Yes! ’twas your thunder—Awful Genii, hail!

Who, thron’d in terrors, ride the Siroc gale,

Whose fires in Ætna’s sulph’rous bosom glow,

Whose cold, on Arctic rocks, congeals the snow;

By your dread talismans of fearful force,

5

Thro’ earth and air, you wing your vent’rous course;

Mov’d by their touch, the portals of the skies

Reveal their glories to your wond’ring eyes;

In every sea, dispart the foaming waves,

And yield their treasures, from their deepest caves;

10

The gloomy demons of the mines obey,

And Ocean’s spirits own your sov’reign sway.

Ere sprung the world from Chaos’ dreary bound,

And the bright planets wheel’d their placid round,

Gigantic masters of the realms of night!

15

No fair proportions met your sullen sight;

A2 A2v 4

In frightful state, the dark abyss you trod,

And held, in chasm’d cells, your drear abode;

Till the green earth, in lavish beauty gay,

Spread her sweet verdure to the new-born day;

20

When shone the hills, beneath the solar beam,

And the moon trembled in the twilight stream;

You first beheld the earliest flow’rets blow,

And purple tinges on the concave glow,

Heard the faint flutter of the summer breeze,

25

When first it sported on the curling seas.

Firm on its central base, when nature stood,

And Power Omniscient found that all was good,

In this fair region, you possess’d the throne,

And o’er its varied climates reign’d alone.

30

Short was your triumph. When the Son of Heaven,

The earth’s wide shores to his dominion giv’n,

In godlike innocence, in Eden’s bower,

Assum’d the ensigns of imperial power,

Scowling, you fled:—the swelling ocean gave

35

Her cells to shroud, and op’d the clifted cave.

A3r 5

—But, when that awful hour of terror came,

Which stain’d the honours of a heavenly name,

When Man retreated from his Maker’s eye,

To hide in deepest gloom his head—and die:

40

—Well pleas’d you heard earth’s solid centre reel,

When the bright angelOpen note a001-rota “And the Lord placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims,
and a flaming sword which turned every way.” Gen. Chap. III. grasp’d the flaming steel;

Your spells regaining their primeval sway,

Again you saw the elements obey;

Again you thunder’d with triumphant ire,

45

And shook the mass with subterraneous fire;

Firm in unconquer’d strength, your hands uptore

The rooted rocks, and rent the farthest shore.

Yes, fateful powers! your awful years display

No feeble pageant of the passing day:

50

The lapse of ages has beheld you tower

Above the monuments of human power;

Alike in land, and sea, and air, and fire,

To rule supreme, your daring souls aspire;

A3 A3v 6

As fancy wills, you rear the pillar’d dome,

55

In earth’s deep caverns, or in ocean’s foam,

Hang your transparent temples high in air,

Or to the realms of flame, your glory bear.

Hark! to the music of the echoing lyre,

The mighty pillars of the earth retire;

60

The long-extending palaces unfold

Their glitt’ring thrones,Open note a002-rota “Abudah, in the morning, when he awaked, was surprised at an unusual
glitter around him; and looking more stedfastly, he found the tree wherein
he sat to be of pure gold; and the leaves of silver, with fruit like rubies
hanging in clusters from the branches. On every side appeared the most
glorious palaces that could be conceived. Trees, and shrubs of silver and
gold, met his eye, growing almost visibly about him.” Talisman of Oromanes. Tales of the Genii. and canopies of gold.

Incluster’d diamonds, on the loaded spray,

In changing colours, meet the orient ray;

The burning ruby gives his blushing power,

65

To deck the gorgeous wreath, and silver bower.

—All powerful Genii! ye, who, rulers here,

May spurn the riches of another sphere,

From mounts of gold you lead, thro’ many a soil,

And many a winding road, the shining spoil;

70 A4r 7

From cumb’ring clay the precious ore refine,

To form the treasures of the dreary mine.

Ere Spain’s tremendous and unpitying host

Led death and slaughter to the western coast,

Ere the vaults echoed to the miner’s moan,

75

You fill’d Potosi’s silver-beaten throne:

From their dark channels, in refulgent pride,

Unfading light the blazing gems supplied;

Pure were the balmy gales, like those that play

Around the footsteps of the vernal day.

80

Then slept your vengeance; every breath was still;

No earthquakes thunder’d your relentless will;

Till thirst of gain allur’d the spoilers feet,

To stain the lustre of your favorite feat.

Hark the loud axe! where’er the ponderous stroke

85

Waves its firm strength, the massy bars unlock,

Unwearied crowds the lofty pillars rend;

A passage form’d, they enter, and descend.

Unmov’d you stand, while terror-working spells

Bring hideous spectres from their yawning cells,

90 A4 A4v 8

To brew the blast, whose pestilential breath

May sweep for ever thro’ the caves of death;

That the same rock, whose rifted channels gave

The envied ore, might also yield a grave.

Imperious kings! when darkness shrouds the skies,

95

And the hush’d city sunk in slumber lies,

Beneath the earth your massy engines play,

And tremulous motions scatter cold dismay;

The affrighted victims, rous’d from soft repose,

By the dim twilight, see the earth disclose,

100

With sound of thunders, her unfathom’d caves,

And the rent ocean toss his furious waves.

