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Of their own dissolution, while they die-
Adorning then the dwellings of the sky.

A dome, by linked light from heaven let down,
Sat gently on these columns as a crown;
A window of one circular diamond, there,
Look'd out above into the purple air;

And rays
from God shot down that meteor chain,
And hallow'd all the beauty twice again,—
Save when, between th' Empyrean and that ring,
Some eager spirit flapp'd his dusky wing.
But on the pillars seraph eyes have seen

The dimness of this world: that greyish green
That Nature loves the best for Beauty's grave
Lurk'd in each cornice, round each architrave,
And every sculptured cherub thereabout
That from his marble dwelling peered out,
Seem'd earthly in the shadow of his niche-
Achaian statues in a world so rich?
Friezes from Tadmore and Persepolis,*
From Balbec, and the stilly, clear abyss
Of beautiful Gomorrah! Oh, the wavef
Is now upon thee-but too late to save!

* Voltaire, in speaking of Persepolis, says, "Je connois bien l'admiration qu'inspirent ces ruines, mais un palais érigé au pied d'une chaine des rochers sterils, peut il être un chef-d'œuvre des arts!"

+ "Oh, the wave!" Ula Deguisi is the Turkish appellation; but on its own shores it is called Bahar Loth, or Almotanah. There were undoubtedly more than two cities

Sound loves to revel in a summer night :
Witness the murmur of the grey twilight
That stole upon the ear, in Eyraco,*
Of many a wild star-gazer long ago,
That stealeth ever on the ear of him
Who, musing, gazeth on the distance dim,
And sees the darkness coming as a cloud-

Is not its form-its voice-most palpable and loud?+

But what is this?-it cometh-and it brings A music with it: 'tis the rush of wings! A pause-and then a sweeping, falling strain, And Nesace is in her halls again.

From the wild energy of wanton haste

Her cheeks were flushing, and her lips apart;

engulphed in the Dead Sea. In the valley of Siddim were five Adrah, Zeboin, Zoar, Sodom, and Gomorrah. Stephen of Byzantium mentions eight, and Strabo thirteen (engulphed); but the last is out of all reason.

It is said [Tacitus, Strabo, Josephus, Daniel of St. Saba, Nau, Maundrell, Troilo, D'Arvieux] that, after an excessive drought, the vestiges of columns, walls, &c., are seen above the surface. At any season, such remains may be discovered by looking down into the transparent lake, and at such distances as would argue the existence of many settlements in the space now usurped by the "Asphaltites."

* Eyraco-Chaldea.

I have often thought I could distinctly hear the sound of the darkness as it stole over the horizon.

And zone that clung around her gentle waist
Had burst beneath the heaving of her heart.
Within the centre of that hall to breathe
She paused and panted, Zanthe! all beneath,
The fairy light that kiss'd her golden hair
And long'd to rest, yet could but sparkle there!

Young flowers were whispering in melody* To happy flowers that night, and tree to tree; Fountains were gushing music as they fell In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell; Yet silence came upon material things, Fair flowers, bright waterfalls, and angel wings, And sound alone that from the spirit sprang Bore burden to the charm the maiden sang:

""Neath blue-bell or streamer,

Or tufted wild spray,
That keeps from the dreamer
The moonbeam away,†

* Fairies use flowers for their charactery.-Merry Wives of Windsor.

+ In Scripture is this passage,-"The sun shall not harm thee by day, nor the moon by night." It is, perhaps, not generally known, that the moon, in Egypt, has the effect of producing blindness to those who sleep with the face exposed to its rays, to which circumstance the passage evidently alludes.

Bright beings! that ponder,
With half-closing eyes,

On the stars which your wonder
Hath drawn from the skies,

Till they glance through the shade, and
Come down to your brow,

Like eyes of the maiden

Who calls on you now. Arise! from your dreaming

In violet bowers,

To duty beseeming

These star-litten hours;

And shake from your tresses,

Encumber'd with dew,

The breath of those kisses

That cumber them too
(Oh, how without you, Love!
Could angels be blest?)-

Those kisses of true love
That lull'd ye to rest!
Up! shake from your wing
Each hindering thing:

The dew of the night—

It would weigh down your flight;

And true love caresses

Oh, leave them apart!

They are light on the tresses,
But lead on the heart.

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*The albatross is said to sleep on the wing.

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