1

And lips half-opening with the dread of sound,

Was moulded to such Features as declared Unsleeping Silence guards, worn out with fear, That Pity there had oft and strongly work’d, Lest, haply escaping on some treacherous blast, And sometimes Indignation. Bold her mien, The fateful word let slip the Elements,

And like a haughty Huntress of the woods And frenzy Nature. Yet the wizard her,

She moved : yet sure she was a gentle maid!
Arm'd with Torngarsuck's ' power, the Spirit of Good, And in each motion her most innocent soul
Forces to unchain the foodful progeny

Beam'd forth so brightly, that who saw would say
Of the Ocean's stream.-Wild phantasies! yet wise, Guilt was a thing impossible in her!
On the victorious goodness of high God

Nor idly would have said--for she had lived
Teaching Reliance, and Medicinal Hope,

In this bad World as in a place of Tombs,
Till from Bethabra northward, heavenly Truth, And touch'd not the pollutions of the Dead.
With gradual steps winning her difficult way,
Transfer their rude Faith perfected and pure.

'T was the cold season, when the Rustic's eye

From the drear desolate whiteness of his fields If there be Beings of higher class than Man,

Rolls for relief to watch the skiey tints I deem no nobler province they possess,

And clouds slow varying their huge imagery ; Than by disposal of apt circumstance

When now, as she was wont, the healthful Maid To rear up Kingdoms : and the deeds they prompt,

Had left her pallet ere one beam of day Distinguishing from mortal agency,

Slanted the fog-smoke. She went forth alone, They chuse their human ministers from such states Urged by the indwelling angel-guide, that oft, As still the Epic song half fears to name,

With dim inexplicable sympathies Repelld from all the Minstrelsies that strike

Disquieting the Heart, shapes out Man's course
The Palace-Roof and soothe the Monarchi's pride. To the predoom'd adventure. Now the ascent

She climbs of that steep upland, on whose top
And such, perhaps, the Spirit, who (if words The Pilgrim-Man, who long since eve had watch'd
Witness'd by answering deeds may claim our Faith)

The alien shine of unconcerning Stars,
Held commune with that warrior-maid of France Shouts to himself, there first the Abbey-lights
Who scourged the Invader. From her infant days, Seen in Neufchatel's vale; now slopes adown
With Wisdom, Mother of retired Thoughts,

The winding sheep-track vale-ward : when, behold
Her soul had dwelt; and she was quick to mark In the first entrance of the level road
The good and evil thing, in human lore

An unattended Team! The foremost horse
Undisciplined. For lowly was her Birth,

Lay with stretch'd limbs; the others, yet alive,
And Heaven had doom'd her early years to Toil, But stiff and cold, stood motionless, their manes
That
pure from Tyranny's least deed, herself

lloar with the frozen night-dews. Dismally Unfear'd by Fellow-natures, she might wait

The dark-red down now glimmer'd; but its gleams On the poor Labouring man with kindly looks, Disclosed no face of man. The Maiden paused, And minister refreshment to the tired

Then haild who might be near. No voice replied. Way-wanderer, when along the rough-hewn Bench From the thwart wain at length there reach'd her ear The sweltry man bad stretch'd him, and aloft

A sound so feeble that it almost seem'd
Vacantly watch'd the rudely pictured board

Distant: and feebly, with slow effort pushd,
Which on the Mulberry-bough with welcome creak A miserable man crepi forth : his limbs
Swung to the pleasant breeze. Here, too, the Maid The silent frost had eat, scathing like fire.
Learnt more than Schools could teach : Man's shifting Faint on the shafts he rested. She, mean time,
mind,

Saw crowded close beneath the coverture
His Vices and his Sorrows! And full oft

A mother and her children-lifeless all, At Tales of cruel Wrong and strange Distress

Yet lovely! not a lineament was marr'dHad wept and shiver'd. To the tottering Eld

Death had put on so slumber-like a form! Still as a Daughter would she run : she placed

It was a piteous sight; and one, a babe, His cold Limbs at the sunny Door, and loved

The crisp milk frozen on its innocent lips, To hear him story, in his garrulous sort,

Lay on the woman's arm, its little hand Of his eventful years, all come and gone.

