What potent hand hath toucht thy quicken'd 'Twas to beat dogs with, and to gather flies.

corse,

60

What song dissolv'd thy cerements? who unclosed
Those faded eyes and fill'd them from the stars?
But if with inextinguish'd light of life
Thou breathest, soul and body unamerst,
Then whence that invocation? who hath dared
Those hallow'd words, divulging, to profane?"
Dalica cried, "To heaven not earth addrest
Prayers for protection can not be profane."
Here the pale sorceress turn'd her face aside
Wildly, and mutter'd to herself amazed,
"I dread her who, alone at such an hour,

Can speak so strangely, who can thus combine

The words of reason with our gifted rites,

110

She thought the crown a plaything to amuse
Herself, and not the people, for she thought
Who mimick infant words might infant toys:
But while she watcht grave elders look with awe
On such a bauble, she withheld her breath;
She was afraid her parents should suspect
They had caught childhood from her in a kiss;
She blusht for shame, and fear'd; for she believ'd.
Yet was not courage wanting in the child.
No; I have often seen her with both hands
Shake a dry crocodile of equal highth,
And listen to the shells within the scales,
And fancy there was life, and yet apply
The jagged jaws wide-open to her ear.

Yet will I speak once more. If thou hast seen 70 Past are three summers since she first beheld
The city of Charoba, hast thou markt

The steps of Dalica?"

"Never."
"One would think,

Presumptuous, thou wert Dalica."

Woman! and who art thou?"

"I am;

With close embrace, Clung the Masarian round her neck, and cried, "Art thou then not my sister? ah! I fear The golden lamps and jewels of a court Deprive thine eyes of strength and purity: 0 Dalica! mine watch the waning moon, For ever patient in our mother's art,

120

130

The ocean; all around the child await
Some exclamation of amazement here:
She coldly said, her long-lasht eyes abased,
Is this the mighty ocean? is this all!
That wondrous soul Charoba once possest,
Capacious then as earth or heaven could hold,
Soul discontented with capacity,
Is gone, (I fear) for ever. Need I say
She was enchanted by the wicked spells
Of Gebir, whom with lust of power inflamed
The western winds have landed on our coast.
I since have watcht her in each lone retreat,
Have heard her sigh and soften out the name,
Then would she change it for Egyptian sounds
More sweet, and seem to taste them on her lips,"
Then loathe them; Gebir, Gebir still return'd.
80 Who would repine, of reason not bereft !

And rest on Heaven suspended, where the founts
Of Wisdom rise, where sound the wings of Power;
Studies intense of strong and stern delight!
And thou too, Dalica, so many years
Wean'd from the bosom of thy native land,
Returnest back and seekest true repose.

90

140

For soon the sunny stream of Youth runs down,
And not a gadfly streaks the lake beyond.
Lone in the gardens, on her gather'd vest
How gently would her languid arm recline!
How often have I seen her kiss a flower,
And on cool mosses press her glowing cheek!
Nor was the stranger free from pangs himself.
Whether by spell imperfect, or, while brew'd, 160
The swelling herbs infected him with foam,
Oft have the shepherds met him wandering
Thro' unfrequented paths, oft overheard
Deep groans, oft started from soliloquies,
Which they believe assuredly were meant
For spirits who attended him unseen.
But when from his illuded eyes retired
That figure Fancy fondly chose to raise,
He claspt the vacant air and stood and gazed ;
Then owning it was folly, strange to tell,
Burst into peals of laughter at his woes;
Next, when his passion had subsided, went
Where from a cistern, green and ruin'd, ooz'd
100 A little rill, soon lost; there gather'd he

O what more pleasant than the short-breath'd sigh
When, laying down your burthen at the gate
And dizzy with long wandering, you embrace
The cool and quiet of a homespun bed."
"Alas!" said Dalica "tho' all commend
This choice, and many meet with no controul,
Yet none pursue it! Age by care opprest
Feels for the couch and drops into the grave.
The tranquil scene lies further still from Youth:
Frenzied Ambition and desponding Love
Consume Youth's fairest flowers; compared with
Youth

Age has a something like repose.
Myrthyr, I seek not here a boundary
Like the horizon, which, as you advance,
Keeping its form and colour, yet recedes :
But mind my errand, and my suit perform.
"Twelve years ago Charoba first could speak:
If her indulgent father askt her name,
She would indulge him too, and would reply
What? why, Charoba! rais'd with sweet surprise,
And proud to shine a teacher in her turn.
Show her the graven sceptre; what its use?

VOL. II.

