() terror! what hath she perceived ?-0 joy!
What doth she look on whom doth she behold?
Her Hero slain upon the beach of Troy?
His vital presence? his corporeal mould ?
It is-if sense deceive her not-'tis He!
And a God leads him, winged Mercury !

But thou, though capable of sternest deed,
Wert kind as resolute, and good as brave ;
And he, whose power restores thee, hath decreed
Thou should'st elude the malice of the grave :
Redundant are thy locks, thy lips as fair
As when their breath enriched Thessalian air.

thy prayer,

Mild Hermes spake--and touched her with his No Spectre greets me,-no vain Shadow this ; wand

Come, blooming Hero, place thee by my side ! That calms all fear ; “Such grace hath crowned Give, on this well known couch, one nuptial kiss

To me, this day, a second time thy bride ! ” Laodamia ! that at Jove's command

Jove frowned in heaven : the conscious Parcæ Thy Husband walks the paths of upper air :

threw He comes to tarry with thee three hours' space ; Upon those roseate lips a Stygian hue. Accept the gift, behold him face to face !”

“ This visage tells thee that my doom is past : Forth sprang the impassioned Queen her Lord to Nor should the change be mourned, even if the clasp ;

joys Again that consummation she essayed ;

Of sense were able to return as fast But unsubstantial Form eludes her grasp

And surely as they vanish. Earth destroys
As often as that eager grasp was made.

Those raptures duly - Erebus disdains :
The Phantom parts—but parts to re-unite, Calm pleasures there abide-majestic pains.
Ind re-assume his place before her sight.

Be taught, O faithful Consort, to control
Protesiláus, lo! thy guide is gone !

Rebellious passion : for the Gods approve onfirm, I pray, the vision with thy voice : The depth, and not the tumult, of the soul ; his is our palace,--yonder is thy throne; A fervent, not ungovernable, love. eak, and the floor thou tread'st on will rejoice. Thy transports moderate ; and meekly mourn ot to appal me have the gods bestowed

When I depart, for brief is my sojourn” is precious boon; and blest a sad abode.”

“ Ah, wherefore ?–Did not Hercules by force reat Jove, Laodamia ! doth not leave

Wrest from the guardian Monster of the tomb gifts imperfect :-Spectre though I be, Alcestis, a reanimated corse, a not sent to scare thee or deceive ;

Given back to dwell on earth in vernal bloom ? in reward of thy fidelity.

Medea's spells dispersed the weight of years, something also did my worth obtain ; And Æson stood a youth ʼmid youthful peers. fearless virtue bringeth boundless gain.

The Gods to us are merciful and they knowest, the Delphic oracle foretold Yet further may relent : for mightier far the first Greek who touched the Trojan strand | Than strength of nerve and sinew, or the sway d die ; but me the threat could not withhold: Of magic potent over sun and star, erous cause a victim did demand ;

Is love, though oft to agony distrest, orth I leapt upon the sandy plain ;

And though his favourite seat be feeble woman's -devoted chief-by Hector slain.”

breast.

eme of Heroes-bravest, noblest, best ! But if thou goest, I follow—” “Peace!” he said, atchless courage I bewail no more, She looked upon him and was calmed and cheered; then, when tens of thousands were deprest The ghastly colour from his lips had fled; ht, propelled thee to the fatal shore ; In his deportment, shape, and mien, appeared und'st-and I forgive thee-here thou art, Elysian beauty, melancholy grace, r counsellor than my poor heart.

Brought from a pensive though a happy place.

M 2

Of all that is most beauteous—imaged there

Learn, by a mortal yearning, to ascendIn happier beauty; more pellucid streams,

Seeking a higher object. Love was given, An ampler ether, a diviner air,

Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for that end ; And fields invested with purpureal gleams;

For this the passion to excess was drivenClimes which the sun, who sheds the brightest day

That self might be annulled : her bondage prove Earth knows, is all unworthy to survey.

The fetters of a dream, opposed to love.”

Aloud she shrieked! for Hermes re-appears !
Yet there the Soul shall enter which hath earned
That privilege by virtue.—“ III,” said he,

Round the dear Shade she would have clung—'tis

vain : “ The end of man's existence I discerned,

The hours are past—too brief had they been years;
Who from ignoble games and revelry

And him no mortal effort can detain :
Could draw, when we had parted, vain delight,
While tears were thy best pastime, day and night; Swift

, toward the realms that know not earthly day,
He through the portal takes his silent way,

And on the palace-floor a lifeless corse She lay. And while my youthful peers before my eyes (Each hero following his peculiar bent)

Thus, all in vain exhorted and reproved,
Prepared themselves for glorious enterprise

She perished ; and, as for a wilful crime,
By martial sports,-or, seated in the tent,
Chieftains and kings in council were detained ;

By the just Gods whom no weak pity moved,

Was doomed to wear out her appointed time, What time the fleet at Aulis lay enchained.

