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UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA. 
 
V 
 
 A— 
 
THE 
 
 SHADOWY LAND, 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS, 
 
 (INCLUDING THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL,) 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. GURDON HU.^TINGTON, A. M. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 JAMES MILLER, 554 BROADWAY. 
 
 1861. 
 
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 Entered according to act of Concrrecs, in the year 1860, 
 
 By GURDON HUNTINGTON, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
 
 District of New York. 
 
 2^ 6 I ^l 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Shadowy Land : A brief Epic. 
 
 Dignity and Triumphs of Moral and Intellectual 
 Cultivation. 
 
 Providence. 
 
 Poem : Delivered at the Huntington Festival. 
 
 Extracts from a Poetical Address delivered at Hamil- 
 ton College. 
 
 Romance of the Indian Country, &c. 
 
 The Story of Geraldine Kurner. 
 
 The Mountains and the Sky. 
 
 Love's Over-ruling Decrees. 
 
 Baptism. 
 
 Confirmation. 
 
 The Holy Eucharist. 
 
 ScHROON Lake. 
 
 The Glory of Art. 
 
 Washington at the Battle of Princeton. 
 
 Love and Wedlock. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Musings at Evening's Hours. 
 
 Hymn to the Savior. 
 
 The Church. 
 
 Twilight Thoughts of Sorrow. 
 
 Creation. 
 
 Lines in Memory of Miss Lucy M. Luff. 
 
 White-Lake Creek. 
 
 The Divine Benignity. 
 
 To One Betrothed. 
 
 Love and Study. 
 
 The Rural Burial-Ground. 
 
 The Watery World. 
 
 Thoughts of the Departing Saint. 
 
 Tuxedo Lake : A Vision on its Shores. 
 
 The Cathedral Service. 
 
 The Axeman in the Deep Forest. 
 
 Contented Thoughts of Home. 
 
 The Day of Christ's Nativity. 
 
 Ode for Fourth of July. 
 
 The Court of Love. 
 
 The Mohawk River. 
 
 New York in Spring. 
 
 Song of the Siberian Exile. 
 
 Ruin at Goldau. 
 
 The Butterfly in the City. 
 
 The Virtuous Pilgrims. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 White Lake, Sullivan Co., N. Y. 
 
 Eugenia. 
 
 Spring : A Song for Music. 
 
 " She goeth unto the Grave to weep there." 
 
 The Conditions op True, Enduring Freedom. 
 
 Alliance of Virtue and Freedom : A Song. — {For which 
 fine music was composed hy Mr. Joseph Morton, of Brook- 
 lyn, L. I.) 
 
 Angelica : An Acrostic. 
 
 The Humming-Bird. 
 
 The Foreign Land. 
 
 Elizabeth : An Acrostic. 
 
 Lines to L. G. 
 
 The Requiem of the Beautiful. 
 
 Grave of the Rural Pastor. 
 
 Whom the Gods Love, &c. 
 
 Samuel, the Child-Prophet. 
 
 The Dwelling-Places of Happiness. 
 
 A Tribute, &c. 
 
 Dedicatory Lines in an Album. 
 
 Woman's Part in Life. 
 
 Pilgrimage upon a Cloud : A Sketch. 
 
 To AN Eagle Soaring. 
 
 Fragment of Lines, &c. 
 
 The Guests of Brazil : A Tragedy. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Far, far beneath the realms of man and day, 
 
 Whither th' adventurous wing of bird ne'er roamed, 
 
 Nor prowled the cavern seeking wolf, a clime 
 
 Mysterious, darkling, ghostly and sublime. 
 
 Spreads vast through regions measureless as air. 
 
 Save when a spirit, from its mortal thrall 
 
 Cut loose by the sharp scythe of death, flits down 
 
 The earnest of its lasting fate to taste. 
 
 At the dread portals of that kingdom knocks 
 
 No human visitor from earthly scenes. 
 
 At times some angel on consoling wing, 
 
 Or imp with news of wickedness besmeared, 
 
 Invades the dim retirement of those realms. 
 
 The dead here sit in mystic conclave, wrapt 
 
 In the great themes eternity unfolds. 
 
 Seamed by an awful chasm, (misty, dark, 
 
 And haunted by uncouth and hateful shapes,) 
 
 The kingdom of the dead is formed in two. 
 
 The ONE the Paradise where souls redeemed, 
 
 Lapped in Elysian hopes, await the hour 
 
 When Christ their ' spiritual bodies' shall command : 
 
10 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 The OTHER, a vast realm of cloud and shade, 
 Oft racked by raging tempests, and uptorn 
 By fierce and flaming earthquakes, that return 
 The horrid signs which meteors kindle oft 
 In th' wild and terrible sky. 
 
 Here dwell the bad : 
 Yea, all whom God upon his snowy page 
 Hath not inscribed in characters of blood 
 Once shed upon the holy rood for man, 
 Here the Millenium's close abide. Some lost 
 In deepest grief, their earthly negligence 
 Vainly deplore ; and some outrival Job 
 In heaping curses on their day of birth, 
 But court the oblivion of grim death in vain. 
 Sometimes, when o'er their deeds of wrong they sigh, 
 Will virtuous recollections shoot their gleams 
 Across the spirit's gloom, as stars athwart 
 The waste of midnight seas, or as amid 
 The various discords that high winds arouse 
 Some lone ^olian string swells rich and sweet : 
 But, tortured by the thought of what they 've lost, 
 They there repent in unavailing grief 
 The sins for which they bartered heaven and peace. 
 And murderers there with haggard eyes explore 
 The dark and poisonous pits of hell, if there 
 Perchance they may extinguish life ; while some 
 Seeking the flaming caves where lower fires 
 Flash with prophetic glare, down plunge 
 Amid the fiery vortex — but alas ! they meet 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 11 
 
 Not death, but agony increased : The soul 
 
 Not death's barbed shafts can pierce, but harmless strike, 
 
 As moonlight's lances splinter on the crags 
 
 Of the Antarctic coast of ice. And some 
 
 With fierce and boisterous insult storm the courts 
 
 Where Death, the phantom, sits in royal state. 
 
 Surrounded by his peers — in this fond hope. 
 
 That he, incensed by outrage on his pride. 
 
 In these the kingdoms darkened by his shade, 
 
 May bid some shadowy page beside his throne. 
 
 His fiat rankling with unusual fire, 
 
 To wing against their souls ; so death 
 
 And sweet oblivion o'er the conscience' wounds 
 
 May spread their liniment and balm. But Death, 
 
 Well knowing there his power but formal, lends 
 
 Indifferent audience to their storms ; for, well 
 
 Remembereth he when uselessly he shot 
 
 His once resistless darts 'gainst Hell's new guests 
 
 Whose subtle and immortal life, unscorched. 
 
 Laughed him to scorn ; so springs the bolt 
 
 Hot with appalling ruin to the forms 
 
 Of grosser matter, while the wond'rous air 
 
 Harmless it glides through to its native earth. 
 
 Here dwell the warriors of olden time. 
 
 Who waged for empire, gold or glory, wars 
 
 That rent the heart of nations ; now below 
 
 Upon these dim and sterile plains they ride 
 
 Their wild, invulnerable spirit steeds,* 
 
 * Note. — This may be interpreted as significant of unreined, stormy 
 passions. 
 
12 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Their forces marshaling in grand array. 
 
 Thus in the excitements of mock war, with all 
 
 The plumed and glittering pomp of martial show, 
 
 They seek to drown their dread of God's great day 
 
 When Christ shall sit in judgment. Swift they forge, 
 
 Beyond our best despatch of skill, such dread, 
 
 Dark reservoirs of thunders as would shock 
 
 Even Gibraltar's rocks ; (though Spain and France 
 
 Their batteries vainly ope'd against its heights.) 
 
 And Hell's vast echoing vault hath witnessed oft 
 
 The cannonade of their tremendous fire 
 
 Whose roar oft smote the ranks of timid souls 
 
 As though that lower world were rent in twain. 
 
 The fierce, unconquered hosts, though beaten down 
 
 And for a moment vexed with pain that sprang 
 
 From disarrangement of their spiritual frames 
 
 Or mortification of their fall, renew 
 
 The exciting turbulence of war till night 
 
 (For night, too, there dominion claims) spreads out 
 
 Her raven wings upon the obscure ; as Hell 
 
 With all the gloomy phantoms of her clime 
 
 Followed on Death bestriding his pale steed, 
 
 As in the Apocalypse told. 
 
 And e'en the Prince 
 Of lowest hell upon occasions grand 
 Of vast display, hath shown his lofty mien 
 Among the stateliest leaders of their ranks, 
 Gloomy, but lit at times with daring thoughts : 
 With awe and wonder they behold his form 
 
THESHADOWYLAND, 13 
 
 Like some tall peak* with dark and flashing clouds 
 
 Most fearfully becrowned ; but dare not they 
 
 To question in that realm his right or power : 
 
 And silence, like the desert's in a calm, 
 
 Stilled the vast hosts for moments while he looked.f 
 
 The King of Terrors, too, beholds their sheen, 
 
 And smiles enwreathe the pallid cheeks of Death. 
 
 They were the minions of his pride, and erst 
 
 Upon the Earth did consecrate the world 
 
 To be the altar of his bloody rites, 
 
 And often blotted out the host of heaven 
 
 With the great smoke of costly sacrifice. 
 
 But other scenes than these engage the guests 
 
 Of Hell's dark empire. On the mystic sea 
 
 Boiling with fiery gleams from fearful depths 
 
 And lashed anon by tempests, some prefer 
 
 To guide the adventurous keel : The distant isles. 
 
 The dim and lonely isles, amid the gulfs 
 
 They seek ; but peace and beauty there 
 
 No flowery, vine wreathed paradise bedeck. 
 
 Sometimes the dim and watery world is lit 
 
 By war's most awful splendors, rolling peals 
 
 Far down the echoing shores ; while clash on clash. 
 
 And shouting voices, and the reedy blast 
 
 Of victory's trumpet-song proclaim the deeds 
 
 Which seek to drown the fear of wrath to come. 
 
 * " Like Teueritfe he stood." — Milton. 
 
 t '*' His look drew audience and attention still as night, or summer's 
 noontide air." — Milton. 
 
14 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 But some consume their hours in building high 
 
 Within some superstructure rich and grand 
 
 The organ's pile ;* the mechanism nice 
 
 They crown with numerous banks of shining keys 
 
 Wrought of most beauteous stone and pearl. 
 
 All instruments of curious voice, all tones 
 
 E'er known on earth, the lovely, soft, the loud ; 
 
 The reedy trumpet, brilliant cornet, rich 
 
 Peculiar hautboy and the sweet, clear stops, 
 
 The flute, the diapason stop'd, and all 
 
 That e'er their changes rang upon the ear 
 
 Of some inspired organist in dreams 
 
 In aftertimes upon the favored earth, 
 
 Here in their glorious instruments consort 
 
 And e'en the heavy ear of Hell delight. 
 
 Though wakening in her guests the torturing thought 
 
 Of joys and spiritual harmonies e'er lost. 
 
 Here in strange fervor sit th' illustrious ones 
 
 Who gave their life to music, but forgot 
 
 Their strains to sweeten with devotion's breath, 
 
 Or sacrificed the glorious bursts of song 
 
 To vain, delusive gods. With gushes rich 
 
 And movements light and airy they attempt 
 
 The shadows of their spirits to divert ; 
 
 But ever and anon their music glides 
 
 To the ^olian mode ; and sombre dreads 
 
 With a groaning bass, loud tremble in their strains. 
 
 * Note. — In describing things in another world, a seeming anachronism 
 may be thought of less account; as invention there may be supposed to 
 have anticipated mortal skill. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 15 
 
 On a grand platform of imposing rocks 
 
 With th' wild, flashing skies o'erhead, (a fit 
 
 And striking theatre for scenes like theirs ;) 
 
 Else in a gorgeous temple of the Muse, 
 
 Some in majestic tragedy absorbed 
 
 The hearts of thousands thrill ; but there depict 
 
 Not fancied sorrows only, but pour forth 
 
 Their own souls' bitterness like lava streams : 
 
 Their wretchedness the garden of the mind 
 
 Keeps seared and desolate indeed. And there. 
 
 In the proud triumph of his godlike state, 
 
 Sculptured of massive gold, with gem-lit lyre. 
 
 His incense burning from the poet's heart, 
 
 Apollo sunlike reigns, and sheds a light 
 
 Which would cheer e'en those scenes of Hell, did not 
 
 The bard's fair image of lost peace and bliss, 
 
 The conscience-stricken soul torment ; and if 
 
 The taste and sensibility refined 
 
 Did not compel the heart to feel more keen 
 
 The forfeiture of high and glad awards 
 
 At Heaven's great day to be declared and sealed. 
 
 At certain times deemed fit, some (part in slight 
 
 Of God the fountain of all light, and part 
 
 In laud of poetry's fire,) processions grand 
 
 Marshaled in Phoebus' name. 
 
 The Indian there. 
 Who with wild war song by the Mohawk danced, 
 And bent his vengeful bow with murderous eye 
 To pierce e'en innocence' young heart, 
 
16 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Roams restlessly with angry glance ; of wrong 
 
 There self-admonished still, he cries aloud 
 
 And deprecates the wrath of righteous Heaven ; 
 
 Now the Great Spirit he sublimely calls ; 
 
 And now the Prince of darkness worshippeth, 
 
 Dreading the serpents' fangs. On spirit steeds, 
 
 (Conjured, I fear, by strange, infernal charms 
 
 From the weird deeps of shadowy forms,) 
 
 He, mounted, rushes like a direful star 
 
 That bursts in winter's ice-clear heavens 
 
 And makes the traveler start. But he in vain 
 
 Explores the dim and desolate climes that stretch 
 
 Afar from Hell's metropolis, to find 
 
 The beauteous hunting grounds his prophets dreamed 
 
 Awaited glory's sous beyond the grave. 
 
 Nor, wild and beautiful before him springs 
 
 The deer or antelope inviting chase ; 
 
 But gloomy solitude in grandeur reigns ; 
 
 Save when some fiend escaped from darkest hell, 
 
 Or, flying thither from the earth, sails 'cross 
 
 With hideous, outstretched wings, his startled eye. 
 
 And he, upon whose warlike path the moon 
 
 Of Moslem banners shed victorious light, 
 
 Nor boasted other wings wherewith to scale 
 
 Heaven's high and difficult battlements 
 
 Than martial glory's sanguinary plumes , 
 
 Here (later), in this joyless waste, pursued 
 
 The hope in vain of soft, elysian homes, 
 
 Where dark-eyed beauty beckoned to her bowers 
 
 O'erflowed with dewy odors, and with songs, 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 17 
 
 And the air of love's inebriating power. 
 Loud on Arabia's prophet son he calls, 
 But from his chief no voice his ear addressed 
 That summoned him to climes of rosy bliss. 
 
 Here, too, the poor deceived wretch who 'd knelt 
 
 'Neath the rich vault of Jupiter's sculptured fane, 
 
 Wandered expectant of the sombre stream 
 
 And Charon's ready barge : Nor met his eye 
 
 The awful seat of Rhadamanthus, joined 
 
 With Minos and iEacus, trio dread, 
 
 Before whose throne sublime he, quaking, thought 
 
 That Fate's commands would shortly hurry him, 
 
 His earth-born dreams dissolved to nothingness. 
 
 In such employment as their taste or faith 
 
 Did prompt to, these unnumbered souls 
 
 Engaged through Hades' weird and wide extent 
 
 In its unhappy half. But horrid War 
 
 Upraised the banner of their chief delight ; 
 
 To them the fairest cloud that flushed the sky 
 
 Waved o'er his marching hosts ; his trumpet call 
 
 Their richest music, and his clashing hour 
 
 Dear to their guilty souls, (though thus they sowed 
 
 A harvest of vexatious ills.) This noticing 
 
 The Prince of Lowest Hell, who sometimes cast 
 
 His chill, dread shadow o'er those awful climes, 
 
 Devised a scheme to yoke the ardent march 
 
 Of their unreined ambition to a cause 
 
 He deemed well worthy of their zeal : So when 
 
 Unnumbered hosts were blackening the plain. 
 
18 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 And radiating towards the portals grand 
 
 Of Hades' loftiest temple, where the Muse 
 
 O'er tragic Art presiding reigned in light, 
 
 Flooded with music and the rites profane 
 
 Of her impassioned votaries, he took. 
 
 Apart, his stately and attractive way. 
 
 His dark and mighty wings, whereon the gleams 
 
 Of lurid purple shone 'mid th' dark, (as shone 
 
 Some beams of former glory in his mind,) 
 
 And seemed reflections from his own bad realm — 
 
 His wings were furled. With proud and lordly gait. 
 
 And as in meditation lost, he moved, 
 
 And fixed every eye both near and far. 
 
 And elsewhere mid the crowd there seemed to rise 
 
 Forms such as seldom moved o'er Hades' plains 
 
 Towards her strange festivals and the portals rich 
 
 Of her unconsecrated fanes. And high arose 
 
 The sumptuous structure o'er the thickening crowds. 
 
 The sombre clouds of Hell some reckless bolts 
 
 Upon its towers had cast ; but wonder there 
 
 Still dwelt on glorious sculptures : Ajax loomed 
 
 Among them bold and flung defiance stern 
 
 Up towards the sparkling skies : Apollo, too, 
 
 Above Remorse, and divers forms of woe. 
 
 In marble majesty arose j and triumph's calm 
 
 Seemed shining 'round his brow.* And there, 
 
 With chaste, peculiar dignity and force, 
 
 * Intended as significant of an idea which they wished to be found true 
 and to represent, to wit : that the occupations of Art were a b;Jm for their 
 remorse and fears. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 19 
 
 Prometheus chained upon the cruel rock, 
 
 A lofty, firm resistance seemed to express 
 
 Towards the high throne of Jove ; their own sad case 
 
 Of laurelless rebellion they feigned typed 
 
 By his grand independence and the woe 
 
 That stormlike beat upon his heart benign. 
 
 With stately step the fiend moved ; noticing 
 
 Nor architecture's grandeur nor the stream 
 
 Of living shapes in wonder wrapt that swept 
 
 Swift towards the several portals of the pile. 
 
 The Sovereign of Hell his way august 
 
 Kept towards the broadest gates. Now music's swell 
 
 Harmonious and passionate assailed 
 
 His ear, advancing ; and th' excited burst 
 
 Of admiration told that feeling's life 
 
 Was beating there with no uncertain pulse ; 
 
 A welcome thought ! the ruffled seas that flash 
 
 The sunbeams fitfully are early made 
 
 The minions of the gale, though darkening 
 
 The brilliant hour in which the wavelets joyed 
 
 And rolling to another point the swell 
 
 Of the impetuous waves. 
 
 Now Satan reached 
 The interior of that mighty hall and woke 
 A thrilling murmur through the crowd immense ; 
 And they who held the highest stations there 
 The throne pre-eminent did proffer him, 
 And welcomed his compeers who reached in time 
 
20 THBSHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Scarcely diverse the rostrum of the place. 
 
 And knowing well the fervent public wish 
 
 That he the orator would deign to play, 
 
 Now that so vast an audience convened 
 
 The graceful temple of the muse adorned, 
 
 The chieftain of the day could not conceal 
 
 The expression of this general hope, when he 
 
 The attention of the haughty Prince had called 
 
 To Arts' allurements in the sculptured shafts 
 
 And golden statues on which flushed the lights 
 
 Of sacrificial lamps, the pictured roof 
 
 With festive beauty decked and classic scenes 
 
 Of chastest elegance and force. Now breathless stood 
 
 In expectation eager all that crowd, 
 
 Admiring Satan's ' lofty, godlike' port, 
 
 (Such were the compliments they whispered 'round,) 
 
 And wondering if those lips whose voice had stirred 
 
 The living seas of heaven's audience-floors 
 
 To heave with billowy emotions, now 
 
 Would deign with spirits from an earthly mould 
 
 To hold a converse, and unveil before 
 
 The eyes that once were mortal those deep shades 
 
 In his heaven-born, though fallen mind. Not long 
 
 This wonder reigned ; for, with a glance around 
 
 Upon the vast assembly Satan stood 
 
 In frowning majesty, and thus began. 
 
 In tones like those which down the valleys roll, 
 
 When threatening storms the mountain summits crown : 
 
 Spirits immortal ! (doubtless unto such 
 
 My words are flying ;) rather should I say 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 21 
 
 Divinities ! and sons of heaven's bright light, 
 
 Whose godlike powers these glorious sculptures prove, 
 
 While Music's thoughtful and impassioned flow, 
 
 And th' high achievement of the gifted bard, 
 
 (The poet's grand and spiritual parthenon 
 
 Pillared with bright strong characters, and rich 
 
 With th' glows of never fading thoughts and zeal 
 
 Of noble aspirations, quenchless, grand,) 
 
 While these do homage to your seraph gifts 
 
 And breathe forth prophecies of fame and power. 
 
 Nor on the glorious fields of War hath Fame 
 
 E'er gazed on deeds where military art 
 
 And valor fixed with such a thrilling spell 
 
 The eyes of every breathing soul which saw. 
 
 Not Death, 't is true, and his dark, sunless tent. 
 
 Shut from the peals of glory's triumph song. 
 
 Await the sons of Mars below, but pain. 
 
 And weakness, and disgrace, more keen than throb 
 
 In th' quivering nerves of death struck men. 
 
 This high enthusiasm that would run to w^aste 
 
 Did not these manly occupations claim your thoughts, 
 
 Did not the altars of the God of Song 
 
 A rich, rare sacrifice demand, the choice 
 
 And ravishing outpourings of the soul ; and gifts 
 
 (More radiant than the pearl with mimic heaven) 
 
 Shaped by imagination's wizard touch 
 
 To forms that smile with never fading grace. 
 
 Wearing the lineaments of warm, high souls, 
 
 T' enchant the cultivated mind fore'er ; 
 
 This high enthusiasm should an object know 
 
22 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 That would its bolder energies become, 
 
 An enterprise of vast and glorious scope, • 
 
 Such as may on th' historic tablet grave 
 
 Indelible lines — the words of deathless fame ; 
 
 Deeds summoning Heaven itself to lend the gaze 
 
 Of all its myriads to the daring great, 
 
 The swell of its high anthem checking quick 
 
 With th' thrill of mute astonishment. 
 
 Nor need I urge you that such deed should wear 
 
 A character which Heaven with no pleased eye 
 
 Would from its sapphire battlements behold ; 
 
 Rememb'ring how from your free, happy state. 
 
 From 'mid the blush of nectarous fruits, and flow 
 
 Of festal wine, and Woman's song of love, 
 
 And the intoxicating thrills that woke 
 
 In Beauty's languishing but burning clasp. 
 
 Ye were down hurled by envious tides of wrath 
 
 From God's dire reservoirs of flood and fire : 
 
 No more in this dim spiritual state 
 
 Th' extatic pulse of appetite to feel. 
 
 The melting ravishment of sunkissed fruits 
 
 Which break with ripeness at their rosiest flush ; 
 
 The raptures of true love no more to feel 
 
 Their magic lightnings shooting through the veins 
 
 And making Cytheraia seem indeed 
 
 Radiant with brilliancy and smiles divine ; 
 
 No more from lips of loveliness to drink 
 
 Pleasures transporting as the feasts of heaven ; 
 
 In Beauty's dark eyes never more to gaze 
 
 As in the lighted caves of sorcery ; 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 23 
 
 No more the weary, feverish brow to lay 
 
 (Aflection's privilege) upon her breasts, 
 
 Which seemed the snowy tents that truth and love 
 
 In that sweet paradise had pitched, wherein 
 
 To dwell beside each other evermore. 
 
 Once free in body as in mind, with power 
 
 Alike to march where'er the unpanting sun 
 
 The brightness from his heavenly pathway cast, 
 
 Whether upon the sky, familiar rocks, or where 
 
 In sweet low vallies Beauty spread her couch 
 
 By the flowery verge of chanting rivulets ; 
 
 Or on the face of that grand solitude, 
 
 The ocean world ; yea, in the rich, dark mine, 
 
 The museum of Nature, where she shows. 
 
 By curious chemistry preserved, the wrecks 
 
 Of years forgotten — forms organic, tombs. 
 
 And sculptured implements and glittering spoils. 
 
 Once free 'mid these to rove, and treat 
 
 The excitement loving heart with Protean truth, 
 
 Down were ye whelmed and trampled to this clime 
 
 Which joy scarce visits with the stir 
 
 Of his unpoisoned breath in many an age. 
 
 To you whose restless and immortal minds 
 
 Explore e'en to the Arcana of these skies, 
 
 I need not utter as a thing unknown 
 
 That not remote from this your province dim 
 
 There lies spread out upon the abyss of night, 
 
 Securely resting o'er the pits of hell, 
 
 A land which, like some fervid soil which reeks 
 
 In th' fragrant wealth of fruits and wines 
 
24 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Above the caverns of volcanic fire, 
 
 Is well adapted to delightsome life 
 
 As is a regal hall for banqueting, 
 
 Or as the branches of the eager nerves 
 
 Are fitted for the play of feeling's fire, 
 
 Or Woman's heart for the riot of Love's power. 
 
 Perchance, the favorites of Heaven dispersed, 
 
 Ye may its goodly amplitude assume 
 
 And fortify with cunning art your seat. 
 
 For, they who now its halcyon climes possess 
 
 Do boast Elysium is everywhere. 
 
 And that the Mind its golden gates can ope 
 
 E'en 'mid the blackest fumes of Hell, and breathe 
 
 E'en there the blandness of soft Eden's air. 
 
 If so, complaint they surely should not raise. 
 
 If you their summery paradise should seize. 
 
 Out emptying in the horrid chasms all 
 
 Within its precincts found : or if, perchance. 
 
 Not gaining entrance there within, your bolts 
 
 Winged with destructive vengeance, (not 'gainst them, 
 
 But rather 'gainst the Architect who raised 
 
 The pillars of their shadowy domain,) 
 
 Should shatter down into the gulfs below 
 
 Its huge and rocky buttresslike supports ; 
 
 Their plunge amid the vortex fierce beneath 
 
 Of their assertion proud the truth would test. 
 
 Ye all remember how, in former times, 
 
 Ye did your skill and courage tax to bridge 
 
 Across the awful chasms which divide 
 
 This darker Hades from the bright abode 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 25 
 
 Which, curtained with soft skies and rosy clouds, 
 
 Slumbers embosomed o'er the realms of Fire, 
 
 Of darkness and of horror — like a gem 
 
 Sparkling all stainless on the gory hand 
 
 Of princely warrior fallen by the sword, 
 
 Amid the wreck and ashes of his courts. 
 
 The lovely vision of that Land of Peace, 
 
 ( Than which not fairer seemed a star burst forth 
 
 Amid the rents in some dark tempest torn 
 
 By furious winds, or a flowering vine which climbs 
 
 A pine twice dead and charred to frightful wreck,) 
 
 That lovely vision wooed you on and roused 
 
 Your eager efforts ; but the crumbling edge 
 
 Refused your masonry support, and down 
 
 Into the hungry gulf your labors fell : 
 
 The hot and blasting poison airs that rose 
 
 From out those horrid depths assailed your frame 
 
 Unfit save in a gentle atmosphere 
 
 Like Eden's, or as bland, to live. But I 
 
 Can in an instant by the signal trump 
 
 Upsummon from the soundless deep a host 
 
 As woundless as the shield of Mars ; whose strength 
 
 At chains, and terrors, and tempestuous fires, 
 
 (If kindling with no fiercer elements 
 
 Than those which grandly smoke 'round your domains,) 
 
 Whose strength at persecuting foes like these 
 
 Securely laughs. By aid of these your way 
 
 Across the wide and bottomless abyss 
 
 Safely and certainly may stretch. Above 
 
 And 'round about the grand pontoon thick walls, 
 
26 THEBHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Or, else, if deemed too huge, a curtain close 
 The air congenial of those climes may shield 
 From base admixture with those rankling fumes 
 Which steam and smoke o'er those infernal gulfs. 
 
 No sooner had the monarch closed his lips 
 
 Than loud applause throughout th' assembly rang ; 
 
 So have I heard upon some rocky shore, 
 
 When distant storms the Ocean's bosom heaved, 
 
 Hoarse thunders from the wide and wave-swept strand. 
 
 And some his eloquence, and some the mien 
 
 Of majesty severe, and some the scheme 
 
 With warmest admiration praised. And while 
 
 The ambitious and the bold in thought pressed 'round 
 
 To gain the notice or the ear of Him 
 
 Who now the attention of the whole absorbed, 
 
 The choir in bursts of warm idolatry 
 
 His station and his power exalted high. 
 
 Now 'mong the assembled there, there lingered one 
 
 Who not more bold than many near, yet wished 
 
 The name of highest courage there to win ; 
 
 Daring a plan to venture which he ne'er 
 
 Would further if approved, and knowing well 
 
 That though applauded with profane outburst 
 
 The prudence of the greater part would lend 
 
 Their ears but not volitions to such schemes : 
 
 He, rising 'mid the buzzing multitude. 
 
 Began at once his singular address : 
 
 Illustrious King, upon whose mighty brow 
 
 There shines the diadem of a world ; and you, 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 27 
 
 The flower of Hades and its godlike court, 
 
 The glory of this thrilling hour, I laud 
 
 As high as do the proudest of you all. 
 
 This conclave grand which doth the themes revolve 
 
 Than which none greater or more bold hath e'er 
 
 In Hades, Earth, or other world, its birth 
 
 Received of any source, this hath no power, 
 
 Nor mind, nor dignity, which I do not 
 
 With pride triumphant recognise. List all : 
 
 With armories like ours, and that control 
 
 Over the subtle, natural powers vouchsafed 
 
 By Science unto Study deep, and whilst 
 
 A chief of such overshadowing name here deigns 
 
 To guide our councils and support our hosts . 
 
 With Hell's battallions, countless as the stars. 
 
 Puissant as the rushing orbs that cut 
 
 Through the wild waste of darkness their bright way, 
 
 Smiting the forms of life with fearful death. 
 
 While fortunes brilliant as are these attend 
 
 Upon us in this nether world, our thoughts 
 
 Should rise at once to loftiest deeds and claim 
 
 Th' emblazoned page of History. I urge 
 
 With ardent zeal that we forthwith prepare 
 
 A strong invasion gainst the walls of Heaven ; 
 
 Perchance, another disaffection lies concealed 
 
 Among its liveried slaves ; the working deep 
 
 Of some conspiracy may even now 
 
 Be eating thro' its order and its strength ; 
 
 And we may rob God's crown, at least 
 
 Of half its jeweled blaze. 
 
28 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 A loud applause 
 Greeted this daring speech ; but soon there rose 
 An eulogist of Satan, Jaser named, who claimed 
 A brief attention, and ' advised the course 
 Which Hell's great Sovereign had set forth.' But since 
 The flow of eloquent thought and rich array 
 Of words rhetorical were subject not 
 To his inferior command, he ' waived 
 The chance their precious time to occupy,' 
 Aloud deferring to the sumptuous speech 
 And exposition full which their ' great guest' 
 Had late vouchsafed to their ' delighted ears.' 
 
 And next arose one with a lowering mien 
 
 And wild and reckless aspect ; on the Earth 
 
 Within the dreary prisons of the mad 
 
 He foamed in restless chains — to that sad plight 
 
 Down Hung by unreined passions and the loose 
 
 Ungoverned rioting of guilty thoughts. 
 
 Amid lone, haunted battle fields he had liked 
 
 To roam at midnight, and behold around 
 
 The mouldering skulls revealed by that weird light 
 
 Which their pale spirits shed as softly they 
 
 Glided with moans above the frightful wrecks 
 
 Of their late temples. Likewise in dim caves, 
 
 Hung with the strange and varied pendants wrought 
 
 By Nature's brilliant alchemy, he walked 
 
 Often by day, nor greeted the bright blush 
 
 Of dew bespangled Morn ; and there on lakes 
 
 Where Pleasure's bannered sail was ne'er unfurled, 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 29 
 
 He glided in his rude, lone skiff, and sought 
 
 The spot where, seated in eternal rest. 
 
 The bodies of the ancient dead repose 
 
 Whose stirless forms declare the wond'rous tale 
 
 Of life unchronicled, save in those halls, 
 
 And on their graven armor quaint, 
 
 Forgotten in the shadowy mist of time. 
 
 Amid lone mountain ranges ; on the cataract's verge, 
 
 Besprinkled with its many tinted mist, and where 
 
 The rocking blasts of tempests raved, and shocks 
 
 Of the pitiless, scornful Earthquake, had entombed 
 
 The peopled gala scene in breathless night 
 
 He loved with dark, impassioned mien to roam. 
 
 He now- amid the conclave frowning rose 
 
 And briefly thus addressed th' assembled throng : 
 
 Not to express dissent from plans proposed 
 
 I rise in presence of our kingly guest, 
 
 But to the wisdom of his scheme to add 
 
 Further suggestions ; would it not accord 
 
 With the high spirit of those plans to cast 
 
 Our influence likewise o'er the Earth, and stir 
 
 Commotions furious there ; diversion fit 
 
 In favor of the movements grand below ? 
 