—Lo! where the frantic mother, clasping wild

To her quick-heaving heart her sleeping child,

On some torn fragment of the shatter’d wall,

105

Awaits the shock, so soon to level all.

Such was the dreadful scene, when fell the blow

That laid the glitt’ring pride of Lima low;

When he, who, terror-struck upon the tower,

The sea receding with convulsive power,

110 A5r 9

Heard the loud crash, that told th’impending doom,

When the earth open’d, for a general tomb,

And saw the mountain-wave’s returning force

Whelm spires and temples, in its sweeping course.

As wild he gaz’d, where Callao’sOpen note a003-rota The eruption of the sea, during the earthquake at Lima, entirely
swept away the neighbouring port-town of Callao. The singular circumstance
of the preservation of only one man, who escaped by means of a
boat, is mentioned by some authors who record the event. Though, from
a narrative published at Lima, there appears to have been nearly two hundred,
who saved themselves on planks, which the wreck of vessels, torn
from their anchorage in the harbour, threw in their way. See Relation
of the Earthquake at Lima.—London 17481748. turrets rear’d

115

Their shining glories, and no trace appear’d,

Death’s sullen spectre scowling by his side,

Lo! driv’n infuriate o’er the gloomy tide,

A boat appears; his frozen pulses beat,

When the wild billow throws it at his feet;

120

The love of life all thrilling in his breast,

He springs to reach it, and he sinks opprest;

And scarce can bless, while riding on the wave,

The hand benign, that snatch’d him from the grave.

Tremendous Genii! not alone you reign

125

O’er the wild elements, and stormy main,

Pervade the subtile air’s mysterious frame,

Or scatter horror from volcanic flame;

But, in an humbler range, your hands destroy

The blissful image of domestic joy.

130

Say, powerful rulers! your unchanging days

Exist uninjur’d, while the earth decays,—

Has ever pity view’d your starting tear,

Where faithful friendship wept on virtue’s bier?

Where love’s fond eye, ere yet the spirit flew,

135

Beam’d every blessing in the last adieu?

—Heav’d not your hearts, as wild on Tunis’ plain,

The grateful Hamet toreOpen note a004-rota For the story of Hamet, see History of Sandford and Merton, by
Mr. Day. the captive’s chain,

And madly strain’d, to agony oppress’d,

His youthful saviour to his swelling breast!

140

Ah no!—Mark yon pale mourner fit to cheer,

While every smile of anguish hides the tear,

A6r 11

The hapless maniac, thro’ the ling’ring day;

No heart-wrung sighs her agonies betray.

—Oft, as her faded eyes begin to trace

145

Each alter’d feature of that long-lov’d face,

Those eyes, where smiles of joy no longer glow,

That heart serene ’mid agonizing woe,

Ah! then her stifled feelings spurn control,

And tears of keenest pain unbidden roll.

150

Benignant spirits! ye, who range the air,

And bind the wounds of sublunary care!

Who, calm at eve on silver clouds reclin’d,

Inhale the fragrance of the summer wind,

Descend!—Your angel smiles will chase away

155

The storms that shake the tenements of clay.

—O! let your aid the sinking spirit raise

To higher objects, and sublimer days!

In midnight slumbers, to the fancy bring

Elysian bowers, and an eternal spring,

160

With love congenial to the mind convey

What golden glories wake the heavenly day,

A6 A6v 12

What rapt’rous joys the hallow’d soul impress

With full enjoyment, and unmingled bliss!

—Say, tho’ the boast of human pride is o’er,

165

And hope extinguish’d, to revive no more,

That life eternal shall repair the woe,

And soothe the memory of the scenes below;

—Say, that, invested with a purer frame,

The soul unchang’d shall ever be the same,

170

Shall turn to every friend, with guardian care,

And soothe, and soften, when their hearts despair;

—Say, that the parted soul shall pierce the gloom,

Which lowrs tremendous o’er the sullen tomb,

And come by night, the messenger of peace,

175

To speak of joys, that never shall decrease.

O ye dark Genii! can your magic charms,

In Stygian darkness form’d, and drear alarms;

Can all the pomp of universal sway

One throb of rapture to your hearts convey?

180

No! while the powers of desolation wait

Upon your footsteps, ministers of fate,

A7r 13

Beneath those skies, where Boreal tempests roll

O’er the long twilight of the desert pole:

Unseen and fearless, you delight to go,

185

O’er hills of frozen earth, and wreaths of snow;

To mark the sheeted ice, by whirlwinds tost,

Descend, in splinter’d heaps, upon the coast;

Or, far at sea, when floating masses urge

Their gelid mountains o’er the troubled surge,

190

You give command: the stormy billows roar,

And dash the mighty mounds upon the shore.

Swell’d by the flakes of ever-falling snows,

Their icy bulk no dissolution knows;

Still their high tops, the same cold terrors wear,

195

And chill, thro’ many a mile, the ambient air

All hail, terrific kings! whose giant throne,

From the bleak pole, extends thro’ every zone!

Beneath the burning line, your feet have trac’d

The unknown horrors of the Lybian waste:

200

Expanding shores have met your piercing sight,

That long have slept, in undiscover’d night.

