Destroyer! is it thus? How art thou fall'n from thine etherial height. Son of the morning! sunk in endless night: How art thou fall'n, who saidst, in pride of soul, I will ascend above the starry pole, Thence rule the adoring nations with my nod, And set my throne above the Mount of God Spilt in the dust, thy blood pollutes the ground; that fear'd thee, y not found; Sought by the eyes o'er, Thy Chieftains pause, they turn thy relics | One wilderness of water rolls in view, Then pass thee by,-for thou art known no more. tower, The shuddering fugitives collect their power, Cling to the dizzy cliff, o'er ocean bend, And howl with terror as the deeps ascend. The mountain's strong foundations still endure, The heights repel the surge.-Awhile secure, There too thy worshipt Image shines like fire, "So fall transgressors:-Tyrant now fulfil Thy secret purposes, thine utmost will; |