 Tell us, hath Hell among its dark behests 
 
 A power upon the elements of Earth, 
 
 Her subterranean fires to hurl aloft, 
 
 And shake the base of rock built capitals, 
 
 Flooding the palaces with liquid fire 
 
 And rolling on the flowery, vine-clad vales. 
 
 Destruction's scathing tide, which knov a no ebb ? 
 
30 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Yea, let some potent, cunning spirits fly 
 
 And whelm in ocean, (if ye can,) man's works, 
 
 And lash the sea of human passions, till 
 
 The plains are rocking with the plumy waves, 
 
 And War's dread lightnings answer to the skies 
 
 With voices dear to Vengeance and to Hell. 
 
 This said, as frowning he began, he closed 
 
 With sombre frowns, admired and praised of all. 
 
 The power of Hell none told how limited. 
 
 And then, while notes that mocked the trumpet's call, 
 
 The march of armies and the battle peals, 
 
 From the great gallery sounded ; all went forth 
 
 To form their ranks and plan their dark designs. 
 
 Now some, of Earth's inventions cumbrous fond. 
 
 Clamored aloud for catapults and rams, 
 
 And mighty grappling hooks to wrench a path 
 
 Through sturdy walls ; such implements as knocked 
 
 With fearful emphasis against the gates 
 
 Of Zion's city when the Roman flag 
 
 Repeated prophecies of her crimson fall 
 
 Before the peopled walls — or such as loomed 
 
 Upon the awe-struck vision when of old 
 
 Arbaces and Belesis rived the strength 
 
 Which guarded Ninevah's vast, populous mart, 
 
 Her sculptured wealth of palaces and fanes. 
 
 And rushed in triumph on her glittering throne.* 
 
 But some, the inventive sons of Havoc, smiled 
 
 At their terrestrial taste, and soon wheeled forth 
 
 Their magazines of thunderbolts, all stocked 
 
 * The means used at that time are not, as I am aware, recorded. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 31 
 
 With the dark seeds of ruin wild and wide, 
 
 Chanting a pa^an to the name of him 
 
 Who bore in hell the honors later given, 
 
 Upon the sorrow stricken earth, to Swartz, 
 
 The inventive friar of Cologne. Meanwhile 
 
 The awful battle tocsin from the central tower 
 
 Sounded with solemn call, and summoned forth 
 
 The myriads of Hades to the plain 
 
 Where Mars' great statue frowned upon the eye, 
 
 And shed around upon the gathering throng 
 
 War's demon inspirations. By his side 
 
 Satan exalted stood, and seemed the god 
 
 Himself descended from the Olympian heights. 
 
 Around u]3on the forming ranks he gazed. 
 
 And, with a proud air unapproachable. 
 
 Received the chieftains of the thickening hosts 
 
 And gave with dignity austere his word. 
 
 Then when he judged their order quite matured, 
 
 And when those who delighted with Earth's salts 
 
 And curious properties to deal, by various tests 
 
 And searching ordeal of the dazzling flame 
 
 Extorting answer of their secret powers,* 
 
 Gave word that they their compounds new had formed, 
 
 (Explosive compounds fit for havoc wild,) 
 
 A secret summons gave he to the hosts 
 
 Who owned him as their leader in the climes 
 
 " Racks, not for human limbs designed, but meant 
 To torture Nature and extort 
 Iler most obscure and vital secrets." 
 
 ' Northern Dawn,' by Author of '• Lady Alice.^ 
 
32 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Where Misery and Darkness dwell fore'er. 
 
 They loitered not upon the wing, but flew 
 
 Like smoke upon the Hurricane's breath ; and soon 
 
 Upon the distant verge of Hell they loomed, 
 
 And seemed a thunder storm : the hurtling loud 
 
 Of their swift wings was heard afar, a sound 
 
 Like to the distant roar of Floridan pines 
 
 When gusts from out the vexed, tempestuotis gulf 
 
 Kush on their stately strength. And all beheld, 
 
 Save Satan, their approach with eyes that gleamed 
 
 With terror as with wonder ; fearing now 
 
 A squadron of avenging spirits winged, 
 
 From out the courts of Heaven, their impious thoughts 
 
 To chastise ere the buds could blow : and some. 
 
 Dropping their arms, in consternation fled. 
 
 Seeking the caves of night ; confusion grand 
 
 Usurped the spacious plain, and soon full half 
 
 Struck with the horror of God's withering fires 
 
 Had fled dismayed, had not the thunder voice 
 
 Of their stern leader, sounding in the din. 
 
 Bade them their allies welcome. Xearer now 
 
 Their countenance betrayed their exiled state ; 
 
 For not the bright certificate of joy 
 
 And holy love shone in their angel looks ; 
 
 But the strong riot of unholy thoughts, 
 
 And anger, and the thirst of vengeance now 
 
 Had chased away th' entrancing lovelit smile 
 
 And the sweet graces of those living climes 
 
 Once consecrate to Beauty and Delight. 
 
 A horrid glare flashed fitful in the cloud 
 
THESHADOWYLAXD. 33 
 
 Of the advancing hosts, shed forth 
 
 From torches with the burning naptha fired 
 
 Their course to light across the desolate waste 
 
 And thro' the dense smoke shed from Hell's wide jaws, 
 
 Which draperied the verge of Erebus. 
 
 A trumpet blast which shook th" infernal vales 
 
 Announced their near approach ; and serried thick 
 
 Like to some hideous, black and leafless wood 
 
 Scathed by all conquering flames, they stood in ranks, 
 
 Ready for aught their leader should command ; 
 
 And had his voice enjoined them with hot haste 
 
 To rush and tear from out their orbits smooth 
 
 The fair and glittering orbs that sail 
 
 In stiU obedience in the mystic ring 
 
 Around the fount of light — or bidden them stop 
 
 E'en in the midst of their most eager flight, 
 
 Those furies of the sky with flaming locks, 
 
 At sight of which whole systems quake with fright, 
 
 Swift on the errand as the Indian dart 
 
 They would have sped the hopeless task to 've tried. 
 
 Though fired with scornful mutiny at times. 
 
 Now servile seemed their dread. 
 
 Satan stood forth 
 And once again the orator appeared : 
 Exiles of Heaven, (and now, indeed, of choice,) 
 Whose absence from its hated courts is proof 
 Of your allegiance and of minds which high 
 Above the thought of servitude arose. 
 To the pure air of independence risen — 
 3 
 
34 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Ye who in contests past displayed 
 
 Heroic valor 'gainst the arms of Heaven, 
 
 Its crystal castles storming with the force 
 
 Of fire infernal* mingled with the rude 
 
 And crashing missiles from the mine uptorn 
 
 In native, giant weight. ye whose hands 
 
 The pride of Heaven have checked, and His famed boast 
 
 Of universal empire have repressed. 
 
 Your aid upon a scheme more humble, now, 
 
 I warmly ask. The paradise of souls 
 
 In human flesh once vailed, beside this realm 
 
 Spreads out in amplitude, inviting, fair. 
 
 And easy, doubtless, as a spoil to us. 
 
 Long peace its watchmen have made careless now ; 
 
 Upon their towers in dreadless calm they rest. 
 
 And think their care beyond the shade of ill. 
 
 Their kingdom seems the mirrored type of heaven, 
 
 Reposing in a softer, mellower light ; 
 
 With curious fruitage blooming on the trees 
 
 That doth the languishing spirit gratefully wake 
 
 With stir of joy divine, and the flutter sweet 
 
 Of new, ethereal life. To dispossess 
 
 The present occupants, (a timid race. 
 
 Who boast they have no choice of place, 
 
 The smile of God their omnipresent heaven,) 
 
 To rout and scatter these, I apprehend 
 
 The amusement of an hour ; and then, the gates 
 
 With triple adamant braced, and walls 
 
 Fierce bristling with the strange, tremendous arms 
 
 * " With fire infernal seeking to confound," &c.— Milton. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 35 
 
 And enginery of Hell, we may, secure, 
 
 Keep their ignoble host at distant bay 
 
 And taste ourselves the air of Paradise, 
 
 And on the slumbering bosom of its summery sea 
 
 Of varied pleasures anchor for a while 
 
 The storm-torn fleet of our souls chafed with war. 
 
 Its walls we '11 fringe 'round with a mimic hell 
 
 Of blazing bolts in quick succession winged. 
 
 Should they dispute again our title there. 
 
 But if God with his thunder should y' clothe 
 
 His bands seraphic and light up the shade 
 
 Of these inferior kingdoms with the flash 
 
 Of his fierce, torturing lightnings, we can hurl 
 
 Aught of malignant novelty in fire 
 
 Which Alchemy hath given us, and try 
 
 Its temper 'gainst His heavenly hosts. Perchance 
 
 Wild havoc may attest our skill. At least 
 
 Our glorious lot it may become 'ere long 
 
 To prompt a shock which to the farthest bound 
 
 Of Heaven may shake the calm of angel life. 
 
 And thrill their souls at thought of daring grand. 
 
 The glory sumptuous and th' excitement rare 
 
 Of this great day lit up and decked with fires 
 
 Of heroism high, noble inventions, all the grace 
 
 And music, and the bannered pomp that gilds 
 
 Battle's transporting hour, will well be worth 
 
 The painjjof many a day. 
 
 Thus spoke the Fiend. 
 The spirit and the glow of all he poured 
 Upon their eager hearts, how clearly seen, 
 
36 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Sprung from a soul corrupted from all good, 
 
 As glowing vapors from some rotting fen 
 
 Rank with the mouldering offerings of Death ! 
 
 The memory of heavenly joy still shed 
 
 A mocking gleam upon his mind. How fallen ! 
 
 Not more unyieldingly and bleakly scorns 
 
 Some icy cliff below Magellan's Strait 
 
 The feeble stragglings of the shipwrecked man 
 
 Seeking to climb with failing heart the shore, 
 
 Than did his proud, his selfish, vengeful soul, 
 
 Purge off all thought of mercy and of right, 
 
 Cased in the icy rock of selfishness, the home 
 
 Of foiled, incensed ambition and revenge. 
 
 Long since had joy forsaken his dark soul : 
 
 Selfish ambition as a courtly thief 
 
 Stole in and ravished it away. 
 
 When Virtue's fair and stately growth was checked, 
 
 Fading for want of nourishing ; when grew 
 
 The excrescence black and gross of Sin's disease. 
 
 Then drooped the glory of the bough, the fruit 
 
 Grew bitter, and in rich, ripe happiness 
 
 No more was seen : henceforth 't was blasted quite. 
 
 The tree once blooming in a fragrant wealth 
 
 Of flowers and fruit, was dead and rotten, struck 
 
 Down from its eminence by Heaven's fatal bolts, 
 
 And now dark sealed unto its burning wrath. 
 
 And prisonment more strict and gloomier still. 
 
 Another angel of the fallen hosts 
 
 Arose with look of ardent life and bade 
 
 Their hopes aspire to loftiest palms, and deeds 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 37 
 
 With the unclouded noon of victory crowned ; 
 
 Brave confidence that laughed to scorn all fear, 
 
 The eagle herald of sublime success, 
 
 Piercing the clouds with swift, exulting wing, 
 
 He zealously pronounced : and then he bade 
 
 Certain malignant companies that ranged 
 
 Beneath his captainship, at once to fly 
 
 To the climes of earth and stir up every strife 
 
 Within its irritable breast : " Depart ! 
 
 And lurk in royal council-rooms and breathe 
 
 Pernicious projects in the ears of kings ; 
 
 Ambition's fiery essence secret pour 
 
 Into their restless hearts and fan the flame 
 
 Of national jealousies throughout the world. 
 
 Let not th' infection of a plague steal in 
 
 Where ye do not ; let not the jessamine's breath 
 
 Or roses', or the balmy south-wind flow 
 
 In upon chambers which ye enter not : 
 
 Watch ye the cradle of each new-born scheme 
 
 Of courtly crime and nurse its infant life ; 
 
 Be as the summery air and sunbeams bright 
 
 To every evil bud, betokening fruit 
 
 Of signal mischief and of sullen wo. 
 
 Yea, skulk within the temple's courts where sit 
 
 Doctors and learned priests, and subtly breathe . 
 
 Poisonous temptations that may glare anon 
 
 In horrid heresies and deadly feuds." 
 
 They, having heard this mandate, speed as swift 
 
 As the thistle's down whirled by the tempest's breath, 
 
 Eager their evil errand to fulfill : 
 
38 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 What wonder that the vulture to "War's field 
 
 And to the loathsome banquet of his taste 
 
 Doth hurry on 1 These were the spirits base 
 
 Which flit with nimble wing from ear to ear, — 
 
 From hovel to the palace ; now o'er seas 
 
 Skimming the waves like stormy petrels, bound 
 
 On viewless pinions to e'en distant shores 
 
 On errands of malign import. In wars 
 
 Hot with the lust of rapine and the zeal 
 
 Of proud Ambition's cravings, these have breathed 
 
 Near by, as at conception of the scheme, 
 
 To urge the enforcement of the dark design, 
 
 The hatching fully of the dragon's egg. 
 
 More skilled than these were absent now, engaged 
 
 In rousing hate against God's holy Son, 
 
 Seeking to drown his love 'mid envious scorn ; 
 
 But these in many a turbid dream took joy. 
 
 Prompting the tempest of the heart, the clash 
 
 Of fierce-eyed Battle and the war of words. 
 
 Thou who in yon vast and sparkling heavens 
 
 Thy blue pavilion spreadest ; clothed in might 
 
 As suns in draperies of wasteless light ; 
 
 Whose glance th' illimitable streams of stars 
 
 Searcheth with quick omnisciency ; 
 
 Thou seest all ! Each dark design lies bare 
 
 Beneath thy fearful eyes, as gorges black 
 
 In midnight shadows deep embower'd, are lit 
 
 With lightnings that glance off from beetling heights. 
 
 And with insufferable splendor blaze 
 
THESIIADOWYLAND. 39 
 
 In th' deep ravines below. Yon stars that rush 
 With luminous locks far-streaming through the sky 
 Travel for ages in their flight sublime 
 To measure out th' expansion of thy love : 
 Attempt most vain ! Thou with that love profound 
 Dost condescend thy children to behold, 
 The strength of thy dread arm for them to show, 
 To plant with life's fair tree, with flowers of bliss 
 And glory's blooms of beauty peaceful climes, 
 New-Edens, deathless bowers, a Paradise 
 Where Hope's fond twilight kindles into day 
 (Or with her rosiest promise paints th' sky,) 
 And holy Trust beholds the Ransom true 
 Whose types on earth her trembling spirit cheered, 
 Immortal, crown'd with many crowns. Thy Son. 
 
 END OP BOOK FIRST. 
 
40 THESHADOWYLAND 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 ' '' Think that to those e'en now are given 
 Shadowings of bliss and gleams of future heaven ; 
 Not in th' obstruction cold of mortal clay 
 Deem that they sleep till earth shall pass away, 
 But lift e'en now their intellectual eyes 
 'Mid visions of the mediate Paradise." 
 
 Elton's Poems. 
 
 Slumbering beneath the flnsb of golden clouds 
 
 From which soft airs float down upon the land, 
 
 Such airs as spirits breathe, — the Elysian clime 
 
 Spreads out in loveliness and pomp. 
 
 And here a city with fair, pearly gates, 
 
 Its walls of glistening jasper and its towers 
 
 "With beautiful minerals sparkling, filled the eye, 
 
 A type of Heaven's grand capital which John 
 
 Saw in symbolic visions. At those gates. 
 
 In number twelve, twelve angels beauteous stood. 
 
 A lovely spirit, heaven-descended, reigned 
 
 Far in the city's heart, and her sweet smile 
 
 That Paradise illum'd ; her name was Hope. 
 
 O fair within her palace-chambers gleamed 
 
 Visions of Heavenly prospects, bright as scenes 
 
 Where Love first drew his breath ! How dim, by these, 
 
 Lorraine's rich, slumberous glories, Wilson's pomp 
 
 Or those superb, entrancing scenes which Cole 
 
 Pictured before his voyager's charm'd eye.. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 41 
 
 And her prime minister was Love, as fair 
 
 Winning and sweet a seraph as did e'er 
 
 Stoop from the courts of light. And meekness there 
 
 With temperance (whose eyes and cheeks were pure 
 
 As dews and opening roses,) joined with Faith 
 
 A spirit with a penitent, earnest mien 
 
 Full of devoted trust, whose soul, absorbed. 
 
 The scrolls of prophecy perused, these all 
 
 Were grouped her noble ministry to form : * 
 
 The breath of Hope throughout her blissful realm 
 
 Dispensed reviving sweetness, and soft airs 
 
 Eich with the incense of the fanes of Heaven 
 
 And odors of its deathless flowers strayed down 
 
 At times upon the vales of Paradise 
 
 Breathing delicious pleasure. Oft they saw, 
 
 Far in the serial azure, faces fair 
 
 In most unearthly beauty and caught strains 
 
 Which seemed like anthems from the gala halls 
 
 Where Virtue, wedding with immortal Joy, 
 
 Her holy triumphs celebrates, — and now 
 
 As glad as movements of the weaned bird 
 
 With freedom, power and summer's beauty dmnk, 
 
 JS'^ow fond and eloquent as are the words 
 
 Where genius couches its enamored flame 
 
 With passionate kisses seconded. Nor thence 
 
 Alone did float their melody : full oft 
 
 From their vast, gorgeous temple streamed 
 
 * The idea of this passage was,. I presume,, suggested by a passage in 
 an English poet, or by Peale's illustration of it. 
 
42 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Airs worthy of the jubilees of heaven ; 
 
 And when high genius (charming monster ! bright, 
 Spiritual extravagance of nature, proof 
 Golden and rich of her disordered powers ;* 
 Like fallen angels' diadem, the fair 
 Insignium of a dark revolt ! the bright 
 And captivating pomp where glares 
 The lightning of the warrior's sword ; — the thronef 
 And god-like grandeur of Olympian Jove !) 
 And when high genius o'er the burning strings 
 Its fingers threw and poured with richest tones 
 Its melodies divine, e'en seraph ears 
 From the soft ether listened, charmed and rapt ; 
 All Happy Hades with delighted ear 
 Listened to symphonies and anthems high 
 Where sweet-lipped music with expression true, 
 E'er varying with the flow of ardent thought, 
 The heavenly goodness celebrated : Now 
 In solemn and majestic strains more grand 
 Than came to Hadyn's hour inspired, the acts 
 Of the creative power they laud ; and now 
 In melodies which breathe of sterner might 
 And harmonies with passionate discords dashed, 
 They sing the deeds of Moses, and the arm 
 Outstretched and glorious of the Lord of life 
 
 * Genius in its highest manifestation is here spoken of as being like 
 idiocy, its antithesis, a result of the fall of man ; and hence is compared 
 to certain pomps and splendors which indicate and are the decorations of a 
 state of corruption. 
 
 t The image of Jove in his temple. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 43 
 
 Above the shattered strength of Egypt and 
 
 Her whelmed, appall'd hosts. Nor ever once 
 
 Upon the ear (to outward sound how deaf ! 
 
 To inward voicings how divinely waked !) 
 
 Of strange Beethoven monarch of the lyre 
 
 Crowned with the stars of fame, did music steal 
 
 More fondly sweet and boldly grand than that 
 
 Which the Elysian minstrels breathed in praise 
 
 Of Him whom prophecy in moving strains 
 
 Of old foretold ; in visions awful, seen 
 
 Brought to the Eternal's throne, th' embodying bright 
 
 Of love and power ; like violet meek, the oak 
 
 In strength and fortitude, — ordained to grasp 
 
 The sceptre kissed of universal power 
 
 And glorious domination bought with blood. 
 
 And when His reign millennial they hymn 
 
 (Seen in prophetic light) and their awards — 
 
 Life with unfading loveliness arrayed 
 
 And faculties of heavenly stamp, — their bursts 
 
 Full of the strength of wonder, love and joy 
 
 Excelled the mighty minstrel's who extolled 
 
 In glorious strains the Messianic Prince 
 
 And made his own name quenchless as the sun. 
 
 And others, strangers in that mediate land, 
 
 Came to the audience of their anthems high 
 
 As " certain stars " that left their native " spheres " 
 
 To list terrestrial music. These were shapes 
 
 Of subtle, spiritual substance ; things that were 
 
 Unto the grosser elements of earthly forms 
 
 As are the delicate reflections from the peak 
 
44 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Of icy Alpine tops to the coarse fire 
 
 That tips the point of J^tna ; or, compare 
 
 With wild and crabbed fruit on rocky hills 
 
 The fruit which tempted Eve with fragrant blush 
 
 Or bows the ruddy branch o'er Life's pure stream. 
 
 Once did these visitants abide as men 
 
 In neighboring planets which around the sun 
 
 Like Earth their circles sweep ; but changed 
 
 To substance more etherial they roamed 
 
 In angel freedom, beauteous, pure and bright. 
 
 Among them Enoch sometimes took a place, 
 
 And rapt Elijah also, loved of Heaven, 
 
 Which, jealous of the grave and Paradise, 
 
 His living body, shrine of loyal fire, snatched up 
 
 Unto the golden courts of love Divine. 
 
 And still the semblance of their former shape 
 
 These lovely spirits wore ; and those who 'd roved 
 
 Amid the flowery vales of Yenus and had bathed 
 
 Their natural rose amid the purple flush 
 
 The rapt astronomer with optic glass 
 
 Sees on the twilight line upon her globe, — 
 
 More graceful these than Yenus when she stood 
 
 In classic glory for the golden prize 
 
 Deserved by beauty's soft, voluptuous might, 
 
 That likewise won a starry name in heaven. 
 
 More like to Psyche's loveliness they seemed. 
 
 But why to beings of imagination, shaped 
 
 In poetry's mould of beauty, these compare 1 
 
 The fine, sweet tints of past carnations still 
 
 Lingered upon their forms and blushed amid 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 45 
 
 The mellow chrystal of their substance strange. 
 
 From the great Sun, too, spirits came who 'd dwelt, 
 
 In former life, beneath his fiery air, 
 
 'Mid scenes of beauty, happy 'neath the glow 
 
 Of his fierce splendors tempered soft and soothed 
 
 To genial moderation. * Still they bore 
 
 The traces of their former clime, and shed 
 
 A sunshine glory round their steps ; so, where 
 
 They like Aurora's band their pathway chose 
 
 Across the hills and vales the wakening flowers 
 
 Opened their folded petals as they passed. 
 
 And birds, withdrawing from their purple wings 
 
 Their sweet, wee heads, sang " welcome," as to dawn. | 
 
 In converse glad these beauteous spirits stood 
 
 With the Earth-born prisoners of Death and Hope, 
 
 Embodied prophecies of their coming state. 
 
 As of the day are morning's glittering clouds. 
 
 Now, while in pleasures of their converse pure, 
 
 Melodious transports and the equal joys 
 
 Which Science, eloquence and hallowed Art 
 
 Give freely to their devotees, the guards 
 
 Who on the Elysian walls their watch 
 
 Kept ceaselessly, discerned afar the flash 
 
 Of an armed host, as oft as from the clouds 
 
 Dismal and ominous of Hell, their bolts 
 
 * The Sun, it has been supposed, may be inhabited beneath a thick fold 
 or cloudy curtain tempering the heat. 
 
 t It was not till after this conceit was written or conceived that Shakes- 
 peare's idea of the sparkling eye that " in heaven, would through the airy 
 region stream so bright," &c., came into mind. 
 
46 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Forked thro' th' accursed and haunted gloom. And soon 
 
 A fearful distant noise of tramping hosts 
 
 Likewise aroused their fears ; that envious ire 
 
 Which overflowed in war's malign array 
 
 Alarmed with menancings proud ; as when some lake, 
 
 Swelled to the brim, abhors its earthly bars ; 
 
 Or when some noble river scorns its dyke, 
 
 And, bursting through, affrights with roarings loud 
 
 The slumbering villagers in the plains below ; 
 
 Who to the housetops rush with pallid haste, 
 
 And there behold by night's uncertain gleams, 
 
 The foam of furious floods, the trees uptorn, 
 
 And houses borne away like leaves that fall 
 
 Into th' autumnal streams. 
 
 Then swiftly flew 
 The messengers to that revered spot 
 Where Adam, joined with Eve, in gardens fair, 
 Rivalling Eden's, tasted nectared fruits 
 Without a forfeit or the frowns of Heaven. 
 Here all their children in Elysium come, 
 At times, to pay their honors meet, and see 
 The venerable oak of earliest days 
 Whose acorns filled the world with forests. She 
 The mother of our race, too, not forgot. 
 Received their benedictions, and the flowers 
 Which in the bosom of Elysium thrive 
 And fit to crown her beauty ; beauty grand 
 But not with earthly, sanguine freshness bright, 
 But smiling with etherial tints and traits. 
 
THESHADOVVYLAND. 47 
 
 Like some soft dream of matcliless glory past, 
 Pure from its stains ; or, as the vision fair 
 Of truthful Love seen in the glorious trance 
 Of some high, holy bard. 
 
 It happened then 
 A group of worthiest ancients met our Sire 
 Around his board with fruits ambrosial piled. 
 And gleaming with the luscious waters dipped 
 From the honied Founts of Bliss ; (these leapt 
 Sparkling into the air of Paradise 
 Washing away the memories of draughts 
 Of Asia's choicest wines or richest blood 
 The trampled vintages of Spain or Gaul 
 Ever in their voluptuous carnage shed : 
 Such pleasure on the taste thereof did wait. ) 
 Amidst their feast while Music's mellow voice 
 Aud quivering harp-strings stirred a rich delight, 
 (Attendant worthiest of a feast that doth 
 To gratefullest digestion pure conduce,) 
 The pallid messenger with flurried air 
 "Was to their smiling conclave ushered swift. 
 Startling the gravest Sons of Paradise 
 With looks where chill dismay the omen sad 
 Of some grave menace showed : " Patriarch ! Sire 
 Of all whom Earth on her wide breast hath nursed. 
 By winged fright dispatched, I come. 
 A vision bristling with such horrid threats 
 And with a cloud of such dark perils girt. 
 Dismal and menacing as the jaws of Hell, 
 
48 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Or frownings of its roused and incensed prince, 
 
 Hath never startled our appalled watch. 
 
 But brief : an army comes ! and by their grim 
 
 And giant engines and the banners wrought 
 
 With types of hate infernal and the fierce 
 
 Mottoes of vengeance and the oaths of war, 
 
 Wherewith they flout the sullen face of night, 
 
 I judge embittered enemies from darkest Hell 
 
 Or its dim counterfeit beyond. The angry flash 
 
 Of storms which bellow round their path 
 
 Reveal their arms and progress, happily not 
 
 Of their dread weaponry a part ; ah ! soon 
 
 Hurled in appalling bolts of ruinous force 
 
 Upon our walls and fortresses, I fear. 
 
 When the gruff muttering of clouded night 
 
 Was hushed for moments, from afar we heard. 
 
 Or deemed we heard, the fearful howl of fiends, 
 
 Partly, it may be, outcries of that woe 
 
 Which they e'en more than their stern allies know 
 
 And partly the impatient shouts of hearts 
 
 Phrenzied to their dark core with thirst of war. 
 
 We did bethink ourselves of wolves that howl 
 
 About new conquests of the undaunted plough. 
 
 Trampling with restless feet the fold around. 
 
 Maddened with hunger, with their yellings loud 
 
 And strife infuriate frighting the dun clouds 
 
 (That hover o'er the sleep of dew-gemmed earth) 
 
 And the dark, solemn firs that bend above 
 
 Like swarthy slaves that watch some queen who sleeps 
 
 With her rich mantle and her jewels on." 
 
 Thus he : 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 49 
 
 To whom the First of men replied : 
 " Thy words astonish us ; this news is fit 
 To strike the vigorous arm to palsied chills 
 Trembling and impotent, if holy trust 
 Did not our spirits arm. surely God, 
 Whose glance divides the pitchy night of Hell, 
 The deepest Hell, reading its impious plots, 
 Hath fully noticed here our danger dark 
 And the stormy menacings of war. On wings 
 Yiewless but sure and shedding secret death 
 Or consternation dire, (as on the host 
 Sennacherib encamped near Zion's walls, — 
 Or those who heard the rumbling sound of wheels 
 As of ten thousand chariots near, so now) 
 The terrors of his judgments will descend ; 
 As Love her never-ending summer keeps 
 Within His breast and guards with sleepless eye 
 The happy state of those who serve Him, God, 
 Doubtless, by winged messengers will smite 
 With wild, confused dismay this demon throng 
 Approaching near our seats, or hurl His darts 
 With burning anger tipt." 
 
 Then to his guests, 
 (The second father of mankind, who rode, 
 Borne up by buoyant righteousness above 
 The watery abyss of death ; and him 
 Who rose triumphant o'er the second flood 
 With all his followers, to behold the wreck 
 Of Egypt's impious chivalry down cast 
 4 
 
50 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Beneath the Red Sea's foam, with others known 
 
 In history above the purpled names 
 
 Of monarchs and unrighteous victors great,) — . 
 
 To these his guests, next, Adam turned, and thus 
 
 His counsels firm advanced : sons, whom God 
 
 Hath clearly loved and honored high, how true 
 
 That till within th' embosoming peace of Heaven 
 
 Guarded by flaming cherubim who hurl * 
 
 Their bolts at every imp who dares too near 
 
 The crystal towers to approach, how true till then 
 
 The cloudless noon-day of seraphic bliss 
 
 Is but a dream which lights the couch of hope. 
 
 Had we not erred from truth, — had I not sinned 
 
 And led to ruin my corrupted race 
 
 This wall, the index of our bonds and shame 
 
 And death, had never prisoned here our souls : 
 
 But bore upon a plumed and joyous strength 
 
 We, with the heights of heaven and starry realm 
 
 Of the unbounded universe familiar grown. 
 
 Might smile at fear, in blest assurance rapt : — 
 
 But is not now bright Hope's sweet music ours ? 
 
 The ruddy morning of the day of bliss. 
 
 Steal not its tuneful and prophetic charms 
 
 With deepening beauty o'er the soul ? Faith, hope 
 
 And love, — these never die ! the righteous heart 
 
 Shall ever with their vines be strengthened, bound, 
 
 Sustained by their strong tendrils and be charmed 
 
 With th' breath and heaven-born beauty of their flowers. 
 
 Pale fear, begone ! and welcome faith in God ! 
 
 * An oriental conceit. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 51 
 
 He will protect or doth foresee us safe. 
 But why, too late, should I lament, or waste 
 In this the imminent hour the moments left 
 For preparation of defence ? Go bid 
 Those who have power o'er air (if God such power 
 To any here hath loaned) to charge yon sky 
 With subtle chemic elements and powers 
 Whence, flaming and solidified, such orbs 
 As from the waste of midnight brightly rush 
 Athwart the clear and deep-blue skies 
 May thickly flash amid the startled air : 
 Go, urge all those who have such mystic gifts 
 To gather 'round our gates such airy powers 
 And mount with such artillery our walls. 
 And let the antiquarian's halls produce 
 Their rusting imitations of Earth's arms, 
 Perchance, not made in vain ; and if here breathes 
 One earth-born soul or spirit from heaven whose might 
 (The gift of God alone, the wisest, best !) 
 Unto the Elysian sun extends, let him, 
 If Heaven permit, in fitting time, 
 "Shading our clime with cloudy canopy, 
 That globe to ruinous, torrid splendor rouse, 
 Which may melt down their enginery and fire 
 With horrible havoc and confusion wild 
 Whatever stores for war their malice brings, — 
 (The malice of our demon foes, I mean.) 
 
 Then Daniel, of a memory mild and pure, 
 Thus briefly to our general father spoke : 
 
52 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 " Adam, wisely hast thou said ; and well 
 
 Rush of our number many to discharge 
 
 The duties just imposed ; one weapon more 
 
 May well be urged : of temper keen and clear, 
 
 More hallowed than the sword the patriot draws ; 
 
 Bright with the lustre of great victories past ; 
 
 Still oft as a whisper in its rushing swift ; 
 
 And drawing, sometimes, by an influence grand 
 
 Legions invincible of angels, armed 
 
 With th' deadly giftings of the Eternal Power, 
 
 The heralds of dismay and wrath and death ; 
 
 'Tis known as prayer, prayer faithful and sincere : 
 
 The golden portals of Heaven's secret courts 
 
 Fly open as its message winged draws near ; 
 
 Perfumed with smoke of sacrifice, it breathes 
 
 An undefective odor ; gains the ear 
 
 Of Majesty Divine and pleadeth there 
 
 With sweet, anointed breath. Then droops the wing 
 
 Of th' dread, poisonous pestilence : The clouds, 
 
 Chased from the skies and withered by the blaze 
 
 Of the Omnipotent's avenging wrath, 
 
 Regather on the azure plains of heaven, 
 
 And cast their largesses of pearls to earth ; 
 
 Earth ! burning and sorrowing and famine-struck ; 
 
 Then smiles thy face again ; and bounty glows 
 
 Like a rich cheek with health and laughter full ; 
 
 Sweet Music strikes anew her broken lute. 
 
