Air, ocean, earth, drew broad her blackeft veil, Vapour and cloud. Around th' unfleeping ifle, Yet howl'd the whirlwind, yet the billow groan'd;
And, in mix'd horror, to Amyntor's ear Borne through the gloom, his fhrieking fenfe ap- pali'd.
Shook by each blaft, and fwept by every wave, Agaip pale memory labours in the ftorm: Again from her is torn, whom more than life His fondnefs lov'd. And now, another fewer Of forrow, o'er the dear unhappy maid, Efful ve fream'd; till late, through every power The foul fubdued funk fad to flow repofe: And all her darkening fcenes, by dim degrees, Were quench'd in total night. A panfe from pain
Not long to laft: for Fancy, oft awake While reafon fleeps, from her illufive cell Call'd up wild fhapes of vifonary fear, Of vifonary blifs, the hour of reft
To mock with mimic rews. And lo! the deeps In airy tumult fwell. Beneath a hill Amyntor heaves of overwhelming feas;
Or rides, with dizzy dread, from cloud to cloud, The billow's back. Anon, the shadowy world Shifts to fome boundlefs continent unknown, 25 Where folitary, o'er the ftarlefs void,
Dumb filence broods. Through heaths of dreary length,
Slow on he drags his ftaggering ftep infrin With breathlefs toil; hears torrent floods afar Roar through the wild; and, plung'd in central
Falls headlong many a fathom into night. Yet there, at once, in all her living charms, And brightening with their glow the brown abyfs, Rofe Theodora. Smiling, in her eye Sat, without cloud, the foft-confenting foul, That, guilt unknowing, had no wish to hide. A fpring of fuddien myrtles flowering round Their walk embower'd; while nightingales be- neath
Sung fpoufals, as along th' enamel'd turf They feem'd to fly, and interchang'd their fouls, Melting in mutual foftnefs. Thrice his arms 41 The Fair encircled: thrice he fled his grasp, And fading into darknefs mix'd with air- O, turn! O, ftay thy flight!--fo loud he cry'd, Sleep and its train of humid vapours fled. He groan'd, he gaz'd around: his inward fenfe Yet glowing with the vifion's vivid beam, Still, on his eye, the hovering fhadow blaz’d : Her voice fill murmur'd in his tinkling ear; Grateful deception! till returning thought Left broad awake, amid th' incumbent jour Of mute and mournful night, again he felt His grief inflam'd throb fresh in every vein. To phrenfy ftung, upftarting from his couch,
Nor ow'd fubmiffion to the will of heaven, Reftrains him; but, as paffion whirls his thought, Fond expectation, that perchance efcap❜d,, Though paffing all belief, the frailer fkiff, To which himself had borne th' unhappy Fair, May yet be feen. Around, o'er fea and fhere, He roll'd his ardent eye; but nought around On land or wave within his ken appears, Nor fkiff, nor floating core, on which to fed The laft fad tear, and lay the covering hok!!
And now, wide open'd by the wakeful hours Heaven's orient gate, forth on her progrefs comes Aurora fmiling, and her purple lamp Lifts high o'er earth and fea: while, all-unveil'd, The vaít horizon on Amyntor's eye Pours full its fcenes of wonder, wildly great, 75 Magnificently various. From this steep, Difus'd immenfe in rolling rofpect lay The northern deep. Amidft, from fpace to fpace,
As flow th' afcending mifts difperfe in air, Shoot gradual from her bofom : and beyond, Like diftant clouds blue-floating on the verge Of evening fkies, break forth the dawning bills. A thousand landscapes! barren fome and bare, Rock pil'd on rock, amazing, up to heaven, 85 Of horrid grandeur: fome with founding af, Cr oak broad-fhadowing, or the spiry growth Of waving pine high-plum'd, and all behold More lovely in the fun's adorning beam; Who now, fair-rifing o'er yon eafiern cliff, The vernal verdure tinctures gay with gold. Meanwhile Aurelius, wak'd from fweet repofe, Repofe that Temperance fheds in timely dews On all who live to her, his mournful guest Came forth to hail, as hofpitable rites And Virtue's rule enjoin: but first to Fim, Spring of all charity, who gave the heart With kindly fenfe to glow, his matin-fong, Superior duty, thus the fage addrest:
Fountain of light! from whom yon orient fun Ico First drew his fplendor; Source of life and love! Whofe fmile now wakes o'er earth's rekindling
The boundlefs blufh of fpring; O, First, and Beft!