Stretch'd on her bosom.

?

>

So twenty seasons past. The Virgin's Form,

Mutely questioning, Active and tall, nor Sloth nor Luxury

The Maid gazed wildly at the living wretch. Had shrunk or paled. Her front sublime and broad, He, his head feebly turning, on the group Her flexile eye-brows wildly hair'd and low,

Look'd with a vacant stare, and his eye spoke And her full eye, now bright, now unillumed,

The drowsy calm that steals on worn-out anguish, Spake more than Woman's Thought; and all her face She shudder'd: bus, each vainer pang subdued, 1 They call the Good Spirit Torngarsuck. The other great but the rustic bands, with difficulty and toil

Quick disentangling from the foremost horse malignant spirit is a pameless Female ; she dwells under the sea in a great bouse, where she can detain in captivity all the animals of the stiff cramp'd team forced homeward. There arrived, the ocean by her magic power. When a dearth befalls the Green- Anxiously tends him she with healing herbs, landers, an Angekok or magician must undertake a journey thither. And weeps and prays--but the numb power of Death He passes through the kingdom of souls, over an horrible abyss into the Palace of this phantom, and by bis enchantments causes the Spreads o'er bis limbs; and ere the noon-tide hour, captive creatures to ascund directly to the surface of the occan. The hovering spirits of his wife and Babes

Seo Crantz' Hist. of Greenland, vol. I, 206. Hail bim immortal! Yet amid his pangs,

With interruptions long from ghastly throes,

Sent forth, when she the Protoplast beheld His voice had falter'd out this simple tale.

Stand beauteous on Confusion's charmed wave.

Moaning she fled, and entered the Profound
The Village, where he dwelt an Husbandman, That leads with downward windings to the Cave
By sudden inroad had been seized and fired

Of darkness palpable, Desert of Death
Late on the yester-evening. With his wife

Sunk deep beneath Gehenna's massy roots. And little ones he hurried his escape.

There many a dateless age the Beldame lurk'd They saw the neighbouring Hamlets flame, they heard And trembled ; till engender'd by fierce Hate, Uproar and shrieks! and terror-struck drove on Fierce Hate and gloomy Hope, a Dream arose, Through unfrequented roads, a weary way!

Shaped like a black cloud marked with streaks of fire. But saw nor house nor cottage. All had quench'd It roused the Hell-Hac: she the dew damp wiped Their evening hearth-fire : for the alarm had spread. From off her brow, and through the uncouth maze The air clipt keen, the night was fang'd with frost, Retraced her steps; but ere she reach'd the mouth And they provisionless! The weeping wife

Of that drcar labyrinth, shuddering she paused, III huslid her children's moans; and still they moan'd, Nor dared re-enter the diminished Gulf. Till Fright and Cold and Hunger drank their life. As through the dark vaults of some moulder'd Tower They closed their eyes in sleep, por knew't was Death. (Which, fearful to approach, the evening Hind He only, lashing his o'er-wearied team,

Circles at distance in his homeward way) Gain'd a sad respite, till beside the base

The winds breathe hollow, deem'd the plaining groan Of the high bill his foremost horse dropped dead. Of prison'd spirits; with such fearful voice Then hopeless, strengthless, sick for lack of food, Night murmurd, and the sound through Chaos went. He crept beneath the coverture, entranced,

Leap'd at her call her hideous-fronted brood! Till waken'd by the maiden.-Such his tale.