 Yea, Prayer hath thus unlocked the awful founts 
 
 Of God's resistless Spirit : and hath wooed 
 
 To th' sick frame or to death's ghastly sleep 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 53 
 
 The healing, quickening power : The sin-sick soul 
 Trembling upon the crumbling verge of Hell, 
 He, too, hath lived ; hath lived by faithful prayer 
 Upgushing from a penitent breast. But why 
 Should we recount its eloquence (which all 
 Must needs admit,) — that it brings down a shower, 
 As of the flowers and fruits of lovelier worlds, 
 The clustering sweetnesses, hope, peace and joy, 
 And bounties good, which th' Earth, laughing to hear 
 The prattling streams again, holds forth 
 As sacrifice to God." 
 
 To him the First of men : 
 " Son ! 'tis well ; of course, all hearts, at once, 
 (This consultation broken,) would entreat 
 The Highest to regard our threatened State, 
 And with the invulnerable shield of Heaven 
 Guard our assaulted breasts." 
 
 Then Noah, in turn, 
 Addressed them, too : No light distress my breast 
 Would, but for faith in God Most High, disturb ; 
 Since rumor whispereth that the Son of God 
 (Oft on the shadows of our earthly day 
 Descending like the pearly, cheerful bow. 
 The Angel who our early hopes did lead 
 To his far-distant triumph over sin 
 And death's grim tyranny in breathless gloom) 
 Since rumor whispereth that this Heavenly Friend, 
 Born of a virgin, now his glory shrouds 
 
54 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 In the veil of mortal weakness, prisoning 
 
 The lightnings of His honor and His power 
 
 In a link of Judah's royal chain : Perchance, 
 
 Were ours a bleak necessity, his eye, 
 
 Clouded by human impotence, might not 
 
 The star perplexed of our lot discern. 
 
 Did not the Father in his spirit dwell.* 
 
 His hand fast bound in earthly fate, bereaved, 
 
 (Perish the thought !) of its grand gifts Divine, 
 
 Or else foregoing now the awful wealth 
 
 Of its celestial might, may 't falter now 
 
 In human weakness, chained, perhaps, and faint 
 
 In dungeons of disdainful foes ? So run 
 
 As in my latest words, unwelcome thoughts. 
 
 Which let none entertain : Such dreams 
 
 Our adversary now may nurse ; and hence 
 
 Environs us around with threatnings stern 
 
 And in our ears the trump of vengeance peals. 
 
 Startling the smiling rest of Paradise. 
 
 Yet God, Father omniscient ! thy clear eye 
 
 Lights up the depths of Hell ; and thy dread power, 
 
 Quick as the storm-bolts' light from east to west, 
 
 Pursues the plots of wickedness, if Thou 
 
 Resolv'st to crush e'en in the pregnant bud 
 
 The schemes of hellish hate ; beneath the foot, 
 
 The mighty, brazen foot f of Providence 
 
 To break the crimsoning egg." 
 
 * " I am in the Father, and the Father in me." — St. John's Gospel. 
 t See Rev. I, 15. 
 
THESHADOWTLAND. 55 
 
 Then beauteous Eve 
 Thus mourned aloud in self-condemning words : 
 Alas ! that one small cloud begotten so far 
 In the dim lapse of time should still maintain 
 Its rule of sorrow ; still, enlarged, should fill 
 Our distant sky, thundering with omens dire ! 
 To this exposure to captivity 
 My hand hath chiefly led. And they who hide 
 Amid their household treasures the live eggs 
 Of serpents or of dragons fell must not 
 Admire or murmur if a poisonous horde 
 Hiss 'mid their rosiest bowers, or in the blood 
 Yea even of distant progeny, at will. 
 Their venomous malice quench : but I lament 
 The fearful evils done, yet still rejoice 
 In lofty confidence : 0, but for that 
 "Well might I now exclaim : " Ah ! now, what fear 
 Must spread its pale and chilly light among 
 Our children in this clime ! and many those 
 Who 're tender as the new-born leaf, whose hearts 
 Were never formed for consternation's hour 
 And the gusty verge of danger's darkening wing. 
 Son Divine ! as thou art on the Earth, 
 As prophecy and rumor say, and seest 
 The shadows of our present, — pray 
 Unto thy Father granting all to Thee 
 E'en to the throne of Heaven, to list t' our prayers 
 And fill with full security that void 
 Betwixt the foe and us : So, Eve besought. 
 Then Adam, deeming that on him did rest 
 
56 THESHADOWTLAND. 
 
 The chief responsibility, prepared 
 
 To overlook all plans designed to shield 
 
 Their country in the perilous hour. Faith still 
 
 Their spirits cheer'd, a cordial sweet ; else might 
 
 The pen historic thus discourse : Now Fear 
 
 Usurped the empire of delightful Hope : 
 
 As when the moon o'er some wide-spreading clime 
 
 With jealous shade the Sun's bright glory blots 
 
 In chill and ominous eclipse ; as when 
 
 Strange, sudden night o'ercomes at noon the sky, 
 
 Orbless and rayless, vomited abroad 
 
 From deep, volcanic seams, a panic shakes 
 
 The unsunned tribes below ; so now there spread 
 
 A woful consternation through the vales 
 
 Of late glad Paradise : Thus oft-times blight 
 
 Doth on the golden hope of man descend ; 
 
 The husbandman with joy beholds his fields 
 
 Beauteous as Ceres' generous smile and ripe, 
 
 Dallying with summer gales 5 when lo ! a flock 
 
 Of greedy birds, all famine-struck, becloud 
 
 The sunny heavens ; and pouncing on his grain, 
 
 Eecklessly gorge in glee their spacious crops : 
 
 Or, else, some wandering storm, by fierce winds whirled 
 
 Scouring along the vale, with giant shouts 
 
 Pelts with unmerciful battery of hail 
 
 The golden treasure into mire and sand. 
 
 Now Fear, a pale-cheeked shade, with glance as wild 
 
 As antelope's upon the Eocky Mounts 
 
 Echoing with huntsmen, rushed on toward the courts 
 
 Where Hope her heaven-lighted crown y' wore, 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 57 
 
 Lovely as light. The gentle queen appalled 
 
 Fled from her seat, but lingered in that clime, 
 
 Potent tho' throneless ; while the usurping one 
 
 Divided with the monarch fled her power. 
 
 Yet not with such dire tyranny she raged 
 
 As when, in fabulous fancy of the heathen bard, 
 
 Before the awful seat of frowning Mars 
 
 (So Claudian writes) she held the loosened reins, 
 
 While o'er the fallen His crimson wheels were whirled. 
 
 Not thus was peace o'erwhelmed, and Hope dethroned ; 
 
 Not thus the pen historic must record ; 
 
 For, love's pure air braced up their confidence. 
 
 Then, well-commissioned, flew up towards the Sun 
 
 (If that vast sphere of rich and mellow light 
 
 Which in the violet heavens of Paradise 
 
 Soars splendidly, may thus be called with name 
 
 Of earthly language borrowed,) spread his wings 
 
 A spirit of excelling note and power, 
 
 Whose birth was in some distant, central orb ; 
 
 A visitant of Hell. Now, as he soared, 
 
 Afar, spread out upon the darkened coast 
 
 The army of th' invaders vast and murk 
 
 His eagle eye espied ; and soon discerned 
 
 Their banners streaming in the sable air, 
 
 Now lit by fearful lightnings, now by flames 
 
 That 'mid Gehenna's * lurid smoke uprose 
 
 At times into the awful gloom ; (for, near the walls 
 
 That guarded Paradise, a hideous chasm 
 
 * " Gehenna," the place of torment, the lake of fire. 
 
58 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Breathing a deadly stench and sulphurous fires, 
 
 Protecting more than fort's deep moat, the jaws 
 
 Revealed of deepest Hell ;) — their banners vast 
 
 Some dark, some red as blood, with frightful forms, 
 
 Dragons and furies and Empusee scaled 
 
 Painted upon their grounds, seemed like the shrouda 
 
 And pall most gloomy of Elysian hope 
 
 And bliss long deemed immortal : So, to souls 
 
 Not fortified by th' granite strength of faith 
 
 Th' insignia of that host would then have seemed. 
 
 He sped to th' courts of light, upborne in air 
 
 With the night incense of delicious flowers 
 
 Bathing his airway, (as sweet joys surround 
 
 The heart which soars by laith and love and prayer 
 
 Towards Christ the spiritual Sun ;) still on 
 
 The night he cleft until, beyond the shade. 
 
 He saw as rising in his pomp the Sun ; 
 
 And glorious with its tracery of clouds 
 
 Were the casements and the picture of the East, — 
 
 As glorious as the window of some fane 
 
 Where th' anniversary of the birth of light 
 
 Is celebrated with rich, gorgeous fires 
 
 In the deep groves of Heaven. Now clear and wide 
 
 His opal splendors spread ; the gold-like fields 
 
 Extending as he neared ; 'till at length he saw 
 
 God-like and beauteous, with his lustrous wings 
 
 Dyed in prismatic hues, the angel high 
 
 Who o'er that world of glory reigned, * with power 
 
 * Milton, perhaps, took the idea of the angel in the sun from Revela- 
 tions. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 59 
 
 Its mystic rays of light and heat to sway 
 
 Tempering at will : (For such sublime control 
 
 Had Heaven conferr'd.) And thus that Prince he spoke : 
 
 honored seraph, holy, pure and bright, 
 
 Who might'st alone, were this grand orb submerged 
 
 In the thick gulf of stifling, Stygian night, 
 
 (Like an archangel plunged in Hell's dense gloom,) 
 
 The glory of the Elysian heaven maintain. 
 
 Shedding a bland, celestial day afar 
 
 Over th' employments of the blest ; I come 
 
 Thy aid to ask ; for, scornful foes the bliss 
 
 Of Happy Hades now insult with swarms 
 
 Of warlike cohorts, engines terrible and flags 
 
 Piratical and black, with emblems red, 
 
 Burthening the heavy air below, — which flags 
 
 May well remind one how upon the earth. 
 
 At twilight dim, from Etna's demon throat 
 
 A wide, far-streaming, sable smoke rolls forth 
 
 Dashed with infernal red ; and like the groans 
 
 Heard from beneath, prophetic of wild rack 
 
 And chaos of devouring fire, the rumbling seems 
 
 Of their gigantic cars. The First of men 
 
 Hath in his wisdom asked our speedy aid 
 
 In disconcerting and confounding all 
 
 Who 'gainst the peace of Paradise conspire ; 
 
 Having for this design besought the Lord, 
 
 That our assistance may be rendered them. 
 
 If stirring up the power which God hath loaned 
 
 (Which He hath bidden us use for holy ends,) 
 
 Soon with a treble fervor we can light 
 
60 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 This glorious throne thou claimest ; riot dire 
 And mutiny amid their mineral stores 
 So eager for incendiary rage may hurl 
 Amid their hosts wildest extravagance 
 Of ruin and dismay. 
 
 To him the seraph bright : 
 " I well remember thee, that spirit high, 
 Once in thy primary estate, well known, 
 A habitant of Earth's magnificent sun ; 
 Now through the love of God and heavenly laws 
 Moulded anew by his ne'er-failing hand 
 And with etherial frame endowed. And here 
 Thou 'rt warmly welcomed ! If fatigued thou art 
 "With thy swift, lengthy flight, I pray, 
 Let me a diamond cup with ether fill 
 (An essence ravished from the luminous streams 
 And flavored with the spicy breath of flowers 
 Which flourish on the orb beneath this blaze,) 
 Draught worthy deathless lips ; its power will breathe 
 Delectable transports, and diffuse thro' wings 
 And cheeks and brow a soft, etherial glow 
 Like the tinted streamings of the northern dawn, 
 As seen on distant Earth.* Like thee I've gazed 
 Upon that rabble huge who now encamp 
 Beyond Elysium's flaming moat, and feared 
 Or almost feared that this rough demon crowd 
 
 * "What wonder then if fields and regions here 
 Breathe forth elixir pure and rivers run 
 Potable gold," &c. — Milton. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. • 61 
 
 Some mischief foul should work. Your hint is well ; 
 
 And, if not fire-proof, their dark, smutty stores 
 
 Or whatsoe'er they have compounded new 
 
 For battlp's liery intercourse shall cloud 
 
 The atmosphere of Hades where they're thronged. 
 
 Thou hast, I know, a power o'er fire ; and soon 
 
 In the grand aj)ocalypse of future time 
 
 Shall have thy part in those symbolic deeds 
 
 Reserved for Christ's apostle lingering last. 
 
 But I need not thy proffered aid ; go thou, 
 
 And, with th' Almighty's sanction, use His gifts, 
 
 Shade Paradise with cool and grateful clouds, 
 
 When thou art rested. Should I shroud the blaze 
 
 Of the Elysian day in murkiest night, — 
 
 Then, with a mocking scenery of bright towers 
 
 Seen by a warlike glare perplex the foe ; 
 
 (If such illusion thou by Art canst cause,) 
 
 That firing his hellish malice in the air 
 
 Or, better still, against his distant wings 
 
 And 'gainst such ambushed squadrons in close rank 
 
 And such reserves as you may then espy, 
 
 He may assist his overthrow and smite 
 
 With furious vollies his own hateful crew. 
 
 Then Alzaran (for he the errand bore,) 
 Drank the etherial stream, a nectared draught, 
 And flung far out upon the luminous air. 
 His freshened vans ; a fond adieu he waved 
 Unto the spirit of the sun, who smiled, 
 In pure celestial beauty robed ; for, he, 
 
62 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Though on a throne of light and beauty couched, 
 Eclipsed it all ; as, piety heaven-born. 
 Gemming the graces of a lovely maid 
 (Oft crowned the queen of May,) outshines their j^harms 
 Though of the softest witchery ; or, as a star 
 Bursting in silvery splendor through the blush 
 Of Evening's sweetly stained and mottled sky 
 Unchallenged reigns 'mid heaven's surrounding pomp. 
 
 Meanwhile the army of the foe encamped 
 
 Beyond the infernal chasm, while night veiled 
 
 The world of either hell ; a deeper shade 
 
 Covering their own bleak clime ; (for, pearly gleams 
 
 Through the curtaining smoke of Tartarus shot thro' 
 
 At times from far Elysium to prompt 
 
 The thought of their great loss and tantalize 
 
 Their longings with a dream of heavenly noon.) 
 
 Then Satan in his chariot vast and wrought 
 With golden emblems of his state and power, 
 By winged lions drawn (whose fierce eyes flashed 
 A bloody overthrow to less than gods 
 Or spirits immortal,) loomed on high. His glance 
 How stern and dreadful ! while revenge and pride 
 Reigned like a thunder-darkened night o'er brows 
 Severe and terrible as the caves of death. 
 A thousand warriors, clad in flashing steel 
 Tempered by cunning art, before him strode ; 
 Beside him, mailed in silver hard and bright. 
 His armor-bearer with his massive shield 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 63 
 
 Stood waiting his commands ; while torches thick 
 
 Amid the darkness flared, shedding their blaze 
 
 O'er the plumed helmets of the infernal peers, 
 
 Who, each in seraph majesty and pomp, 
 
 Grasped his resplendent spear. Th' Apostate rose ; 
 
 His gorgeous mantle on his shoulder still 
 
 Hung purple and emblazed ; for, its gemlit stars. 
 
 Sparkling in fadeless and enchanting light. 
 
 Seemed like the jewels on Aurora's vest. 
 
 In fabled visions of war's tragedies 
 
 Not Mars himself e'er with such glorious port 
 
 Gazed o'er the field while fierce Bellona stormed 
 
 Waving her lurid torch. Hast thou not seen 
 
 A mountain capt with dazzling snows, whose sides 
 
 Blushed with the mellow summer's wealth, with flowers 
 
 Laughing beside th' empurpled vintage full 1 
 
 Yet fires of reckless fury raged below. 
 
 Deadly and poisonous airs amid ; and lo ! 
 
 The ominous darkness frowns upon its brow, 
 
 Bursting the glittering crest : or spiritual Rome 
 
 Hast seen in painted, sumptuous splendor drest ; 
 
 With Art's voluptuous blandishments and pomp 
 
 Of her sovereignty enriched ; while dark. 
 
 Deceitful, earthly and profane her heart. 
 
 The sink of filthy lies, a sorcerer's pot 
 
 Drugged with the naaseous alchemy of death. 
 
 Which God scarce tolerates, — abhorred and doomed 
 
 To irrecoverable and frightful wreck 
 
 In his hot day of vengeance ? Then thou 'st seen 
 
 How dark corruption vests itself in wealth 
 
64 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Of beauty and magnificence, and hides 
 Its poison in a jeweled cup. 
 
 Not long 
 Waited his princes, eager for his voice ; 
 Nor he long doubted with what theme to stir 
 Their martial fire : and ere the morning rose, 
 With voice heroic their far audience claimed : 
 " Ye warriors of Hell and princes high, 
 Names chronicled in heaven's eternal scrolls 
 And blazoned in this empire of its shade, 
 Fame's own peculiar paradise (where mind. 
 The high and independent will and hearts 
 Of lofty courage meet their honor due,) — 
 The hour of your reward is near ! For, glory here 
 Shall to your lightning-scythes her harvests bend. 
 Though e'en the worst o'ertake. And of what more fair, 
 Worthier your heaven-born spirits can we dream 
 Than her rich, golden sheaves ? the field, 'tis true. 
 Hath never injured us, that we should sweep 
 The brightness of the reaping steel above 
 Its yielding, innocent breast ; yet God himself 
 Confesses that he reared up Egypt's strength 
 To honor with the ruin of the pile 
 His glorious name ; as when the tropic heaven 
 Prodigal of sunshine and of fattening rains 
 Forces some forest to gigantic grow^th ; 
 And then, while all are wondering at its pomp, 
 Darts down the lightning 'mid its resinous pines. 
 And fans them kindling with the tempest's breath, — 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 65 
 
 Displaying by the splendors of the wreck 
 
 That roll their waves afar how dread and grand 
 
 The power mysterious that sinks in ruin.* 
 
 If all, this day, their valor prove, and lift 
 
 The avenging battle-axe in danger's face 
 
 Scornful of fear, your princely seats thenceforth 
 
 I will exalt in our great empire ; hymn'd 
 
 With choral melody and epic song, 
 
 Harpings angelical and trumps of fame 
 
 Shall be the story of your brave exploits. 
 
 Those voices, sure, can drown the horrid din 
 
 E'en of the scathing thunderbolts of God 
 
 Upon the memory lingering ; while Fame's balms 
 
 And odors breathing of eternal flowers 
 
 Can happily anoint the scars of war 
 
 With their oblivious medicine. But not 
 
 Through prospects of defeat, would I repress 
 
 Your noble courage. If deserved success 
 
 Your chivalry should fly, (the highest good 
 
 We wish and seek for,) surely partial gain 
 
 We cannot but accomplish ; partial gain 
 
 Would to our lips a gladdening chalice give 
 
 Sweet to the lusts of vengeance ; dignity 
 
 And pride off"ended would some sacrifice 
 
 See on their altars laid ; a dread and pain, 
 
 Like gleams from a Fury's torch, we can send wide 
 
 * It need scarcely be observed that the truth is that though Egypt for 
 idolatry, tyranny and vice deserved earlier rebuke, God allowed her to 
 mature in strength and prosperity to render more marked the triumphs of 
 his power in her overthrow. 
 
 5 
 
66 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Throughout that clime where, cradled in Heaven's love, 
 Elysium slumbers in fond dreams of peace 
 As some soft isle bent o'er by summery skies. 
 The abutments and supports of Paradise 
 Some frightful fissures will confess ere night 
 Summons yon rising orb unto its couch." 
 
 But ere his fellows could respond appeared 
 
 Three noble messengers from the happy climes. 
 
 Ambassadors sent from the First of men 
 
 To seek the object of this armed march, 
 
 And gain by parley a brief hour or two 
 
 Their preparations with full power to make, 
 
 If they in vain should warn the threat'ning host. 
 
 Borne up above the smoking moat by hands 
 
 Of visitant angels, on the soil of hell 
 
 (Or what might almost seem its smouldering marl,) 
 
 Dingy and smoking, — their elysian feet 
 
 Not without trembling trod. Their advent far 
 
 Satan beheld, but not with fearful heart, 
 
 Tho' Joshua and Sampson and the monarch bard 
 
 He through their Hadean disguises knew. 
 
 They passed the guard, a bristling winged horde, 
 
 And through their paraphernalia warlike walked. 
 
 Hissed at by some, and waking deep remorse 
 
 In fallen souls once subjects or compeers. 
 
 Long since by death or vengeance plucked from hope 
 
 And prisoned in that dreary porch of hell. 
 
 The guards and plumed ushers soon forth strode 
 
 The three before th' Apostate's seat to bring. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 67 
 
 To impress these messengers with an awful sense 
 
 Of sternest majesty and god-like power 
 
 Which, taught by him, they for their chieftain claimed, 
 
 Down on their faces they then humbly fell 
 
 And lauded him a king of kings, a god, 
 
 Image supreme of Heaven's eternal Sun 
 
 Glassed in the sombre Stygian lake 
 
 Then he. 
 Soon as the intoxicating swell expired 
 Of trumpets richly voiced and th' waving ceased 
 Of banners glistening like gold-fringed clouds 
 That page the morning's advent, — then their Prince, 
 Affecting courtesy estrangered long 
 From his proud, arrogant soul 
 (Whose polar, wintry clime no summer knows 
 Of rose-sweet courtesies alive and true,) 
 Welcomed the embassy with gentle words 
 Of diplomatic blandishment and looks 
 Where in expressions kind deceit played well. 
 " Welcome ! most reverend seniors " (he exclaimed) 
 " Who honor us with august presence, all 
 Seeking in courtesy to get the start 
 Of our ambition to be first in all. 
 If I do err in counting you, my lords, 
 Ambassadors of yon fair realm ; and ye 
 Rather are travelers, by curious zeal 
 Urged forth upon this arid waste to search 
 Its varied wonders out and see what art 
 Hath wrought this desolation to adorn, — 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND 
 
 Go forth in peace upon your enterprise 
 And our safe conduct shall go forth as yours. 
 Upon like errand have we, too, now brought 
 Our court and honorary guard thus far, 
 Desiring first to visit your bright realm, 
 (The city of fair Paradise,) its strength. 
 Its pomp and triumphs of rich art to see : 
 Thence, on our way to that vast clime beyond 
 It is our scheme to hasten ; there to test. 
 If need be, by the aid of engines strong. 
 Its rocks and precipices which may hide 
 The blaze of gems and chemic values choice ; 
 So, with this blameless robbery enriched 
 To bear welcome incumbrance, carrying thence 
 New knowledge of this mystic world below." 
 
 To him made answer one of those addressed : 
 
 " Too wise are we unto fair Paradise 
 
 One treachery-stamp'd like unto thee, t' admit : 
 
 These warlike hosts and engines strange portend 
 
 Malicious onset and the fiery clash 
 
 Of battle's stormy, thunder-riven hour. 
 
 Those grim and potent instruments 
 
 Were not designed as means whereby to pierce 
 
 The gemmy arteries of nature, ope 
 
 The pulseless veins which close the golden streauis 
 
 And frozen silvery currents. Fallen one ! 
 
 Tho' peaceful were thy aims, rule strict, severe 
 
 Forever bars thee from the climes of Hope 
 
 And from th' Elysian haunts of souls redeem'd." 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 69 
 
 Yielding all hope of fraudulent success, 
 
 The fallen spirit with an angry frown 
 
 The messengers addressed : " Whence come ye now, 
 
 And what your message ? If ye hail from lands 
 
 That sleep beyond yon sooty clouds, I- urge 
 
 That instantly ye hasten whence ye came, 
 
 Unless the keys of the Elysian gates 
 
 Ye bring to me its lord who here reign wide. 
 
 Par wider than your thoughts e'er dared to rove. 
 
 An army thicker than the stars of heaven, 
 
 Raining like them the dread fatalities 
 
 Nor prayer nor shield can slant aside ; 
 
 Burning to chase my high commands with deeds 
 
 The daringest hope would sicken to behold. 
 
 Waits now upon my word. ■ If that fair realm 
 
 Ye yield at once with humble haste ; some clime 
 
 Equally fair, delectable and sweet 
 
 In my vast, rich dominions, I'll confer, 
 
 In sure, indelible deed for e'er. 
 
 If ye refuse, then chaos wild shall reap 
 
 The fruit of your insane denial ; and 
 
 With flaming wing shall to th' infernal deeps 
 
 Sweep down your palaces and bowers of bliss 
 
 And ye yourselves, perchance, amid the wreck." 
 
 Then Sampson answered the chief fiend in brief : 
 
 " Both thee and thy proposals we disdain ! 
 
 Think not. Apostate, that we come to sue 
 
 Thy mercy or to proffer to thy hands 
 
 Stained with the treason of uplifted arms 
 
 Against the Source of power that goodly land 
 
70 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 By mighty seraphim and spirits walled 
 
 And the Strength Sublime of Heaven's high adamant word. 
 
 We come thy wild audacity to warn, 
 
 Lest, with a vain presumption filled, thou tread'st 
 
 Too near the consecrated soil, and prompt'st 
 
 The deadly sword of vengeance to forget 
 
 Its sheath-wrapt slumbers and her curse to pour 
 
 Its secret desolations on thy head 
 
 Not unforgetful of departed hours 
 
 That curbed thy pride with reins of galling force, 
 
 With th' fierce crack and lash of th' lightning's whip 
 
 Driven headlong in unutterable dismay 
 
 Into the black abyss." Then Satan wroth 
 
 To find his falsehoods, though with gracious spice 
 
 So seasoned, utterly contemned, replied. 
 
 Smothering his wrath : 
 
 " Sampson, once renown'd 
 On earth for strength, think not thy human force 
 Worthy of vaunting or to warrant words 
 So insolently threat'ning 'gainst the Power 
 To whom inscrutable Fate hath now 
 This awful universe below assigned, wherein 
 I reign acknowledged god ; allotment wise 
 Which we nor could (and would not now) resist ; 
 Nor, Fate's decrees confessed, doth now dispute 
 The Heavenly Monarch great this rule, but yields 
 To Destiny supreme her matchless right. 
 And must prepare ere long His ancient throne 
 To yield at her high bidding for a seat 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 71 
 
 Of lesser glory in the sky of state ; 
 Then I, disdainful not of change, will fill 
 His abdicated seat in Heaven, while roll 
 Uncounted centuries ; and if ye will, 
 A fair domain in its delicious climes 
 Shall recompense you for the loss of this, 
 Which th' treacherous blaze of elements below 
 Now threatens with a ruin sure and wild. 
 I therefore urge in your unlearned ears 
 That ye with haste resign that doomed trust 
 (Too long permitted,) and accept with thanks 
 My generous offer, marshalling your sons 
 Beneath my bright ascending star and flag." 
 Thus Satan spake, while cunning allies hid 
 Their flags ensymbol'd of infernal war, 
 And 'round his gorgeous chariot they waved 
 His archangelic ensign * deck'd with views 
 Of his celestial palaces, now lost. 
 The scenes of history supernal and the blaze 
 Of golden fringes starred with jewels rare. 
 Then suddenly forth came at wink 
 Of their swart Sovereign Spirits notorious, 
 Who, knowing by expressive glance his wish, — 
 To gild his falsehood with the sheen of truth 
 Before him prostrate fell ; and thus besought : 
 " glorious King, whom mightiest Fate ordains 
 The monarch of the skies, to rule ere long 
 Amid the blush of everlasting day ; 
 
 • " Th' imperial ensign " &c., " With gems and golden lustre rich em- 
 blazed." — Milton. 
 
72 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 We come to ask thy high permission now 
 
 (Since morning hath her pearly palette set 
 
 With those fair hues with which she paints the world) 
 
 To leave, ambassadors for Paradise, 
 
 To warn its habitants and tender all 
 
 Thy gracious offers. From the distant verge 
 
 Of our vast, peaceful army we beheld 
 
 Her angel guard beside the portals stand, 
 
 Seeming to beckon our approach." 
 
 To them 
 Th' Apostate wily briefly gave response : 
 " That mission which ye seek were useless now ; 
 Behold Elysium hath sent out to us 
 Her noblest legates, as 'twas meet." Then stared 
 The infernal lords who offered this request 
 Unto their Prince, affecting great surprise. 
 But David, glancing thro' their veiled designs. 
 Thus for the three made answer. " If such glow 
 Of pure and generous ardor towards our realm 
 Now holds possession of your hearts, we ask 
 Why that contemptuous, martial mood that marked 
 Your second speech '( Truth holds consistency. 
 And wherefore that equipment strange, 
 Befitting war's resounding field and grim 
 With threats of infamous onset 'gainst our towers. 
 Beyond whose glittering barriers Peace 
 Hath made her shelter'd and embower'd nest, 
 Where inoffensive purity resides ? 
 Your fraud thro' all device is seen. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 73 
 
 If fraud and falsehoods gave security, 
 
 And yours were changed into the stones that form 
 
 A battlemented castle or a tower, 
 
 Then wert thou safe 'gainst all the lower powers 
 
 (Should they the alarum sound and make attack,) 
 
 As if ensconsed behind stupendous walls 
 
 And massive masonry which makes hope faint 
 
 In every soul that dreameth of assault. 
 
 And what is " Fate " but God's decree pronounced 
 
 Upon fore-knowledge of the good and bad 
 
 In outward or in inward acts evinced ? 
 
 The voice of God shall yet pronounce Christ heir 
 
 Of Heaven's serene magnificence, and wills 
 
 The glories of thy sceptre lost to die 
 
 In the murk infamy of thy low caves. 
 
 The prisons of the damn'd. Not truly learned 
 
 In theories of the Grecian sage, or lore 
 
 Whispered among Osiris' Memphian priests ; 
 
 Yet not unletter'd in God's holy word, 
 
 Mirror of wisdom and prophetic truth ; 
 
 Therein we read thou at the heart of Truth 
 
 Pierceth with venomous serpent-fangs, its power 
 
 To sicken and make weak with poisonous lies 
 
 That break out in the deadly sores of dark. 
 
 Polluting heresies ; we read that thou 
 
 Rejoiceth in the ruin of mankind, art then 
 
 Most glad when in thy snares the righteous trip ; 
 
 That " thro' thy envy* death came in the world " 
 
 Shadowing life's currents with his sombre wings ; 
 
 • Apocrypha. 
 
74 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 That " they who to thy side do hold find death," 
 
 A bitter and an endless wo ; we read 
 
 That they who would beneath the palms 
 
 Where life and victory shall their jubilee keep 
 
 Sit in immortal freedom, honor, peace, 
 
 Must quell each thought of vain ambition, spurn 
 
 At every falsehood, and love truth and God, 
 
 And on th' ensanguined altar of his love — 
 
 Of his rich mercy, lay their trusting hearts. 
 
 And therefore though confessing that thou here 
 
 Beneath his rule supreme art titled now 
 
 By fallen ones like thee as demon-prince, 
 
 Yet not upon that star of night, that eye 
 
 Of brilliancy and beauty on the face 
 
 Of sable Hades, — fair, sweet Paradise, 
 
 Do we admit thy power : Our Lordly Son 
 
 Is there y' chanted Prince ; His conquering power 
 
 Hereafter shall upon thy serpent head 
 
 Tread with a crushing weight, foretokening chains 
 
 And murky, wretched prisonment, thy fate." 
 
 Then Satan flaming with malignant wrath 
 Hurled thus his fury in their face : " Cease now, 
 Ye spies most impudent of speech ! retract 
 Your silly insolence ; or, by the Stygian deep ! 
 I swear your espionage and spouted filth 
 Of witless scorn against my hallowed throne 
 Shall prove your hopeless ruin. In yon gulf 
 That scoffs with angry breath at th' pomp of Day, 
 Down plung'd in burning chains and there bemazed 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 75 
 
 In the black labyrinths of eternal night 
 Where furies armed with scorpion-scourges yell, 
 And breathe a triple horror o'er the soul, 
 There shall ye mourn your folly and contempt ; 
 Convulsed in pain and wild remorse, regret 
 That comes, alas ! too late to all there bound." 
 
 Then Sampson, feeling in his mighty soul 
 
 The stir of strength transporting, doubted not 
 
 At least to baffle his infernal force, 
 
 But called in secret on the Source of power : 
 
 Thus called they all. Nor did Judea's king 
 
 Before whose face Philistia's champion fell 
 
 As falls some giant pine by whirlwinds snapp'd 
 
 Making the earth to shudder with afiright, — 
 
 Nor did th' heroic poet-king, altho' 
 
 At first not unappall'd, his courage miss : 
 
 Tho' in their sight the guards with flashing eyes, 
 
 Frowning in demon malice, waved their spears 
 
 Dripping with liquid fire from Phlegethon 
 
 And venom of its deathless snakes. Resolved 
 
 The aid of all his terrors to compel. 
 
 An awful darkness Satan summon'd forth 
 
 From his inferior realms where imps, thus charged, 
 
 Glutting their fiery caverns with huge heaps 
 
 Of bitumen and pitch, defiled with clouds 
 
 Of suffocating blackness all the air. 
 
 Then forth upon the artificial night 
 
 Up sail'd a choir of many-formed imps, * 
 
 * Tbeii many forms may intimate to us the varied moral deformities to 
 which sia brings angels as well as men. 
 