A7v 14

Involving woods, impervious to the day,

Where the keen tyger shuns the noon-tide ray,

Whence, proudly spurning his paternal den,

205

The noble lion seeks the haunts of men,

Pursues his way, thro’ solitary lands,

Where Gambia revels on his golden sands,

Drinks the sweet freshness of the cooling wave,

And digs his dwelling in the deepest cave.

210

Scarce has his dreadful voice, along the coast,

Defy’d the proudest of th’ embattled host,

When a wild troop his lonely den surround,

With shining javelins, pointed to the ground.

Sullen he comes, and, to their gleaming arms,

215

Shakes his long main, unconscious of alarms;

With frightful roarings, and indignant ire,

While his eyes sparkle, like consuming fire;

On the proud leader of the band he flies,

And, in his mighty grasp, the victim dies!

220

With frantic fury now he turns around,

His fierce front fever’d with the frequent wound;

A8r 15

The motion giv’n, the intrepid phalanx meet,

And lay the kingly tyrant at their feet,

His monst’rous fangs, unclench’d in death, survey,

225

And boast the terrors of the perilous day;

With shouts victorious bear their glory home,

And wave th’ impurpl’d spear, o’er conquests yet to come.

Ye powerful Genii! while your glance surveys

The polar night alike, and tropic blaze,

230

You guide the world of waters, as you will,

Expend the billows, or the channels fill;

Smooth the dead surface, or the whirlwind urge,

To toss, above the cliff, the mountain surge.

Far in the coral caves, where ocean keeps

235

The long unrifled treasures of the deeps,

On thrones of burning gems, you rule below,

And hear above th’ undreaded tempests blow;

The waves submitted to your proud control,

In pomp sublime, you rest, while ages roll.

240

But, when dark fury sways, with lightning spell

You drag the tempest from its channel’d cell,

A8v 16

With souls unmov’d survey, and gloomy joy,

Its fateful progress, rapid to destroy.

Thus, where dark Maelstrom’s furious torrents boil,

245

Round the rough margeOpen note a005-rota “Round the moist marge of each cold Hebrid isle.” Collins. of Moskoe’s fearful isle,

When ebbs the flood, the turning current forms

Its rapid vortex, and avenging storms.

Deep from beneath, you thunder at the source,

And lend the whirlpool its destructive force;

250

The black’ning waves in circling eddies wheel,

And the dark caverns to their centre reel.

Meantime, uprising from his giant cave,

His huge bulk lashing the resounding wave,

The mighty monarch of the northern sea,

255

Caught by the current, struggles to be free;

With frightful cries,Open note a006-rota Whales are frequently carried into the vortex of Maelstrom, and the
moment they feel the force of the water, they struggle against it with
all their might, howling in a frightful manner. and frantic with despair,

He flings his montstrous water-spouts in air;

In the dread circle of the gulf of death,

Yet, yet he rallies his decaying breath;

260 A9r 17

The raging surge his firmest effort mocks,

And the wild whirlwind drives him on the rocks;

Like the loud cataract, the billows roar;

Awhile he struggles—and is seen no more.

In that dead sea, which not a breath deforms,

265

No sweeping whirlwinds, or internal storms,

You rule, terrific masters of the deep!

And the hush’d waves in sullen silence keep.

What horror thrills the mariner, to feel

A death-like calm arrest his stiffen’d keel;

270

In vain he watches for th’ accustom’d gale,

To move the bark, or fill the flagging sail;

In vain he hopes, while gloom obscures the day,

The coming blast will drive him on his way;

The clouds distend; and, rapid from the skies,

275

Descend the rains, but not a zephyr flies.

Above, the lightning’s sheeted flames illume

The darken’d skies, and pierce the thick’ning gloom.

O ye soft spirits of the fluid air!

From heav’n’s high arch, the fav’ring breezes bear,

280 A9v 18

In the lock’d surges move the secret springs,

And o’er the ocean wave your dewy wings.

Your power prevails; the grateful pilot hails

The wind’s first breath, and spreads the swelling sails;

Swift to his breast the flame of hope returns;

285

Again he guides the helm, the vessel turns.

Malignant tyrants! with vindictive ire,

The ocean heaving as your steps retire,

You trace the bark along the yielding main,

And smile, indignant—where your power was vain.

290

Hence, like the lightning’s flash, you rapid sweep

O’er the wild waters of the Atlantic deep,

Thro’ the long course of Orellana run,

To climes illumin’d by their parent fun;

Where, o’er Pacific seas, the tempests blow,

295

You rear your coral palaces below;

On crystal pedestals the emeralds raise,

And bid the sapphires on their summits blaze.

Your wat’ry reign no wanderer annoys,

Nor dares you deep retreats, or gloomy joys,

300 A10r 19

Save the poor Negro,Open note a007-rota The Spaniards employ their negro slaves in diving for pearls, along
the coast of Terra Firma, and particularly in the Bay of Panama. on his dangerous way,

Thro’ the deep caverns of Panama’s bay,

While the black billows thro’ their fissures swell,

From fractur’d rocks to wrest the pearly shell.

As o’er the cliffs, he holds his slippery road,

305

To drag the treasures from their dark abode,

Your jealous eyes, tremendous rulers! spy

The fated victim you have doom’d to die.