A dark behest they heard, and rush'd on earth;

Since that sad hour, in Camps and Courts adored, Ah! suffering to the height of what was suffer'd, Rebels from God, and Monarchs o'er Mankind !» Stung with too keen a sympathy, the Maid Brooded with moving lips, mute, startful, dark! And now her flush'd tumultuous features shot

From his obscure haunt Such strange vivacity, as fires the eye

Shriek d Fear, of Cruelty the ghastly Dam, Of misery Fancy-crazed! and now once more

Feverish yet freezing, eager-paced yet slow, Naked, and void, and fix'd, and all within

As she that creeps from forth her swampy reeds, The unquiet silence of confused thought

Ague, the biform Hag! when early Spring
And shapeless feelings. For a mighty hand

Beams on the marsh-bred vapours.
Was strong upon her, till in the heat of soul
To the high hill-top tracing back her steps,

« Even so» (the exulting Maiden said) Aside the beacon, up whose smoulder'd stones

« The sainted Heralds of Good Tidings fell, The tender ivy-trails crept thinly, there,

And thus they witnessed God! But now the clouds Unconscious of the driving element,

Treading, and storms beneath their feet, they soar Yea, swallow'd up in the ominous dream, she sate

Higher, and higher soar, and soaring sing
Ghastly as broad-eyed Slumber! a dim anguish

Loud songs of Triumph! () ye spirits of God,
Breathed from her look! and still, with pant and sob, Hover around my mortal agonies !,
Inly she toil'd to flee, and still subdued,

She spake, and instantly faint melody
Felt an inevitable Presence dear.

Melts on her ear, soothing and sad, and slow,

Such Measures, as at calmest midnight heard Thus as she toiled in troublous ecstasy,

By aged Hermit in his holy dream, An horror of great darkness wrapt her round,

Foretell and solace death ; and now they rise And a voice uttered forth unearthly tones,

Louder, as when with harp and mingled voice Calming her soul,-.0 Thou of the Most High

The white-robed' multitude of slaughter'd saints Chosen, whom all the perfected in Heaven

At Heaven's wide-opened portals gratulant Behold expectant-

Receive some martyr'd Patriot. The harmony

Entranced the Maid, till each suspended sense [The following fragments were intended to form part of the Poem Brief slumber seized, and confused ecstasy. when finished.]

At length awakening slow, she gazed around :
Maid beloved of Heaven!.

And through a Mist, the relick of that france (To her the tutelary Power exclaimed)

Still thinning as she gazed, an Isle appear'd, « Of Chaos the adventurous progeny

Its high, o'er-hanging, white, broad-breasted cliffs, Thou seest; foul missionaries of foul sire,

Glass'd on the subject ocean. A vast plain
Fierce to regain the losses of that hour
When love rose glittering, and his gorgeous wings

Stretch'd opposite, where ever and anon
Over the abyss flutter'd with such glad noise,

a

The Plough-man, following sad his meagre team, (Victims at once and Executioners),
Turn'd

up

fresh sculls unstartled, and the bones The congregated Husbaodmen lay waste Of fierce hate-breathing combatants, who there The Vineyard and the llarvest. As along All mingled lay beneath the common earth,

The Bothnic coast, or southward of the Line, Death's gloomy reconcilement! O'er the Fields

Though hushi'd the Winds and cloudless the high Noon, Stept a fair form, repairing all she might,

Yet if Leviathan, weary of ease,
Her temples olive-wreathed; and where she trod In sports unwieldy toss his Island-bulk,
Fresh flowerets rose, and many a foodful herb. Ocean behind him billows, and before
But wan her cheek, her footsteps insecure,

A storm of waves breaks foamy on the strand.
And anxious pleasure beam'd in her faint eye,

And hence, for times and seasons bloody and dark, As she had newly left a couch of pain,

Short Peace shall skin the wounds of causeless War, Pale Convalescent! (yet some time to rule

And War, his strained sinews knit anew, With power exclusive o'er the willing world,

Still violate the unfinish'd works of Peace. That bless'd prophetic mandate then fulfill'd,

But yonder look! for more demands thy view !» Peace be on Earth!) A happy while, but brief, lle said: and straightway from the opposite Isle She seem'd to wander with assiduous feet,

A vapour sailed, as when a cloud, exhaled And heal'd the recent harm of chill and blight, From Egypis fields that steam hot pestilence, And nursed each plant that fair and virtuous grew. Travels the sky for many a trackless league,

Till o'er some Death-doom'd land, distant in vain, But soon a deep precursive sound moan'd hollow: It broods incumbent. Forthwith from the Plain, Black rose the clouds, and now (as in a dream)

