And where she sees the catching glimpses roll, Perhaps thy anguish drains a real tear; But come, unhappy man! thy fates impend; Dark as the grave, and spacious as the skies; There, black with frowns, relentless Time awaits, And goads their footsteps to the guilty gates; And still he asks them of their unknown aims, Evolves their secrets, and their guilt proclaims; And still his hands despoil them on the road Of each vain wreath, by lying bards bestow'd; Break their proud marbles, crush their festal cars, And rend the lawless trophies of their wars. At last the gates his potent voice obey; Fierce to their dark abode he drives his prey; Where, ever arm'd with adamantine chains, The watchful demon o'er her vassals reigns, D'er mighty names and giant-powers of lust, The great, the sage, the happy, and august.* No gleam of hope their baleful mansion cheers, No sound of honour hails their unblest ears; But dire reproaches from the friend betray'd, The childless sire, and violated maid; But vengeful vows for guardian laws effac'd, And the sad charge of horrors not their own, * Titles which have been generally ascribed to the most pernicious of men. Aw'd at the name, fierce Appius* rising bends, And hardy Cinna from his throne attends: "He comes," they cry," to whom the fates assign'd With surer arts to work what we design'd, From year to year the stubborn herd to sway, Mouth all their wrongs, and all their rage obey; Till own'd their guide, and trusted with their power, He mock'd their hopes in one decisive hour; Then, tir'd and yielding, led them to the chain, And quench'd the spirit we provok'd in vain." But thou, Supreme, by whose eternal hands Fair Liberty's heroic empire stands; Whose thunders the rebellious deep control, And quell the triumphs of the traitor's soul, O turn this dreadful omen far away! On Freedom's foes their own attempts repay: Relume her sacred fire, so near suppress'd, And fix her shrine in every Roman breast. Though bold corruption boast around the land, "Let virtue, if she can, my baits withstand;" Though bolder now she urge the accursed claim, Gay with her trophies rais'd on Curio's shame; Yet some there are who scorn her impious mirth, Who know what conscience and a heart are worth. O Friend and Father of the human mind, Whose art for noblest ends our frame design'd, If I, though fated to the studious shade. Which party-strife nor anxious power invade; Appius Claudius the Decemvir, and L. Cornelius Cinna, both attempted to establish a tyrannical dominion in Roine, and both perished by the treason. If I aspire, in public virtue's cause, And give my numbers entrance to the heart. THE VIRTUOSO;19 IN IMITATION OF SPENSER'S STYLE AND STANZA. Videmus Nugari solitos. - PERSIUS. WHILOM by silver Thames's gentle stream, He knew whatever breeds on earth, or air, or seas. He many a creature did anatomize, Almost unpeopling water, air, and land; Beasts, fishes, birds, snails, caterpillars, flies, Were laid full low by his relentless hand, That oft with gory crimson was distain'd: He many a dog destroy'd, and many a cat; Of fleas his bed, of frogs the marshes drain'd, Could tellen if a mite were lean or fat, And read a lecture o'er the entrails of a gnat. He knew the various modes of ancient times, Male, female, high and low, to him were known: With learned, clerkly phrase he could have shown A curious medallist, I wot, he was, . [gown. And boasted many a course of ancient coin; Well as his wife's he knewen every face, From Julius Cæsar down to Constantine: For some rare sculpture he would oft ypine, (As green-sick damosels for husbands do ;) And when obtained, with enraptur'd eyne, He'd run it o'er and o'er with greedy view, And look, and look again, as he would look it through. ८ |