Thus, when, all fainting with the tedious toil,

His weak frame loaded with the fever’d spoil,

310

He springs on high the surface to regain,

Repair his sinking strength, and breathe again;

From some wild gulf, that pours the sweeping storm,

The furious shark uprears his scaly form,

In awful hunger, rolls his flaming eyes;

315

The luckless sufferer turns, and shrieks, and dies.

Mysterious witnesses of ages past!

When darkness veil’d the illimitable vast,

A10v 20

You saw the expandingOpen note a008-rota “And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Gen. Chap. I. firmament divide

The waste of waters from the ocean’s tide;

320

And, when the voice of heav’n, on ev’ry shore,

Bade the wide vengeance of the Deluge pour,Open note a009-rota “That same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,
and the windows of heaven were opened.” “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high
hills that were under the heaven were covered.” Gen. Chap. VII.

When heav’d the billows from their lowest bed,

And hills tumultuous from their places fled,

Far, far below, you heard the waters rise,

325

With sounds, like rushing torrents, to the skies:

Deep, while Omnipotence in thunder spoke,

And ev’ry mountain trembled at the shock;

Not unappal’d, you felt the rocks divide,

And, their deep channels rending by your side,

330

With sinking hearts, you turn’d to ev’ry sound,

When the loud thunderbolt upheav’d the ground;

The tow’ring cliffs in thousand fragments spread,

Till spoke the Eternal,Open note a010-rota “And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters
assuaged.” Gen. Chap. VIII. and the waters fled.

A11r 21

—You saw the earth emerge, the hills return,

335

Like life reviving from the recent urn;

The swelling seas regain their distant shores,

And baffled Plenty renovate her stores;

You stood secure, and triumph’d at the sight,

And bless’d again the sun, and hail’d the light.

340

Swift as the wind, impetuous powers! you fly

Thro’ all the regions of the vaulted sky

Thro’ keenest air, and clouds of frozen hail,

Beneath the burning sun, and scorching gale;

Thro’ the wide course of many a circling sphere,

345

No power opposing your sublime career.

Regents of space! you range thro’ worlds unknown,

Where Saturn, freezing with his pallid zone,

While his dim moons, in feeble lustre gleam,

Turns his huge surface to the distant beam.

350

—What is the lonely gloom of nights like ours,

When on the polar shores the winter lowrs,

—What is the darkness of our darkest caves,

Or the blast dashing on Norwegian waves

2 A11v 22

—What are the dreams, that prompt our midnight fears,

455355

To the long horrors of a night of years?

Ye sullen rulers! while your eyes behold

Suns ever burning, on their thrones of gold,

Unnumber’d spheres their blissful seats disclose,

And worlds where spirits of the just repose,

360

How must the knowledge of your meaner joy

Heave your hard hearts, and all your hours annoy,

Correct your triumph, as you proudly tower,

In space unlimited, supreme in power!

Dread kings! when earth, and air, and ocean tire,

365

Your spells can penetrate the realms of fire.

—Amid th’ Antarctic wind’s eternal toil,

You hide the summits of yourOpen note a011-rota “The island was now discovered, and in the midst of it a huge mountain,
whose summit reached far above the fleeting clouds, where a volcano
vomited forth a deluge of liquid fire, with terrible roarings and a mighty
sound, as of winds bursting from the deep caverns of the earth.—The
glowing deluge descended down the mountain, in a sheet of fire, and, rushing
violently into the sea, drove back the affrighted waves in dreadful
hisses from its surface; and, for a long time, preserved its fiery course beneath
the waters that foamed above it.” Sadak. Tales of the Genii. burning isle;

Far, far around, the affrighted waves retire

Before your torrents of dissolving fire;

370 A12r 23

The glowing stream beneath the billow plays,

And the green ocean glitters in the blaze.

Or to that coast, where wilder tempests sweep,

In the cold breast of Iceland’s snowy deep,

When freezing winter bids the sun disown

375

The skies, to revel on his tropic throne;

You ride, undaunted, on the whirlwind’s wings,

And Hecla opens to receive her kings.

—What lakes sulphureous, at her centre, frame

The eternal deluges of liquid flame!

380

What giant wheels the founding engines turn!

What gleaming furnaces forever burn!—

Thro’ mines unknown, and dreary gulfs you glide,

Where boiling Geyser throws her fiery tide,

In spouting torrents, from unnumber’d springs,

385

While deep below, the frequent earthquake rings

Or to the confines of the Nile you bear

On wings of death, the suffocating air;

With clouds of moving sand, impetuous driv’n,

Involve the azure canopy of heav’n:

390 A12v 24

All life arresting with its scorching breath,

You lend the gale your magazines of death.

Imperious rulers! dare you still aspire

To wield the sceptre of the realms of fire?

That ardent element, you conquer now,

395

Whose meaner deities before you bow,

Shall, for your ruin, all its force combine,

To sweep from nature’s face your dreadful line.

Thro’ rolling ages, and the tide of time,

In strength uninjur’d, piercing, and sublime,

400

Your eyes shall stretch along the track of day,

And scan its glories,—till they all decay.

—But, when the skies shall glow, in living fire,

Your powers, your terrors, and your spells expire;

Your reign is finish’d, when, from shore to shore,

405

The seraph’s trump reveals, that Time shall be no more.