76 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Screeching most horrible discord, while they clanked 
 Their sulphur-dripping chains and clashed in air 
 Their battle-axes and their two-edged swords. 
 So, on the earth, while pure and searching day 
 Upon the hemisphere looks down, the band 
 Of elves and ghosts that love the starlight faint 
 (If true were tales rehearsed at dusky eve,) 
 Crouch down in sunless pits, in caves and tombs ; 
 But when the Day forsakes the mourning sky 
 That weeps in shadowy silence for her lord. 
 Then saunter forth the frightful spectre-crew. 
 Shrieking most dismal notes in night's murk ear. 
 I am reminded how amid the cloud 
 Which the dark genius of intemperance 
 Sends up the brain to fill, the fiery shapes 
 Of angry thoughts and warlike feuds ascend 
 To hold dire riot 'mid th' unnatural gloom. 
 The sun withdrew his beams ; and lurid fires 
 Darting amid the smoke of Tartarus 
 Seem'd threat'ning now to wrap the heroes three 
 Who stood as yet before the Apostate's seat, 
 Nor knew amid that hell-born gloom the way 
 Back to the gates of Paradise. 
 
 But now 
 While doubting what this horrid horde might dare. 
 Resolved e'en with their monarch to contend 
 And hurl against his mail the blazing rocks 
 Which fell at times as if upwhirled from hell 
 By fierce explosions, they beheld a shape 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 77 
 
 In lovely lustre smiling ; from his wings 
 
 The foul smoke shrank, they fancied. Rich robes waved 
 
 About his noble form as thus he spake : 
 
 " Sampson, wherefore dost thou deem thy strength 
 
 Worthy of trial 'gainst the armed might 
 
 Of Hell's dread sovereign and his legions dense. 
 
 ' Can iron cut the Northern iron and steel,' 
 
 Or feeble breath arrest the tempest dark 
 
 Which makes the waves its playthings and the pines, 
 
 Sowing destruction as the clouds the snow ? 
 
 True, thou didst shake thy glorious, forceful locks 
 
 A conqueror majestic while on earth : 
 
 Gaza thy strength acknowledged ; and thy death, 
 
 Whose monument was a ruin grand and strange, 
 
 Crowded the gateways to the Hadean shades. 
 
 But these were earthly forces, earthly foes. 
 
 'Tis well my swiftest flight was hither urged 
 
 To warn and guide you hence. Let us depart." 
 
 So saying, he led on their steps ; the gloom, 
 
 Chased by the glory of a torch he bore 
 
 Fled as before Aurora's path ; but rage 
 
 Darkened with angrier frowns behind ; and soon 
 
 The guards around the Apostate's throne with fire 
 
 And burning chains and barbed darts pursued 
 
 Their flight beside their guide ; but he a glance 
 
 Severe and earnest flashed against their souls 
 
 And they shrank back abashed, as if becharmed 
 
 By virtue's sacred glory. Wondering, glad 
 
 To see such malice thus so easy foiled. 
 
 The three their Avay pursued. Meanwhile their guide 
 
78 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Discours'd in innocent strain of Paradise, 
 
 And questioned them what feelings stirr'd when heard 
 
 The rumor of this mighty, warlike march j 
 
 What preparations and what hopes were framed : 
 
 Then of their embassy he asked, and how 
 
 The Apostate had received their warning words ; 
 
 A fiery stream of censure next he poured 
 
 Upon this impious, reckless horde ; but still 
 
 He disallowed a right with scornful words 
 
 T' annoy their lofty sense of station high 
 
 And fire the anger of their lords : but well 
 
 Most readily, he would admit, it was 
 
 With virtuous, horror-stricken force their guilt 
 
 To boldly censure, e'en amid their state. 
 
 If that bold chiding of their crimes thus spoken 
 
 Was savored with respect for dignities, 
 
 Which they are yet permitted to retain. " But how," 
 
 Enquired their guide, " did your warm lips address 
 
 Th' Arch-fiend himself; I trust with proper tone 
 
 And attributes becoming his high place ; 
 
 For he once, 'mid the quenchless blaze of Heaven, 
 
 Exalted near to God his glorious brows 
 
 And caught from Majesty Divine decrees 
 
 Which myriads from his arch-angelic lips 
 
 With reverence received : And Michael e'en 
 
 Rails not with scorn against the fallen god 
 
 But mildly answers when by him opposed, 
 
 ' Satan the Lord rebuke thee !' and as all 
 
 Who follow not his pure example lose 
 
 Their power against the enemies of truth, 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 79 
 
 If e'er in battle they contend, (a great 
 And manifest dishonor,) — I advise you now, 
 If ye with hasty, scornful words have spoken, 
 At once, under my safeguard, to return 
 And with an attitude of meek respect 
 Your rashness to retract. Then will we haste 
 Swift as the dart, or bird unto her young, 
 Or as a prayer from a saint's lips to heaven, 
 And I will place your feet again beside. 
 Your towers of strength and glory." 
 
 But now 
 While still advancing through the reddening gloom, 
 A form uncouth appeared : dim first it loomed 
 Upon the eye, and in their path it rose : 
 Some shape of lifeless nature, or some living thing 
 Grew more and more distinct. Advancing soon, 
 A swart and frowning fiend too well 
 They could discern : armed with a javelin tipt 
 With sulphurous fire he stood ; and by his mien 
 And attitude defiance flung. Nor words 
 Long wanted he ; but soon a torrent fierce 
 Of furious invective hurled against them, whilst, 
 Quick fluttering through the air, two demons more 
 Alighted by his side. " Ye miscreants, stand !" 
 Cried out the goblin stern : " This way, know ye, 
 Pertains unto the sovereignty of Hell. 
 Near by, the porches of his palace ope 
 Upon the sight, and his dark court is held. 
 If ye, base, skulking spies ! would have me here 
 
80 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Empty all pleasure from your 'souls, as wine 
 Is spilled out from th' overturned cup, draw on. 
 Speed ye on swiftest feet to your own lands ! 
 Or, by the sceptre of the Prince of night ! 
 In the black dungeons of deep Erebus 
 I'll bind your lingering limbs in prisonment : 
 There shall your spirits drink unto the full 
 Of blighting miseries too well deserved 
 By those whose office is as vile as yours ; 
 There shall ye chant the dirge of tombed hope. 
 Hence ! speed without delay ! out, hideous blots, 
 From this clean page this instant ! nor offend 
 Our honorable eyes one moment more : 
 And this shall teach you prudence and despatch." 
 Thus saying, quick as thought he hurled a dart 
 Flaming and weighty which had well nigh struck 
 The monarch-minstrel's breast ; but he a shield 
 Graved with the motto of unfailing faith 
 Bore dextrously before him, and so foiled 
 The burning malice of the foe. But now 
 Their guide, advancing, thus their enemies 
 In brief addressed : " Ye fallen ones, so high 
 Runs now the tide of your presumption that 
 Ye dare to hope with me to cope, — to engage 
 Your force (by foul corruption ravish'd now 
 Of half its pristine energy,) to engage, I say, 
 The eclipsed glory of your demon strength 
 With the unsmitten grandeur of the power 
 Which dwelleth in an angel's arm ? Retire, 
 Presuming spirits, and in night's deep shades 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 81 
 
 Plunge hurriedly ere my puissant lance 
 
 Sheds agonies lightning-wing'd throughout your frames !" 
 
 This hearing, tremblingly they shrank and spread 
 
 Upon the dusky, lurid air their wings, 
 
 And vanished with a parting curse ; as flees 
 
 A turbulent cloud which scowls o'er earth at eve, 
 
 Which, hurling one red bolt with clamorous wrath, 
 
 Is swept away upon the horizon's verge 
 
 And mutters in the distance where its form 
 
 Is swallowed from the sight. 
 
 The foes no more 
 Glaring defiance and with martial fire 
 Contesting their advance, the legates three. 
 Expressed their wonder and their joy to find 
 Their furious adversaries thus dismayed 
 And they themselves now free without a blow. 
 Then to the former question of their guide 
 Gave Joshua answer thus : " We did indeed 
 Condemn both Satan and his profier ; sure 
 Such falsehoods base and wickedness supreme 
 Mightiest reproof deserve ; yet, if with scorn 
 We there had thoughtlessly supplanted forms 
 Due unto reverent principle (which rank 
 And power doth always honor till adjudged 
 And downward cast to infamy and chains,) 
 We should be willing now such deference 
 To ofter : To him apology we should not shrink 
 To yield with language decorous, if still 
 The sceptre of his principality remained 
 6 
 
82 ^THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Grasp'd by his black and treasonable hand. 
 
 While office yet invested iR^ith her mantle rich 
 
 We should a fitting toll of honor give : 
 
 But he hath fall'n from heaven and from his state 
 
 As falls a bright star * from the brow of dawn 
 
 Engulfed in stormy clouds below ; 
 
 Or as a towering oak on a beetling clitf 
 
 Falls lightning-struck into a boisterous flood 
 
 Which sweeps it onward towards a dark, wide gulf, 
 
 Its ducal stateliness forever gone." 
 
 " All true," responded then their guide ; 
 
 " But there are known amenities which all 
 
 Should ever bear in mind. And you wnll ne'er 
 
 Regret retracting aught discourteous 
 
 That hath in time unguarded slipt the mouth, 
 
 As prison'd bird or school-tired youth which dart 
 
 From out their prison when the door is oped. 
 
 But come ! now let us haste ; I know a path 
 
 Which leads the steps unto another gate 
 
 Of fair Elysium ; it passes nigh 
 
 The camp of Satan ; that shall be our road ; 
 
 Nearer or if not nearer, easier is that way." 
 
 Then following their eager, hurrying guide, 
 
 Both David and the Son of Strength resumed 
 
 With Joshua their steps back towards the seat 
 
 Of Lucifer still wrapt in clouds as black 
 
 As the canopy of Night's sad throne when dense 
 
 And thickening volumes fill the moonless sky. 
 
 Their fair-robed guide again their audience claimed 
 
 * Isaiah IV, 12, referring, doubtless,' to the King of Babylon. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND.« 83 
 
 How glorious on his high, imperial seat, 
 Adorned with dazzling gems of various hues 
 The sovereign of Hell appear'd ! I well 
 Remember him when yet unfall'n in heaven ; 
 One day his legions from the boundless fields 
 He gather'd by his golden, echoing trump 
 To his grand court of truth : as birds of heaven 
 Flocked to the ark of Noah, or snow flakes shower 
 On the rude crown of Lebanon's hoary head, 
 So thickly did they rush at his high call. 
 First God was praised in anthems sweet ; then he, 
 Loftiest of angels, form'd their sounding theme : 
 His full-voiced honors then he proved most just. 
 Designless, while his searching mind displayed 
 The mysteries of some beautiful work of God 
 Still sweet and glowing with His breath : but then 
 Scarcely more noble Satan in his mien. 
 Nor girt with brighter symbols of his power 
 Than when we lately saw him. As our God 
 Allows him this magnificence and place, 
 I doubt not He will yet reset that star 
 Among the Pleiades * from which it fell. 
 And heaven again confess its quenchless rays. 
 With this construction (which we scarce can 'scape) 
 'Tis fitting that superior honor now 
 Should to his rank be offered who doth aild 
 The dark cloud of these shades of death below 
 With the rich lustres of his princely state. 
 Here honor should be rendered not unlike 
 
 * There,vvere seven archangels, it was, I believe, sui)i)Osecl. 
 
84 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 The reverence the starry hosts once bowed. 
 
 Indeed, as doth the viceroy rightly claim 
 
 A breath of that deep homage that his lord 
 
 The emperor receives, so here, I judge, 
 
 Tho' we must disallow his deeds, 'tis meet, 
 
 When we before the throne of Satan stand. 
 
 That we should pay our homage unto rank, 
 
 And him as Lord of this inferior world, 
 
 Vice-gerent of the king of kings, should laud, 
 
 Breathing one strain of that long-chanted hymn 
 
 We utter to the fearful name of God. 
 
 A strain so sweet (and yet not new or rare) 
 
 To his proud spirit may attemper thoughts 
 
 Glowing with kindliest favor towards yourselves 
 
 And threatened Paradise, your seat ; so, soon 
 
 By this just stroke of policy, your names 
 
 As blest deliverers may at home be voiced. 
 
 Embalmed thro' all time in your people's praise, 
 
 And with th' enchanting happiness of peace 
 
 Associated ever in their minds." 
 
 Then of his hearers one with warmth replied : 
 
 " Not with such fatal treason to imbrue 
 
 Our pardon'd lips did we our steps retrace, 
 
 Following thy guidance. Now thy voice 
 
 Counsels most rank idolatry, to stain 
 
 Our spotless vesture with such Heaven-loathed crime 
 
 That Heaven's immaculate gates would e'er be lock'd 
 
 Against our spirits when the Prince of life 
 
 Leads in his ransomed train. Thy words proclaim 
 
 To Belzebub thy vassalage ! avaunt ! 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 85 
 
 Thou emissary from his hated camp, array'd 
 
 In radiant mockeries of an angel pure ; 
 
 Apple of Sodom with deceitful bloom ; 
 
 A mirage false ; a gemm'd and glittering sword 
 
 Wedded to havoc tho' in splendor drest ; 
 
 The lightning's beauteous flash ; the spangled sheen 
 
 Of billows bursting o'er the ruinous rocks !" * 
 
 Discover'd thus, the imp his luminous wings 
 
 Spread flying towards his monarch's shrouded seat, 
 
 Nor ventured e'en one syllable's response, 
 
 Chagrin'd to find his snares of no avail. 
 
 Then while his comrades joyed their rage to have 'scaped, 
 
 Thro' their own cunning thus completely foiled, 
 
 Manoah's son his steps apart betook, 
 
 Seeking amid the hell-risen gloom the strait 
 
 Which separated Paradise ; from thence 
 
 He hoped by signal given some winged ones, 
 
 The angel guests of blest Elysium, 
 
 To summon to their aid that they might cross 
 
 Harmless the bridgeless gulf of stifling flames. 
 
 Not unobserved was he by other eyes 
 
 Peering above the chasm's smouldering verge. 
 
 Like alligators fell or hideous snakes 
 
 Lifting their heads above the turbid stream. 
 
 His enemies uprais'd their watchful fronts ; 
 
 And when above a hollow'd passage, he. 
 
 Pausing a moment, stood, they dashed aside 
 
 What propp'd the natural trap-door. Down he fell, 
 
 * This is, of course, a license, like some other lineaments of this poem ; 
 for, the righteous must not be supposed as under temptation after death. 
 
86 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Whelm'd and confounded in the sudden fall ;* 
 
 But would have risen and from his forceful limbs 
 
 Shaken the cumbrous rubbish as if leaves ; 
 
 Nor (may we borrow from the classic myth ?) — 
 
 Nor like Cajneus, once Thessalian maid, 
 
 Had helpless lain entomb'd till, chang'd and wing'd, 
 
 The boundless air to freedom did invite : 
 
 But his ensnarers, gloating o'er success, 
 
 A net of massive steel about him cast 
 
 And chains of adamantine strength, 
 
 Or what the anti-types of those appeared. 
 
 Then, lest awaking from his stunned trance 
 
 He should his earthly triumphs there repeat 
 
 And make wild havoc with his shatter'd bonds. 
 
 With flying speed adown the vault they bear 
 
 Their prize, confounded, not in pain : they flew 
 
 Hurrying their captive thro' the cavern's gloom 
 
 Till at the massive gates of iron, brass 
 
 And triple adamant they paused. The doors 
 
 A score of lusty demons, tugging, ope ; 
 
 B,evealing to the misty light the cells 
 
 Hollowed in solid rock where earthly hope 
 
 Would 've gasped at once in death. Two forms 
 
 Which lions seemed or dogs of hateful mien, 
 
 Dread as the cave of Cacus hung with skulls 
 
 • See the other note : The leading features of this production must be 
 regarded as shadowing forth truths of fearful and sublime importance ; as, 
 for instance, that the conduct of men consigns them to widely different des- 
 tinies ; that some, by reason of their faith associated with good works, are 
 reserved in the Divine guardianship for salvation eternal ; while others are 
 shut up unto a future sentence of everlasting wo. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 87 
 
 And carpeted with clotted blood, or monster fierce 
 That foamed in Erymanthus (safely bound 
 In time by great Alcides) ; these with yells 
 And furious onset sprang upon the net 
 Straining their rattling chains : but master-imps 
 Reproved their fury, and aside they skulk'd 
 To guard the entrance with unslumbering zeal.* 
 The prize there placed in chains, with joy 
 They turned the ponderous keys and urged 
 The many bolts, rolling huge, stubborn rocks 
 Against the doors that seemed like Fate's dark bonds 
 Indissolubly firm. 
 
 Two angels true 
 Meanwhile upon the sight of David burst, 
 Cleaving afar the clouds. Their radiant hands 
 Two signet-rings, their high commission's proof. 
 Wore visibly. They hailed the chosen two 
 Seeking Elysium, and bade them haste. 
 But they beholding now no more their friend 
 And late companion, Sampson, urged at once 
 A keen-eyed search ; to this they listen' d ; search 
 In vain for him was made : " now hence," said they, 
 " For God did charge your conduct quickly back ; 
 And doubtless Sampson either now awaits 
 Your own return beyond the infernal moat ; 
 Or Heaven hath its purpose that he here 
 
 * TJubelief and want of sacred principle lead on, in some cases, to such 
 impious turi)itude and violence that even the wicked are obliged to restrain 
 those who are morally so deformed. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND 
 
 Should wander for a time : The ways of Heaven 
 
 Are wise and holy, good and true ; His love 
 
 Wings spirit messengers to do His will 
 
 And minister to His saints ; like perfumed winds 
 
 Born in a tropic clime they come, like them 
 
 To mortals viewless oft.* Thus spake their guides 
 
 And proved their angel natures, rising far 
 
 Above the smoke of Hell and bearing swift 
 
 Thro' arrowless air their welcome charge ; 
 
 But when some boldest fiends their flight 
 
 Directed towards th' Elysian towers, the guards 
 
 Of heavenly spirits shining by the gate 
 
 Or hovering in the air, discharged their shafts, 
 
 Piercing the foe with bitter pains ; who fled, 
 
 Enduring henceforth rather their dread lot 
 
 Than snatching after bliss like that. Nor yet 
 
 With any force of numbers had they dared 
 
 To face the dangers of that field ; for, fresh 
 
 The reminiscence of their rout in heaven 
 
 Long warned with branded vividness, but time 
 
 Scarr'd o'er the wounds of their defeat and drown'd 
 
 Those throbs of pain in new and other woes.f 
 
 And as for those unransomed earth-born souls, 
 
 The hot, Tartarean smoke they scarce could breathe. 
 
 * The mention of this Scriptural idea (vide Heb. I, 14,) must by no 
 means be understood to countenance the idea that departed human spirits 
 communicate with men, or that the seelcing unto the spirits of the dead or 
 to angels is excusable. The same is in Scripture denounced as an " abomi- 
 nation." 
 
 t The seeds which disobedience sows spring up and bear fruit, some 
 sooner than others. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 89 
 
 Nor o'er that hideous chasm could they bound ; 
 And when, long since, their eager art essayed 
 A bridge across that gulf, the crumbling edge 
 Sank like a quicksand and refused support, 
 While dark Gehenna swallowed up their pains. 
 
 END OF BOOK SECOND. 
 
90 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 BOOK THIRD 
 
 No sooner had his minion in disguise 
 Announced his failure than the Prince of Hell, 
 Who 'd hoped to have snared the three to acts 
 Worthy of banishment from Paradise 
 Or stern rebuke, urged on his martial schemes. 
 And God, whose glance flashed o'er all worlds, 
 Read all his plots and still his course allowed : 
 And had allowed because He had foreseen 
 His servants unentangled by their snares. 
 Else unpermitted to the approved ; e'en then 
 To few scarce ever ; probation is on earth. 
 The fiend in various trickeries of deceit 
 Had ventured to repose a hope, and built 
 Upon the quicksand basis of base lies 
 His dreams of empire widened and revenge, 
 As well as in assault ; he now resolved 
 To try that last resort. The summons flew 
 Among his subjects of the brazenest cast 
 To seek at once his throne. Their bronzed forms 
 Soon 'mid the plumed aristocrats of Hell 
 Appeared with eagerness and watchful life ; 
 The merit claiming of obedience quick, 
 Tho', rather, spurr'd by hope of wild emprize, 
 Some new, exciting voyage from the port 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 91 
 
 Of custom dull than from regard to law 
 
 Or dread of his displeasure ; (they who part 
 
 With love and saintly virtue, bid farewell 
 
 At the same moment to sweet happiness 
 
 Whose shaded countenance and dying smile 
 
 Melt from the spirit's sight away : hence life 
 
 To them was dull or wretched.) Then an imp 
 
 Who banner'd trumpet bore stept forth and told 
 
 The newly summoned wherefore called. They heard 
 
 Eager th' intelligence and sped to act. 
 
 Some, plunging in the dark abyss, enraged 
 
 The fires 'neath Paradise in hell to fierce 
 
 And dreadful inflammation, whose black fumes 
 
 Shrouded all Erebus in treble night : 
 
 Thus they had hoped that sweetly slumbering world 
 
 Above the red confusion to have rocked. 
 
 Shaken with earthquakes wild, and in dismay 
 
 Palling an easier prey. And meanwhile some 
 
 Threading the caverns in the rocky sides 
 
 Of Elysium's foundations, mined with haste 
 
 To lay their treacherous, explosive stuff 
 
 (Unknown e'en now on earth ; though matched, alas !) 
 
 All ready for the dread, important spark. 
 
 Others, a numerous host, prepared a bridge 
 
 Or solid flooring that a bridge might prove, 
 
 Covered secure from choking fumes and airs 
 
 Breathed flamingly from hell ; then each his part 
 
 Prepared at notice due to act with zeal 
 
 And strength the hardiest in Orcan realms. 
 
92 
 
 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Then Satan, glancing o'er the armed hosts, 
 Gave from his flashing chariot his commands ; 
 And swift his peers across the fields moved on 
 Longing for change of life ; while the loud peal 
 From rich-voiced trumpets, wrought to lend 
 Their airy poetry to war and blow the breath 
 Of martial animation, told afar 
 The hour of battle was at hand. Before his seat 
 The marshalled legions passed with waving flags 
 And honorary music ; and the bands 
 To that rude work appointed, pushed or drew 
 Those mighty engines which the skill of Earth 
 Or cunning craft of Hell had planned. 
 Some seemed like towers wherein a daring horde 
 Heated their javelins, or the infuriate torch 
 With pitch and sulphur smeared for close assault 
 
 "When reached the distant walls, (if e'er those walls 
 Could by a bridge be neared) ; and some the type 
 Of engines known in aftertimes on earth, 
 
 Though first devised by Satan in the field 
 
 Ere from the heights of glory flung deep-struck 
 
 With mortification and the scathe of fire. 
 
 And others seemed adapted to force far 
 
 Into the air a stream of liquid fire 
 
 Horribly ruinous to all which might 
 
 Of hellish flames the prey become. 
 
 And soon 
 Moving in order near the burning verge 
 Where through the glow or intermitted smoke 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 93 
 
 The Elysian towers appeared, the van 
 
 Halted at distance fit ; and then an imp 
 
 With summons to surrender skimmed the cloud 
 
 And neared* Paradise by snowy flag ; 
 
 But met with prompt refusal : thence he sped 
 
 The expected word to give ; whereat a roar 
 
 From all their grim artillery appalled 
 
 E'en Hell itself; and to the lowest shores 
 
 Of sable Erebus its echoes rolled, 
 
 Far murmuring at their close down caves of Night. 
 
 Elysium trembled thro' her holy shades, 
 
 Or would have trembled but for hope divine ; 
 
 Such horrid uproar never having torn 
 
 Its way to every ear. Nor Warsaw near 
 
 Did Diebitsch by his batteries create 
 
 Such deafening din ; nor Waterloo's dread fray 
 
 So shake both heaven and earth, when fell 
 
 Ambition's strong and daring son, his star 
 
 Quenched in another tide of blood and woe 
 
 Whose circling wave in sorrow spread afar. 
 
 Then Adam to the patriarchs spake in words 
 
 Like these which follow : See, sons, what skill 
 
 In all abhorred inventions these hell-doomed 
 
 And scornful trespassers display. The walls 
 
 Magnificently strong of Paradise 
 
 Quaked at their dread discharge ; and fiery streams 
 
 * "Neared," not entered. They wlio forfeit happiness and heaven by 
 sin and unbelief are exiled forever from the light and joy of eternal life. 
 How precious are the hours of probation ! Reader, let not that exile be 
 thine ! 
 
94 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Flooded our battlements and drove aside 
 The sentinels from their stations ; but have hope ; 
 (This is her radiant home !) and God shall show- 
 That arm puissant which o'erwhelmed their ranks 
 Down from Heaven's flowery verge, and hollowed out 
 Their dismal jail, gorging its opened jaws 
 With their confounded hosts. For, can His eye 
 Behold our danger and his anger sleep 
 And jealousy and pity. Will his power 
 Allow the banners of the rebel crew 
 To flout insultingly our skies which gaze 
 On us sad exiles meanwhile from this realm. 
 Its hallowed fanes astonished at their voice 
 And echoing with their rites profane of joy 
 While they regale themselves 'neath deathless bowers 
 And flood their throats with nectars worthy heaven ? 
 Will God permit those who have scorned thro' time 
 The teachings and the ofiers of his love 
 And dashed aside salvation's profiered cup 
 And its sweet, healing leaves — will He 
 Permit such rebels and such scoffers old 
 Here in the summery sea of our delight 
 To bathe their spirits which ijow hell's dread fires 
 Breathing o'er them, their fervors wrap in pain : 
 Tossed, since their coming to this lower world, 
 Upon the restless waves of shame, and stung 
 By torments of infernal doom e'en then begun, 
 They fain from sorrow's tyranny would rush 
 And hope within these walls relief to find. 
 Let prayer be constant, and forget not all 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 95 
 
 To throng the citadel of holy trust, 
 
 Our mightiest defence ; and let our guests 
 
 (Invulnerable spirits) on the walls their stand 
 
 With virtue's awful arms and glorious might 
 
 Courageously assume ; let all who hold 
 
 The gift heaven-loaned for high and holy ends, 
 
 A power o'er air, its progeny of fire 
 
 And vapors black, compel unto alliance 
 
 Their wond'rous energies. Thus Adam spake, 
 
 And all approved his words. From bended bow, 
 
 Balistas, catapults and slings forth rushed 
 
 The instruments of ruin, and their foes 
 
 The power of their response confessed at heart ; 
 
 And soon, indeed, wild fright convulsed their ranks, 
 
 When certain gases loaded with ripe store 
 
 Of elemental fury burst in flame, 
 
 Showering hot meteors thick amid their hosts, 
 
 Exploding 'mongst them with malignant fire 
 
 Like bolts from summer storms. Then frighted fled 
 
 Thousands who deemed Heaven's King in wrath again 
 
 Had from his cloudy armory his lightning-darts 
 
 Snatched for the avenging hour : so vivid yet 
 
 The memory of Christ's bright onset burned 
 
 (The onset which relieved abhorring heaven,) 
 
 That they all wish at once resigned of fame 
 
 Gained in such dreadful, havoc-making fray, 
 
 And fled, believing that the tramp of hosts 
 
 Following their footsteps and the peals of war 
 
 Heard in the distance, were the ominous roar 
 
 Of thunders sounding the wild notes of doom. 
 
96 THESHADOWYLAND, 
 
 But yet so great a host their flashing clouds 
 
 Rolled 'round their Phoebus that this loss scarce showed 
 
 A chasm in the throng. And soon, again, 
 
 Loud pealed their engines hurling monstrous stones 
 
 And globes with bristling darts becharged, 
 
 Hell-fire and every flaming fright 
 
 That could a fortress rend, or shake the calm 
 
 Of Virtue's soul heroic. Fast and thick 
 
 As hail-stones from an August cloud 
 
 Blown by a Northern blast, there flashed again 
 
 From batteries Elysian sparkling showers 
 
 Of meteoric stones with sulphur fired 
 
 And furious phosphorus, (such it seemed.) 
 
 Then Satan to his compeers thus aloud 
 
 Uttered his gratulations and his fears : 
 
 " mighty warriors, brave indeed and grand 
 
 The storm which now on Paradise doth beat, 
 
 As when the gale-lashed waves of Phlegethon 
 
 In roaring bursts sublime assault the rocks : 
 
 But yet with firmness and with skill their guards 
 
 Direct their fires mysterious, crumbling down 
 
 Full many a warlike structure in our midst 
 
 And torturing thousands, — see ! now whence this gloom 
 
 Darker than night, wide-rolling o'er the field ? 
 
 Doth Hell her hideous blackness vomit forth 
 
 To aid our cause ? So wide and dense a night 
 
 Must needs arrest our arms. Go ! speed at once ; 
 
 And if the flames that shed so thick a gloom 
 
 Can now be dampened, let the word be given. 
 
 But stop ! the darkness opens ! see afar 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 97 
 
 Elysium's walls again, though scarcely where 
 The wildered mind expected ; surely now 
 Our batteries will not silence keep, and grant 
 Unasked cessation. There ! the flash again 
 Pierces th' infernal shade !" Then Moloch bold 
 His counsels urged : " Illustrious Prince ! 
 Why thus delay our armies on this field 
 So distant from the mark ? behold ! the prize 
 Sparkles invitingly, and we the means 
 Whereby yon charming glories may be reached 
 Most surely want not : and perchance, when gained. 
 We may compel the secret of their fire. 
 So like the lightning's riotous play, and match 
 God's blasting thunderbolts on the daring verge 
 Of Heaven itself. For me, I count not lost 
 What once beheld our glory, while I know 
 Eternal change on all things waits ; and power 
 May totter in its golden capital ; the heart 
 Once loyal may estrange its love ; and fate 
 Her awful characters may write above 
 The thrones esteemed supreme and raised on high 
 Far o'er the shadow of a doubt, (as dream 
 The trembling million.)" Thus deluded, he 
 His hopes did utter : Meanwhile fiercely blazed 
 Their batteries 'gainst each other ; on the heights 
 Their own division seen amid the smoke 
 Seemed mounted on the walls of Paradise, 
 The enemy's force ; while unto them appeared 
 With similar delusive front the ranks 
 Nearer their sovereign, as erst designed 
 7 
 
98 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 The Sun's bright angel.* So, with savage rage, 
 Witlessly pitted 'gainst each other, they 
 Surfeited the air of hell with deadly storms, 
 Whole squadrons sweeping down in Avrithing heaps, 
 Though dreaming of prodigious havoc cast 
 Among Elysium's garrison. 
 
 Again, 
 While roared this horrid discord, raised his voice 
 Their prince, Apollyon ; " Warriors wise and true ! 
 Ye see what desolation riots now 
 Among the flower of Hell's brave chivalry ; 
 And forces on our judgment now the thought 
 Of flight or else assault and victory : 
 For, under grievous disadvantage here 
 We must the day contest. Our foes, meanwhile, 
 Pluming their courage, may harass our ranks 
 With hotter mischief and more cunning force, 
 Th' inventions of delay. My voice is raised 
 For speedy movement to the Elysian walls ; 
 And there, possessed of its fair capital, 
 We may amuse the rest which follows war 
 With schemes of blissful empire in the climes 
 On which the gentle skies of Paradise 
 Shed their benignant smiles ; or else may arm 
 Our gathered legions for more glorious deeds 
 In plans full worthy gods. And as for flight 
 Not one of all Hell's chieftains here that lend 
 
 * Allowing the passage to remain, it must be allowed that angelic beings, 
 would not become chargeable with fraud. 
 
THESHADOWYLAND. 99 
 
 To this our council dignity sublime 
 
 That base thought can one moment entertain. 
 
 True ! to his lair again the forest-lord 
 
 Unsatisfied and baffled may return ; 
 
 But when the startled heavens confess the rush 
 
 Of the lightning's rending fire, the cloud no more 
 
 Is called to entertain its awful guest ; 
 
 Its work of change and vengeance must be wrought." 
 
 And then a fiend arose and won all eyes 
 
 By port of regal pride and the high calm 
 
 Affected of indifference supreme, 
 
 Thoughtless of danger's darkening frown. " Your words 
 
 Puissant king ! are worthy of your power 
 
 And throne of archangelic dignity. 
 
 Longer delay when climes of heavenly light 
 
 Await our advent, were indeed absurd. 
 
 Most surely some great error in our plans 
 
 Has armed our legions against legions ranged 
 
 Beneath our flag, producing hideous wreck 
 
 Of warlike engines and dispersion foul. 
 
 I therefore urge that orders quick command 
 
 That signals bright, aided by dazzling torches, 
 
 Light up this gross and dismal night and give 
 
 The signs of high adventure near at hand. 
 
 Rumor hath uttered that Manoah's son 
 
 A captive unto snares awaits release 
 
 Fast bound by adamant and chains : 
 
 Rumor asserts his earth-born strength was faint 
 
 Compared with his grand, present potency 
 
100 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Whereat the many tremble and would scarce 
 The sunny smile of victory hope for 
 Or her rapturing shout, were this dread foe 
 To array his force majestic 'gainst our arms 
 At the Elysian gates. And therefore now 
 While rocky prisonment doth hold him safe, 
 'Twere popular policy to make the assault." 
 
