Deep in a gloomy grot remote from day,

Where smiling Comfort never shew'd her face, jo Where light ne'er enter'd, save one rueful ray

Discovering all the terrors of the place.

They held damn'd myst'ries with infernal state,
Whilst ghastly spectres glided slowly by,
The screech-owl scream'd the dying call of fate,
And ravens croak'd their baleful augury.

No human footstep cheer'd the dread abode,
Nor sign of living creature could be seen,
Save where the reptile snake, or sullen toad,

The murky floor had soil'd with venom green./20

Sudden I heard the whirlwind's hollow sound,

Each weird sister vanish'd into smoke,

Now a dire yell of spirits underground,

Thro' troubled Earth's wide yawning surface broke ;

When lo! each injur'd apparition rose;

Aghast the murd❜rer started from his bed;

Guilt's trembling breath his heart's red current froze, And Horror's dew-drops bath'd his frantic head.

More had I seen-but now the God of day
O'er earth's broad breast his flood of light had spread,
When Morpheus call'd his fickle dreams away,
And on their wings each bright illusion fled.

Yet still the dear ENCHANTRESS of the brain

My waking eyes with wishful wand'rings sought,
Whose magic will controls th' ideal train,
The ever-restless progeny of THOUGHT.

Sweet power, I said, for others gild the ray
Of Wealth, or Honor's folly-feather'd crown,
Or lead the madding multitude astray

To grasp at air-blown bubbles of renown.

Me (humbler lot!) let blameless bliss engage,
Free from the noble mob's ambitious strife,

Free from the muck-worm miser's lucrous rage,

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If frailties there (for who from them is free?) Through Error's maze my devious footsteps lead, Let them be frailties of humanity,

And my heart plead the pardon of my head.

Let not my reason impiously require

What heav'n has plac'd beyond its narrow span, 15 But teach it to subdue each fierce desire,

Which wars within its own small empire, man.

Teach me, what all believe, but few possess;
That life's best science is ourselves to know,

The first of human blessings is to bless,

And happiest he who feels another's woe.

Thus cheaply wise, and innocently great,

While Time's smooth sand shall regularly pass, Each destin'd atom's quiet course I'll wait,

Nor rashly break, nor wish to stop the glass, b

And when in death my peaceful ashes lie,

If e'er some tongue congenial speaks my name, Friendship shall never blush to breathe a sigh, And great ones envy such an honest fame.

ELEGY II.

WOODSTOCK.

WRITTEN IN THE YEAR MDCCLIX.

Ан me! what is this mortal life? (I cry'd)
What changes croud the page of flitting Time!
What dire reverse of Fate have numbers try'd!
What youth, what beauty, wither'd in the prime!

Inexorable Destiny pursues,

And levels in the chace with rapid wing: Pity in vain, or Mirth, or Merit sues, Equally vain the beggar and the king!

Ah! what is Fame, the idol of the great?
No solid Pleasure can she e'er bestow;
If just to Worth, that justice comes too late :
Prompt is her malice, but her mercy slow ?-

Thus on the winding Isis' willowed bank,
The varying scenes of Fortune I deplore ;
Wasting in fruitless sighs the evening dank,
Tears adding water to the river's store.

C

A gloomy mansion open to the view,

Disclosing horror heighten'd by the shade;
Where round the nodding walls the mournful yew
Points to the vault where Rosamond was laid :√20

Where with her birds of night, haggard and foul,
In sullen fellowship together dwell,
The bat ambiguous, and ill-omen'd owl,
Screaming to nighted swains a dreadful knell !

Intent I gaz'd, till Terror, ruling sight,
"Rear'd a pale spectre from the yawning tomb,
A faint delusion of the murky night,
Begot and bred in Fancy's fruitful womb!

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Semblance of virgin elegance and grace,
The mimic shape in every part adorn'd ;
But wan and languid seem'd the beauteous face,
Which Elen envy'd, and which Henry mourn'd.

Now gently gliding o'er the hallow'd ground,

Close by my side the phantom made a stand,
Piercing the night-still'd air. An awful sound!
And claim'd attention with uplifted hand.

"I once was blest with Love's deluding joy,
I also felt the worst extreme of hate!
And can no length of time (she cry'd) destroy
Remembrance of my love, and of my fate?

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