Thy effence, though from human fight ard fearch, Though from the climb of all created thought, 105 Ineffably remov'd; yet man himself,
Thy loweft child of reafon, man may, read Unbounded power, intelligence fupreme, The Maker's hand, on all his works impreft, In characters coeval with the fun, And with the fun to laft; from world to world, From age to age, in every clime, difelos'd, Sole revelation through all time the fame. Hail, univerfal Goodnefs! with full fream For ever flowing from beneath the throne
Through earth, air, fea, to all things that have With maiden-rites adorn'd, at laft may lodge
From all that live on earth, in air and fea, The great community of Nature's fons, To thee, firft Father, ceafelefs praise afcend! And in the reverent hymn my grateful voice 120 Be duly heard, among thy works not least, Nor loweft; with intelligence inform❜d,
To know thee, and adore; with free-will crown'd, Where Virtue leads, to follow and be blest. O, whether by thy prime decree ordain'd To days of future life; or whether now The mortal hour is inftant, ftill vouchsafe, Parent and friend, to guide me blameless on Through this dark scene of error and of ill, Thy truth to light me, and thy peace to chear. 130 All elfe, of me unaik'd, thy will fupreme With-hold or grant: and let that will be done. This from the foul in filence breath'd fincere, The hill's fteep fide with firm elastic step He lightly feal'd; fuch health the frugal board, The morn's fresh breath that exercise refpires 135 In mountain-walks, and confcience free from blame, Our lite's best cordial, can through age prolong. There, loft in thought, and self-abandon'd, lay The man unknown; nor heard approach his hoft, Nor rais'd his drooping head. Aurelius mov'd By foft compaffion, which the favage scene, Shut up and barr'd amid surrounding feas From human commerce, quicken'd into fenfe Of sharper forrow, thus apart began.
O fight, that from the eye of wealth or pride, Ev'n in their hour of vaineft thought, might
A feeling tear; Whom yesterday beheld By love and fortune crown'd, of all poffeft That Fancy, tranc'd in faireft vifion, dreams; 150 Now loft to all, each hope that foftens life, Each blifs that chears, there, on the damp earth fpread,
Beneath a heaven unknown, behold him now! And let the gay, the fortunate, the great,
The proud, be taught, what now the wretched feel,
The happy have to fear. O man forlorn, Too plain I read thy heart, by fondness drawn To this fad feene, to fights that but inflame Its tender anguish-
Hear me, heaven! exclaim'd The frantic mourner, could that anguish rise To madness and to mortal agony,
I yet would blefs my fate; by one kind pang, From what I feel, the keener pangs of thought For ever freed. To me the fun is loft: To me the future flight of days and years Is darkness, is despair-But who complains Forgets that he can die. O, fainted maid! For fuch in heaven thou art, if from thy feat Of holy reft, beyond thefe changeful skies, If names on earth moft facred once and dear, A lover and a friend, if yet these names Can wake thy pity, dart one guiding ray To light me where, in cave or creek, are thrown Thy lifelefs limbs: that I-O grief fupreme! 175 O fate remorfelefs! was thy lover fav'd For fuch a tak?-that I thofe dear remains,
Beneath the hallow'd vault; and, weeping there O'er thy cold urn, await the hour to clofe Thefe eyes in peace, and mix this duft with thine!
Such, and fo dire, reply'd the cordial friend In pity's look and language, fuch, alas! Were late my thoughts. Whate'er the human heart
Can moft afflict, grief, agony, despair, Have all been mine, and with alternate war 185 This bofom ravag'd. Hearken then, good youth; My ftory mark, and from another's fate, Pre-eminently wretched, learn thy own, Sad as it feems, to balance and to bear.