Hark! ’tis the note of joy; the trumpet’s voice

Swells in the wind, and bids the world rejoice;

From street to street, in artificial light,

The blaze of torches glitters on the night;

Loud peals of triumph rend the startled sky:

5

Rejoice; it is the shout of victory!

Rejoice o’er thousands in untimely graves;

Rejoice! for Conquest rides the crimson’d waves.

Is this a time for triumph and applause,

When shrinking Nature mourns her broken laws?

10

Wide o’er the bloody scene, while glory flies

To heap the pile of human sacrifice;

Hid in some dark retreat, the widow weeps

Her heart’s best treasure buried in the deeps;

The frantic mother’s cries of Heaven implore

15

Some youthful warrior—she shall meet no more:

B2 B2v 28

From the first beam, that wakes the golden day,

To ling’ring twilight’s melancholy ray,

No respite comes, their breaking hearts to cheer,

Or, from the fount of misery, steal a tear!

20

Rough as the storm that rends the icy seas,

Th’ uncultur’d savage spurns the arts of peace;

Impell’d by hatred, and revenge his guide,

He leavesOpen note a012-rota “A single warrior, prompted by caprice or revenge, will take the field
alone, and march several hundred miles to surprise and cut off a straggling
enemy.” Rob. Hist. Amer. Vol. II. his native mountain’s shelt’ring side,

Thro’ trackless deserts holds his bloody way,

25

With toil unwearied, thro’ the tedious day;

At night, reposing on the blasted heath,

In dreams, his fancy points the stroke of death,

Exults horrific o’er his prostrate foe,

And aims anew the visionary blow.

30

Starting he wakes: afar he sees a form,

Half-viewless, stalking thro’ the misty storm;

Nearer he comes; his frantic eye-balls glare,

And yells inhuman ring along the air:

B3r 29

They meet, engage; affrighted Nature flies;

A fearful darkness dims the low’ring skies;

Revenge beside them points th’ envenom’d stings,

And murder shrouds them, with his gory wings!

“Accurs’d the deed!” the Sons of Europe cry,

While the tear starting, trembles in their eye;

40

Yes! ye may boast, from feeling’s source sublime,

That milder mercy gilds your favour’d clime;

With eager joy, you bid oppression cease,

And lull the jarring universe to peace!

Alas! Humanity would shroud the sight,

45

And wrap Destruction in his native night;

With breasts begirt with steel, in dread array,

The glitt’ring legions flash upon the day;

Brothers in Science, at the trumpet’s sound,

Like dæmons meet, and scatter death around.

50

Unmov’d they stand, and view the living tide

Pour, with a torrent’s force, on every side.

On Andes’ cliffs, untutor’d Murder low’rs,

But all its keener, deadlier arts—are ours.

O! could some Spirit, from the fields of day,

55

To this fair planet wing his vent’rous way,

Inhale the freshness of the vernal breeze,

And mark the sun, reflected in the seas,

View where, abundant, on a thousand shores,

The waving harvests yield their golden stores;

60

Gay Beauty smiling in the sweets of morn,

The op’ning violet, and the flow’ring thorn,

Th’ expanding fields of every varied hue,

And the clear concave of unclouded blue!

Then let Him stand, where hostile armies join,

65

By the red waters of the rushing Rhine,

Amid thick darkness, hear the trumpets blow,

And the last shriek of Nature quiver low,

Mark the full tide of Desolation spread,

And count, at eve, the dying and the dead:

70

How would he pause! How seek, in vain, to find

Some trace, in Man, of an immortal mind;

Man, who can glory in a scene like this,

Yet look to brighter worlds, for endless bliss!

O! for a lodge,Open note a013-rota “O! for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of shade.” Cowper’s Task. where Peace might love to dwell,

75

In some sequester’d, solitary dell!

Some fairy isle, beyond the Southern wave,

Where War ne’er led his victims to the grave;

Where, mid the tufted groves, when twilight pale

Peoples with shadowy forms the dewy dale,

80

The lone Enthusiast, wrapt in trance sublime,

Might soar, unfetter’d by the bounds of time,

Might bask in Fancy’s reign, where scenes appear

Of blooms perpetual, thro’ the vernal year;

Where heav’nly odours scent the zephyr’s wing,

85

And fruits and flow’rs, in wild luxuriance spring!

Such were the dreams, that sooth’d the pensive breast,

And lull’d the soul to visionary rest.

Such were the scenes, the poet’s fancy drew,

While Rapture hail’d the moments, as they flew:

90

Till mad Ambition bade the battle rage,

And Man with Man eternal warfare wage

Ah! did our years thro’ circling ages flow,

Or Fate secure the heart from private woe;

Did strength for ever in the arm reside,

95

Or the firm frame retain its youthful pride;

The eye that saw th’ embattled hosts extend,

Might also hope to see their discord end;

The heart, which Sorrow never taught to feel,

Might point, with surer aim, th’ avenging steel:

100

Ah! when a few short years have roll’d away,

The foes shall rest, unjarring, in the clay.

The Tartar-Chief, expiring on the plain,

Amid the multitudes his arm has slain,

Yields his fierce soul, ere half his years are run,

105

And ends his fiery course, when scarce begun.