 Thus having spoken, all approved his words. 
 
 And Satan, while the trumpets filled the air 
 
 With echoing music, gave his fixt decrees, 
 
 Which fled o'er all the plain, and breathed the glow 
 
 Of burning expectation thro' the heaving host ; 
 
 As when upon some languid, darkling sea 
 
 Descend the potent winds ; the watery calm 
 
 Awakens at their call to voiceful life, 
 
 And light that slumbered in the deep breaks forth 
 
 With brilliant animation. Then were seen 
 
 The hurrying onward of the armed throngs ; 
 
 Their shields of gold and steel in that wierd glow 
 
 Glittered afar ; and ever and anon 
 
 Seated upon his sparkling chariot drawn 
 
 By winged pards or fearful, mystic steeds 
 
 Snorting bright sparks, some stern infernal prince 
 
 Was seen upon his march along the plain. 
 
 Borne as on wheeled altars, gorgeous fires 
 
 A mimic day around his pageant poured ; 
 
 And in the emblazonry and pictured pomp 
 
 Of his escutcheon and his banner's folds 
 
 In sparkling beauty revelled their full beams. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 101 
 
 Behind, the countless mass in dense ranks moved, 
 
 Their armor gleaming with the neighboring light. 
 
 While mystic darkness reigned above and far. 
 
 Not much unlike the scene rich, picturesque 
 
 Mid which a royal bark superbly floats, 
 
 When fires ascending 'round her beauteous form 
 
 In lackeying vessels that keep company, 
 
 Light up the fringed pavilion in her midst, 
 
 The silken sails and flags superb unfurled ; 
 
 While on the wave crests near the radiance plays, 
 
 Fading more distant, till the clouds and night 
 
 At length the plumy billows wrap in gloom 
 
 And hold unbroken empire o'er the deep. 
 
 Nor undistinguished in the martial crowd 
 
 Rode in his chariot the Prince of Hell 
 
 Whom a mailed, lance-armed guard and chosen group 
 
 Of lordly chiefs attended. In white robes, a band 
 
 Of imps transformed by graceful guise, arrayed 
 
 In vestures sparkling with a myriad gems, 
 
 Bore torches blushing with the scented blaze 
 
 Of rare and compound oils ; while, o'er his head, 
 
 Gold-wrought, winged seraphs lifted in their hands 
 
 A canopy emblazed with types of power 
 
 In costliest workmanship, unseen before 
 
 And lately added to his regal stores. 
 
 A mimic day reflected from th' expanse 
 
 Doubled its glory o'er his crowned brows 
 
 And smiled in beauty 'mid th' unnatural night. 
 
 While marching thus, in haste a courier dashed 
 Into the monarch's presence and announced 
 
102 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Intelligence momentous from the Earth ; 
 
 No less than that the Son of God, Messiah, 
 
 The victim of the Jewish rage, now filled 
 
 With blank astonishment the darkened skies. 
 
 Condemned to shameful death ; no sword forth drawn 
 
 No power miraculous checking the tide 
 
 Of sanguinary fortunes surging o'er 
 
 The rock deemed high above the foam and swells 
 
 Of earthly malice and terrestrial change. 
 
 Whereat their chieftain, while a passing cloud 
 
 Shadowed one moment his presumptuous front, 
 
 Thus to his nobles spake : " Ye see, the word. 
 
 Uttered in prophecy of old, to serious fact 
 
 At length has ripened ; and Messiah boasts 
 
 Thus lifted up to draw all men to him. 
 
 But what course follows now appears unknown ; 
 
 Perchance defying death's dark bondage, quick 
 
 With fadeless glory from the cross itself 
 
 He may step forth to claim as won 
 
 By his heroic patience, virtue high. 
 
 And crimson satisfaction the quenched throne 
 
 Of Jesse's poet-son. Perchance on high 
 
 He soars, expectant of the triumphs pledged 
 
 To his affecting cross. Go, courier, back. 
 
 And join thy comrades, keeping earnest w^atch 
 
 Upon the wheels of Providence ; and bring 
 
 Often reports of every movement seen 
 
 In this strange crisis of the Earth ; each wave. 
 
 And every dimple in Time's swollen stream 
 
 Note ye with care ; and unto us report 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 103 
 
 Whatever worthy seems our thoughts to claim ; 
 Each blossom and each leaf unfolding, each 
 Diseased excrescence on life's spreading tree, 
 Ye watchful messengers, consider well." 
 He said : and upper night that shape grotesque 
 In a brief moment swallowed. 
 
 Soon they neared 
 The smouldering verge of Hell and saw beyond 
 The gates of Paradise, her opal towers. 
 Her shining, crystal battlements ; and grand, afar. 
 The domes of massive temples ; halls sublime, 
 And colonades in gorgeous, vast array. 
 As they advanced, a sudden, potent wind 
 Dispersed the darkness from the approaching host, 
 While on their splendor and their number gazed 
 Astonished Paradise. Then Joshua spake 
 Breaking deep wonder's silence : " See what pomp 
 Where yet the darkness lingers but delays 
 Only their monarch's gorgeousness superb 
 More strikingly to show ! How like a blaze 
 Of sunny splendor glassed thro' vistas bright 
 Of nature's icy halls ! and all within 
 As sterile of sweet good. This sumptuousness 
 Doth mind me of that Babylonian fame * 
 . Where shrined in golden beauty, Venus smiled 
 And wooed with pomp divine her votaries young ; 
 While in the shade that Art's proud splendors cast 
 
 •The history and condition of the earth is supposed to be known by re- 
 ports. 
 
104 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Lurked the base spirit of lascivious vice. 
 
 Gaze on that richness ! say, did harlot e'er 
 
 Bedeck her tainted soul with grace so rare, 
 
 Or garniture so rich and sumptuous ? 
 
 Yet thus it pleases God to grant as yet 
 
 This liberty unto the fallen ones 
 
 Wherein they mock their ancient dignity." 
 
 To him the First of men gave no reply ; 
 
 But on their proud array intently gazed ; 
 
 When lo ! a wonder : from the lower deep 
 
 Uprose a thousand strong, colossal shapes 
 
 Parting the smoke and flame with whirring wings. 
 
 Swift to the shadowy shores of Hell they flew. 
 
 And bore forth thence into the light of day 
 
 A bridge with arches of apparent strength. 
 
 Each as a pillar volant thro' the air 
 
 Supported well his part to where the steam 
 
 And smoke of deep Gehenna rose less thick, 
 
 Offending shrinking day. Their burden huge 
 
 They rest 'gainst the doubtful edge of Hell 
 
 And on th' Elsyian verge ; upholding still 
 
 The roofed and close-screened structure with a force 
 
 As wonderful as when the heavenly hills 
 
 Were lifted by the warring hosts of God 
 
 And flung roaring with speed against their foes. 
 
 Amazement filled Elysium's habitants. 
 
 But terror none : Then thus the patriarch spake : 
 
 " May Heaven defend ! what do mine eyes behold ! 
 
 Now comes the fiery heart of war j all else 
 
 Was but the distant pulse, tho' hot and fast : 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 105 
 
 The last act of the drama opes. Away !" 
 (He to the heralds urged,) " go bid the trump 
 Summon all, courage-armed for action close, 
 To join us near the gates ; nor be forgot 
 Redoubled prayers in every blessed fane ! 
 Nor the due wish benign that our mad foes 
 May yet forego the phrenzied wickedness, 
 Nor for a harvest of more flaming wrath 
 The fields of conflict sow with burning coals." 
 
 Nor then sweet, lovely being Eve, (the queen 
 
 Of the hallowed flowers of beauty, pure 
 
 From every mortal stain,) nor then didst thou 
 
 Forget in thy full tears to woo the grace 
 
 Of pitying heaven, reproaching thy fair self 
 
 First author of man's woes and bondage dim 
 
 Far 'neath the light of bliss divine. In twilight fane 
 
 Thou with famed Myriam chanting earnest prayers 
 
 And Sarah, Rachel, Daniel mild and warm * 
 
 "With heavenly ardors, supplications voiced 
 
 Towards the e'er-listening ear ; a lovely group 
 
 Apart from all th' impetuous rush, the clash 
 
 Of armor and the war -trump's stirring clang ; 
 
 So have I seen in some sequestered nook. 
 
 Aside from where a swollen current raged. 
 
 The waters in a glassy brightness sleep, 
 
 Lovely with slumbering lilies and the light 
 
 Of Heaven's reflected face in blameless lines. 
 
 END OP BOOK THIRD, 
 
106 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 BOOK FOURTH. 
 
 Meanwhile Manoah's son in prison drear, 
 
 Though long entranced, perchance thro' opiate charms 
 
 Poured o'er him by his captors, woke to find 
 
 Darkness supreme and chain work 'round him cast. 
 
 Then thus aloud he to his God exclaimed : 
 
 " King Divine, for what crude act have I 
 
 Thy pleasure forfeited and won these chains 
 
 And this benighted prisonment. In truth 
 
 For thine own honor and the common good 
 
 Of those Thou lovest in Paradise, I trod 
 
 The fatal soil of Hell to warn those clouds 
 
 Of vultures to beware of that blest fold 
 
 Where o'er the ransomed lion-hearted ones 
 
 Maintain eternal watch ; while their fit prey 
 
 Is where corruption reigns. And have I stained 
 
 The day-light of my soul with sin's dark cloud ;* 
 
 Or hast Thou in Thy wisdom but allowed 
 
 And not approved as punishment well due 
 
 This snare and bondage. Then that glorious power 
 
 In ripened grandeur which I still possess 
 
 May be my rescuing legion ; if, indeed, 
 
 * Sampson's history exliibits sad moral delinquency on one or more 
 occasions ; it is not easy to ascertain whether he was truly at last a righteous 
 man. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 107 
 
 Aught save the melting touch of angels charged 
 
 With sought deliverance can this hour avail." 
 
 Thus saying, he aroused his strength and stirred 
 
 The awful energies long slumbering deep 
 
 In his colossal spirit-form : as when pent winds 
 
 Long locked in caves of Earth, awake at length 
 
 And rend all barriers with infuriate power. 
 
 With dire dismay to all the breathing world ; 
 
 Or as some fire volcanic bursts at last 
 
 From slumbers centuries had seemed to 've sealed, 
 
 With wild, tempestuous fury heaving high 
 
 The astonished plains and falling cities, hurled 
 
 To hopeless desolation. At this stir 
 
 And rattling of his snapping chains, the shapes 
 
 Which guarded (fast within,) his rayless cave 
 A hideous yelling uttered, startling far 
 For leagues around the dark domain of Hell. 
 The fire as 't were, upon the flaxen threads 
 Wrought severance in an instant ; down he cast 
 Contemptuous those rent bonds of massive strength 
 And strode on towards the howling monster-guards. 
 " Malicious, hateful fiends ! or whatsoe'er 
 Be that loathed title that ye claim as yours, — 
 I charge you as ye love your strength and dread 
 The agony and shame of overthrow to skulk 
 Hence from my path and cease your hellish din." 
 But they, deprived of speech, no answer gave, 
 But snarled defiance fierce : whereat he near 
 Undaunted drew, and gazed upon four eyes 
 Glaring with eager rage ; but they unawed 
 
108 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Sprang with more deafening uproar at his form 
 
 And would have torn with reckless ire his limbs 
 
 With angel vigor mantling, had he not 
 
 Seized with a dext'rous grasp one monster's mane 
 
 And shaken him aside, and rent apart 
 
 His jaws ferocious ; then his comrade's side 
 
 After dread battle, he with sturdy sword 
 
 Pierced with a frightful gash ; whereby he fell, 
 
 And writhed in howling pain. The victor sprang 
 
 And finding, as expected, locked (to hope 
 
 Other than his, appallingly secure) 
 
 The huge, strong doors, he with his roused strength 
 
 Stormily shook them, causing them to groan 
 
 Prognostics of their fall ; a second rush 
 
 Bore off with stunning crash one portal huge. 
 
 Hinge, lock, bolts, pillar wrenched away ; 
 
 And liberty again received him glad 
 
 The glimmerings of her light to see.* Nor late 
 
 Delayed the victor in that spot, but found 
 
 By good success ere long the path to day. 
 
 Then, hearing in the distance murmurings deep 
 
 As of some army vast ; and catching gleams 
 
 Of blest Elysium's domes, he thither bent 
 
 His movements fast ; but soon before him saw 
 
 What seemed a living form, erect like man's, 
 
 A giant's rather, waiting his approach. 
 
 On nearer view, his eyes undoubting glassed 
 
 The model of no human shrine of strength 
 
 * So to persistent faith and fortitude in the righteous all gloomy obsta- 
 cles and barriers give way by God's grace. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 109 
 
 Or dignity severe : A prince he seemed 
 
 Worthy to draw a legion dark around 
 
 His spirit-form so chieftain-like and grand. 
 
 Like some stern, rocky mount whereto, in clouds, 
 
 The Eagle and the birds of prey resort 
 
 Summoned by austere strength and glory proud 
 
 From all the plains about. Beholding there 
 
 This warrior stern away from battle's host 
 
 Mach wondered Sampson ; but no terror shook 
 
 His spirit glorying in his late success ; 
 
 No more than doth some thundering tempest fear 
 
 To rush into the face of armed hosts 
 
 Dreaded his potent heart this demon-foe. 
 
 To him approaching thus the spirit spake 
 
 " Art thou Manoah's son ? I need not ask : 
 
 Thy form Herculean declares thy name. 
 
 I long have sought thee, having heard thy steps 
 
 Were yet upon this shadowy land. And proud 
 
 Well mayest thou be that I forsook my place 
 
 (Surrendered to another) in the field 
 
 To meet thee here in single combat : True ; 
 
 Not much of glory can I lose when war. 
 
 Bellowing from hell-invented engines, storms 
 
 Against a peaceful, unprovided realm. 
 
 Therefore, and since true glory here prefers 
 
 Most noble opportunity, I scorned 
 
 The trump which summoned to a conflict close 
 
 To seek thee here. Report from Earth affirms 
 
 Most lavish fictions of thy strength, — and yet 
 
 I doubt not thou art worthy to contest 
 
110 THBSHADOWYLAND. 
 
 The palms of lofty valor with a prince, 
 Such as before thee stands." 
 
 Then having scann'd 
 His stature, helmet, shield, his sword and spear. 
 Massive and ominous to all save him, 
 These words the Elysian wanderer returned : 
 " I think I know the name thou bearest in hell. 
 For strength and valor famous ; yet I fear 
 Not e'en thy boasted force. My mission here 
 Thou knowest was peaceful ; and my heart forbids 
 The quest of conflict. High pursuits 
 And such as Heaven approves, the ransomed all 
 Now follow with delight ; nor save when force 
 With fiercest onset justifies, do they 
 Their rusting weapons use.* Against all foes 
 Assaulting Paradise my sword is pledged." 
 To him the demon thus replied : " Full well 
 I know that hymns and incense-smoke the blood 
 Of noble vigor freshen not, nor train 
 The aspiring thoughts towards high, heroic deeds : 
 And as thou dost of ' rust ' complain, a chance 
 Of burnishing thy energy and arms 
 I now award thee with defiance strong : 
 
 4 
 
 Or, dost thou plead that dainty blandishments, 
 The perfumed air of Paradise and dreams 
 In flowery-couched voluptuousness thy force 
 Have wilted utterly V " Such puny plea " 
 
 * Though Christianity forbids retaliation, yet it wonld be difficult to 
 prove efforts to ward off an assault forbidden. See Luke XXII, 31. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. Ill 
 
 Responded Sampson, " I cannot prefer. 
 But dost thou dream thy vigor burns as grand 
 As when in uncorrupted strength thou stoodst 
 And hurledst defiance 'gainst that angel high 
 Who fought and worsted thee in heaven ?" 
 To whom the fiend : " Ha ! dost thou deem 
 Seraphic energy within thee lurks, that thus 
 Thou darest to insult me with the taunt 
 Of powvers in faint decay ?" 
 
 " Spare now thy rage : 
 I know thee mighty still ; tho' treason base 
 And grovelling ambitions and desires 
 Have secret fed for centuries on thy strength 
 And on thy beauty once so glorious deemed.* 
 Thou dost not love, I see, the truth ?" Whereat 
 Replying first to words with angry looks, 
 The fiend grasped firm his splendid shield and sword 
 And bade defiance to the hero : " Quick 
 Prepare for conflict ! Dar'st thou, child of Earth, 
 To scorn a heaven-born energy ? I know thee strong 
 And see thee insolent as thou art strong ; 
 Deeming, because the thunderbolts of God 
 Once did confound (tho' not o'ercome) my soul 
 That thou mayest deal in scorn, deluded wretch !" 
 Thus saying, at Manoah's son he aimed 
 With his strong falchion a most fearful blow 
 That flashed upon his sounding, temper'd shield 
 
 * Vide Pai-adiso Lost, B. IV, speech of Zephou. 
 
112 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Anointed with a sweet Elysian oil.* 
 
 Relented his strong arm, but soon again 
 
 Descended swift his sword arrested quick 
 
 Upon his adversary's blade. The shield 
 
 Then quenched its swift-winged brightness o'er again : 
 
 Thus many times his hot ambition failed, 
 
 'Till vexed to be thus bai3Qed with such skill. 
 
 Upon his adversary calm, he rushed in rage, 
 
 Direful as the infernal Prince or storm 
 
 Of night-black tempest scattering mountain crags 
 
 With fierce, consuming strokes : while rage 
 
 His watchful prudence swallowed, swiftly rushed 
 
 Resistless as Death's dart the glorious sword 
 
 Of Sampson, mightiest of Elysium's sons. 
 
 And in his right arm sank ; a blow that seemed 
 
 The accepted price of safety. For thus maimed 
 
 And with this horrid wound his vigor high 
 
 Fast ruining, the fiend his wings aloft 
 
 Spread vast upon the murky air, and fled, 
 
 Doubtless, some potent medicines to seek 
 
 Wherewith to stanch and heal the shameful gash. 
 
 Then sang the conqueror a hymn of praise 
 
 And cheering Hell's dark ruggedness with song, 
 
 He, joyful, turned his hasty steps towards home. 
 
 Now, as he reached the region near the gulf. 
 
 He saw y' swarming on a little hill 
 
 A populous division of the foe 
 
 * Suggested by a passage of Scripture, " anoint the shield." Oil is the 
 emblem of grace ; from God comes secret but mighty protection : that 
 should we seek. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 113 
 
 That seemed with the rough " edge of battle " torn ; 
 Yet kindling with new, stirring life, they moved 
 To share in glory to be elsewhere won. 
 And thundered down the steep their engines huge ; 
 And clattered wains with martial stores ; the trump 
 Sounding defiance with harmonious bursts, 
 Wedding sweet music unto battle grim, 
 As lovely Proserpine to Hell's dark god 
 Was bound in Hymen's bands. 
 
 And now approached 
 Sampson the eminence on which they moved ; 
 A steep, huge precipice concealed his form 
 While thus aloud to Power's high Source he prayed ; 
 0, God, if Thou fell overthrow dost will 
 To this most lawless and rebellious horde, 
 Grant now unto thy servant such new force 
 Though but a moment given, as may when blent 
 With thy endowments old an awful feat 
 Breeding dire consternation here achieve. 
 Thus having prayed, his grand. Titanic form 
 Still loftier seem.ed to grow ; the rocks 
 In his high glance were dwindling ; then a rush 
 As of a sudden wind, his ear assailed. 
 While awfjil strength burned in his lofty frame 
 Eager for action. On the stony wall 
 He laid his hand, devoting all his powers. 
 With a loud groan as when some earthquake splits 
 Deep, rocky beds, the hill with all its swarms 
 Bowed o'er ; and, pausing for an instant, fell ; 
 8 
 
114 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 (A deafening and terrific crash !) the jaws 
 Of ravenous Hell full gorging with the mass. 
 Down, down, they sank, in wild confusion heaped, 
 In mortification and in pain, baptized 
 Beyond expression's power, or art's, to paint. 
 Some say this squadron of the hostile force 
 Had made their high encampment near that hill 
 Within a huge and pillared hall ; that there 
 The Hebrew champion, leaning, as of old, 
 Upon the columns vast, o'erwhelmed the crowd 
 Amid appalling desolation hurled 
 Into the black abyss, while he unharmed 
 Glanced swiftly from the wreck. 
 
 Their monarch saw 
 With deep amazement their mysterious fall ; 
 (Such woe and ruin on rebellion wait ;) 
 He saw and mourned their overthrow ; yet swelled 
 With pride and joy to see how vast a cloud 
 Still followed on his steps. 
 
 And, meanwhile, two, 
 The lovely, angel guests of Paradise, 
 Blest the high air with odorous, out-spread wings, 
 Scorning Gehenna's smoke. To Sampson they, 
 The gulf when passed, directed their swift flight ; 
 And met him puzzled on the infernal shore. 
 " We come," said they, ." to bear thee safely o'er 
 The red abyss ; thy friends now eager wait 
 To welcome thy return and hail thy name, 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 115 
 
 Deliverer, blest of God with wondrous might." 
 
 So saying, in their hands they bore aloft 
 
 The conqueror, as in triumph rapt on high, 
 
 And hailed in Paradise with loud applause. 
 
 To whom, with others hailing, Miriam said : 
 
 " If it a wish befitting could be proved, 
 
 I would that God had vouchsafed man-like powers 
 
 To spirits feminine, at least to mine ; 
 
 Nor left me still this trembling, dove-like heart, 
 
 Attempering the lofty, rapturous glow 
 
 My soul exults in." " An unworthy wish," 
 
 Responded Sampson, " better far, more fit, 
 
 A subject of the Prince of Peace, to shrink, 
 
 If possible, from conflict, which doth mar 
 
 The pure, soft summer of the soul. 
 
 Which is our prize and triumph brightest far. 
 
 Well may we leave unto the glorious arm 
 
 Whence storms and lightnings and devouring fire 
 
 As from the fatal source of terrors rush. 
 
 Our sole defence, while we his mercies crave. 
 
 But if His providence doth seem to point 
 
 To agency of ours, in danger's strait, 
 
 In bristling, rough necessity, — the sword 
 
 Should from its slumbers start, and all brave hearts 
 
 Awake their heroism." To which replied 
 
 The noble Miriam : " True ; I, too, 
 
 Prefer the blessed triumph of the day 
 
 When Peace her blue eyes opens bright from heavens 
 
 By the cloudy wings of War unveiled ; when choirs 
 
 In anthems high refill the temples' vaults 
 
116 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 With verse sublime and holy melodies ; 
 
 Or when to some fair spirit from afar 
 
 We listen, while the history of the stars 
 
 Or of our native earth is told ; absorbed 
 
 In varied tales of purity and love, 
 
 Of pleasure's and abundance' golden flush ; 
 
 Of sin and shame, war, hatred and the base 
 
 Infamy of idolatry, and nature's pomp 
 
 And art's magnificence and loveliness, — 
 
 And the mind's written glories ; all such tales 
 
 Attention rapt command, and smiles and tears. 
 
 But, still, tho' in such occupations joyed, 
 
 I thought it not a sin to dream my arm 
 
 Raised with the warriors 'gainst the foes of God ; 
 
 As Israel 'gainst the Canaanites of old 
 
 Lifted the spear at Heaven's command and glowed 
 
 With hallowed exultation at their fall." 
 
 " True !" quick responded Sampson, " but our King, 
 
 The mighty Son of David, has unrolled 
 
 His law of universal love, — his flag 
 
 Bright in the smiles of heaven ; and fair inscribed 
 
 With mottoes of sweet charity and peace. 
 
 Streams in the breeze for every nation's eyes. 
 
 And therefore we must e'er love peace ; and leave 
 
 Our city to our King's defence, nor break 
 
 The blessed slumber of our swords save when 
 
 Necessity severe forbids delay, and points 
 
 The will of Heaven that we should take 
 
 In our own hands the vengeance. Had our God 
 
 Commissioned us to execute his wrath, 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 117 
 
 Or eager stand for battle with heaven's sons 
 (Now fallen, alas ! how low !) then 'twere, no doubt, 
 The part of virtue thus to burn and joy 
 In conflict's fiery, exciting hour." 
 
 The foe, 
 While thus they spake, began to feel the glow 
 Of heat unusual from the sun, while bland 
 And dewy clouds hung o'er th' Elysian clime. 
 Like soothing hopes o'er virtue's trial-hours. 
 Soon ruinous explosions tore their ranks. 
 Fired by too fervid beams ; of civil war 
 The horrid mischiefs all, without its ire, 
 Raged 'mid their hosts dismayed. 
 
 Then Satan, stirr'd 
 With rising wrath the while beholding signs 
 Of mutiny, disorder and of havoc wild, 
 Thus to th' infernal lords exclaimed : " peers ! 
 You call this place Elysium ! rather, hell ; 
 For, hell itself scarce fiercer fires showers down 
 From its red, blazing roof Let heralds haste, 
 And see protected all that heat can hurt. 
 Disaster on our army largely feeds ; the foe 
 Appears to triumph in our loss ; and yet 
 As brief as meteor's flash whose melted gold 
 Streams brightly for an instant thro' the sky, 
 Shall be their triumph j for, I swear by Hell 
 And by my throne imperial, at their gates 
 This storm shall burst resistlessly, 
 
118 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 E'en tho' all heaven were thronging o'er their wall 
 
 And hurling quenchless flames and the fiats stern 
 
 Of their exalted King. Then, onwards, chiefs ! 
 
 And may Hell's maddest furies haunt him e'er 
 
 And sting his quivering nerves with sharpest pangs, 
 
 Peopling his every dream with horrors dire 
 
 Who shows the craven in the battle's hour ! 
 
 Thus saying, with the trumpet's glorious cry, 
 
 Their glittering multitude in ardor rushed 
 
 Threading the entrance vast of their huge bridge. 
 
 The stout, colossal forms still tireless held 
 
 Their massive charge high up above the flood 
 
 Which thro' the jagged, black and awful rocks 
 
 The souls from Hades saw with fear below. 
 
 Boiling with fiery foam : Nor shrank aghast, 
 
 Tormented with the suffocating fumes ; for, airs 
 
 Not uncongenial flowed within the vault. 
 
 Now soon beyond the flood th' excited host 
 
 Trod on suburban soil. An angel fair 
 
 Flew o'er the walls and warned them thence ; but they 
 
 Unterrified pushed forward their huge wains 
 
 And scowling engines, bent to ope a way 
 
 For all their unwinged allies to the heart 
 
 Of the coveted capital. Then roared 
 
 Again their engines fell of war ; and whizzed 
 
 The missiles thro' the air from catapults ; 
 
 While on the city flashes of hellish fire 
 
 Fell fast and thick as hoar November snows 
 
 Down cast in feathers large from some bleak cloud ; 
 
 Or meteoric showers some autumn night 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 119 
 
 From all heaven's ceiling, watched for long 
 By learn'd, star-gazing men. 
 
 Then to an angel bright 
 (The same who with the message to the Sun 
 Glanced upward like a sunbeam from a lake 
 Flung backward to its source) the king of men 
 Addressed this question : " All can now declare 
 Which is the emperor of Hell ; his regal port 
 And brow with stern defiance darkening, and the crowd 
 Of honorary guards and chieftains clad 
 In military pomp bespeak their King : 
 But who is he that by the Sovereign's side 
 (Now to his chariot rising) seems well fit 
 To reign his sole successor, were the stroke 
 Of Heaven's anticipating wrath to hurl 
 Th' arch-rebel to his penal prison-pit ? 
 Most sure that mien must be far-known in heaven, 
 And that strong arm remembered by not few." 
 To whom the spirit-guest : " Thou hast affirmed 
 As truly as with confidence ; his name 
 The children of the earth call Beelzebub, 
 Than whom a spirit more severely stern, 
 Scorning all danger with a haughtier pride, 
 Never the frowns of Heaven provoked. Look keen 
 While now 'tis clear, and thou wilt see what scars 
 Still linger on his marble brows. But Sampson comes ! 
 Most welcome, brave ! thro' God's remembrance 'scaped 
 From all their snares ; perchance a conqueror too ! 
 Upon thy matchless strength we safely rest 
 
120 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 While Heaven doth succor us. Behold the two, 
 
 The Prince of Hell and Beelzebub confer 
 
 Above the golden wheels imperial : quick ! "* 
 
 Bend now my bow, the undecaying wood 
 
 From a deathless tree of Heaven ; this arrow tipt 
 
 With mystic fire that even demons dread 
 
 Wing with thy might against that shining mark 
 
 Now while they still confer :" He said ; and swift 
 
 From the strong hero sped the glittering shaft, 
 
 Nor faltered at the distance ; and well nigh 
 
 Had pierced the King himself ; then reel'd transfix'd 
 
 The stately form of Beelzebub, but sank 
 
 Not utterly to the ground, in fall sustained 
 
 By Satan, who by Styx fierce vengeance swore : 
 
 And so a dart, in summer's flourishing prime, 
 
 Flashed from a gusty cloud, in the deep heart 
 
 Of some majestic elm its brightness buries ; 
 
 Which, riven with the horrid gash, long-staggering falls, 
 
 By pitiless winds assaulted ; but not low 
 
 Fore'er to ruin hurled, but, swooning, caught 
 
 By some huge monarch of the woods, again 
 
 To flourish, when restored its frightful Avound. * 
 
 Then Satan gave the signal to advance ; 
 
 And nearer yet their engines roared, returned 
 
 With starry rockets showering fires malign. 
 
 Th' unwinged host of Hades trembled then, 
 
 With such dire mischief scorched ; and therefore, urged 
 
 By dread of flight contagious in their ranks, 
 
 * Homer compares a young warrior fall'n to a poplar untimelj' felled. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 121 
 
 Th' infernal chieftains, mounting higli in air, 
 The sworded chariot scorning, rushed to gain 
 The towers ami battlements of Paradise, 
 In the close, daring struggle to engage. 
 They in the air met foemen brave and strong 
 Mailed in celestial corslets, wielding arms 
 That once before clashed with their baffled steel 
 On Heaven's eventful day. Then battle raged 
 Fiery and ruinous ; the plain below 
 With broken armor gleamed ; as tho' the stars 
 And blue and lustrous sky were shattered all 
 By a dread doomsday-bolt and lay dispersed 
 In glittering ruin wide ; full many a knight 
 Covetous of spoil and glory, drank deep shame 
 And struggled with his agony ; dire foe. 
 
 Outnumbering the spirit-guests that blest 
 
 "With their protection the Elysian walls, 
 
 Gained them at length the foe with conflict fierce ; 
 
 And then with hideous havoc fell the arm 
 
 Of Sampson, mightiest of Elysium's sons : 
 
 E'en lordly seraphs thro' their shatter'd casques 
 
 Felt, shrieking and with dim and swimming sight, 
 
 His force tremendous. Yet still on, rejoiced, 
 
 The embattled legions of the Apostate moved. 
 
 When storms move up the mountain-side, tho' check'd 
 
 By many a sturdy, wrestling oak, the winds. 
 
 Triumphant in prevailing might, still on 
 
 Sweep restlessly, till stopped by grander power. 
 
 Then pain (as some have ventured to surmise,) 
 
122 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Then pain was known in Paradise, but soon 
 
 In her sweet balms forgotten ; while the wound, 
 
 Fashioned anew by Nature's motions bland, • 
 
 Soon yielded its defacements to the grace 
 
 Of her original beauty. The fell strife 
 
 Lasted not long with this disastrous phase ; 
 
 For while with air of triumph Satan saw 
 
 The gorgeous city almost made his prize, 
 
 Afar in the glimmering haze appeared to shine 
 
 Some host with burnished arms. Elysium saw 
 
 Throughout her trembling plains that omen fair. 
 
 And uttered her thanksgivings. Soon the hum 
 
 Of myriad wings had greeted every ear 
 
 Had not the din of conflict clattered loud. 
 
 Amazement filled each eye, beholding how 
 
 Throned upon mighty cherubim and girt •• 
 
 With the tokens of a King and God, the form 
 
 (If form it might be called that spirit seem'd,) 
 
 Of David's promised Son, Messiah, shone. 
 
 Murm'rings of wonder, love and grateful joy 
 
 Ean thro' th' Elysian hosts : As when at night 
 
 A ship, long racked by gusts, by furious waves 
 
 Assaulted, dismal groans compelling oft. 
 
 At length, in unexpected moment meets the gleams 
 
 Of a well-known light-house and lit harbor-shores 
 
 Piercing the scudding spray and mists ; 
 
 And all in transport shout ; — so joyed the throng 
 
 Who on that advent gazed j or, as a band 
 
 Of souls contemplative who 've sought the shade 
 
 Of some deep cavern, lost amid its gloom. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 123 
 
 Beset by horrors thick, black mists and rush 
 
 Of wild, meandering torrents, grisly ghosts 
 
 Shaking their glaring serpent-locks, and hell-born beasts 
 
 Howling with hideous din, leap up with joy 
 
 Unspeakable to find again, by chance 
 
 The cavern's sunny and unhaunted mouth ; 
 
 So at this fortune glorious joyed the hosts 
 
 Of Paradise, by horrors dire besieged. 
 
 As He drew near, the bells their chimes 
 
 (For such sweet sounds Sabbathic there are known,) 
 
 The bells their chimes pealed loud and glad. 
 
