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Chieftains and kings in council were detained ; What time the fleet at Aulis lay enchained.

The wish'd-for wind was given :— I then revolved
The oracle, upon the silent sea;

And, if no worthier led the way, resolved
That, of a thousand vessels, mine should be
The foremost prow in pressing to the strand, —
Mine the first blood that tinged the Trojan sand.

--

Yet bitter, oft-times bitter, was the pang
When of thy loss I thought, beloved Wife;
On thee too fondly did my memory hang,
And on the joys we shared in mortal life, —
The paths which we had trod - these fountains

flowers;

My new-planned Cities, and unfinished Towers.

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.

And thou, though strong in love, art all too weak

In reason, in self-government too slow;

I counsel thee by fortitude to seek

Our blest re-union in the shades below.
The invisible world with thee hath sympathized;
Be thy affections raised and solemnized.

Learn by a mortal yearning to ascend
Towards a higher object:-Love was given,
Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for this end:
For this the passion to excess was driven-
That self might be annulled; her bondage prove
The fetters of a dream, opposed to love."

Aloud she shrieked! for Hermes re-appears! Round the dear Shade she would have clung -'tis vain:

The hours are past,-too brief had they been years;
And him no mortal effort can detain:

Swift, tow'rd 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.

Ah, judge her gently who so deeply loved!
Her, who, in reason's spite, yet without crime,
Was in a trance of passion thus removed;
Delivered from the galling yoke of time,
And these frail elements -to gather flowers
Of blissful quiet 'mid unfading bowers.

Yet tears to human suffering are due;
And mortal hopes defeated and o'erthrown
Are mourned by man, and not by man alone,
As fondly he believes. Upon the side

Of Hellespont (such faith was entertained)
A knot of spiry trees for ages grew

From out the tomb of him for whom she died;
And ever, when such stature they had gained
That Ilium's walls were subject to their view,
The trees' tall summits withered at the sight;
* A constant interchange of growth and blight!

* For the account of these long-lived trees, see Pliny's Natural History, Lib. 16. Cap. 44.

XVII.

THE AFFLICTION

OF

MARGARET.

WHERE art thou, my beloved Son,
Where art thou, worse to me than dead?
Oh find me, prosperous or undone !

Or, if the grave be now thy bed,
Why am I ignorant of the same
That I may rest; and neither blame
Nor sorrow may attend thy name?

Seven years, alas! to have received
No tidings of an only child;

To have despaired, and have believed,
And be for evermore beguiled;
Sometimes with thoughts of very bliss!
I catch at them, and then I miss;
Was ever darkness like to this?

He was among the prime in worth,
An object beauteous to behold;
Well born, well bred; I sent him forth
Ingenuous, innocent, and bold:

If things ensued that wanted grace,
As hath been said, they were not base;
And never blush was on my face.

Ah! little doth the Young One dream,
When full of play and childish cares,
What power hath even his wildest scream,
Heard by his Mother unawares!

He knows it not, he cannot guess:
Years to a Mother bring distress;

But do not make her love the less.

Neglect me! no, I suffered long
From that ill thought; and, being blind,
Said, "Pride shall help me in my wrong:
Kind mother have I been, as kind
As ever breathed:" and that is true;
I've wet my path with tears like dew,
Weeping for him when no one knew.

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