Then doom'd to feel what guilt alone should fear, The hand of public vengeance: arm'd by rage, Not juftice; rais'd to injure, not redrefs; To rob, not guard; to ruin, not defend : And all, O fovereign Reafon! all deriv'd From power that claims thy warrant to do wrong! A right divine to violate unblam'd Each law, each rule, that, by himself observ'd, The God prefcribes whofe fanction kings pretend! O Charles! O monarch! in long exile train'd, Whole hopelefs years, th' oppreffor's hand to know
How hateful and how hard; thyself reliev'd. Now hear thy people, groaning under wrongs Of equal load, adjure thee by thofe days Of want and woe, of danger and defpair, As heaven has thine, to pity their distress! Yet, from the plain good meaning of my heart, Be far th' unhallow'd licence of abuse; Be far th' bitterness of faintly zeal, That impious hid behind the patriot's name Masks hate and malice to the legal throne, In juftice founded, circumfcrib'd by laws, The prince to guard-but guard the people
Chief, one prime good to guard inviolate, Soul of all worth, and fum of human blifs, 230 Fair Freedom, birthright of all thinking kinds, Reafon's great charter, from no king deriv'd, By none to be reclaim'd, man's right divine, Which God, who gave, indelible pronounc'd.
But if, difclaiming this his heaven-own'd right,, This firft beft tenure by which monarchs rule; If, meant the bleffing, he becomes the bane, The wolf, not thepherd, of his fubje&-flock, To grind and tear, not fhelter and protect, Wide-wafting where he reigns-to fuch a prince, Allegiance kept were treason to mankind; 241 And loyalty, 'revolt from virtue's law. For fay, Amyntor, does juft heaven enjoin That we should homage hell? or bend the knee To earthquake, or volcano, when they rage, 245 Rend earth's firm frame,, and in one boundless grave
Engulph their thoufands? Yet, O grief to tell! Yet fuch, of late, o'er this devoted land,
Was public rule. Our fervile ftripes and chains, Our fighs and groans refounding from the fteep Of wintery hill, or wafte untravel'd heath, 251 Latt refuge of our wretchedness, not guilt, Proclaim'd it loud to heaven; the arm of power Extended tatal, but to crush the head It ought to fereen, or with a parent's love Reclaim from error; not with deadly hate, The tyrant's law, exterminate who err.
In this wide ruin were my fortunes funk : Myfelf, as one contagious to his kind, Whom nature, whom the focial life renounc'd, Unfummon'd, unimpleaded was to death, To fhameful death, adjudg'd; against my head The price of blood proclaim'd, and at my heels Let loose the murderous cry of human hounds. And this blind fury of commiffion'd rage, 265 Of party-vengeance, to a fatal foe,
Known and abhorr'd for deeds of direft name, Was given in charge: a foe, whom blood-ftain'd zeal
For what-O hear it not, all-righteous heaven! Left thy rous'd thunder burft-for what was deem'd
Religion's caufe, had favag'd to a brute, More deadly fell than hunger ever stung To prowl in wood or wild. His band he arm'd, Sons of perdition, mifcreants with all guilt Familiar, and in each dire art of death Train'd ruthlefs up. As tigers on their prey, On my defenceless lands thofe fiercer beafts Devouring fell: nor that sequester'd shade, That fweet recefs, where Love and Virtue long In happy league had dwelt, which war itfelf 280 Beheld with reverence, could their fury fcape; Defpoil'd, defac'd, and wrapt in wafteful flames! For flaine and rapine their confuming march, From hill to vale, by daily ruin mark'd. So borne by winds along, in baneful cloud, 285 Embody'd locufts from the wing defcend On herb, fruit, flower, and kill the ripening
While, wafte behind, deftruction on their track And ghaftly famine wait. My wife and child He dragg'd, the ruffian dragg'd-O heaven! do I, A man, furvive to tell it? At the hour Sacred to reft, amid the fighs and tears Of all who fay and curs'd his coward rage, He forc'd, unpitying, from their midnight-bed, By menace, or by torture, from their fears My laft retreat to learn, and ftill detains Beneath his roof accurft, that best of wives,