 Not riding now as erst upon his car 
 
 With wheels thick lightnings flashing far around 
 
 Came now the Prince of peace ; but throng'd about 
 
 With shining seraphim and angel choirs 
 
 Melodiously chanting of his life 
 
 And ignominious but momentous death. 
 
 Upon his vesture and upon his thigh 
 
 A name was written " King of kings and Lord 
 
 Of lords." Then joined his angels in the clash 
 
 Of war, upon Elysium's verge. The infernal ranks 
 
 Were shaken by their shock, until with rage 
 
 Infuriate the Apostate sought the spot 
 
 Where Michtel's potent arm whole squadrons flung 
 
 Smitten with havoc sore down from the walls 
 
 And opal towers. He seeing drawing near 
 
 His stern, colossal foe*; his eye with fire 
 
 Of fiercest desperation lit, and frowning brow 
 
 Where gathering thunders gloomed, addressed himself 
 
 For mightiest battle, and his enem}^ 
 
124 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Thus briefly counselled : " Satan, thou shouldst know 
 
 Thy might once worsted ; and not rush again 
 
 Upon the everlasting rocks. Unto thy proper place 
 
 Withdraw, or taste thy folly's fruit." 
 
 So said the Archangel whose majestic form 
 
 Tho' bathed in heavenly glories bright and fair 
 
 Yet veiled most fearful might : he, like a cloud 
 
 Piled up in golden grandeur which within 
 
 Tremendous elements of power secretes ; or lake 
 
 In skyey beauty drest and lovely peace 
 
 Most wontedly revealing in its face, 
 
 Yet hiding in its depths the force to sweep. 
 
 When burst its barriers, all the wooded vale 
 
 And deep-embedded rocks to chaos wild. 
 
 He, like to these, tho' beauteous, hid 
 
 Puissance terrible. The Prince of Hell, 
 
 Unterrified, advanced his haughty front : 
 
 " Why call'st thou that a ' rock ' which this strong arm 
 
 Has dashed unto the ground by one fell blow 
 
 As if it were a sparrow's fluttering young ? 
 
 My ' proper place ' is where my conquering hosts 
 
 Have fixed my banner and a kingdom won." 
 
 So saying to the heavenly chief, he swung 
 
 At his rich, plumy helm his battle-axe 
 
 With fearful might, that, had not motion quick 
 
 Evaded, would with mischief foul have crashed 
 
 Thro' triple gold, and hurled that high prince low ; 
 
 To which responding, he with mighty sword 
 
 The fiery strokes of justice wing'd : Then shrank 
 
 Appall'd both spirits blest and spirits damn'd. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 125 
 
 Unwonted to behold such awful fray ; they long 
 With dreadful zeal had fought (so nobly matched,) 
 Had not the Son of God, tho' doubting not 
 The issue sure at last, to lull the fears 
 Of his elected, and display his power, 
 Flung from his fatal hand one lightning-bolt 
 That closed the conflict stern. The sudden peal, 
 Like the wild crack of doom, made all the hosts 
 Of Hell and Paradise to quake ; and far ad own 
 The caverns of infernal night it roared, 
 Ee-echoing long and loud. All, startled, saw 
 Gehenna's prince in lurid splendor wrapt 
 And sinking, stunned, confounded and undone 
 Into the smouldering chasm. Profoundest Hell 
 Shook, horror-stricken, to behold her King- 
 Thus from the inspiring verge of victory fall'n. 
 His nobles, thus disheartened and sore pressed 
 By new, redoubled zeal, beheld their hopes 
 Sicken and darken ; therefore, dreading strokes 
 As blasting and unerring, soon in flight 
 They sought their safety, while their allies sped 
 With lawless, rout-like hurry o'er the bridge ; 
 Bereft of its support, it sank with sounds 
 Like those some earthquake (soon to burst in fire,) 
 To warn a careless city muttereth deep ; 
 While the deep mine, beneath the city's site 
 Depressed in its explosion and diverted thus, 
 Tore thro' the bowels of the smouldering deep, 
 Heaping ten-fold confusion on their flight 
 With dreadful chaos and confounding din. 
 
126 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Thus this invasion, by one master-stroke, 
 
 To utter, shameful overthrow was hurled : 
 
 "With their proud leader overwhelmed, down sank 
 
 Their hope, ambition, courage, force ; so when 
 
 The pillars of the towering edifice fell 
 
 Bowed down by Sampson's Nazarite strength Heav'n-lent, 
 
 Down sank in crimsoned wreck the peopled pile, 
 
 Burying Philistia's lords forever fall'n. 
 
 END OF BOOK FOURTH. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 127 
 
 BOOK FIFTH 
 
 With glorious attendance came the Prince of life 
 Nor could they therefore wonder ; since the sun 
 Often when o'er the mountain-tops he comes, 
 Is thronged by many an airy page, in robes. 
 As Hope's escutcheon, luminously fair. 
 Unto his swarming bands on Heaven's plains 
 Had Gabriel spoken : " Spirits deathless ! sons 
 Of God and worshippers of Love ! the will 
 Of our high monarch bids us fly to zone 
 With radiant band the murdered Prince of life. 
 Behold, upon the henceforth hallowed cross 
 His bodily form is stretched ; but Nature owns 
 With shudderings her condemn'd, insulted Lord. 
 In the dim world of Hell, the fallen one 
 With all his princes and a numerous host 
 Assault the battlements of Paradise, 
 Exulting, as though Victory's seer had sworn 
 Predictions of their full success : but Christ, 
 Following the universal law, descends 
 To dwell awhile within the shadowy realm. 
 Deliverer and consoler of the chosen." 
 And not unwilling they ; with joyous rush 
 They speed their monarch to attend. 
 
128 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 The dark 
 And awful barriers of Hades shook 
 When stole Messiah's spirit on their bounds 
 And penetrated to their secret depths. 
 His followers with their heavenly lustre chased 
 The shadows of that clime, 'till reached the gates. 
 Elysium with joy received him, known afar 
 And welcomed with exulting melodies. 
 As when (the sacred image once again to seize) 
 The day-god o'er the Eastern hills appears, 
 The vales, late wrapt in chilly shadows, glow ; 
 And honeyed, merry voices fill the air. 
 Spirit of tenderness ! my soul inspire ! 
 Immanuel 'midst his people bows his head 
 The kiss of love and reverence to receive. 
 Long waited for with eager heart, he treads 
 The lovely realms of Hope's bland clime. And Him 
 The First of men wdth salutations warm 
 "Welcomed to Paradise in name of all. 
 And Eve with wonder, awe and love beheld 
 Her promised seed ; and dreamed she shining saw 
 New harvests of delight 'neath Heaven's smile. 
 Nor with less joy did all the prophets clasp 
 In their embrace the Treasure whom their lips 
 Foretold in types and in dark sayings strange ; 
 And hymned in new, majestic strains the Lamb 
 From the world's foundations slain and just consumed 
 Upon stern Justice' altar. He meanwhile 
 His mission to the unblest climes prepared. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 129 
 
 When on the verge of Paradise, his choir, 
 Who moved before Messiah, saw the chasm 
 With sullen fire and smoke alive, up rushed 
 The radiant, white-robed band in air 
 With their celestial harps and warblings sweet 
 Charming the savage ear of Hell, and all 
 The growling, sombre elements around 
 Soothing to peace. As when Apollo's son 
 Descended to the infernal shades and lit 
 The gloomy eye of Dis himself with joy ; 
 Such mellow ravishment his father's harp 
 Shed thro' those gloomy shades. At Christ's approach 
 The prisoners of Hell would swift have fled. 
 Dreading his overwhelming bolts, and sought 
 In the dark, rocky dens of trackless shores 
 A refuge from his blazing scourge, had not 
 The tender flame of mercy's lovely bow 
 Spanning his regal seat allayed their fears ; 
 Yet spake he not of pardon or of hope. 
 Some, fancying he came to offer peace 
 To penitents, cried out that thought and power 
 Their own would work deliverance thence. 
 If ever from those prisons dim their souls 
 Should rove in boundless freedom, with high state 
 And happiness familiar grown. And some 
 Conspiracies desired to form to bind 
 Their heavenly guest a prisoner for aye ; 
 A thought as vain as rivulet's foam : 
 What chain can bind the subtle breath of heaven 
 When it goes forth ? Or who can sunbeams seal 
 9 
 
130 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Within the dismal caves of night when God 
 
 Bids them illuminate the world '? 
 
 His foes were taken : They, now captive led 
 
 By mystic bands, attended his fair train 
 
 That His great victory celebrated. Wrapt 
 
 In chains, the Prince of Hell himself confessed 
 
 The mighty victor's power ; tho' pride still reigned 
 
 Upon his lowering brows. And by his side, 
 
 Beelzebub and Moloch walked and gods 
 
 Far-famed in Earth and in the Orcan shades. 
 
 Nor solely these His triumph there to grace ; 
 
 But Death the shadowy king, confess'd his might. 
 
 And wailed his shaken throne and rescued spoils. 
 
 (For, in those murky climes, in deep recess. 
 
 The grisly monarch had upreared his throne.) 
 
 Thence sped his arrowed angels unto Earth, 
 
 Charged with the doom of men. O'er all below 
 
 He claimed dominion. 'Round his sombre throne 
 
 The phantom's ministers in honor stood.* 
 
 There War, in glistening armor, frowned, and gained 
 
 A place at his right hand ; and Bacchus claimed 
 
 A near, exalted seat, with ivy wreathed 
 
 And vine-leaves wrought in gold. There, too. 
 
 Licentiousness with flushing cheek and brow 
 
 Radiant with jewels matched 'gainst sparkling eyes 
 
 Illustrious favor won. But Fashion (shape 
 
 In gorgeous decorations draped) preferr'd her claims 
 
 " I know," she cried " Sovereign, that my power 
 
 • Vide Porteus' court of Death which Peale illustrated on canvas. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 131 
 
 As yet can claim no conquests dire as Mars' : 
 But in prophetic glass the proof I read 
 Of my wide, strong dominion. With choice lies 
 I will hereafter ply the mortal ear. 
 Beauty shall then no longer seem enshrined 
 In matchless outlines, or in forms 
 Praxitiles and Phidias sculptured : crushed 
 In close, ridiculous prison, lungs and heart 
 In woman's breast shall labor, while disease 
 Gains deep and potent empire o'er life's seats, 
 Feeding the grave with premature decay. 
 Thus shall full many fall ; and War behold 
 With jealous eye my triumphs, while my seat 
 Built up of skulls and bones I mantle o'er 
 With crimsoned, gorgeous draperies deeply dyed 
 In th' crushed hearts of youth and loveliness." * 
 To her the spectre with approving smile : 
 " lovely spirit of the light ! I know 
 Thy loyalty unto my crown. Tho' Mars 
 And rosy Bacchus with full sacrifice 
 Their ministry perform ; yet scarcely they 
 Shall higher honors in my court receive, 
 Above the dignity of Gluttony 
 And yawning Indolence preferred." Thus, near, 
 In palace dim but glimmering with the spoils 
 And treasures of lost cities swallowed quick 
 Into Earth's dismal depths, and with the gems 
 Lost in the ocean by a thousand wrecks, 
 
 * Bp. Porteus does not, as I am aware of, introduce Fashion into his 
 court of Death. 
 
132 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 The ministers of the sable phantom dwelt. 
 And him, tho' loth to yield, Messiah's bands 
 Brought captive to His train : in time, to writhe 
 By his own arrows pierced ; his prisoners freed 
 And all his spoils disgorged, himself shall feed 
 His vast, devouring craving and become his tomb. 
 When this triumphant host Hell's verge had reach'd, 
 A marvel opened on all eyes ; a bridge 
 Magnificent in size and form ; in rich design, 
 Like arch and monument of victory, 
 Spann'd the dread chasm. Living cherubs smiled 
 From arcs above their heads ; and shower'd flowers 
 Redolent of the sweets of Heaven ; and waved 
 Long, glittering streamers, with the symbols wrought 
 Of Christ's salvation and triumphant power. 
 
 The First of men the Conqueror received 
 
 With due congratulations : *' Heavenly Prince, 
 
 Messiah ; Son, (yet Lord !) I breathe for all 
 
 Devoutest homage and extatic praise. 
 
 Thou hast our goldenest hope fulfilled and given 
 
 To Earth the pledge of her deliverance glad, 
 
 Thyself the star prophetic of her day 
 
 When Peace and Righteousness shall kiss ; and deep 
 
 Eternally from sight, like serpents chased, 
 
 Shall all the forms of Error wind away. 
 
 Th' infuriate hordes of Hell thy power confess ; 
 
 And thy dread presence stills the rush 
 
 Of her chaotic elements, to silence soothed. 
 
 The crown rekindles on the brow of Hope 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 133 
 
 Who fills again her rose-y' cinctured seat 
 
 And sheds her genial glories o'er our realm. 
 
 But thou hast won a nobler victory. Our eyes, 
 
 sight delightful ! see a rescued throng 
 
 Else mourned as ever lost, ourselves and friends 
 
 Who wandered with us thro' like scenes on Earth, 
 
 'Neath the same vineyards pressed the luscious grape, 
 
 And in the same, still, solemn forests wing'd 
 
 The feathered messengers of death. 
 
 To them and us Thou art a glorious Sun, 
 
 The very gate to heaven and happiness 
 
 Whereat Love beckoning stands and points to climes 
 
 Where light and immortality pervade 
 
 The mansions of delight. And there our God 
 
 Will greet His children with a father's warmth. 
 
 And thro' the blood-stained portals of rich grace 
 
 By thy fresh smoking sacrifice their souls 
 
 To everlasting joy will welcome." 
 
 These, 
 Or words not much unlike, did Adam breathe 
 In welcome and in honor to the King. 
 Elysium's people meanwhile rushed to greet 
 The mighty Savior and his glorious guard. 
 His presence and His promise raptured joy. 
 Then mothers clasped their children to their arms, 
 And with ten thousand kisses blest their lips ; 
 And children sires with melting pathos clasp'd. 
 The lover, too, smiled on his earthly love. 
 And with assurance full beheld her now 
 
134 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Washed from all stain " like stars from out the deep " ; 
 
 Tho' Hymenaeus torch no beam so far 
 
 Cast from his earthly shrine, yet fondly there 
 
 The lovers from our distant orb renewed 
 
 Their former kindnesses and blent their joy 
 
 As perfumes mingle o'er the Howery beds. 
 
 Congratulations o'er, Messiah told 
 
 The history of his human life, his truths, 
 
 His griefs, his wrongs, his death : before their eyes 
 
 He pictured Israel's sanguinary doom ; and long 
 
 And wide captivity, wherein with hot 
 
 And vexed impatience they, like fish ensnared, 
 
 Would toss with many a struggle. In clear light 
 
 He set before them his new star, whose beams 
 
 Would ruin dart, like lightning, wheresoe'er 
 
 The monstrous shapes of superstition rose, 
 
 Tho' guarded by the strength of giant states. 
 
 Satan behind th' imposing show divine 
 
 Of mythologic lore and heathenish pomp 
 
 Would lend his cunningest arts, and blow with rage 
 
 Demoniac influence ; hence unpitying fires 
 
 Enkindled by his breath, the heart would prove 
 
 Of a cloud of followers and their zeal refine. 
 
 But zeal at length would flag ; and purity, 
 
 Like summer's azure stained with murky fogs. 
 
 Be clouded by gross frauds and errors dark 
 
 'Till, (after partial restoration,) God 
 
 Should topple down into one red abyss 
 
 The leaders of corruption, and defile 
 
 Their gorgeous strongholds with black ruin's scars. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 135 
 
 Meanwhile His Israel He would recollect, 
 
 Restoring glory's early seat and realm ; 
 
 But to His slumbering children and the few 
 
 Remaining on the earth immortal forms, 
 
 By quick, mysterious change would give ; 
 
 So they, 'neath triumph's canopy enthroned. 
 
 Might smile at Death and Time for evermore. 
 
 And walk in bowers of happiness divine. 
 
 Thus He set forth prophetic the career 
 
 Of his blest truth and power ; whereat they joyed ; 
 
 As one who sailing in his globy ship 
 
 Thro' chill, serial oceans, long bemazed 
 
 'Mid clouds, at length discerns with joy the light 
 
 Of sunny skies and cities sparkling and the meads 
 
 "Waving in flowery loveliness. Nor least in joy 
 
 The sires of ancient wisdom, at whose feet. 
 
 In classic groves, or in far Orient bowers. 
 
 Delighted followers listened ; as in night 
 
 Lengthened and sunless of the poles, the stars 
 
 And twilight lingerings of the once shower'd blaze 
 
 Are duly prized until the sun appear : 
 
 So they unto their glorious teachers turned 
 
 With reverence and delight ; and these redeemed ; 
 
 By love divine from the dark thresholds snatch'd 
 
 Of Hell's grim prisons and the caves of Night, 
 
 Extolled his matchless name. Like sages true. 
 
 With no disdainful, self-sufficient mien 
 
 Turned from the golden lips Divine, but sat 
 
 Drinking immortal thoughts at that blest fount, 
 
 With all-eclipsing happiness. 
 
136 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 And then in silvery majesty arose 
 
 A seer of noble worth, (tho' history ne'er 
 
 Hath lisped a syllable of hia visions true 
 
 Declared in days of old :) " Illustrious Prince 
 
 Thy coming from afar we've watched, the scrolls 
 
 Of dark predictions searching with a gaze 
 
 Of earnest interest ; for thee we here 
 
 Have longed, as have the cold and dewy vales 
 
 Yearned for the sunny smiles of risen day, 
 
 Whereat the flowers their tearful eyes do ope, 
 
 Forth breathing incense sweet unto the light, 
 
 With lovelier colorings flushed. So joy 
 
 And hope and love have at thy presence glowed : 
 
 As longs the bride (incarnate hope and fear ;) 
 
 Soft veiled in flowing, emblematic white. 
 
 To see the bridegroom with triumphal blaze 
 
 And virgin choir approaching ; so have we 
 
 For thy appearance burned with deep desire. 
 
 Thou tellest of thy sacrifice fulfilled, 
 
 Bloody and sad, but fraught with joyful gifts ; 
 
 Thou tellest of the Spirit's deathless glow 
 
 Shed from the Father's hand and bought by Thee ; 
 
 Which in our souls with bliss exultant now 
 
 We recognise : And now we see 
 
 How type in antitype is fill'd ; how God, 
 
 Leaving so many down to sink in doubt 
 
 Awakened with surprise in Hades' shades. 
 
 Hath left the cloudy volume of the present 
 
 Unfolding with celestial splendors clear, 
 
 The prospect of eternal life to show. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 137 
 
 Triumph and love and angel-guards thy name 
 Do well attest ; while in those ghostly palms 
 And on that pale, scarr'd brow we read 
 The story of thy wrongs : But agony, 
 In holy virtue's cause endured, the gates 
 Of glory's palaces unbars ; the blessed springs 
 Full swelling of the Love Divine, and power 
 Of tenderest eloquence into the cause 
 Thus seal'd inspiring. Now we see 
 Not ever in this twilight state doth Fate 
 Command our lingering, with distant glimpse 
 Of spotless happiness and fadeless light : 
 (As, in our mortal state, high truths appear'd 
 Beyond the reach of comprehension's wing 
 In marvellous brilliance guised.) Now Hope 
 To golden certainty matures at once 
 'Neath thy blest smiles ; we may expect 
 That loftier intellect shall yet unveil 
 The mystery of that double nature guised 
 In Adam's form ; and, likewise, all the strange 
 Machinery complex of thy providence, 
 In the wheeled visions of Ezekiel shown. 
 But lovelier prospects still our souls delight : 
 Before th' eternal throne we yet may bow, 
 Unwithered by that emblematic blaze 
 Now dazzling white as Justice' brow, 
 Now smiling with the roseate hues of love ; 
 As our wing'd visiters in the past have told. 
 And we shall hear the story of thy life 
 In the far and hoary days of Time, 
 
138 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 And history's voices of the eternal age, 
 Ere Earth was swimming in the Sun's glad light ; 
 When Thou a glory with the Father knewest ; 
 And of the sparkling orbs in heaven that roll 
 The life and chronicles we then shall see : 
 But we shall be more blest by far to feel 
 Thou dost with condescending love embrace 
 Kedemption's blood-wash'd children, in Thy joy 
 Deep drinking, in Thy love immers'd, and all 
 In the wide folds of Thine own glory wrapt. 
 To Thee, Son of God, be love and praise ; 
 All dazzling triumph, power, be Thine for e'er ! 
 
 And meantime sped afar the buzz of speech : 
 Thousands in earnest converse group'd, set forth 
 Their observation of the fray's dread scenes, 
 The desperate onset of their reckless foes. 
 Their partial, momentary triumph, their defeat ; 
 The wounds of valiant warriors which the touch 
 Of leaves medicinal or the Conqueror's hand 
 At once to soft and blooming health restored. 
 The Conqueror, too, their wonder and their praise 
 Abundantly drew forth : His mien divine 
 Where earthly sorrows showed their touching lines, 
 Like mists from earth upon the morning's face ; 
 His warm, benignant air and kindling tones 
 Telling of God's high glory, and, upon the earth, 
 His future conquests and the golden morn 
 When all His children in Death's dim domains 
 Would hear His voice, to a new body called j 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 139 
 
 Would soar to heaven as thick as tiniest drops 
 
 Rise in the air when summer-dawn shines forth. 
 
 The Mother of all living, with delight, 
 
 Beheld her long-expected seed ; nor turned 
 
 The Prince Divine from her affectionate lips 
 
 With the pure, honey-dews of grateful love 
 
 Both filial and parental filled : " High Son 
 
 Of God most high," she said, " yet child forth sprung 
 
 From woman ! in Thy presence clear we read 
 
 The pledge of all Heaven's promises, tho' strange 
 
 And vast and glorious be the dreams they prompt : 
 
 No prospect now too great or fair shall seem ; 
 
 No wonder prophesied too strange and high, 
 
 Since Thou, the crown of glory, and the living heart 
 
 Of mystery Divine, hast proved below Thy truth 
 
 And kindled faith to rapturous assurance." Thus 
 
 While Eve discoursed, the penitent thief (now one 
 
 Of the blest dwellers in that spirit-world,) 
 
 Rehears'd to eager and excited groups 
 
 Christ's sorrows, prosecution, death, and all 
 
 The startling miracles which th' death-honors paid 
 
 To the Incarnate Word. 
 
 " But why," (said one 
 Fresh from the scenes of earth) " this fierce attack 
 Which the stern chivalry of Hell in vain 
 Urged with their flaming enginery, and rough 
 Heaven-daring insolence against our realm ?" 
 To whom another : " I, as one who've flown 
 Through that unblest tumultuous clime, can well 
 
140 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Declare the cause of their hostility : 
 
 The hate of what the stamp of virtue wears ; 
 
 The envy deep of privilege ; of revenge 
 
 The thirst long cherished, — these explain th' attack." 
 
 " Revenge !" cried one, " of what ? for, surely God 
 
 His sceptre with forbearance kind hath gemm'd." 
 
 " Most true ; but justice unto such seems ground 
 
 For anger and rebellion. All have heard 
 
 How, ages since, when men had grown corrupt, 
 
 Gloating in violence, in war, and crimes 
 
 Voluptuous and the flowery way to death, — 
 
 The Almighty oped His watery reservoirs, 
 
 And afterwards poured cataracts of fire, 
 
 Stifling the scofiing sons of shame. But they, 
 
 Cast out from their frail, fleshly tenements 
 
 By such ejectment strong, in rage long chafed, 
 
 Dreaming and vain essaying vengeful plots." 
 
 To him the other then replied: "It seems 
 
 That this assault was prompted by old fires 
 
 Long rankling in the soul, in part restrained, — 
 
 At length with fury of volcanic force 
 
 Spitefully rising. Canst thou picture forth 
 
 Those dread events by Heaven's high justice marked ?" 
 
 " Surely I need not tell that vice then ruled 
 
 Th' inhabited world. And you must know 
 
 The Protean then, as e'er, assumed 
 
 Every attractive and exciting shape. Pursuit 
 
 Of crimsoned glory's glittering bubbles, gold. 
 
 Authority and pleasure witching men ; 
 
 But not sweet virtue or ennobling truth. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 141 
 
 Her mossy bowers were decked with roses gay 
 By Pleasure, goddess of their ardent rites, 
 With constant sacrifice invoked. The Moon, 
 When thro' her shining troop she floated, seemed 
 To their forgetful minds the Queen of Heaven, 
 A bright Divinity in silvery robes. 
 Thus wickedly oblivious of their God, 
 They kissed to her the hand and breathed aloud 
 Their adorations towards her azure fane. 
 The Sun, too, when amid the fields of day 
 He marched and shot his sparkling shafts afar, 
 Dealing the gifts of plenty, health and death. 
 Seemed a puissant god ; of marble shrines 
 Inlaid with golden beauty and of lambs 
 And fruits and every fatness Avorthy. Thus 
 Provoked they by their deeds the God of heaven. 
 The incense-cloud which in their temples soared 
 Honored with its rich smoke no powers divine ; 
 But fallen spirits claimed their guilty rites. 
 Wrath on the brow of Heaven in darkness sat. 
 Which now frowned on them with terrific gloom. 
 The rising Ark was a prophetic shape ; 
 But this in unbelief's insanity they scorned ; 
 Till the dark threats of justice were matured 
 In fury of resistless floods. The Prince 
 Of darkness gloried in the chaos wild : 
 Himself the violent course of passions urged, 
 (The ominous precursors of the floods 
 And fitting types of their destructive rush.) 
 What wonder that he triumphed in the wreck 
 
142 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 When the rude, boist'rous waves dash'd 'midst the shrine 
 Glittering with precious things of Art, where drank 
 Laughing and bright-eyed beauty Pleasure's cup 
 Sweet with forbidden joys. The palace proud, 
 Where the wreath'd conqueror warmly wooed delight. 
 Sank in the deep, o'erwhelming wave like snow 
 Sliding from icy crags into swift tides 
 Tossing and warm in channels far below. 
 
 Messiah with the sires of honor'd name 
 
 In deep and shadowy recess held commune. 
 
 Meanwhile as Time on downy wings bore off 
 
 The happy hours, in converse of the past 
 
 They still engaged. And some, who later sought 
 
 Those ghostly shades, enquiries urged on those 
 
 Who in antiquity's most hoary scenes 
 
 A part had known : Then when from various lips 
 
 They'd gathered many an incident that waked 
 
 Absorbing interest, there stood forth one, 
 
 An angel visitant ; and thus he spake : 
 
 While hovering o'er Hades dark, I heard 
 
 The story of a life ; and this will show 
 
 The face that world which we call ' Earth ' then wore. 
 
 When he who told it lived. You know, he said. 
 
 How from his innocence our father fell, 
 
 And misery sowed for all. You've heard 
 
 How from th' embowered and sunny bliss, the flame 
 
 Of swords cherubic severed him : how flowed 
 
 The taint of his fall'n nature to his race ; 
 
 Corruption's poisonous leaven o'er the world 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 143 
 
 Was spread, you all have seen ,• and death on all 
 
 License received to prey : and aches and ills 
 
 Of various venom made man's frame their own 
 
 In that unhappy age when Noah showed 
 
 His luminous example, 'twas my lot 
 
 To know the pulses of our mortal life. 
 
 Where lived within a city's walls a man 
 
 Whose head was silvery, and about whose name 
 
 The precious honors that great virtues give 
 
 Were clustering thick. His beauteous wife could claim 
 
 Not more of beauty than of praise. In times 
 
 When e'en the matrimonial covenant seemed 
 
 The confirmation signed of full contempt 
 
 Of virtuous precepts honorless before, 
 
 She walked the pattern of a blameless life, 
 
 With sinless day-dreams : Hence was wooed afar. 
 
 One day, he gathered all his stores ; and noon 
 
 Their brief and moving shadows cast on paths 
 
 Which from the city led. He sought a home 
 
 Far in the lonely forest wilds, where sounds 
 
 Of popular turmoil, jests profane and lewd. 
 
 The ever-brawling torrent of rude words 
 
 Might ne'er upon the pleasant air of home 
 
 Burst in with ruffian freedom. Just at eve, 
 
 When by a rocky verge they moved and charmed 
 
 The purple hour of day's decline with hymns 
 
 Of praise and gratitude to God ; with yells 
 
 And flash of straight swords drawn, a robber-band 
 
 From the dense thickets rushed. (E'en judges winked 
 
 At such atrocities, intent to share 
 
144 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 The plunders of their violence. And these 
 
 Their informations gathered from the hands 
 
 Of highest officers.) The eldest Son 
 
 Sprang towards the robber-band with noble zeal. 
 
 At first they scorned the youth : but when he struck 
 
 With weapon rude their chief, they reckless hurl'd 
 
 Th' unhappy boy adown the cliff ! Then shrieked 
 
 With wildest agony his mother fond : 
 
 The vultures flew with eager haste to glut 
 
 On his torn flesh their hunger. Then the thieves, 
 
 Binding the old man to a tree, essayed 
 
 Their skill in archery ; 'till pierced, he groaned 
 
 And breathed his soul on waiting seraph's breasts. 
 
 Horror ! to his consort, 'twas thy hour, — 
 
 With thy most maddening anguish fraught ! 
 
 Down sank in dizzy, blinding swoon the wife, 
 
 O'erpowered with poison dregs of woe's dark draught j 
 
 Her reason shrouded in the stormy cloud 
 
 Of stern afflictions. And, perchance, she ne'er 
 
 Awoke from her dim swoon to know again 
 
 Herself bereaved of husband and of son. 
 
 Her children vagrants in the perilous wild. 
 
 And she a prisoner in the rock-bound night. 
 
 Gathering my father's stores, they dragged away 
 
 To subterranean caves my mother loved ; 
 
 And drove us from them with unpitying hand. 
 
 We wandered long amid that forest vast, 
 
 Where we had buried our revered sire. 
 
 With childish hands his shallow grave. 
 
 Having with many sobbings dug. On roots 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 145 
 
 And berries we subsisted : but soon pined 
 My youngest brother ; and with piteous cries 
 He mourned the mother whom we sought in vain. 
 His sufferings soon were stifled ; for, the boa 
 Seized him constricted in his fatal folds, 
 Springing from heights unnoticed : who can stop 
 The crushing wheels of fate ? One stormy night 
 The tiger snatched the other from my side, 
 And to his bone-strewn den with menacing growl 
 Bore him with rapid strides. I sank as dead ; 
 All strength forsook me ; and I wept 'till sleep 
 Soothed me with visions of his company. 
 Next morn, while birds were singing, I awoke, 
 And called, ' come, brother, rise, I know where figs 
 Are ripe enough to drop ; and where wild grapes 
 Make the young sycamores where they hang to bend 
 Almost unto the earth ; I know where quails 
 May by our cunning noose of hair be snared. 
 Rapidly running 'twixt the grassy tufts.' 
 But none gave answer : then I sought a trace 
 Of him I mourned ; the forest grass was flecked 
 With crimson spots : the memory dire awoke 
 With woful vividness : I walked forth alone ! 
 But this heart-sickness fainter grew in time : 
 The forest life increased my vigor : swift 
 From my rude, withe-strung bow, the arrow sped : 
 The ring-dove often fluttered at my feet ; 
 And e'en the wild goat, when my bow-string whirred, 
 Fell on his breezy precipice. One day 
 I found and visited the spot where sank 
 10 
 
146 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 From love's appalled sight the first-born son 
 
 My mother in her bosom couched ; and there 
 
 Among the rocks, his bones I found, all white 
 
 By the blaze of many summers. There I vowed, 
 
 (While my dark eye drank yet a fiercer fire. 
 
 Gazing into the sky, in splendor drest,) 
 
 That I would yet a vengeance know. I heaped 
 
 The earth about him, and sweet wild-flower roots 
 
 Pressed in the mellow mould, that, thro' all time. 
 
 Their perfume 'round his grave they might exhale, 
 
 As gentle sighs and grateful memories haunt 
 
 The name and vision of the one we 've loved. 
 
 A hunter found me in the woods, and made 
 
 His distant hut my prison. There I toiled 
 
 In drudgery abhorred for years. At length 
 
 I sought excitement and my cares where sounds 
 
 The hum within the city's walls. I nursed 
 
 The early, hot-flush'd dream of vengeance fierce : 
 
 My stealthy questionings I pressed ; I found 
 
 That knowledge for the which so long I burned ! 
 
 In deadly feud, one of those robbers fell : 
 
 A giant, mouldering tree, when winds were wild. 
 
 Fell by the highway, rending four with wounds 
 
 Fatal at once to two ; and to the rest. 
 
 Ere many suns had set. Their chieftain, moved 
 
 With sudden weariness of brigand-life, or new 
 
 Contempt of such loathed outrage, c^me to spend 
 
 Life's strong-nerved prime within our city's pale. 
 
 Excitement in more honorable schemes 
 
 With villany still, tho' secretly impressed 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 147 
 
 He now pursued. I vowed again my vow : 
 
 But had I left my vengeance unto God 
 
 Whose providence and judgment-throne dispense 
 
 Immaculate equity, nor rashly seized, 
 
 With sacrilegious hand, the hallowed rule 
 
 Which Justice holds, then still might all 
 
 E'en to this moment, have been well. But no ! 
 