The polish’d youth, whom Europe rears to arms,

And glory flatters, with deceitful charms,

Chills each fine impulse of the glowing soul,

And, pressing onward to the laurel’d goal,

110

Forgets that feeling ever warm’d his breast,

Or Pity pleaded for the heart opprest.

All hail, ye joys! to genuine feeling dear,

The heart’s warm transport, and the gushing tear!

Welcome the sigh, from pity’s altar stole,

115

Ye calm the tumult of the troubled soul.

O! on whatever shore, by fortune cast,

My shatter’d bosom finds a home at last;

Whatever ills, in sorrow’s ample reign,

May wring my heart, with aggravated pain;

120

Still, at those hours, when, hush’d in deep repose,

The happy lose their joys, the sad their woes,

May fancy lead me to the desert steep,

Stupendous frowning o’er the sullen deep;

To hear the ship-wreck’d mariner deplore

125

His doom relentless, on the rocky shore!

Even when the winds their awful fury urge,

And, heap’d like mountains, rave the foaming surge,

Less dread the terrors of the turbid main,

Than Carnage, stalking o’er th’ ensanguin’d plain!

130

And ye, who, bending o’er the untimely urn,

Will see nor joy, nor happiness return;

B5 B5v 34

Thro’ your chang’d homes, who wildly seek in vain

For those who slumber in the stormy main;

May piercing anguish spare his arrows keen,

135

And pity soothe you, as ye weep unseen!

May peace pervade, where faithful sorrow reigns,

And charm the grief, that not an eye profanes!

Ah! think, tho’ ling’ring years unblest decay,

To troubled night succeeds untroubled day!

140

Time’s feeble barrier bounds the painful course,

But joy shall reign, eternal as its source.

Yes! it is done; the frightful conflict’s o’er;

And peace is fled,—to visit me no more.

Immur’d for ever in this living tomb,

How my soul sickens at her hated doom!

—Ye darksome caverns, mis’ry’s black abode,

5

Where tears of anguish praise th’ ccccinsulted God;

Ye waving pines, that brave the midnight air,

To you I breathe the accents of despair,

On your deaf ear the tale of sorrow pour,

Till death shall bring to all my woes—a cure.

10

Eternal friendship! dare I turn mine eyes

To thy pure shrine, yet mourn the sacrifice?

O! sister of my soul! I seek you here;

In vain I seek you, thro’ the caverns drear;

Falsely I triumph’d, when I bade adieu

15

To social life, to happiness,—to you.

B7v 38

Tho’ on my face delusive pleasure shone,

And peace sat, smiling, on a falling throne,

While not a pang betray’d internal smart,

The scorpion anguish stung me to the heart.

20

Ne’er shall the hour, with keenest horror fraught,

By time be banish’d from my aching thought,

When clos’d the massy gates, with hollow sound,

And lock’d me, shuddering, in their dreary bound.

Transfix’d with agony’s convulsive dart,

25

No gush of sorrow eas’d my swelling heart.

“These walls,” I cried, “I never pass again:”

And nature shiver’d through each chilly vein.

Grim as the grave, before my troubled eyes

I saw the giant form of terror rise;

30

Breathless I listen’d for some cheering sound;

And the wind howl’d the vaulted caves around.

Ye frowning cliffs, whose hoary tops sublime

For ever mock the ravages of time!

When the wild tempest sweeps each awful height,

35

And warring elements convulse the night,

B8r 39

In all the tearless horror of despair,

I turn, to witness desolation there:

Sullen, I trace the lightnings, as they fly,

And hail the thunder’s stroke, that rends the sky;

40

I hear the Var re-bellow to his source,

And bless the heaving storm’s tyrannic force.

The groaning exile, mid Siberian snows,

Feels distant freedom cheer surrounding woes;

Weary and faint, at eve, his shivering form

45

Sustains the fury of the polar storm;

To guide him on his way, no glimmering light,

With ray benignant, breaks the gloom of night;

No faithful partner, breathless with her fears,

Welcomes the wand’rer, with a flood of tears,

50

To lull his sick’ning spirit to repose,

Around, horrific, howl his shaggy foes.

Still fancy dreams, for hope assists her flight,

Of scenes far distant, of renew’d delight;

Again, with rapture’s swelling tide oppress’d,

55

He clasps his children to his burning breast,

B8v 40

Again he rushes to a friend’s embrace,

And feels the big tears bathe his grief-worn face:

—The pathless desert, lock’d in endless frost,

The long long prospect of the shipless coast,

60

Forgotten all; fair freedom’s magic power

Can lull his sorrows, in their fiercest hour;

A few short months to drag the iron chain,

And triumph leads him to the world again.

But me, no hope shall soothe, no time release,

65

No promis’d freedom give me back my peace.

Should these dim walls, these galling fetters bind,

In endless slav’ry, the reluctant mind?

No! Heaven’s immortal light shall shine on those,

Whose lips ne’er utter what their hearts oppose;

70

For them shall Piety, on seraph wings,

Waft bliss unmingled, from Elysian springs;

Hush’d at the midnight hour to balmy rest,

Their guiltless souls commingle with the blest;

By rapture borne, they pierce incumbent night,

75

And lave in yielding seas of liquid light.