Emelia, and our only pledge of love, My blooming Theodora! Manhood there, And nature bleed-Ah! let not bufy thought 300 Search thither, but avoid the fatal coaft: Discovery, there, once more my peace of mind Might wreck; once more to defperation fink My hopes in heaven. He faid; but O fad Mufe! Can all thy moving energy, of power 395 To fhake the heart, to freeze th' arrefted blood, With words that weep, and ftrains that agonize; Can all this mournful magic of thy voice Tell what Amyntor feels? O heaven! art thou- What have I heard?-Aurelius! art thou he?- Confufion! horror !-that most wrong'd of men! And, O moft wretched too! alas! no more, No more a father-On that fatal flood, Thy Theodora-At these words he fell. A deadly cold ran freezing through his veins 315 And life was on the wing her loath'd abode For ever to forfake. As on his way The traveller, from heaven by lightning ftruck, Is fix'd at once immoveable; his eye With terror glaring wild; his ftiffening limbs In fudden marble bound: fo ftood, fo look'd The heart-fmote parent at this tale of death, Half-utter'd, yet too plain. No fign to rife, No tear had force to flow; his fenfes all. Thro' all their powers, fufpended, and fubdued To chill amazement. Silence for a space- Such dismal filence faddens earth and sky Ere first the thunder breaks-on either fide Fill'd up this interval fevere. At laft As from fome vifion that to phrenfy fires The fleeper's brain, Amyntor waking wild, A poniard, hid beneath his various robe, Drew furious forth-Me, me, he cry'd, on me Let all thy wrongs be visited; and thus My horrors end-then madly would have plung'd The weapon's hoftile point. His lifted arm, 336 Aurelius, though with deep difmay and dread And anguith fhook, yet his superior foul Collecting, and refuming all himself, Seiz'd ludden: then perufing with strict eye, 340 And beating heart, Amyntor's blooming form; Nor from his air or feature gathering aught To wake remembrance, thus at length befpoke, O dire attempt! Whoe'er thou art, yet ftay Thy hand self-violent; nor thus to guilt, If guilt is thine, accumulating add A crime that nature fhrinks from, and to which Heaven has indulg'd no mercy. Sovereign Judge!
Shall man firft violate the law divine, That plac'd him here dependent on thy nod, 350 of fair difmiffion hence; fhall man do this, Refign'd, unmurmuring, to await his hour Then dare thy prefence, rush into thy fight, Red with the fin, and recent from the stain, Of unrepented blood? Call home thy fenfe; 355 Know what thou art, and own his hand most juft, Rewarding or afflicting-But say on.
My foul, yet trembling at thy frantic deed, Recalls thy words, recalls their dire import : They urge ine on; they bid me afk no more-360 What would I aft? My Theodora's fate,
Ah! me! is known too plain. Have I then finn'd,
Good heaven! beyond all grace-But shall I Full, from the midmost, shot in dazzling stream
His rage of grief, and in myself admit
Its wild excefs? Heaven gave her to my wish; That gift Heaven has refum'd: righteous in both, For both his Providence be ever bleft!
By fhame reprefs'd, with rifing wonder fill'd, Amyntor, flow recovering into thought, Submiffive on his knee, the good man's hand 370 Grafp'd clofe, and bore with ardour to his lips. His eye, where fear, confufion, reverence ipoke, Through fwelling tears, what language cannot tell,
Now rofe to meet, now fhunn'd the Hermit's glance,
Shot awful at him: till, the various fwell
Of paffion ebbing, thus he faultering spoke: What haft thou done? why fav'd a wretch un- known?
Whom knowing ev'n thy goodnefs muft abhor. Mitta en man! the honour of thy name, Thy love, truth, duty, all must be my foes. 330 I am Aurelius! turn that look afide, That brow of terror, while this wretch can fay, Abhorrent fay, he is-Forgive me, heaven! Forgive me, virtue ! if I would renounce Whom nature bids me reverence-by her bond, Rolando's fon: by your more facred ties, As to his crimes, an alien to his blood; For crimes like this
Rolando's fon? Juft heaven! Ha! here? and in my power? A war of thoughts, All terrible arifing, fhakes my frame 391 With doubtful conflict. By one ftroke to reach The father's heart, though feas are fpread between, Were great revenge!-Away: revenge? on whom?