 There yet breathed one whose hated arrow drank 
 
 The life-blood of my venerated sire j 
 
 At whose command adown the jagged cliffs. 
 
 The eldest of my mother loved was hurled ; 
 
 And who had such loath'd violation shared 
 
 As made my blood to boil as with Hell's fires. 
 
 But I was changed ; he knew me not. 
 
 One Eve, as sank to rest the blushing Sun 
 
 With hurried steps, excited, I passed thro' 
 
 The quiet, shadowy streets. Upon the boughs 
 
 The Western radiance lingered, and there blent 
 
 With gleams of burning lamps within the halls ; 
 
 (As glows of earthly love with heavenly joined.) 
 
 I entered ; 'twas his bridal night ; the scene 
 
 Betokened high festivity. His slaves, 
 
 In crimson drest, with silvered sashes girt, 
 
 Richly embroidered with gold-thread and blue. 
 
 Held high the torches shedding perfumed smoke. 
 
 The white-haired priest, in robes of brilliant work 
 
 Chanted a bridal hymn and praised the gods. 
 
 The virgins clad in white their smiles exchanged, 
 
 With envy gazing on the happy fair. 
 
 I forward rushed : " Villain !" I cried, " thou diest ! 
 
148 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 My brother, down the cliff, thy hand did hurl ; 
 
 Thy dagger pierced my venerated Sire ; 
 
 Thy base atrocities my mother's heart 
 
 "Wrung with fresh agonies, 'till, doubtless, death 
 
 Released her spirit from your robber-den, 
 
 As the bright spark, beneath the crushing wheel 
 
 From rocky bondage freed. Out on thee, knave ! 
 
 Long years have passed ; but vengeance now confronts 
 
 Thy basest mind with memories of those hours. 
 
 And bids thee give thy latest glance on earth. 
 
 Nay ! shrink not ! thou art mine ! down ! down ! 
 
 And gasp thy fiendish soul away." Some rush'd, 
 
 When passed of their surprise the early shock, 
 
 To seize my hand ere from my robe it drew 
 
 The dagger which I plunged e'en to its hilt 
 
 In the base ruffian's heart. The beauteous bride, 
 
 Swooning in deadly pallor, was borne off 
 
 By wild and weeping friends who wailed aloud. 
 
 (It was as tho' some rose in opening bloom, 
 
 Flushed as with passion's glow, and climbing high 
 
 On a dead aspen, were by sudden blast, 
 
 Flung prostrate, with its worthless prop to earth.) 
 
 Some drew their swords in heat and would have made 
 
 The walls to ring again with female shrieks. 
 
 And images of the gods to frown anew 
 
 At sight of yet another crimsoned scene : 
 
 But some the deep heart of the fallen knew, 
 
 And their swords flashed between. To dungeons dim 
 
 They hurried me away ; and there I pined 
 
 Till artifice, one happy night, reciped 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 149 
 
 A boundless range. In distant cities now 
 
 I mingled with the multitude, and saw 
 
 How sin's fair, poisonous apples riper grew ; 
 
 And the luminous corruption, how it gained. 
 
 But God decreed destruction. Noah was chosen 
 
 To fill again the earth : As sunbeams rest 
 
 In fairest brightness, lovingly and long, 
 
 On the pure, heaven-kissing mounts, and glow 
 
 In richer glory at Eve's hours, — so dwelt 
 
 God's love and blessing on his virtuous head 
 
 Towering in moral worth ; smiles, beaming oft 
 
 Brighter at life's last hours. I saw the ark 
 
 Destined to save him, gain from year to year, 
 
 A warning to the world. It came at length. 
 
 That awful day of wrath ! What cloudy gloom 
 
 Mantled the skies ! what moans, what sighs, 
 
 When in the streets the foaming torrents raged. 
 
 And human habitations sped away. 
 
 As leaves upon the blast ! I sought the hills ; 
 
 Thither full many fled. The land, I think, 
 
 Subsided, and the ocean rushed thro' caves 
 
 Beneath the ground, and rose upon the world ! 
 
 We saw the ark afar, the abode of peace, 
 
 Floating upon the watery waste, (like a heart 
 
 Tranquil and peaceful, thro' its holy glows, 
 
 'Mid surging passions' strife without.) Fierce beasts 
 
 Upon the hill-sides gathered, waged wild war 
 
 Against the weak and fainting. I escaped 
 
 'Till one sad eve, a hungry lion spied 
 
 My hiding-place beneath an ample thorn. 
 
150 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Stern horrors ! what a moment that ! With roar 
 
 That would have made the boldest tremble, swift 
 
 He sprang upon my breast ! I, frantic, screamed : 
 
 I felt his ravenous teeth meet in my throat ; 
 
 And all things swam around me ; earth I knew 
 
 No more ; these sombre scenes oped wide 
 
 Upon my spirit's view !" " 'Tis thus we reap " 
 
 The listener replied, in words like these, 
 
 " The miseries of sin ; 'tis thus she spits 
 
 Her venom o'er the flowers of bliss ; they fade ; 
 
 They bloom no more ; abhorred blots." " Most true ;" 
 
 Answered the other -, " but tho' bliss is merged 
 
 In deep, deep gloom, yet there remains the hope 
 
 Of vengeance for the wrongs we 've known. The vow 
 
 I made long since, swearing by Heaven's great throne, 
 
 I here renew with fervor. Thou, deep Hell, 
 
 If fury can a new and mightier power 
 
 Pour thro' my spiritual frame, shalt witness scenes 
 
 With agonies of maddening fierceness rife, 
 
 And to the frowning genius of revenge 
 
 Made sacred ! They who heaped on us those wrongs, 
 
 Their cup of sorrow o'er again shall drink ; 
 
 Poison with bitterness shall mix, and 'mid the cloud 
 
 The blasting fires of vengeful hate they'll meet." 
 
 " Thus heard I, as o'er Hades dark, I strayed ; 
 
 Most melancholy and forsaken clime ! where smiles, 
 
 (The pleasant morning of expression's day,) 
 
 And love, the sunny angel on whose rosy wings 
 
 Heaven breathed such grateful secnt 
 
 That she might make delectable the air 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 151 
 
 Where'er she lingered, — smiles and love, I say, 
 
 Seemed there to be unknown." Then patriarch Noah 
 
 Allusion made to scenes like those just sketched. 
 
 Confirmed the unflattering story History told 
 
 Of that corrupted day : When Lot (now joined 
 
 Unto their company) thus spake : " I, too, 
 
 A tale of lust and insolence could tell, — 
 
 Of turbid violence which vexed my soul. 
 
 And struck the sinless eyes of Heaven with grief ; 
 
 Such gluttony and pride and grosser sins 
 
 Did everywhere abound, that God in wrath 
 
 Bade Justice ope her reservoirs of fire 
 
 And cauterize the rotting wounds Earth bore. 
 
 I saw the flashing torrents rush from Heaven ; 
 
 I heard the dismal shrieks the doomed gave ; 
 
 I saw the awful, night-black smoke blot out 
 
 The brightness of the day when morning rose." 
 
 To him, response was given by Lida venturing 
 In words like these : " You have indeed beheld 
 One of the scenes most fearful Earth e'er knew. 
 Thus vice tho' fair with dark-hued wo must wed. 
 Sooner or later ; wise decree of Heaven ! 
 These direst warnings with benignant power 
 Upon the eyes of erring men long gloom. 
 And motion to the paths of right and peace. 
 The deeds of heavenly justice, like thick clouds, 
 Tho' dark as the avenging angels' wings 
 To eyes which men do see with, yet are bright, — ' 
 Bright with a brightness higher than our glance. 
 
152 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 While darkly veiled, — inspired with wholesome power, 
 
 And kindliest meanings as with justice stern : * 
 
 Or they may be compared to caverns deep 
 
 Where treasures rich, and clear, sweet fountains flash ; 
 
 But gloomy are they, dismal to the eye 
 
 Of him who passes by the entrance grim. 
 
 " 'Tis true," responded one, with angel form, 
 
 " E'en Sodom's ruin, as a flaming torch 
 
 Held in the hand of some good angel, warns 
 
 With kindly meanings as with stern, mankind." 
 
 " Ah ! I could tell a tale of horror " (spake 
 
 The angel who stood by the group,) " of scenes 
 
 Within the gates of Sodom. When the first. 
 
 The strange and fearful roar of kindling skies 
 
 Fell on the ear of Pleasure in her halls. 
 
 What trepidations chased their gaieties ! 
 
 Dropt from her hand the timbrel and the lyre, 
 
 And on her cheek the sunshine faded back 
 
 To twilight grey of fear and woe. 
 
 Then oaths 
 Insulted Heaven ; and wild shrieks and moans 
 Were heard on everj side. Some sought to drown 
 In purple seas of wine their wo, and died 
 Snatching at pleasure with a desperate grasp. 
 As mariners upon the sinking deck, f 
 But down the fiery tempest rushed, and seared 
 All germs of life in that death-doomed plain ! 
 
 • I have met with a similar image in Richter. 
 
 t " With draughts inebriate on the sinking deck." — Byron. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 153 
 
 But that dread homily on the end of sin 
 
 Men will not listen to : the race of crime 
 
 Is still with reckless feet of myriads thronged : 
 
 Tho' born with gift of heavenly light, like stars, 
 
 Men love the darkness, wandering in the night." 
 
 When these had spoken, others, (ancients) drew 
 
 A graphic picture of their time, and traced 
 
 The course and spread of sin's pernicious stream. 
 
 Marking along its way the mournful wrecks 
 
 Wherewith its torrents strewed the sterile shores ; 
 
 Till at the day of Christ they left the theme. 
 
 Meanwhile, amid those bowers, the Son of God 
 
 Tarried awhile ; soon from his presence flowed 
 
 O'er all rich happiness ; his words the scent 
 
 Bore to their hearts of Heaven's sweet, soothing balm. 
 
 Now, in the sombre courts of death there stole 
 
 Some gleams of morning from the forehead cast 
 
 Of God's resistless Son ; the fearful chill 
 
 At once was softened, and fair flowers sprang 
 
 And twined the gloomy marbles of his porch ; 
 
 And as their blossoms wooed the blessed light, 
 
 Their seeming disarray these words portrayed 
 
 " There's stainless bliss in Heaven for evermore." 
 
 Then with the swelling voice of song, whose joy 
 Was mixed with soft regrets, (hast thou not seen 
 Smiling with dreams of wedlock, yet with tears 
 Bathing in crystal tides her dark-blue orbs, 
 A maid lamenting the sad partings nigh ?) — 
 
154 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Then with the voice of song the Son of God 
 Arose, the garden of Gethsemane 
 In haste to seek ; His form to reassume ; 
 That darkened temple with eternal day 
 To light, and cheer His drooping followers ; 
 And thence, (the high commission given,) to win 
 With seraph-guarded flight the golden gates 
 Of Heaven's imperishable towers : There soon 
 The mystic fires to pour on saintly lips ; 
 To soothe His loved ones with a joy divine. 
 To flood the faithful bosom with His peace. 
 And guide with providential rule His ark. 
 The holy church, thro' life's tempestuous seas, 
 To His broad haven of triumphant rest. 
 
 Ere His departure, of His ancients some. 
 Arising, their illustrious guest addressed : 
 And, first, the patriarch Noah an audience claimed. 
 
 first-born Son of triumph ; Thou who wear'st 
 The wreaths not only of victorious deeds 
 Achieved o'er mystic and immortal foes 
 Clad in organic forms ; but o'er those powers 
 That scorn all shafts and chains, the passions strong 
 Which hold tumultuous sway within the heart. 
 Hail, Thou whom Love's serene, resplendent heaven 
 Acknowledges its leading star, to Thee 
 We look as unto glory's Prince : Thy care. 
 An ark of grateful safety 'mid all storms ; 
 Thy fower shall shake the fastnesses where vice, 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 155 
 
 Her gloomy systems and her fatal powers 
 
 Have long been reigning, as the mighty seas 
 
 Shook and o'erthrew the barriers of Earth, 
 
 And the world's pomp and pride in wrath's dread day. 
 
 Thou to the haven blest of endless rest 
 
 Thy followers shalt guide : and there, at length, 
 
 No shadow of a trembling hope, but glad 
 
 And stainless confidence, like a radiant dove. 
 
 Shall visit us, (life's turbid waters passed,) 
 
 With the green olive of immortal peace. 
 
 Then Adam interposing, with grave voice 
 
 The Son of God addressed : Illustrious Son, 
 
 The first-begotten of the Great Supreme, 
 
 That with th' indwelling splendors of thine ancient life. 
 
 Hath dignified the form and mind of man. 
 
 Wherein Thou veiledst it, and hath the estate 
 
 Of future life, heaven's loveliness, revealed 
 
 By shadowy type, (as in Thy bland, meek mien 
 
 Thy heaven-born excellence was imaged forth 
 
 Among the sons of men), — to Thee I breathe 
 
 A father's blessing and a child's warm prayers 
 
 Thou dost the sad decays of sin repair, 
 
 And givest the golden fruitage of life's tree. 
 
 Wide opening lovelier climes than Eden knew, 
 
 Where Satan never in delusive guise 
 
 Shall charm the listening ear with specious lies ; 
 
 Unto Thy majesty and righteousness 
 
 The honor due we freely, fully give. 
 
 May Heaven her portals with triumphant swell 
 
156 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Of praise and music ope, at Thy return ; 
 
 And her immortal flowers (if such there bloom,) 
 
 Thy brows with crowns of fragrant beauty wreathe ; 
 
 With glory's pomps in rich profusion showered ! 
 
 Stars of unquenching fires, (emblems of souls 
 
 By Thee redeemed and saved,) shine forth and gem 
 
 Thy diadem of honor ! The full, thick waves 
 
 Of love's eternal sea, from every clime, — 
 
 Upon Thy bosom and Thy throne of power 
 
 May they forever flow, the offering meet 
 
 Of those by Thine atoning favor freed ! 
 
 To them the Son of God gave answer fit 
 With love's sweet tones, — adding His blessing rich. 
 Then of His Father's house, its mansions vast, 
 And of th' eternal founts of life and joy, 
 He briefly spoke ; and breathing full on all 
 His holy influence. He cleaved the skies. 
 Soon lost amid the golden mists of heaven : 
 So from the soft and mellow East, the Sun, 
 Soaring on high, 'mid seas of wavy clouds. 
 Cuts, on his heavenly voyage, his sparkling way, 
 'Till, to the sight, his glorious form is lost, 
 Amid the glowing vaporous volumes veiled. 
 Meanwhile the listeners heard afar the song 
 Dying with sweet refrains, which angel-bands, 
 Messiah's guard, breathed as their fond farewell 
 To those bland climes of hope they left, where Joy 
 Her soft reflections and fair promise gives. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 157 
 
 And then upon the distant sky there rose 
 
 Of dense and gloomy clouds an army grand, 
 
 Is it, asked some, a portent of the day. 
 
 Now near at hand, of judgment unto all ? 
 
 Or veils Heaven's King His smile in sombre frowns '? 
 
 Or, hath the vanquished Prince of Hell afresh 
 
 With numerous hosts, in cloud-like ambush hid, 
 
 By war's tempestuous genius roused again. 
 
 Forsaken his dark coverts to attempt 
 
 Beauty's delicious climes and a new crown 
 
 With costly triumphs lit ? 
 
 A starry host, 
 Like night's far company, arose and soared 
 Up towards a Sun that o'er those clouds shone forth : 
 But they, tho' fainter grown, evanished not 
 Before His burning eye. With tremulous flash, 
 Some hurried towards His court, arising swift 
 From their dark graves amid the typic clouds : 
 And some in aspect bland and calm soared up 
 To meet their Prince, with equal swiftness borne. 
 These orbs of light, heaven-lit and ]^ure, first rose 
 From out their sable shrouds ; and, in the fields 
 Made glorious by His presence, they began 
 The triumphs of their everlasting day ; 
 Uttering such music as made Hades list 
 With joy as great as wonder ; but anon 
 The orbs of tremulous flash, of gross, dull light 
 (Which burned like earthly flames 'neath His dread eye,) 
 Around the monarch gathered, and were nigh 
 
158 THESHADOWYLAND. 
 
 Annihilated by His glance. Swift fires, 
 As lightnings of indignant zeal, down leapt 
 Upon those trembling spheres : they sank ! down, dovmy 
 Amid the black and awful clouds, they sank. 
 Entombed in bottomless pits, 'mid smoke and night 
 And the deep, baleful shades the Prince of Hell 
 Cast from his sombre wings when lurid flames 
 Revealed him darkly on his night-girt throne. 
 
 And soon our common mother thus addressed 
 The father of our race : " How strange is life ! 
 And with what dignity by mercy crowned, 
 By many a deed divine ! Our eyes have seen 
 The eternal Son of God : the vivid proof 
 Hath visited our sight that He hath dwelt 
 In our own flesh ; an orb of light serene 
 Deigning to fire a dull and murky sky ; 
 Or spirit dowered with peerless dignity 
 Hallowing a temple ruined and defiled. 
 To us His voice, rising with mercy's tides, 
 Hath breathed sweet consolations, true in love 
 As e'er was cloudless summer-noon in light. 
 The day-spring from on high is ours ; the star 
 Which o'er the humble shades of Bethlehem burned, 
 Hath lit our rosy twilight. Angel-smiles 
 And spirit visitations from the sphere 
 Are honors less than these. would that I 
 Beside His infant slumbers could have stood ; 
 Have heard His earliest prattlings tell of heaven, 
 Doubtless, of cherubs' wings, and incense breathed 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 159 
 
 From golden censers, (type of holy prayers,) 
 Wafted aloft to God !" 
 
 And then our sire 
 In words like these replied : Ah ! yes ; but would 
 That we His manhood's course on earth had seen, 
 The mien divine, majestical and sad. 
 And marked with yearnings of celestial love ! 
 What joy His winning teachings to have heard ! 
 And to have seen (what privilege supreme !) 
 His miracles, (benificence and truth 
 Transformed to power !) Of what sad interest 
 The prophecy of Calvary's scene to have drank. 
 So eloquent with bland, consoling peace 
 Beyond death's ravages. Jerusalem ! 
 Henceforth thy sacred dust shall breathe 
 With a more tender, sweet and holy charm ; 
 A nobler glory o'er thy fane shall float 
 Than when in morning's cloudless flood thy roof 
 Dazzles with golden blaze. The leafy spot 
 Where He with sanguine tears implored, shall men. 
 The pilgrims to its groves, with sacred awe 
 And blessed meditation greet ; and tho' superb 
 And widest domination from Judea 
 The beaaty of its royal state reveal, 
 Yet holy hearts, with gratitude suffused, 
 Shall in the twilight vision of a cross 
 Its noble burden lifting 'gainst the sky, 
 Beyond the walls of David's city old, 
 Discern an image lovelier and more grand. 
 
160 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 And now the cross shall be the symbol great 
 And sceptre of the heavenly love. 
 
 And then 
 Fair Eve replied : They say a worthy band 
 Of women who did love Him dyed their lips 
 To deeper crimson on His blood-stained feet, 
 With burning kisses pressed ; and at His tomb 
 With spices they intend to meet. How sweet, 
 How doubly sweet the spices meet to embalm 
 God's only and self-sacrificing Son ! 
 Only Elysium's flowers such odors breathe. 
 And her blest trees alone such spices yield, 
 And weep such fragrant gums. His body sleeps ; 
 But death must yield his trust. 
 
 To her our Sire : 
 " Yes ! as the Earth unto Spring's summoning voice 
 Must give again the flowers that lie at rest 
 Within her breast ; no longer can death's halls 
 And Earth's dark bosom hold His awful form 
 When Heaven shall summon ; as the cloud no more 
 Can hold its lightnings if a spear of steel 
 Pierces the vapour's depths, nor when, storm-swept, 
 The mountain with its streams and soaring pines 
 Drains it of all its dread and blasting fires." 
 " Yes ! sooner could the heart contain its smiles 
 When youth and beauty fondly speak and smile, 
 Than could the earth forbear to yield His form 
 When loving Heaven calls Him," answered Eve. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 161 
 
 Then re-assuming, Adam thus discoursed : 
 " Yes, Death, tho' over myriad forms he still 
 His gloomy tyranny may hold, must soon 
 Confess th' Almighty's power ; his chilling spell 
 At once dissolved, and his stern barriers burst 
 Which hold the mighty Son of God enthralled ; 
 And this our own uprising grand will pledge. 
 When Heaven shall pour its torrent of bright forms, 
 Messiah and His angels, down to Earth, then all 
 Who in His blessed heart are shrined, shall rise 
 Embodied in etherial frames ; as glittering mists 
 Spring up to meet the heaven-dyed stream that pours, 
 By mercy's bow o'erarched, down towards the cold 
 And gloomy depths below. 
 
 Thou, highest Heaven, 
 In spiritual brightness throned upon that star 
 'Round which the universe revolves, * ope wide 
 Thy everlasting gates ! receive thy King ! 
 He rises ! on His brow, the gloom of woe. 
 All mortal pallors and the shades of death, 
 Are scattered by the triumph of that life 
 And majesty which His obedience wins, f 
 His throne will be the quenchless Sun of love 
 That pours its gentle beams upon all hearts 
 Which His commands fulfill : And while they fall, 
 Love's spirit-flowers will fuller perfume shed, 
 
 * A modern Astronomer has observed a revolution of the systems around 
 a point at or near Aldebaran. 
 
 t Is. 53, 12. 
 
 11 
 
162 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Hope's heaven-ward vine climb higher up the cross, 
 And virtue's principles take mightier root, 
 And 'gainst temptation's strong tho' subtle powers 
 Rear up a nobler stength.' 
 
 Then Eve the theme 
 Assuming, thus replied : Ah yes ! how true ! 
 And what diviner joy those beams instill ! 
 Yea, not alone from hope, or love, or joy 
 Flows that subdued but delicate bliss, 
 (The spirit of a joy,) which now we feel 
 Flooding th' etherial frame ! Did friendship e'er, 
 Or love, or genius in its rapturous glow, 
 Or the thoughtful hours of science yield 
 Pleasure so pure and sweet ? To earth's best bliss, 
 The happiness its purest founts dispense,) 
 The joys the Spirit and its fruits exhale. 
 Are as that Spirit to the fontal stream ; 
 The pure and quenchless starlight to the glow 
 Flickering and gross of a terrestrial fire ; — 
 Or incense of Elysium's deathless flowers 
 Unto Earth's common atmosphere. 
 
 " Yea, true ! 
 Bless God, belov'd," (our Sire replied,) "this peace 
 An earnest is of joy divine ; a proof 
 That Christ's atonement is received." Then spoke 
 A sweet and earnest being, who, on earth. 
 Had borne the name of Lida : " I have known 
 A life, in th' twilight of our mortal state 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 163 
 
 As ricli in happiness, perchance, as e'er 
 
 To human lot was given. Amid His bowers. 
 
 Where the soft wind from honey-suckles, pinks 
 
 And from sweet roses wild took airy tribute, — 
 
 The bowers of Love, — from His impassioned lips 
 
 I've drank, in the kindling hours of youth's fond prime. 
 
 His mellowest raptures ; heard His tenderest words, 
 
 The sunniest charm of sentiment ; and images, 
 
 Forged and refined by His own glowing fire. 
 
 Their soft, etherial fascinations lent. 
 
 The calmer flow of matrimonial bliss. 
 
 This has been mine ; and friendship's golden bands, 
 
 I've felt their tender thralls so sweetly clasp 
 
 The heart in bondage ; but I ne'er have known 
 
 A joy inspired with such a delicate zest. 
 
 The soul of happiness, from every stain 
 
 Washed in the dews of Love's elysian vales. 
 
 Who now can question it ? more richly now 
 
 Our gratitude is due to God most high : 
 
 Let angels in their wings waft up to heaven 
 
 The odors of thanksgivings fonder still. 
 
 But will these blessings, His atoning love, 
 
 And the high benefaction of His grace, 
 
 (A pure reviving air unto the soul 
 
 Sin sick and sinking unto endless death), 
 
 The hearts of men persuade to gratitude ? 
 
 To her replied the Patriarch : Yes ; a few 
 
 Will yield the souls to these : but many bound 
 
 In the engrossing worship of themselves, 
 
 Will turn from God and things divine, to stain 
 
164 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 The fair * complexion of the soul to deep 
 And lamentable ugliness : Christ's death 
 Some will bereave of sacrificial worth, 
 Ignoring all its high, atoning power ; 
 Its blood, with them, the sign Oi^., martyrdom, 
 But not of justice and redeeming love ; 
 Himself esteemed as only man. 
 
 To him 
 Sweet Lida answered : Shocking thought ! that they 
 Their Lord and Savior thus should contradict 
 And proudly scorn His blessings. But our Lord 
 Is truly man ; and as all true it is 
 That He the only Son, from heaven came down, 
 So is it, that, in humble cottage of our frame. 
 The glorious Prince resides. What tender ties ; 
 What surety of sympathy ; what bland 
 And dear embodiment of Deity, 
 Of e'en the Father dwelling in the Son, 
 (To meet our yearnings, humbled,) now address 
 The hearts of men ! 
 
 To her, from distant spheres, 
 A spirit pure replied : true ; and now 
 And ever more, children of the Earth, 
 Bow not to things of silver, gold, or stone ; 
 Nor unto airy fancies give the form 
 Of human majesty and grace, t' enshrine 
 
 • 'Fair,' as free by nature, of course, from guilt; but not as free from 
 depravity disposing to sinful passion and indulgence. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 165 
 
 'Mid blazpnry of pomp divine those shapes ; 
 The blinding glory of divinity 
 Seeking with vain, preposterous attempt 
 To veil in those unterrifying dreams 
 Or sculptures wearing man's familiar mien. 
 Behold, the Son of God, Himself, appears 
 Enrobed in human flesh, assuming, too, 
 In union with His own, the human mind, 
 Glorious but unforbidding ! as tho' light 
 From morning's fresh, melodious skies 
 Were blending with some taper's watchful ray 
 And softly stealing thro' the curtain's veil 
 To cheer some invalid's eye. And do you shrink 
 From His most holy mien ? behold. He smiles ! 
 His human voice with tenderest accents lowers : 
 " If any thirst, come to the founts of life ; 
 Ye weary souls, to man's deliverer come ! 
 Those fountains spring to everlasting life ; 
 That peace and freedom Earth can never give.'' 
 Then Adam thus again gave voice to thought : 
 Those founts of life man surely will pollute : 
 Too vile is he to keep unstained a gift : 
 Disdaining, oft, those streams himself to drink, 
 He 'fouls them with his feet.' The Virgin pure, 
 The Mother of our Lord, they, (ever prone 
 To sad idolatry degrading), will lift up 
 To god-like majesty ; as queen of heaven 
 With sumptuous rites adoring : numerous saints 
 Honoring with altars : and with legends false 
 And lying miracles corrupting truth 
 
166 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 "With incrustations villainous, the while 
 The earthly, dim-eyed spirit of error gains 
 Full many a wink and eulogy and song. 
 God can not cause a sun to rise and smile 
 With clear, beneJScent splendor on the world, 
 But man will stain its brightness ; lovely wreaths 
 Rich with white rose-buds and with lilies sweet 
 He need must trail in dust and slime and blood ; 
 Rank poison stealthily drop in the well 
 With purest waters bubbling ; and the page 
 Of blazoned volumes spoil with hideous blots. 
 
 Just at that instant, with resplendent wing, 
 
 An angel form descended ; nor did wake 
 
 By his descent surprise in Paradise : 
 
 Why should the star-orbs wonder when they see 
 
 The moon among their shining guard float up ? 
 
 Or Beauty marvel that beside her bowers 
 
 Where jessamines and heliotropes abound 
 
 The sweet and gentle birds should stoop to rest 
 
 In the fir-trees' grateful shad^e. " I come," he spake, 
 
 " From that endeared spot where slept in death 
 
 The mighty Prince who holds the keys of hell. 
 
 Thither the Father sent me, filled with power 
 
 As meteor 'mid the autumnal sky with light : 
 
 Unearthly splendor from my countenance 
 
 Glared on the wakeful guard ; the rocks were rent. 
 
 As though the lightnings tore them ; Nature shrank 
 
 As if in awe : in pale dismay down swooned 
 
 They who had fearless rushed with lifted mace 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 167 
 
 Where, in the crimson agonies of death, 
 
 Valor's heroic sons lay thick as hail, — 
 
 Filling the air with groans. Forth from the cave 
 
 I rolled th' enormous stone. The power of Christ 
 
 Could easily the rocky gate have burst 
 
 And scattered all the bold and sturdy band. 
 
 Rich, golden chasings edge the precious gem, 
 
 Honoring its worth, and centering the gaze 
 
 On its superior loveliness and light : 
 
 So angel-visitations, pomps and songs. 
 
 The blazonry and beauty of the skies, 
 
 Have centred honors on the Son of God, 
 
 And mark Him as Love's Messenger supreme. 
 
 So, as a tribute unto Him who shared 
 
 Man's weaknesses and his temptations thick, 
 
 (Virtue's triumphant Chief), the Father bade 
 
 This splendor His awaking to invest. 
 
 This terror to the vigilant guard ; this sign 
 
 Granted in mercy to the chosen race." 
 
 " Then He is risen," said the First of men, 
 " And o'er the shadows and the doom of earth 
 He lifts His head triumphant : Now 
 Her fadeless palms doth Immortality 
 Place in the Victor's hand ! 
 
 To us who grieve. 
 Reflecting on His sorrows ; whom the nails 
 Which pierced His hands and feet, and whom the scourge 
 Crimsoned upon His shoulder, lacerate -, — 
 
168 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 Who mourned with Mary o'er His bodily form 
 
 In dreamless, lifeless, icy-cold repose, — 
 
 To us this news is like the blush of morn 
 
 To those who 've kept the weary watch for day. 
 
 Who 'd not exult when the rich trumpet-peal, 
 
 Echoing throughout the stately, bannered hall, 
 
 Proclaims to all the anxious hearts within 
 
 That victory with her blushing light has purged 
 
 The darkened honor of their flag, and blazed 
 
 Upon the escutcheon of their house afresh. 
 
 How happy will be her relief who mourned 
 
 A son to death's transcendent suiferings borne ! 
 
 How glad the thought that e'en the sable rule 
 
 From the grim King is snatched ; the awful keys 
 
 Placed in Christ's hands, of Hades' shadowy realms ! 
 
 That, at His throne will suppliant myriads bend ; 
 
 Heaven's seraph-princes hymns of glory chant. 
 
 And sound the honors of the holy Lamb, 
 
 The golden gates of glory opening wide 
 
 To vistas bright with Power's benign displays. 
 
 Yea ; we may well be comforted to think 
 
 That the sad wounds upon His brow are healed 
 
 By wreaths that ever will be fresh. And now 
 
 Let all who mourn be comforted ; let all 
 
 Who writhe in suffering and disgrace take heart ; 
 
 Your thorny bonds the Son of God hath worn ; 
 
 Upon His brow the clouds have darkly gloomed ; 
 
 The steep and flinty paths of virtue show 
 
 The blood-stains of his bold, unwearying feet." 
 
 Then spake another : " I have seen," said he. 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 169 
 
 " A warrior issue from his joyous home 
 
 Where sunny luxury ruled ; I've seen 
 
 The bloom of vigor on his manly cheek 
 
 Fade, like the daylight. Hunger, thirst and toil 
 
 His glowing strength consumed ; and fearful wounds 
 
 Invaded nigh to life's weak citadels : 
 
 But still, reviving, he his steps urged on 
 
 Whither war's flaming meteor did point. 
 
 He loved his sovereign and the cause which called 
 
 Him first from his fond, love-lit, smile-deck'd home ; 
 
 He, therefore, roused his strength, and 'neath his feet 
 
 Trampled temptations to inglorious ease. 
 
 The weary march, in time, was o'er ; and hushed 
 
 The last sterii clash and groan on War's red field : 
 
 Flouted no more the sky its banners rich ; 
 
 On battle's cloud the lightning of the spear 
 
 Was gleaming with its menacing flash no more. 
 
 He conquered. With triumphal swell of song. 
 
 In fame's imposing chariot-march, 'mid smiles, 
 
 He up to honor's canopied seats was raised. 
 
 The King himself placed on his brow a wreath 
 
 Fresh with a dewy beauty, graced with flowers 
 
 Which winter's withering breath ne'er spoiled ; 
 
 While on his hand a signet-ring he set. 
 
 Emblem and stamp of dignity and place." 
 
 While he ceased speaking, a triumphal band 
 
 Passed by in spotless robes, each bearing palms ; 
 
 The air was burdened with rich strains ; a crown, 
 
 Dazzling and beautiful, above a cross 
 
 On high was borne, a type of victory, 
 
170 THE SHADOWY LAND. 
 
 And emblem of illustrious power now won : 
 
 While peaceful flags, witli rich embroidery wrought 
 
 ( Or what resembled it,) with holy doves 
 
 And olive-branches cunningly worked in, 
 
 Like to the gorgeous clouds of sunset blazed. 
 