B9r 41

Me, heav’n disclaims—while, stupified with woes,

I mourn for ever, o’er my lost repose.

Have I not bath’d, bewilder’d with my fears,

Its spotless altar with unceasing tears?

80

Yes! Conscience, strike; thy fiercest sting prepare,

And bring distraction, to relieve despair.

To yonder distant wood of shadowy pine,

When peace, and health, and liberty, were mine,

Oft have I wander’d, pensive, to behold

85

The sun departing tinge the clouds with gold:

Wrapt in the music of the sighing wind,

All joys alike, and sorrows left behind,

My soul, unconscious of her earthly frame,

Has kindled rapture at devotion’s flame:

90

Or, in the mimic woes that fancy drew,

I heard affection sigh the last adieu;

I trac’d the spirit to her native skies;

And tears of mix’d emotion dim’d mine eyes.

Thro’ the dark grating of my casement low,

95

I mark the sinking sun’s impurpled glow;

B9v 42

I see the groves in all their beauty shine;

They charm no more,—but, ah! the change is mine.

And thou, for whom my faithful love resign’d

Each glowing vision of a youthful mind;

100

To save whose peace, I gave my own away,

And chas’d from life each pleasurable ray!

Could thy fond eye this midnight cell explore,

These walls re-echoing to the torrent’s roar;

How wouldst thou mourn, that, yielding to my pray’r,

105

Thou gav’st thy sister to eternal care!

—Methinks I hear thee at my fate rejoice,

And bless the quiet of my hallow’d choice.

And be it so!—How can I thus repine,

While peace, and ease, and liberty, are thine?

110

Are thou not dearer to this aching breast,

Than joy, and freedom, happiness, and rest?

O! spare me, heaven! my fainting frame sustain;

The pray’r of misery can ne’er be vain:

To fear, remorse, and agony, a prey,

115

Why is my bosom torn, from day to day?

B10r 43

Why will thy ministers, with cruel art,

Tear its last shelter from a broken heart?

Pure was the awful sacrifice it made;

Hard fate impos’d the task, and friendship paid.

120

Ah! had it falter’d, less severely firm,

And, trembling, shudder’d at the first alarm,

To selfish joy confin’d its fervent glow,

What guilt had spar’d its peace, what lasting woe!

Proud that I was! I bade my soul aspire,

125

And catch from heav’n the animating fire,

In virtue’s race th’ eternal path pursue,

Nor saw I follow’d, but as feeling drew.

Thine is this cheek, where grief’s untimely tears

Have worn the furrows of autumnal years:

130

Thine is this ceaseless storm, that rends my soul,

And drives sick reason to distraction’s goal:

O! mid the varied woes, that heap thy shrine,

May none e’er pay an offering like mine!

May none e’er covet thy bewitching joys!

135

Hard is the purchase, and unwise the choice

B10v 44

One blissful tear thro’ rapture’s channel flows,

And thousands stream o’er wounds which never close.

Oft have my sleepless eyes, at early morn,

Mark’d the first dew-drop glitter on the thorn,

140

And trac’d, on Ocean’s breast, the quiv’ring ray,

Whose dubious light proclaims the King of Day:

Immortal verdure crowns the waving woods,

And, clear as chrystal, gush the whit’ning floods,

Celestial balm from ev’ry flow’r exhales,

145

And Heav’n’s pure breath perfumes the summer gales.

On me, they blow in vain: No breath divine

Can charm the horrors of a fate like mine.

Alas! while all around, in freedom gay,

Exult, unfetter’d, in the face of day,

150

In this dim sepulchre I hide my head;

The gloom, but not the quiet of the dead:

And view, for thousands share my lot severe,

How mad the aims of human kind appear!

Ah! could they think, while commerce crowds their shores,

With ev’ry diff’rent clime’s exhaustless stores,

156 B11r 45

While all the arts their varied powers combine,

To lavish gifts on cultivation’s shrine,

That He, whose mercy gave this earthly ball,

With plenty stor’d, impartially, to all,

160

Will weigh, in equal balance, ev’ry soul,

From Afric’s deserts to the freezing pole:

One tear of anguish wip’d from mis’ry’s eye,

One heave, responsive to the sufferer’s sigh,

Will raise their owner’s unobtrusive name

Above the proudest boast of mortal fame.

But what have I to do, intomb’d below,

And drinking to the dregs the cup of woe,

To paint their bliss, to whom the hand of heav’n,

The glorious power of doing good has giv’n!

170

Once I had hop’d,—this bosom then was warm,

And life had many a tie, and many a charm;

Once I had wish’d,—gay Hope his pinions spread;

I turn’d to grasp;—the heavenly vision fled.

What tho’ the soul, indignant, spurn her chain,

And fly, uncurb’d thro’ fancy’s wide domain;

B11v 46

To real life, at last, her flight must come,

And flutter round the happy scene of home.

Yes! ye dank cells, o’ergrown with hoary mould,

The only home I ever shall behold!

180

To you I come, from skies of cloudless light,

From scenes of pure and ever-gay delight.

—Here, as I sit and weep, unheard, unknown,

Save while the echoes give me back my moan,

My weary spirit seeks another scene,

185

Nor bars, nor chains, can interpose between.