Alas! on my own foul; by rage betray'd Ev'n to the crime my reafon moft condemns In him who ruin'd me. Deep-mov'd he fpoke; And his own poniard o'er the proftrate youth Sufpended held. But, as the welcome blow, With arms difplay'd, Amyntor feem'd to court, Behold, in fudden confluence gathering round The natives food; whom kindnefs hither drew, The man unknown, with each relieving aid Of love and care, as antient rites ordain, To fuccour and to ferve. Before them came 405 Montano, venerable fage, whofe head The hand of time with twenty winter's fnow Had shower'd; and to whofe intellectual eye Futurity, behind her cloudy veil,
Stands in fair light difclos'd. Him, after paufe, Aurelius drew apart, and in his care Amyntor plac'd; to lodge him and secure ; To fave him from himself, as one, with grief Tempestuous, and with rage, diftemper'd deep. This done, nor waiting for reply, alone He fought the vale, and his calm cottage gain'd. 415
His noon-tide ray. And now, in, lowing train, Were feen 1.ow-pacing weftward o'er the vale 5 The milky mothers, toot purfuing foot, And nodding as they move; their oozy meal, The bitter healthful herbage of the fhore, Around its rocks to graze: * for, ftrange to tell! The hour of ebb, though ever varying found, 10 As yon pale planet wheels from day to day Her courie inconitant, their fure inftinct feels, Intelligent of times; by heaven's own hand, To all its creatures equal in its care, Unerring mov❜à, Thefe figns obferv'd, that guide
To labour and repofe a finple race, Thefe native figns to due repaft at noon, Frugal and plain, had warn'd the temperate ifle: All but Aurelius. He, unhappy man, By Nature's voice folicited in vain, Nor hour obferv'd, nor due repait partook. The child no more! the mother's fate untold! Both in black prospect rifing to his eye- 'Twas anguish there; 'twas here distracting doubt! Yet, after long and painful conflict borne, 25 Where nature, realon, oft the doubtful fcale Inclin'd alternate, fummoning each aid That virtue lends, and o'er each thought infirm Superior rifing, in the might of Him, Who ftrength from weaknefs, as from darkness light,
Omnipotent can draw; again refign'd, Again he facrific'd, to heaven's high will, Each foothing weakness of a parent's breaft; The figh foft memory prompts; the tender tear, That, streaming o'er an object lov'd and loft, 35 With mournful tragic tortures and delights, Relieves us, while its fweet oppreffion loads, And, by admitting, blunts the fting of woe. As reafon thus the mental itorm ieren'd, And through the darkness fhot her fun-bright
With patient ear, with calm attention, mark 50 On either hand, her equal balance weigh, Amyntor's ftory: then, as juftice fees, Abfolve him, or condemn-But oh, may I, A father's name, when truth forbids to praife,
The cows often feed on the alga marina: and tide of flord; though, at the fame time, they are not they can distinguish exactly the tide of ebb from the within view of the shore. When the tide has ebbed about two hours, then they fleer their course directly to the nearest shore, in their usual order, one after
HERE Kilda's fouthern hills their fummit another. I had occafiou to make this obfervation thirteen times in one week. Martin's Wefern fles of Scotland, p. 156.
With triple fork to heaven, the mounted fun
Unblam'd pronounce? that name to every fon 55 By heaven made facred; and by Nature's hand, With Honour, Duty, Love, her triple pale, Fenc'd ftrongly round, to bar the rude approach Of each irreverent thought.-Thefe eyes, alas! The curs'd effects of fanguinary zeal Too near bebeld: its madnefs how extreme; How blind its fury, by the prompting priest, Each tyrant's ready inftrument of ill, Train'd on to holy mischief. Scene abhorr'd! Fell Cruelty let loofe in Mercy's name : Intolerance, while o'er the free-born mind Her heaviest chains were caft, her iron fcourge Severest hung, yet during to appeal
That Power whofe law is meeknefs; and, for deeds