Facing the Isle, a brighter cloud arose, Their reddening shapes, transformed to Warrior-hosts, And steer'd its course which way the Vapour went. Coursed o'er the Sky, and battled in mid-air. Nor did not the large blood-drops fall from Heaven The Maiden pauscd, musing what this might mean. Portentons! while aloft were seen to float,

But long time pass'd not, ere that brighter cloud Like hidcous features booming on the mist,

Return'd more bright; along the plain it swept; Wan Stains of ominous Light! Resign'd, yet sad,

And soon from forth its bursting sides emerged The fair Form bowed her olive-crowned Brow,

A dazzling form, broad-bosom'd, bold of

eye, Then o'er the plain with oft-reverted eye

And wild her hair, save where with laurels bound. Fled till a Place of Tombs she reach'd, and there

Not more majestic stood the healing God, Within a ruined Sepulchre obscure

When from his bow the arrow sped that slew Found Hiding-place.

Huge Python. Shriek'd Ambition's giant throng,

And with them hiss'd the Locust-fiends that crawla The delegated Maid

And glitter'd in Corruption's slimy track. Gazed through her tears, then in sad tones exclaim'd,

Great was their wrath, for short they knew their reign; · Thou mild-eyed Form! wherefore, ab! wherefore fled? And such commotion made they, and uproar, The Power of Justice, like a name all Light,

As when the mad Tornado bellows through Shone from thy hrow; but all they, who unblamed The guilty islands of the western main, Dwelt in thy dwellings, call thee Happiness.

What time departing from their native shores, Ah! why, uninjured and unprofited,

Eboe, or Koromantyn's 'plain of Palms, Should multitudes against their brethren rush?

• The Slaves in the West-Indies consider death as a passport to Why sow they guilt, still reaping Misery?

their native country. This sentiment is thus expressed in the inLenient of care, thy songs, O Peace! are sweet,

troduction to a Greek Prize-Ode on the Slave-Trade, of which the As after showers the perfumed gale of eve,

ideas are better than the language in which they are convoyed. That flings the cool drops on a feverous cheek:

Ω σκοτου πυλας, Θανατε, προλειπων And gay thy grassy altar piled with fruits.

Ες γενος σπευδοις υποζευχθεν Ατα But boasts the shrine of Dæmon War one charm,

Ου ξενισθη στη γενυων σπαραγμοί;
Save that with many an orgie strange and foul,

Ουδ' ολολυγμω,
Dancing around with interwoven arms,
The Maniac Suicide and Giant Murder

Αλλα και κυκλοισι χοροιτυποισι
Exult in their fierce union? I am sad,

Κ'ασματων χαρα φοβερος μεν εσσι And know not why the simple Peasants crowd

Αλλ' ομως Ελευθερια συνοικείς, Beneath the Chieftains' standard!, Thus the Maid.

Στυγνε Τυραννε!

Δασκιοις έπει πτερυγέσσι σησι To her the tutelary Spirit replied :

Α! θαλασσιον καθορωντες οιoμα « When Luxury and Lust's exhausted stores No more can rouse the appetites of Kings;

Αιθεροπλαγτοις υπο ποσσ' ανεισι When the low flattery of their reptile Lords

Πατριδ' επ' αιαν.
Falls flat and heavy on the accustom'd ear;

Ενθα μας Ερασαι Ερωμενησιν
When Eunuchs sing, and Fools buffoonery make,
And Dancers writhe their harlot-limbs in vain;

Αμφι πηγησιν κιτρινων υπ' αλσων,
Then War and all its dread vicissitudes

Οσσ' υπο βρoτοις επαθον βροτοι, τα

Δεινα λεγοναι.
Pleasingly agitate their stagnant learts ;
Ils hopes, its fears, its victories, its defeats,

LITERAL TRANSLATION.
Insipid Royalty's keen condiment!