Violets, and harebells of a sister bloom,
Twining complacently their tender stems
With plants of kindest pliability.
These for a garland woven, for a crown
He platted pithy rushes, and ere dusk
The grass was whiten'd with their roots nipt off.
These threw he, finisht, in the little rill
And stood surveying them with steady smile:
But such a smile as that of Gebir bids

KK

160

Enough to love, enough to sleep, is given,
Haste we away." This Tamar deem'd deceit,
Spoken so fondly, and he kist her lips,

Nor blusht he then, for he was then unseen.
But she arising bade the youth arise.
"What cause to fly?" said Tamar; she replied
"Ask none for flight, and feign none for delay."
"O am I then deceived! or am I cast
From dreams of pleasure to eternal sleep,
And, when I cease to shudder, cease to be!"
She held the downcast bridegroom to her breast,
Lookt in his face and charm'd away his fears.
She said not "wherefore have I then embraced
You a poor shepherd, or at most a man,
Myself a Nymph, that now I should deceive?"
She said not.. Tamar did, and was ashamed.
Him overcome her serious voice bespake.
"Grief favours all who bring the gift of tears:
Mild at first sight he meets his votaries
And casts no shadow as he comes along;
But, after his embrace, the marble chills
The pausing foot, the closing door sounds loud,
The fiend in triumph strikes the roof, then falls
The eye uplifted from his lurid shade.
Tamar, depress thyself, and miseries

Darken and widen: yes, proud-hearted man!
The sea-bird rises as the billows rise;

60

70

Nor otherwise when mountain floods descend
Smiles the unsullied lotus glossy-hair'd ;
Thou, claiming all things, leanest on thy claim
Till overwhelmed through incompliancy.
Tamar, some silent tempest gathers round!
Round whom?" retorted Tamar," thou
describe

The danger, I will dare it."

What is unseen?"

"Who will dare

"The man that is unblest." "But wherefore thou? It threatens not thyself, Nor me, but Gebir and the Gadite host."

90

"The more I know, the more a wretch am I," Groan'd deep the troubled youth, "still thou proceed."

"Oh seek not destin'd evils to divine,

130

Will harbour us from ill." While thus she spake
She toucht his eyelashes with libant lip
And breath'd ambrosial odours, o'er his cheek
Celestial warmth suffusing: grief disperst,
And strength and pleasure beam'd upon his brow.
Then pointed she before him: first arose
To his astonisht and delighted view
The sacred isle that shrines the queen of love.
It stood so near him, so acute each sense,
That not the symphony of lutes alone
Or coo serene or billing strife of doves,
But murmurs, whispers, nay the very sighs
Which he himself had utter'd once, he heard.
Next, but long after and far off, appear
The cloudlike cliffs and thousand towers of Crete,
And further to the right the Cyclades ;
Phoebus had rais'd and fixt them, to surround
His native Delos and aërial fane.

140

150

He saw the land of Pelops, host of Gods,
Saw the steep ridge where Corinth after stood
Beckoning the serious with the smiling Arts
Into her sunbright bay; unborn the maid
That to assure the bent-up hand unskill'd
Lookt oft, but oftener fearing who might wake.
He heard the voice of rivers; he descried
Pindan Peneüs and the slender Nymphs
That tread his banks but fear the thundering tide;
These, and Amphrysos and Apidanos
And poplar-crown'd Sperchios, and, reclined
On restless rocks, Enipeus, where the winds
Scatter'd above the weeds his hoary hair.
Then, with Pirenè and with Panopè,
Evenos, troubled from paternal tears,

Found out at last too soon! cease here the search, 100 And last was Acheloös, king of isles.

'Tis vain, 'tis impious, 'tis no gift of mine:

I will impart far better, will impart

Zacynthos here, above rose Ithaca,
Like a blue bubble floating in the bay.

What makes, when Winter comes, the Sun to rest Far onward to the left a glimmering light

So soon on Ocean's bed his paler brow,
And Night to tarry so at Spring's return.
And I will tell sometimes the fate of men
Who loost from drooping neck the restless arm
Adventurous, ere long nights had satisfied
The sweet and honest avarice of love;
How whirlpools have absorb'd them, storms o'er-
whelm'd,

110

Glanced out oblique, nor vanisht; he inquired
Whence that arose; his consort thus replied.
"Behold the vast Eridanus! ere long
We may again behold him and rejoice.
Of noble rivers none with mightier force
Rolls his unwearied torrent to the main."

And now Sicanian Etna rose to view:
Darkness with light more horrid she confounds,

160

170

Baffles the breath and dims the sight of day.
Tamar grew giddy with astonishment
And, looking up, held fast the bridal vest;
He heard the roar above him, heard the roar
Beneath, and felt it too, as he beheld,

Deaf to the daily call of weary hind;
Zephyrs pass by and laugh at his distress.
By every lake's and every river's side
The Nymphs and Naiads teach equality;
In voices gently querulous they ask,

Hurl, from Earth's base, rocks, mountains, to the "Who would with aching head and toiling arms skies.