Far o’er the bosom of th’ Atlantic waves,

Where fierce, thro’ trackless wilds, the tempest raves,

Unpolish’d nature holds her throne sublime,

And rears the children of her fav’rite clime;

190

Wild as the desolate, uncultur’d soil,

She strings each nerve, to vigour and to toil;

Fearless, amid the unfathom’d gulfs, they play,

Or, thro’ the swampy fens, explore their way,

Trace the fierce cataract to its foaming source,

195

Nor ask a partner, in their dang’rous course;

B12r 47

Alone the savage stands:—His giant soul,

Indignant, mocks the shadow of control;

Each softer glow his bosom scorns to own;

He rests enjoyment on himself alone.

200

To hearts less callous, souls of softer form,

Within the circle of the Arctic storm,

I turn, to Iceland’s melancholy shore,

And sigh, that liberty is mine no more.

Pale from his wint’ry cave, the native braves

205

The rattling tumult of the crashing waves,

Unwearied, till the light’s departing ray

Flings her long shadows on the wat’ry way;

Swift thro’ the icy heaps, with daring keel,

He drives his boat against the diving seal.

210

Or when, outstretch’d upon the frozen deep,

He marks the shaggy bear, in awful sleep,

Shudd’ring, he winds along the ice-pil’d rock,

And whelms his cruel foe, with mortal stroke.

At night, returning to his shelt’ring cave,

215

Affection hails him, weary from the wave.

1 B12v 48

Within, contentment cheers the happy scene,

Prompts the sweet smile, and smooths the brow serene,

Hard and laborious tho’ his lot may be,

Still, still, his heart can tell him—he is free!

220

On Europe’s plains, I rest my wearied eyes;

Yes! light celestial gilds the favour’d skies.

Each finer feeling of the ennobled mind,

Each thought, by science and by taste refin’d,

Each purer enterprise, to virtue dear,

225

And all the arts of polish’d life, are here.

Here too, religion rears the mimic tomb,

And shrouds the suff’rer in a dungeon’s gloom;

Enwrapt in superstition’s iron chains,

How the blood rushes thro’ my shivering veins!

230

The sick’ning spirit wears the powers away,

Which genius kindled with his brightest ray.

Mistrust and guile, in every frightful cell,

Usurp the place, where piety should dwell;

The heart, affection sooth’d with many a tear,

235

By harshness broken, end its sorrows here.

Hark! mingling with the shrill wind’s rising swell,

Slow steal the chimings of the vesper-bell;

Rous’d from disturb’d repose, with ling’ring feet,

The pallid Sisters in affliction meet;

240

Trembling they kneel the midnight shrine before,

While tears, in torrents, from their eye-lids pour.

Are these sad hearts, by hopeless anguish riv’n,

The welcome incense of approving Heav’n?

O Power Eternal! while, thine arm sustains

245

This ample world, and yonder starry plains;

Shall man, with impious hand, thy mercy bind,

And rule at pleasure o’er an equal mind;

Throughout the bleeding earth extend his fame,

And shield his crimes beneath thine awful name?

250

’Twas here, in former times, religion pour’d

The blood of thousands on the insatiate sword:

And now, ev’n now, upon a sister shore,

How long, humanity! shalt thou deplore

That dread tribunal, horror’s darkest cave,

255

Where ruthless murder heaps the midnight grave?

C C1v 50

But here must nature pause;—the arm of time

May root these terrors from the groaning clime;

May tear from superstition’s torturing hand,

The bloody ensigns of her black command;

260

Call the pale victims to the light of day,

To peace, to mercy’s tolerating sway.

Meantime, like some sad wreck, by tempests blown,

Forlorn and desolate, I stand alone.

—O’er the wild deep, the heaving vessel rides,

265

Around, destruction heaps the adverse tides;

Till the sunk rock receives the fated prey,

And ruin stalks upon the wat’ry way.

The dream is o’er!—within my troubled breast,

The grasp of pain unlocks the gates of rest.

270

I feel, while nature stems the burning tide,

Thro’ every vein the deadly poison glide.

O Death! what dark and melancholy muse

Has hung thine altar with unhallow’d yews?

Bring every flower, that scents the southern skies,

275

Or glows in beauty of unnumber’d dyes,

C2r 51

With deathless amaranth the wreath entwine;

These grateful hands shall deck th’ unheeded shrine.

How oft, when ling’ring twilight’s welcome ray

Has clos’d the circle of a tedious day;

280

To-morrow’s fun, my swelling spirit cries,

May wing thee, happy, to unclouded skies,

May see thee shelter’d from the storms of time,

And sooth’d to lasting peace, in bliss sublime.

Thus, in those mansions of relentless toils,

285

Whence nature, shudd’ring at the sight, recoils;

The wretched miner hails the swift decay,

That, inly working, steals his life away.

—Hark! the loud voice of tyrrany appals,

And his faint frame to endless labour calls;

290

As slow he moves, the rifted rocks below,

Where pestilential gales for ever blow,

Sudden, before his dim and less’ning sight,

Descend the thick’ning shades of deepest night;

C2 C2v 52

O’er his pale front, the vapour’s mortal breath

295

Spreads the last hectic, and the dews of death.

He sinks—The quiv’ring spirit tow’rs away,

And meets the splendour of eternal day.