That outrage heaven, belying heaven's command. Flexile of will, misjudging, though fincere, 71 Rolando caught the fpread infection, plung'd Implicit into guilt, and headlong urg'd His courfe unjust to violence and rage. Unmanly rage! when nor the charm divine Of Beauty, nor the Matron's facred age, Secure from wrongs could innocence fecure, Found reverence or diftin&tion. Yet fuftain'd By confcious worth within, the matchlels pair Their threatening fate, imprisonment and fcorn So And death denounc'd, unfhrinking, unfubdued To murmur or complaint, fuperior bore, With patient hope, with fortitude re gn'd, Nor built on pride, nor counting vain applaufe; But calmly conftant, without effort great, 85 What reafon dictates, and what heaven approves. But how proceed, Aurelius? in what founds Of gracious cadence, of affuafive power, My further story clothe? O could I fteal From Harmony her fofteft-warbled train Of melting air! or Zephyre's vernal voice! Or Philomela's fong, when love diffolves To liquid blandihment his evening-lay, All nature filing round! then might I fpeak; Then might Amyntor, unoffending, tell, How unperceiv'd and fecret through his breaft, A morning rifes o'er the midnight-shade, What firft was ow'd humanity to both, Affifting piety and tender thought, Grew fwit and flent into love for one: My fole offence-if love can then offend, When virtue lights and reverence guards its flame. O Theodora! who thy world of charms, That foul of fweetnefs, that fort glow of youth, Warin on thy cheek, and beaming from thine eye, Unmov'd could fee? that dignity of eafe, That grace of air, by happy nature thine! For all in thee was native; from within Spontaneous flowing, as fome equal stream From its unfailing fource! and then too feen 110 In milder lights; by forrow's fhading hand Touch'd into power more exquifitely folt, By tears adori'd, intender'd by diftreis. Ofweetnefs without name! when Love looks on With Pity's melting eye, that to the foul Endears, ennobles her, whom fare amics, Or fortune leaves unhappy! Paffion then Refines to Virtue: then a purer train
Of heaven-infpir'd emotions, undebas'd By fell-regard, or thought of due reture, The breaft expanding, all its powers exalt To emulate what reafon beit conceives Of love celeftial; whofe prevenient aid Forbids approaching ill; or gracious draws, When the lone heart with anguifh inly bleeds, 125 From pain its fting, its bitterness from woe!
By this plain court ip of the honeft heart To pity mov'd, at length my pleaded vows The gentle maid with unreluctant car Would oft admit; would oft endearing crown With miles of kind affent, with looks that fpoke, In bluft ing foftnefs, her chafte bofom touch'd To mutual love. O fortune's faireft hour! O feen, but not enjoy'd, just hail'd and lost - Is flattering brightnefs! Theodora's form, 135 Event unfear'd had caught Rolando's eye: And Love, if wild Def re, of Fancy born, By furious paffions nurs'd, that facred name Profanes not, Love his ftubborn breaft diffolv'd To tranfient goodness. But my thought shrinks. - back,
Reluctant to proceed; and filial awe, With pious hand, would o'er a parent's crime The veil of filence ard oblivious night Permitted throw. His impious fuit repell'd, Aw'd from her eye, and from her lip fevere 145 Dafh'd with indignant fcorn; each harbour'd thought
Of foft emotion or of focial fenfe, Love, Pity, Kindnefs, alien to a foul That Bigot-rage embofoms, fled at once: And all the favage reaffum'd his breast. 'Tis just, he cry'd: who thus invites difdain, Deferves repulfe; re who, by flave-like arts, Would meanly fteal what force may nobler take, And, greatly daring, dignify the deed. When next we incet, our mutual blush to spare, Thine from diffembling, from bafe Hattery mine, Shall be my care. This threat, by brutal fcora Keen'd and embitter'd, terrible to both, To one prov'd fatal. Silent-wafting grief, The mortal worm that on Emilia's frame Had prey'd unfees, now deep thro'all her powers Its poifon fpread, and kill'd their vital growth. Sickening, fhe funk beneath this double weight Of fame and horr r.-Dare I yet proceed? Aurelius, O most injur'd of mankind! Shall yet my tale, exafperating, add To woe, new anguish? and to grief, despair- She is no more-
O Providence fevere! Aurelius fmote his breaft, and groaning cry'd; But curb'd a fecond groan, repell'd the voice 171 Qf froward grief and to the Will fupreme, In juftice awful, lowly bending his, Nor figh, nor murmur, ncr repining plaint, By all the war of nature though affailed, Efcap'd his lips. What! fall we from heaven's grace
With life receiving happiness, our share Of ill refufe? And are afficions aught But mercies in difguife? th' alternate cup, Medicinal though bitter, and prepar'd
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