Bear the full pitcher to the stream far-off?
Who would, of power intent on high emprise,
Deem less the praise to fill the vacant gulf
Than raise Charybdis upon Ætna's brow?"
Amid her darkest caverns most retired,
Nature calls forth her filial elements

29

To close around and crush that monster Void:

"Look yonder" cried the Nymph, without Fire, springing fierce from his resplendent throne, reply,

Nor kiss thy brow nor cool it with a flower,
Yet will I hail thee, hail thy flinty couch
Where Valour and where Virtue have reposed."
The Nymph said, sweetly smiling "Fickle Man
Would not be happy could he not regret;
And I confess how, looking back, a thought
Has toucht and tuned or rather thrill'd my heart,
Too soft for sorrow and too strong for joy;
Fond foolish maid! 'twas with mine own accord
It sooth'd me, shook me, melted, drown'd, in tears.
But weep not thou; what cause hast thou to weep?
Would'st thou thy country? would'st those caves
abhorr'd,

200

Dungeons and portals that exclude the day?
Gebir, though generous, just, humane, inhaled
Rank venom from these mansions. Rest, O king,
In Egypt thou! nor, Tamar! pant for sway.
With horrid chorus, Pain, Diseases, Death,
Stamp on the slippery pavement of the proud, 210
And ring their sounding emptiness through earth.
Possess the ocean, me, thyself, and peace."

And now the chariot of the Sun descends,
The waves rush hurried from his foaming steeds,
Smoke issues from their nostrils at the gate,
Which, when they enter, with huge golden bar
Atlas and Calpè close across the sea.

SEVENTH BOOK.

What mortal first by adverse fate assail'd,
Trampled by tyranny or scofft by scorn,
Stung by remorse or wrung by poverty,
Bade with fond sigh his native land farewell?
Wretched! but tenfold wretched who resolv'd
Against the waves to plunge the expatriate keel
Deep with the richest harvest of his land!
Driven with that weak blast which Winter
leaves

Closing his palace-gates on Caucasus,
Oft hath a berry risen forth a shade;
From the same parent plant another lies

And Water, dashing the devoted wretch
Woundless and whole with iron-colour'd mace,
Or whirling headlong in his war-belt's fold.
Mark well the lesson, man! and spare thy kind.
Go, from their midnight darkness wake the woods,
Woo the lone forest in her last retreat;
Many still bend their beauteous heads unblest
And sigh aloud for elemental man.
Thro' palaces and porches evil eyes

30

Light upon e'en the wretched, who have fled
The house of bondage or the house of birth;
Suspicions, murmurs, treacheries, taunts, retorts,
Attend the brighter banners that invade,
And the first horn of hunter, pale with want,
Sounds to the chase, the second sounds to war.
The long awaited day at last arrived

When, linkt together by the seven-armed Nile,
Egypt with proud Iberia should unite.
Here the Tartessian, there the Gadite tents
Rang with impatient pleasure: here engaged
Woody Nebrissa's quiver-bearing crew,
Contending warm with amicable skill,
While they of Durius raced along the beach
And scatter'd mud and jeers on all behind.
The strength of Bætis too removed the helm
And stript the corslet off, and stauncht the
foot

50

Against the mossy maple, while they tore
Their quivering lances from the hissing wound.
Others push forth the prows of their compeers,
And the wave, parted by the pouncing beak,
Swells up the sides and closes far astern :
The silent oars now dip their level wings,
And weary with strong stroke the whitening wave.
Others, afraid of tardiness, return :

60

Now, entering the still harbour, every surge
Runs with a louder murmur up their keel,
And the slack cordage rattles round the mast.
Sleepless with pleasure and expiring fears
Had Gebir risen ere the break of dawn,
And o'er the plains appointed for the feast
Hurried with ardent step: the swains admired
What so transversely could have swept the dew;
For never long one path had Gebir trod,
Nor long, unheeding man, one pace preserv'd.
Not thus Charoba: she despair'd the day;
The day was present; true; yet she despair'd.
In the too tender and once tortured heart
10 Doubts gather strength from habit, like disease;
Fears, like the needle verging to the pole,

Tremble and tremble into certainty.

How often, when her maids with merry voice
Call'd her, and told the sleepless queen 'twas
morn,

How often would she feign some fresh delay,
And tell 'em (though they saw) that she arose.
Next to her chamber, closed by cedar doors,
A bath of purest marble, purest wave,
On its fair surface bore its pavement high :
Arabian gold enchased the crystal roof,
With fluttering boys adorn'd and girls unrobed;
These, when you touch the quiet water, start
From their aerial sunny arch, and pant
Entangled mid each other's flowery wreaths,
And each pursuing is in turn pursued.