Apart from happy Ghosts, that gather flowers

Of blissful quiet 'mid unfading bowers.
The wished-for wind was given :- I then revolved
The oracle, upon the silent sea ;
And, if no worthier led the way, resolved

-Yet tears to human suffering are due;
That, of a thousand vessels, mine should be And mortal hopes defeated and o'erthrown
The foremost prow in pressing to the strand,

Are mourned by man, and not by man alone, Mine the first blood that tinged the Trojan sand. As fondly he believes.-Upon the side

Of Hellespont (such faith was entertained)

A knot of spiry trees for ages grew Yet bitter, oft-times bitter, was the pang

From out the tomb of him for whom she died; When of thy loss I thought, beloved Wife !

And ever, when such stature they had gained On thee too fondly did my memory hang,

That Ilium's walls were subject to their view, And on the joys we shared in mortal life,

The trees' tall summits withered at the sight; The paths which we had trod—these fountains

A constant interchange of growth and blight !. flowers ; My new-planned cities, and unfinished towers.

1814.

But should suspense permit the Foe to cry,
* Behold they tremble !-haughty their array,
Yet of their number no one dares to die?'
In soul I swept the indignity away :
Old frailties then recurred :--but lofty thought,
In act embodied, my deliverance wrought.

XXXII.

1.

Mourn, and lament for him whose spirit dreads
Your once sweet memory, studious walks and

shades!
DION.

For him who to divinity aspired, (SEE PLUTARCH).

Not on the breath of popular applause,

But through dependence on the sacred laws SERENE, and fitted to embrace,

Framed in the schools where Wisdom dwelt retired, Where'er he turned, a swan-like grace

Intent to trace the ideal path of right Of haughtiness without pretence,

(More fair than heaven's broad causeway paved And to unfold a still magnificence,

with stars) Was princely Dion, in the power

Which Dion learned to measure with sublime And beauty of his happier hour.

delight;And what pure homage then did wait

But He hath overleaped the eternal bars ; On Dion's virtues, while the lunar beam

And, following guides whose craft holds no consent Of Plato's genius, from its lofty sphere,

With aught that breathes the ethereal element, Fell round him in the grove of Academe,

Hath stained the robes of civil power with blood, Softening their inbred dignity austere

Unjustly shed, though for the public good. That he, not too elate

Whence doubts that came too late, and wishes vain, With self-sufficing solitude,

Hollow excuses, and triumphant pain; But with majestic lowliness endued,

And oft his cogitations sink as low Might in the universal bosom reign,

As, through the abysses of a joyless heart, And from affectionate observance gain

The heaviest plummet of despair can goHelp, under every change of adverse fate. But whence that sudden check? that fearful start !

He hears an uncouth sound

Anon his lifted eyes Five thousand warriors- the rapturous day! Saw, at a long-drawn gallery’s dusky bound, Each crowned with flowers, and armed with spear A Shape of more than mortal size and shield,

And hideous aspect, stalking round and round ! Or ruder weapon which their course might yield,

A woman's garb the Phantom wore, To Syracuse advance in bright array.

And fiercely swept the marble floor,Who leads them on?— The anxious people see

Like Auster whirling to and fro, Long-exiled Dion marching at their head,

His force on Caspian foam to try;
He also crowned with flowers of Sicily,

Or Boreas when he scours the snow
And in a white, far-beaming, corslet clad ! That skins the plains of Thessaly,
Pure transport undisturbed by doubt or fear Or when aloft on Mænalus he stops
The gazers feel; and, rushing to the plain, His flight, ʼmid eddying pine-tree tops !
Salute those strangers as a holy train
Or blest procession (to the Immortals dear)

That brought their precious liberty again.
| Lo! when the gates are entered, on each hand,
Down the long street, rich goblets filled with wine So, but from toil less sign of profit reaping,
In seemly order stand,

The sullen Spectre to her purpose bowed,
On tables set, as if for rites divine ;-

Sweeping-vehemently sweepingAnd, as the great Deliverer marches by,

No pause admitted, no design avowed ! He looks on festal ground with fruits bestrown; “ Avaunt, inexplicable Guest !—avaunt," And flowers are on his person thrown

Exclaimed the Chieftain—“let me rather see In boundless prodigality;

The coronal that coiling vipers make; Nor doth the general voice abstain from prayer, The torch that flames with many a lurid flake, lovoking Dion's tutelary care,

And the long train of doleful pageantry
As if a very Deity he were !

Which they behold, whom vengeful Furies haunt;
Who, while they struggle from the scourge to flee,

Move where the blasted soil is not unworn,
Mourn, hills and groves of Attica! and mourn And, in their anguish, bear what other minds have
Ilissus, bending o'er thy classic urn!

IV.