Ther, plunge I'mid the ocean's roar,
My way by quiv'ring lightnings fhewn,
To guide the bark to peaceful fhore,
And hush the failor's fearful groan.

And if too late I reach its fide
To fave it from the 'whelming furge,
I call my dolphins o'er the tide,
To bear the crew where ifles emerge.

Their mournful fpirits foon I cheer,
While round the defert coast I

go,

With warbled fongs they faintly hear,
Oft as the ftormy guft finks low.

My mufic leads to lofty groves,

That wild upon the fea-bank wave;

Where sweet fruits bloom, and fresh spring roves, And clofing boughs the tempeft brave.

Then, from the air fpirits obey

My potent voice they love fo well,

And, on the clouds, paint vifions gay,
While frains more fweet at diftance fwell,

And thus the lonely hours I cheat,
Soothing the fhip-wreck'd failor's heart,
Till from the waves the ftorms retreat,
And o'er the caft the day-beams dart.

Neptune

Neptune for this oft binds me fakt
To rocks below, with coral chain,
Till all the tempeft's over-past,
And drowning feamen cry in vain.

Whoe'er ye are that love my lay,
Come, when red fun-fet tints the wave,
To the ftill fands, where fairies play
There, in cool feas, I love to lave.

CHA P. XVII.

"He is a great obferver, and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, he hears no mufic;

Seldom he fmiles; and smiles in such a sort,
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his fpirit
That could be mov'd to fmile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease,
While they behold a greater than themselves.”
JULIUS CESAR.

MONTONI and his companion did not return home, till many hours after the dawn had blushed upon the Adriatic. The airy groups, which had danced all night along the colonnade of St. Mark, dispersed before the morning, like fo many fpirits. Montoni had been otherwise engaged; his foul was little fufceptible of light pleafures. He delighted in the energies of the paffions; the difficulties and tempefts of life, which wreck.

wreck the happiness of others, roused and ftrengthened all the powers of his mind, and afforded him the highest enjoyments, of which his nature was capable. Without fome object of ftrong intereft, life was to him little more than a fleep; and, when purfuits of real intereft failed, he substituted artificial ones, till habit changed their nature, and they ceased to be unreal. Of this kind was the habit of gaming, which he had. adopted, first, for the purpose of relieving him from the languor of inaction, but had fince pursued with the ardour of paffion. In this occupation he had paffed the night with Cavigni and a party of young men, who had more money than rank, and more vice than either. Montoni defpifed the greater part of these for the inferiority of their talents, rather than for their vicious inclinations, and affociated with them only to make them the inftruments of his purposes. Among thefe, however, were fome of fuperior abilities, and a few whom Montoni admitted

D 3

admitted to his intimacy, but even towards thefe he still preserved a decifive and haughty air, which, while it impofed fubmiffion on weak and timid minds, roufed the fierce hatred of strong ones. He had, of course, many and bitter enemies; but the rancour of their hatred proved the degree of his power; and, as power was his chief aim, he gloried more in fuch hatred, than it was poffible he could in being efteemed. A feeling fo tempered as that of esteem, hedefpifed, and would have defpifed himself alfo had he thought himself capable of being flattered by it.

Among the few whom he distinguished, were the Signors Bertolini, Orfino, and Verezzi. The firft was a man of a gay temper, ftrong paffions, diffipated, and of unbounded extravagance, but generous, brave, and unfufpicious. Orfino was referved, and haughty; loving power more than oftentation; of a cruel and fufpicious temper;, quick to feel an injury, and relentless in avenging it; cunning and unfearchable in.

con.