Behind and near them numerous were the tents
As freckled clouds o'erfloat our vernal skies,
Numerous as wander in warm moonlight nights
Along Meänder's or Caÿster's marsh

140

Swans pliant-neckt and village storks revered.
Throughout each nation moved the hum confused,14
Like that from myriad wings o'er Scythian cups
Of frothy milk, concreted soon with blood.
Throughout the fields the savoury smoke ascends,
And boughs and branches shade the hides un-
broacht.

Some roll the flowery turf into a seat,

And others press the helmet. Now resounds
The signal! queen and monarch mount the
thrones.

The brazen clarion hoarsens : many leagues
90 Above them, many to the south, the heron
Rising with hurried croak and throat outstretcht,150
Ploughs up the silvering surface of her plain.

Here came at last, as ever wont at morn,
Charoba: long she lingered at the brink,
Often she sigh'd, and, naked as she was,
Sate down, and leaning on the couch's edge,
On the soft inward pillow of her arm
Rested her burning cheek: she moved her eyes;
She blusht; and blushing plunged into the wave
Now brazen chariots thunder through each
street,

And neighing steeds paw proudly from delay.
While o'er the palace breathes the dulcimer,
Lute, and aspiring harp, and lisping reed,
Loud rush the trumpets bursting through the
throng

100

And urge the high-shoulder'd vulgar; now are
heard

Curses and quarrels and constricted blows,
Threats and defiance and suburban war.
Hark! the reiterated clangour sounds!
Now murmurs, like the sea or like the storm
Or like the flames on forests, move and mount
From rank to rank, and loud and louder roll,
Till all the people is one vast applause.
Yes, 'tis herself, Charoba. Now the strife
To see again a form so often seen.

110

Feel they some partial pang, some secret void,
Some doubt of feasting those fond eyes again?
Panting imbibe they that refreshing sight
To reproduce in hour of bitterness?
She goes, the king awaits her from the camp:
Him she descried, and trembled ere he reacht
Her car, but shuddered paler at his voice.
So the pale silver at the festive board
Grows paler fill'd afresh and dew'd with wine;
So seems the tenderest herbage of the spring
To whiten, bending from a balmy gale.
The beauteous queen alighting he received,
And sigh'd to loose her from his arms; she hung
A little longer on them through her fears.
Her maidens follow'd her; and one that watcht,
One that had call'd her in the morn, observ'd
How virgin passion with unfuel'd flame
Burns into whiteness, while the blushing cheek
Imagination heats and shame imbues.

120

Tottering with age's zeal and mischief's haste
Now was discover'd Dalica; she reacht
The throne, she leant against the pedestal,
And now ascending stood before the king.
Prayers for his health and safety she preferr'd,
And o'er his head and o'er his feet she threw
Myrrh, nard, and cassia, from three golden urns;
His robe of native woof she next removed,
And round his shoulders drew the garb accurst,
And bow'd her head, departing: soon the queen
Saw the blood mantle in his manly cheeks,
And fear'd, and faltering sought her lost replies,
And blest the silence that she wisht were broke.
Alas, unconscious maiden! night shall close,
And love and sovranty and life dissolve,
And Egypt be one desert drencht in blood.

160

When thunder overhangs the fountain-head,
Losing its wonted freshness every stream
Grows turbid, grows with sickly warmth suffused :170
Thus were the brave Iberians when they saw
The king of nations from his throne descend.
Scarcely, with pace uneven, knees unnerv'd,
Reacht he the waters: in his troubled ear
They sounded murmuring drearily; they rose
Wild, in strange colours, to his parching eyes;
They seem'd to rush around him, seem'd to lift
From the receding earth his helpless feet.
He fell Charoba shriekt aloud; she ran ;
Frantic with fears and fondness, mazed with woe,"
Nothing but Gebir dying she beheld.
The turban that betray'd its golden charge
Within, the veil that down her shoulder hung,
All fallen at her feet! the furthest wave
Creeping with silent progress up the sand,
Glided through all, and rais'd their hollow folds.
In vain they bore him to the sea, in vain
Rubb'd they his temples with the briny warmth;
He struggled from them, strong with agony,
He rose half up, he fell again, he cried
"Charoba! O Charoba!" She embraced

Between both nations drawn in ranks they pass: 130 His neck, and raising on her knee one arm,

The priests, with linen ephods, linen robes,
Attend their steps, some follow, some precede,
Where clothed with purple intertwined with gold
Two lofty thrones commanded land and main.

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190

Sigh'd when it moved not, when it fell she

shriekt,

And clasping loud both hands above her head,
She call'd on Gebir, call'd on earth, on heaven.