The infuriate spirits of the Murder'd make

Thus saying, from the answering Maid he pass'd, Fierce merriment, and vengeance ask of Heaven. And with him disappear'd the leavenly Vision. Warm’d with new influence, the unwholesome plain

Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven! Sent up its foulest fogs to meet the Morn:

All-conscious Presence of the Universe! The Sun that rose on Freedom, rose in blood!

Nature's vast Ever-acting Energy!

In Will, in Deed, Impulse of All to All! « Maiden beloved, and Delegate of Heaven!,

Whether thy love with unrefracted ray (To her the tutelary Spirit said)

Beam on the Prophet's purged eye, or if • Soon shall the Morning struggle into Day,

Diseasing realms the enthusiast, wild of thought, The stormy Morning into cloudless Noon.

Scatter new frenzies on the infected throng, Much hast thou seen, nor all canst understand- Thou both inspiring and predooming both, But this be thy best Omen-Save thy Country!: Fit instruments and best, of perfect end :

Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!, cheeks, nor with fanereal ululation-but with circling dances and

And first a landscape rose, the joy of songs. Thou art torrible indeed, yet ibou dwellest with More wild and waste and desolate than where Liberiy, stero Genius! Borne on thy dark pinions over the swelling The white bear, drifting on a field of ice, of Ocean, they return to their native country. There, by the side of Fountains beneath Citron-groves, the lovors tell to their beloved Howls to her sunder'd cubs with piteous rage what borrors, being Men, they had endured from Men.

And savage agony.

Sibylline Leaves.

I. POEMS OCCASIONED BY POLITICAL appear to mortals. The second Strophe calls on men EVENTS OR FEELINGS CONNECTED to suspend their private joys and sorrows, and devote

them for a while to the cause of human nature in geWITH THEM.

neral. The first Epode speaks of the Empress of Russia, who died of an apoplexy on the 17th of November,

1796; baving just concluded a subsidiary treaty with the When I have borne in memory what has tamed Great nations, how ennobling thoughts depart

Kings combined against France. The first and second When men change swords for ledgers, and desert

Antistrophe describe the Image of the Departing Year, etc.
The student's bower for gold, some fears unnamed as in a vision. The second Epode prophesies, in anguish
I bad, my country! Am I to be blamed ?

of spirit, the downfall of this country.
But, when I think of Thee, and what Thou art,
Verily, in the bottom of my heart,
Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed.
But dearly must we prize thee; we who find

1.
In thee a bulwark of be cause of mea ;
And I by my affection was beguiled.

Spirit who sweepest the wild Harp of Time !
What wonder if a poet, now and then,

It is most bard, with an untroubled ear
Among the many movements of his mind,

Thy dark inwoven harmonies to hear!
Felt for thee as a Lover or a Child.

WORDSWORTH.

Yet, mine eye fix'd on Heaven's unchanging clime
Long when I listen'd, free from mortal fear,

With inward stillness, and submitted mind ;
ODE TO THE DEPARTING YEAR.

When lo! its folds far waving on the wind,
Ιού, ιού, ώω κακά.

I saw the train of the DEPARTING YEAR!
Υπ' αυ με δεινός ορθομαντείας πόνος

Starting from my silent sadness, Στροβεί, ταράσσων φροιμίοις εφημίοις.

Then with no unholy madness,

Ere yet the enter'd cloud foreclosed my sight, Το μέλλον ήξει. Και συ μην τάχει παρών

I raised the impetuous song, and solemnized his flight. 'Αγαν και αληθόμαντιν μ' έρείς.

JI.
Æscuel. Agam. 1225.

Hither, from the recent tomb,

From the prison's direr gloom,
ARGUMENT.

From Distemper's midnight anguish;
The Ode commences with an Address to the Divine And thence, where Poverty doth waste and languish;
Providence, that regulates into one vast harmony all the Or where, his two bright torches blending,
events of time, however calamitous some of them may

Love illumines manhood's maze;

Or where, o'er cradled infants bending, " This Ode was composed on the 24th, 25th, and 26th days of

Hope has fix'd her wishful gaze, December, 1796: and was first published on tho last day of that

Hither, in perplexed dance, year.

Ye Woes ! ye young-eyed Joys! advance!