 The Son of God, arisen from the tomb, 
 
 His followers cheered, (showing His hands. His feet, 
 
 His side ;) 'till Heaven, in jealousy of Earth, 
 
 Snatched the illustrious Victor to the climes 
 
 Of deathless bliss and glory. Its bright gates. 
 
 Formed of rich, carved and many-tinted pearl. 
 
 Oped with the swell of mighty, choral hymns 
 
 Poured forth from myriad horns of mellow tone ; 
 
 While voices sweet and clear as love and joy 
 
 Could make them, gushed in liquid eloquence, 
 
 A nectared stream. Thicker than the trees 
 
 In the wild forest, stood the angel-throngs 
 
 To greet the Son of God, Responsive choirs 
 
 In music vied. Upon His father's throne, 
 
 With burst magnificent from countless lips 
 
 And harps of golden song, Messiah sat. 
 
 Above Him bent the bow of mercy. Bright 
 
 Before him, seven candlesticks of gold 
 
 Awaited their symbolic fires. Fair stars 
 
 Of princeliest splendor in the ranks of Heaven 
 
 Did reverence to the Son ; and every voice 
 
 Joined in the mighty chorus ; while ' Amen ' 
 
 The living types of providential rule 
 
 Responded ; and responding, showed that God 
 
 By His mysterious acts confirmed the laud 
 
THE SHADOWY LAND. 171 
 
 That ' worthy was the Lamb.' evermore, 
 All glorious Bridegroom, reign ! and grant 
 To us who serve Thee triumph in Thy day 
 Which shines like morning thro' the awful clouds 
 That 'round the present and the future gloom. 
 Thus to the pealing anthem we here add 
 Our humble voice ; with poetry and breath 
 Of melody we waft to Thee our praise. 
 Thus this festoon, wreathed of wild forest-green, 
 Decked with the wild flowers of the forest-paths, 
 We bind around Thine altar : even if poor 
 And void of splendor, odorless 'tis not : 
 Accept, we pray, the giver and the gift. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
172 NOTE. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The idea of writing a poem upon the subject employed in the 
 Epic found in this volume was conceived quite a number of years 
 since, and was mentioned to the late Rev. John W. Brown of 
 Astoria, L. I., and one or two others. The theme having been 
 warmly approved by one or more to whom I communicated it, 
 and still commending itself to the author's judgment, the poem 
 was begun ; and, in a period of leisure, some years ago, was 
 advanced nigh unto completion. Afterwards, a year or two, 
 perhaps, having elapsed, (not to say several,^ it was carried to 
 New York with a view to its being finished and published. I 
 determined to delay publication ; and on returning found that 
 Rev. Mr, Lord had just put forth a poem on the same subject. 
 My knowledge of this came through a criticism in the Churchman. 
 From this notice I perceived that both had borrowed some por- 
 tion, at least, of the design from Milton, Of Mr. Lord's production 
 I have never seen a single line. The borrowing of Milton will 
 explain any resemblance in general features, if there is any 
 worthy of remark ; nothing was borrowed from Mr. Lord. 
 Milton, it has been thought, may have copied some features, if 
 not the main design of " Paradise Lost " from a Peninsular bard. 
 Can any antiquarian in Spanish and Portuguese literature render 
 this probable, and show the extent to which, (ii at all,) the 
 Author of that majestic poem has thence derived the scheme of 
 his immortal production ? Scripture language fin the old and 
 new Testament) furnishes so much to him that we may well 
 doubt whether he sought elsewhere. Take the following passa- 
 
NOTE. 173 
 
 ges as proof : " The angels which kept not," &c., Jude 6th v. 
 2d Peter, 2d c, 4 v., "And there was war in heaven," &c., Rev. 
 12, t. " How art thou fallen from heaven " &c., Isaiah. " Sin, 
 when it hath conceived, bringeth forth death," St. Paul. "They 
 sacrificed to devils" &c,. Moses' Song. One or two of these 
 only figuratively had reference to the subject, but were sugges- 
 tive. This being the case, that the Scriptures furnished con- 
 siderable of the plan, (more than some suppose,) there is no 
 great harm if others, also, should borrow from Milton in turn, if 
 credit is duly allowed as to the source. The passage in one of 
 the Epistles where Christ is spoken of as having triumphed over 
 the powers of opposition, " making a show of them openly," has 
 been thought to shadow forth mysterious events. It, doubtless, 
 refers to his moral victory, while on Earth, over temptation, 
 Satan and the force of persecution ; but might be adduced as 
 furnishing a ground of a certain portion of the scheme of this 
 production now made public. That this work may prove one of 
 the many moral and spiritual forces to prosecute that spiritual 
 conquest of the Redeemer in the shadowy fields of the minds and 
 hearts of some is the humble prayer of the Author, Let not 
 critics make comparisons : why should not the lover of nature in 
 any given spot be allowed to describe the romance and beauty 
 of those moderate hills and vales which he, in his limited range 
 has visited, without being reminded how much superior are the 
 mountains of other lands ; how magnificently they tower above 
 valleys of sweeter repose and greener loveliness ? May not the 
 fire-fly illumine some recess of the thicket without provoking a 
 comparison between his dim, fitful sparkling and the splendor of 
 those vast and eternal orbs which light and warm the universe ? 
 In reference to the " machinery " used in this production, it 
 may not be amiss to remind some that the introduction of per- 
 
174 NOTE. 
 
 Bonifications is considered allowable in poems where the scene is 
 laid in the spirit-land, or, at least, is not in such case, strictly 
 forbidden by the laws of poetry. It has been perceived that the 
 beginning of the plot or narration is introduced, as is oft the 
 case, in narrations occurring not in the first portion of the poem . 
 The author is aware that productions of this department ought 
 not to be found deficient either in elevation and greatness of 
 theme, unity of action, variety of character, illustration of ten- 
 derer, nobler feelings as well as of the sterner and darker 
 passions, — in Episodical diversion &c. Sound moral and Chris- 
 tian sentiments, if discovered, may, with some minds, atone in a 
 measure for literary defects. Were the Author now for the first 
 to compose a poem on this theme which he has taken, he would, 
 perhaps, construct a plot considerably different from that em- 
 ployed. 
 
 It may be not amiss, before closing, to subjoin a protest against 
 the neglect of proper legislation on the subject of international 
 copyright ; and to express the desire that justice may be done 
 to the literary profession, and that their claims to universal and 
 perpetual copyrights may here and elsewhere be legally acknow- 
 ledged. How long will Authors be compelled to deplore the 
 neglect of their rights and interests in this enlightened nineteenth 
 century ! Let us no longer allow the short-sighted and some- 
 what material views of ages past to rule. To concede the legiti- 
 mate and wise claims of the literary profession is not only a just 
 duty but public, and for the general interest. 
 
THE DIGNITY AND TRIUMPHS OF MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL 
 
 CULTURE. 
 
 PBONOUNCED BEFOHE THE ALUMNI OF HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y. 
 
 If flying back along the stream of Time, 
 
 Bouyed by the floating calm of History's wing, 
 
 We note what themes of wonder and delight, 
 
 Impregnate with a spicy interest warm, 
 
 Have dwelt on human lips, and charmed the flow 
 
 Of honorary song, we find that strength. 
 
 The wrestler's power and skill, the warrior's heart 
 
 (That burning dwelling of heroic thoughts 
 
 That leap from out the flame to action bold,) 
 
 And beauty's wildering charms have all been sung. 
 
 Nor has the poet's fire been ovei-looked. 
 
 And been unlike the Parsee's sacred blaze. 
 
 Which at a reverent distance is adored. 
 
 The frowning majesty of the tragic muse, 
 
 And stately genius of the epic verse, 
 
 With long historic argument worked o'er 
 
 With many a rich tho' chaste embroidery ; 
 
 These were with full and starry honors crown'd : 
 
 And Oratory, — wreaths of noble fame 
 
 Fresh from the margin of Castalian springs 
 
 Were woven for her high and gifted sons ! 
 
 Lofty the marbles and deep-graved the lines 
 
176 MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 Where immortality their names inscribed. 
 But ah ! almost unknown in classic days 
 Was sacred virtue's flame ; the zeal that mounts 
 Upon the wings of faith and prayer and love, 
 Scorning the dull and murky air of sense, 
 And with melodious yearnings seeking heaven. 
 For, pausing ere her upward, rapturous flight, 
 True, meek-eyed piety, 'mid incense sweet 
 And smoke of typic lambs, low-bowed to earth 
 Where Jordan's and where Cedron's waters flow, — 
 Where Truth's eternal light streamed down on men, 
 like a smile from God. 
 
 Of highest dignity 
 Are the man's moral culture and his mind's. 
 How noble are the spiritual powers of man ! 
 Glorious by nature and by culture joined. 
 His spirit's like a fane of marble wrought, — 
 The rich reliefs and blazonry around 
 Of loved imagination ; temple fit 
 For high and grand oblation, incense rich 
 And music wafting (both) Religion's soul 
 Upon their volumes sweet ! (There Heaven claims 
 That a pure altar shall be raised to God, 
 The lights of faith and vigilance be lit 
 To glow with glory quenchless as night's eyes, — 
 And incense of affection ever burned 
 And sweetening thro' the spirit-air of life.) 
 And, like a stately hall tTie human mind. 
 Where chambers, galleries, niches are prepared 
 
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTUEB. 177 
 
 With Art's enchanting beauties to be graced 
 And Wisdom's forms august, — bright in the air 
 Where Music flows with its impassioned swell 
 Welcome as radiance soft o'er statues great. 
 As grand the stars, so wondrous are their rays : 
 The gifts are noble of the mind and soul ; 
 Man's lofty nature they aloud proclaim ; 
 Heralds with golden trumpets, they announce 
 The dignity and wealth of their great liege. 
 See ! how the powers exalted linger yet 
 Within that mind by sin and suffering marred ; 
 As though amid some ancient temple ruined 
 The former deity were lingering still, 
 At times to whisper oracles. 
 
 The mind 
 
 Beneath the care of culture grows and grows. 
 With strength and dignity enriched. How high 
 In glory then its triumphs are ! The field. 
 How noble ! 'Tis this boundless world. 
 Unto the kindling eye of Science oped 
 In all its far and strange magnificence. 
 Thought springs aloft upon the paths which worlds 
 Pursue in their unwearying, trackless march. 
 The mysteries of their size, relations, times. 
 Are sought out and revealed ; and e'en the scenes 
 Decking one orb are known. The living world 
 Next claims man's eager scrutiny : the high 
 August philosophy of mind ; the fields 
 In order and mysterious beauty, set 
 12 
 
178 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 With mental and with moral powers, engage 
 
 His observation with delight ; the founts 
 
 Of great affections that soar up towards heaven, 
 
 The tender glows whose objects are on Earth ; 
 
 The springs of pity and of hope and joy ; — 
 
 The seat of conscience, monitor from God, 
 
 And its high oflSces benign, all these 
 
 Win his profoundest study. Glorious Art, 
 
 Her laws and beautiful philosophy 
 
 Absorb the mind's strong powers, and triumphs grand 
 
 A.nd rich attest the gifts superb. The forms. 
 
 Godlike and glorious, filling earth's high seats. 
 
 Or honored as the deities, start up. 
 
 The wonder of all time ; the types of power, 
 
 Imbodiments of song, of wisdom, love 
 
 And all that men hold sacred. 
 
 Breathing life, 
 The canvass, too, glows with the cultured skill 
 That summons countless groups t' appear and charm 
 The eyes of all that see : The Virgin meek 
 The Anointed Son in every phase of life 
 Now smiling as the child, now wakening power 
 Which stills the sufferer's pain; now sitting sad, 
 (As Lenardo drew,) among the twelve. 
 Breaking the emblems of the Bread from heaven. 
 Or, on the cross, or lowered from its height. 
 Or rising all-triumphant to his throne. 
 Man's varied occupations ; peace and war ; 
 " The course of Empire " and " the voyage of life," 
 
MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTUEE. 179 
 
 With all Earth's scenes of grandeur and soft grace, — 
 And chief, designs that teach us lessons high, 
 And woo our hearts to virtue and to God, — 
 All these, conceived by genius and suffused 
 With truth and grace and hues harmonious glow 
 In the mimic world which Art creates. 
 
 The air ! 
 This soft, etherial element must breathe 
 Its sweet confession of the power of man, — 
 Waked by his skill to music. Hark ! the strains 
 Of great Beethoven, monarch of the lyre ! 
 The music of the intellect and heart. 
 Charming the earj to wake immortal fame, — 
 As guised in song's bewildering sweetness, dreams 
 Of sadness, mystery, lofty power and love 
 And tearful supplication charm the soul. 
 And others with a like high rapture filled, 
 Hymning " creation's " work, and love supreme 
 Of the Anointed Prince, Te Deum's full. 
 And varied themes claimed or by earth or heaven, 
 Have shown how silence yields or discord harsh 
 To their fine magic, — how the hearts of men 
 Are captive held by complex bonds of song. 
 
 No second place to the bard's triumphs we 
 Must here accord ; nor leave unnoted now 
 The varied fields of eloquence or verse ; 
 Of " verse " which teacheth wisdom to the soul ; 
 In honied luxury of language, shrining fair 
 
180 MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTUEE. 
 
 Wisdom of heaven and earth, — and sentiments, — 
 The blossoms of the heart in hours of joy, 
 And all the odors it doth yield when crushed, — 
 The fascinating life of passion, dread 
 And dark, and sweet and fond and pure. 
 
 There is a field which, also, shows how high 
 
 In dignity the triumphs of the mind : 
 
 How noble ! 'Tis the human heart 
 
 With all the varied passions that e'er play. 
 
 Ceaseless and shadowy, like the unsunned streams 
 
 That murmur thro' the subterranean caves ; 
 
 The field, too, is the intellect of man. 
 
 His thoughts, his schemes, affections, hopes, 
 
 'Tis over all that cultivated mind 
 
 Beholds its triumphs brighten. As its powers 
 
 So finely character'd in the mintage rare 
 
 Are the best heritage of man ; its gifts 
 
 With seeds and fragrance of etherial life most rich ; — 
 
 As its mysterious faculties we own 
 
 Noblest and most irradiate with the light 
 
 Of the angelic world o'erflowing from 
 
 The golden founts of Heaven's eternal fires 
 
 Upon these Earthly climes ; as nothing springs 
 
 More glorious or lovely 'neath the words 
 
 Of man's determined will, by grace aroused. 
 
 And by the earnest calls of hallowed mind. 
 
 Than the fair frame of holy principle 
 
 And virtues great which are thereby sustained, 
 
 (Which Heaven in chief commands, and crowns in love,)- 
 
MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTUEE. 181 
 
 No nobler victories, no more grand success 
 Our wonder claim than those of hallowed mind, 
 Arrayed with triumph's fairest blazonries. 
 How high its dignity, — august, serene ! 
 To Christian virtue it is given to sway 
 By truth's eternal energies, — (enforced 
 By the unseen and mystic breath of grace) 
 The bosoms by the dark dominion claimed 
 Of sin and Satan. Holy Love ! Her voice 
 With high, impassioned eloquence aloud 
 Proclaims her great and wondrous verities, 
 And calls with tender power unto the soul ; 
 Then new designs, — then new and warm resolves 
 Are formed : gross passions change to pure 
 'Mid penitential tears ; and earnest prayers, — 
 (Upborne upon the wings of Faith that scorn 
 This lower world ;) then, prayers and thanks 
 Arise to God : As when on dark, low vales 
 "Where fogs unwholesome brood the live-long night, 
 The sweet and potent radiance of day 
 Descends and conquers ; up the height 
 Flaming with heavenly light, they rise and seek 
 The embracing skies. 
 
 And hallowed mind, lit up 
 With a coal from heaven's pure altars sees 
 Its triumphs brighten over moral ills ; 
 And the dark harvests which are sown 
 Are trampled down : The cup of woe is spilled : 
 Some lurid chambers in the shades of death 
 
182 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTUEE. 
 
 Where sin will weep her agonies, are left 
 Hopeless of tenants ; Heaven prepares new seats 
 Of dignity and power ; new fruitage blooms 
 Upon her everlasting trees, to meet 
 New lips entitled to her quenchless joys : 
 Her starry company prepares new orbs 
 To welcome to their bright, melodious throng ; 
 While fuller music trembles thro' her domes, 
 And fuller clouds of incense sweeten there 
 
 And now I will a Tale rehearse in brief 
 Which will show forth how great a height 
 In power and dignity may piety 
 And mental culture reach, their mien aloft 
 Bearing 'mid fadeless signs of triumph high. 
 
 Within a loathsome den of sin, where want 
 With fierce and haggard aspect glared, a babe 
 New-born amid uncleanly straw, was laid. 
 Ah ! wretched lot, amid such scene as that 
 At first to ope the eye, and hear alone, 
 As Earth's first sounds, the gusts of furious strife 
 And bitter tones of imprecation ! Spring 
 Waved not her lovely blossoms in its sight ; 
 Nor warbling birds the sweet air stirred and filled 
 The innocent's listening ear with music. Soon 
 When darkness veiled the land, the mother bore 
 That wretched bird from a branch corrupt of life, 
 And left it shivering in the damp night breeze. 
 Disease her miseries with its earliest throb 
 
MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 183 
 
 Had mingled liberally ; how could it live, 
 
 Abused by chill and reckless winds 'till morn 
 
 'Till morn it lived ; but life was flickering low : 
 
 A passer-by beheld the dying one, 
 
 And bore unto the warmth his charge. Then life 
 
 To a bolder pulse awoke ; and kindly care 
 
 Subdued the venoms of disease. Its mind 
 
 Oped 'neath the teachings of a generous zeal 
 
 As blossoms ope beneath the summer's glow. 
 
 Moved by the grace of Heaven and kindly words 
 
 And his own prudence, he began to tread 
 
 In virtue's mountain-pathway, scorning crime. 
 
 In time upon his noble brow thought reigned 
 
 And lofty graces brightened there : And they 
 
 Who saw their tokens, with profound esteem 
 
 And admiration glowed. They could but give 
 
 Honor and station. Now the crowd he swayed, 
 
 As the winds from the mountain-gorge the woods 
 
 In the vale below it sway ; or, as the light 
 
 Of summer's kindling skies the harvest rules, — 
 
 With generous virtues and substantial good 
 
 Bidding the corn and fruits to swell. A throng. 
 
 Won by the truth robed in his eloquence. 
 
 Bent to the same bright founts to drink 
 
 As those which had sublimed and cleansed his soul : 
 
 And God from his far throne of glory smiled. 
 
 And loved the minister of his " saving health." 
 
 The beautiful and lovely of the earth 
 
 Their smiles, too, lavished on that noble one. 
 
 And paid their homage at fair virtue's shrine, 
 
184 MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 Lit up with priceless thouglits. And when at last, 
 
 Beside his couch the King of terrors stood, 
 
 And breathed his chill and dizzying blast that still'd 
 
 Soon, in his pulseless apathy, the play 
 
 Of life's mysterious motions, thousands mourned, 
 
 And bade rich music sound a deep lament ; 
 
 Her stately halls of marble Justice veiled, 
 
 And Power her courts magnificent did shroud ; 
 
 In the dim temple a commanding tomb 
 
 Honored his name with forms of glorious grace 
 
 Starting to life from their cold, marble sleep, 
 
 Beneath the touch of genius, to proclaim 
 
 Those lofty virtues and a nation's grief. 
 
 In a still, holy night, I had the grace 
 
 His glory in a heavenly world to see ; 
 
 Futurity her awful scroll unrolled. 
 
 And lifted up her thick, dark curtains : High 
 
 Seated in triumph 'mid eternal light, 
 
 I saw his spirit on a snowy seat, 
 
 Girt with the bright signs of seraphic power ; 
 
 And angels (once the pure and blest) there heard 
 
 Their everlasting judgments from his mouth ; * 
 
 While the once-crucified, illustrious King 
 
 His sentence dread approved. Before Heaven's throne. 
 
 I saw him 'mid high seraphs stand august, 
 
 And myriads listened to his princely lips,t 
 
 • " Know ye not that we shall judge angels." — St. Paul. 
 
 t Thrones, dominions, principalities and powers. — Col. 1, 16. Ep. 1, 21. 
 Rev. 3, 21, 2 Tim. 2, 12 
 
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 185 
 
 And flew afar to execute his words, 
 
 His banner bearing to creation's bounds. 
 
 The fountains of immortal life their spray 
 
 Flung near his palace-walls ; the ancient great 
 
 Acknowledged him their compeer ; and Heaven's works 
 
 To his bright, searching mind their secrets gave ; 
 
 And in those revelations deep he drank 
 
 Such joy as only loftier minds and blest 
 
 Can ever know. His mystical 'white stone ' 
 
 With a new name engraved thereon, the King 
 
 Gave as a precious badge of honor ; full 
 
 With the "hidden manna" were his stores ; and thou, 
 
 bright and morning Star of Heaven, thy beams. 
 
 Thy lovely smiles were his ; — his soul 
 
 Flooding with truth and deathless happiness. 
 
 " But this," you say, "is fiction :" It is truth 
 
 Arising in imaginative guise. 
 
 So far as their career to mortal eyes 
 
 Is made apparent, see th' exalted course 
 
 Of some who have in sober truth the earth 
 
 Trodden in visible form. Behold 
 
 A Leighton, Paley, Chalmers, great in fame, 
 
 Whose intellects and virtues still their light 
 
 Shed o'er the paths of human life ; the way 
 
 Which Heaven hath opened to the founts of life, 
 
 Though cramped and thorny, yet with flowers besprent, 
 
 With holy eloquence declaring. See 
 
 " The mill boy of the slashes " risen on high 
 
 By the strong power of mind and morals borne 
 
 To a grand, glory-circled seat of fame ; 
 
186 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 Thither flow christian sympathies, and rise 
 The honors which, to cultured genius, man 
 
 Wafts with the ardent breath of admiration, 
 
 Circling these eminent orbs with golden clouds. 
 
 Nor unforgotten, mingling sacred life 
 
 With the strong labor of their mental power, 
 
 As dawn's soft splendors with Spring's swollen streams, — 
 
 Behold the Revolution's Chief ! and see, 
 
 On whom the mantle of his glories fell. 
 
 In later times, an Adams and a Randolph, join'd 
 
 With Jefferson the patriot and the sage. 
 
 With other names that unto various fields 
 
 Have been associated with high praise, 
 
 With noble music from the golden trump 
 
 Thro' which Fame's star-crowned genius pours her breath 
 
 And bids her song reecho down the years.* 
 
 Or, looking to an earlier day, the names. 
 
 Confessed illustrious and sweetly-voiced 
 
 Upon the lips of sacred fame, may here 
 
 Your memories supply, and wreathe with those 
 
 That to our time belong ; a Taylor, Clarke, 
 
 And Butler, Locke and Calmet, Wilson, Keith, 
 
 And those of earlier date e'er yet more known ; 
 
 And Wordsworth, Southey, Hemans, Browning, — names 
 
 That we may link with those whose hallowed lives 
 
 Burned brightly in our climes, or still burn bright. 
 
 And married genius unto sacred love. 
 
 * Among recent incidents brought to light in regard to Jefferson, my 
 Impression is that he was observed in his later years, in his retirement, going 
 forward to the Eucharist , 
 
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 187 
 
 Then, if such radiant honors rise to greet 
 
 Those who esteem that treasure in the mind 
 
 Which Heaven has given them, and seek to fix 
 
 Upon its powers, of cultured taste the stamp, 
 
 And offer up its energies refined 
 
 (Ambrosial fruits,'with deathless flowers entwined) 
 
 A sacrifice upon the altars high 
 
 Which pure religion rears, — if such 
 
 The honors that to those arise, — how well 
 
 May strong desires assert a fiery rule 
 
 O'er the heart's empire, and thus prompt our minds 
 
 To follow where the noblest sons of earth 
 
 Have gone in hallowed industry, the path 
 
 To virtue's deathless glory passing o'er, 
 
 There leaving prints which Time admiring spares ! 
 
 But, chiefly, since the voice of duty calls, — 
 
 Bidding us wash our souls in that blest fount 
 
 Where human guilt is purged away, and clothe 
 
 Our spirits purified in vesture sweet. 
 
 Modest and beautiful, of holy deeds. 
 
 And garnish them with wisdom's noblest thoughts, 
 
 Gems of undarkening lustre from Truth's mines. 
 
 Now, of that company of virtues fair 
 
 That spring from principle in life and power,-— 
 
 A chosen three there are which sacred lips 
 
 Have honored in one breath, "Faith, Hope and Love." 
 
 With pensive countenance doth Faith 
 
 Lift up her holy eyes to Heaven, and sees 
 
 Thro' prophecy's mysterious glass the scenes 
 
 Which brighten and aggrandize future time. 
 
188 MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 Subduing prejudice, lier willing mind 
 
 The potent truth receives, as doth the soil 
 
 Kindly and warm embrace the living seed, — 
 
 Or, as the mirror of the eye receives 
 
 The grateful image of the friend we love. 
 
 She welcomes Him whom prophecies and powers 
 
 Attest as mightiest Prophet, Priest and King. 
 
 The animation of her soul e'er prompts 
 
 The hand and lip to action ; holy Trust 
 
 Is purified by sacrificial blood, 
 
 And walks in stainless beauty, justified 
 
 By Him who on the holy rood stretched out 
 
 Both arms abroad, as if to embrace in love 
 
 All faithful penitents whom Heavenly grace 
 
 Wooed to His pierced side. 
 
 Fair, heavenly Hope ; — 
 She, too, a place of eminence receives ; 
 Who, nurtured by the hands of faith and love, 
 By a bright, golden power y' sways the heart : 
 She dreams delighted of rewards to come ; 
 To that grand, hallowed kingdom, future yet. 
 In which the saints begin their triumphs, — Hope, 
 Points with irradiate smiles, encouraging. 
 And winning man to persevere till death. 
 How fond and sweet in hues the scenes she paints ! 
 Then, last and greatest. Holy Love appears, 
 With looks that glow with kindly power. 
 And lips whence amiable words flow forth 
 And truths most precious and most sweet, as gush 
 
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 189 
 
 The nectared drops refulgent with heaven's light, 
 
 From lips of opening flowers. Her hands 
 
 Are decorated with fair gifts, which soothe 
 
 And cheer the sad ; the famished bless her steps • 
 
 And circle her with grateful prayers to Heaven ; 
 
 So that her name, suffused with rosy light 
 
 And fragrant like the blossoms of choice fruit 
 
 That call to mind the fruit itself, is framed 
 
 'Mid loving memories in the minds of all. 
 
 Her feet will press the pavements of that realm 
 
 Where Love's great King of many crowns will sit 
 
 Dispensing fadeless life and joy : Her eye 
 
 Will drink the smiles of that abounding day, 
 
 And her voice join its melody ! These three, 
 
 Radiant and beautiful, should chiefly draw 
 
 Our heart's best yearnings, and command our powers, 
 
 As the three lovely hues of light draw lorth 
 
 Nature's green, bloomy offerings in Spring. 
 
 By faith and hope and love ; let us our souls 
 
 Address for labors noble and success ; 
 
 The varied marble of the mind to grace 
 
 And dignity y' polishing : Thus, mighty power 
 
 For influence on earth, rewarded in that world 
 
 Which still the Future's cloudy curtains veil, — 
 
 Thus, mighty power is won and strengthened. Slow, 
 
 As in their work the patient builders toil. 
 
 From day to day, layers on layers rise ; 
 
 Each summer, as the early rising sun 
 
 Looks thro' the golden casements of the East, 
 
 He sees the temple's fabric soaring higher 
 
190 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 Till the last sparkling crest is fixed 
 
 Upon the lofty towers : So rises strong 
 
 And grand and beautiful the form 
 
 Of the minds' noble fane, — built up and rich 
 
 With christian piety and mental power. 
 
 As mists, faint-outlined, 'rising from a lake. 
 
 Gather, from hill to hill, new wreaths of cloud 
 
 And summon mighty winds to bear them on ; 
 
 Unrolling, now, in noonday's blaze their folds, — 
 
 To charm the eye and beautify the scene ; 
 
 JYow, hurling to the ground the forms decayed 
 
 Of monarchs in the woods, as darkly on 
 
 They rush tumultuous, darting their dread fires, — 
 
 So grow the powers of mind ; till strong and grand 
 
 In noble glory, they delight the world, 
 
 Diffusing light and gladness far around ; 
 
 Or, on the mission of destruction winged, 
 
 The hoary forms of error, weak at heart. 
 
 Confess the lightnings of their power and zeal, 
 
 And sink to ruin. Then, in the faith 
 
 That to our steady perseverance, mind, 
 
 Its rudiments of marvellous power aroused. 
 
 In strength superb will grow, — the soul 
 
 By God's good help will whiten and shine fair 
 
 With brightning hues of piety, let us 
 
 For duty's sake, for honor's man's and heaven 
 
 (Which from afar the shining guerdon shows,) 
 
 Resolve with cultured graces and with power 
 
 In thoughts' mysterious laboratory fined, — 
 
 With principles and feelings pure and quick 
 
MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 191 
 
 With the soft, fluttering life of love, the sweet 
 And holy, to inform our souls, and thus 
 The spiritual edifice built up. 
 
 Faint not ! 
 The pinion of the eagle young, though now 
 But feebly fluttering in the dust, may yet 
 Float high in majesty, battling the gusts 
 On th' stormy verge of th' dizzy mountain's crest. 
 I saw, in visions of the day, choice gems ; 
 And men of curious skill did polish them. 
 They grew as doth a thing of life, and shone 
 As if lit up within, the while their art 
 Was spent upon them. Like the wond'rous lamps 
 Which light the halls of some fair, rapturing dream ; 
 They dwelt upon the sight. In learned courts 
 Of Justice and of State, some shed their glows ; 
 Fixing the eyes of all, — in splendor strong : 
 Some in the temples of religion were lit up : 
 And some in Learning's curious, pensive shades. 
 I saw a scar-marked hand from upper air 
 Reveal its shape distinct, and touch their fires 
 With what did brighten them ; (that kindly hand ! 
 Whose very scars did grace its beauty, as 
 The crimson spots burnt on the lovely cheek 
 Of some ripe fruit its loveliness enhance ; 
 Or, as purple stains enrich the morning sky.) 
 While thus new heavenly influence glowed in them, 
 A wakening, quickening, and yet softening power 
 Went forth on forms whereon the radiance fell. 
 
192 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. 
 
 The mien and aspects thus suffused were changed, — 
 
 Anxiety awoke, and lulled to calm ; 
 
 The stern expressions softened to bland smiles, 
 
 Or looks of hope and love. Upon the waves, 
 
 Tossing without in turbulence and wrath, 
 
 There shot strong rays of that fair, holy light, 
 
 And they were lulled ; the angry moan was hushed, 
 
 Or wailed less boisterous on the castled shores. 
 
 And where erratic stars had left their seats. 
 
 Vacant and rayless in the sapphire halls, — 
 
 Those large and polished gems, of fire-like glow, 
 
 "Were borne aloft by angel-hands and set 
 
 In heaven's cerulean dome to burn for aye : 
 
 Whilst thou, perennial Spirit of Song ! didst chant 
 
 A famous lay to praise their grace and worth 
 
 And the blest influence of their wondrous light. 
 
 Long lingering in its lovely power on earth. 
 
 There are grand triumphs which the soul will share ; 
 
 There is an honor which will light the sky 
 
 Of its eternal future ; victories won 
 
 O'er death and sin and Satan, and o'er woe. 
 
 There is a flower which, watered by our tears, 
 
 Buds in our mortal life, but blooms not now. 
 
 There is a fruit whose odors we may scent 
 
 Which never gushes 'twixt the lips on earth. 
 
 There is a flight the soul's mysterious wing 
 
 Can never take while in this mortal frame. 
 
 There is another land afar, where feet 
 
 Which have in sweet and holy pathways walked 
 
 While men were pilgrims in this earlier life. 
 
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CULTUEE. 193 
 
 Shall yet be welcomed ; welcomed they shall be 
 
 More warmly, joyously, in truth, than he 
 
 Who, worn with war and laurel-crowned, returns 
 
 To his paternal, bannered hall that rings 
 
 The while with music. Hearer ! walk while here 
 
 In clear-eyed faith, in trust and love, — 
 
 And thou in that land (if to thee a far 
 
 And foreign, not a cold, forbidding shore) 
 
 Shalt see the King in His grand beauty ; there. 
 
 At His bright marriage-supper sit, a guest 
 
 "Welcomed and peaceful, loved for evermore. 
 
 13 
 
PROVIDENCE. 
 
 PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE SIGMA PHI, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR 
 
 SOCIETY IN GENERAL CONVENTION AT HOBART FREE COLLEGE, GENEVA, 
 
 N. Y., JULY, 1855. 
 
 From out the phantom-tlirong, which to the eye 
 
 Of the dreaming poet doth appear when dim 
 
 The daylight flickers, and the freshening winds 
 
 Of inspiration rouse the ashy coals 
 
 Of thought and feeling till they sparkle bright, — 
 
 From out the throng of themes I now invoke 
 
 One of a grand and solemn mien. Before my eye 
 
 August it rises ; as amid a crowd 
 
 Of gay and smiling aspect, some grave shape, 
 
 A spirit from another world, appears. 
 
 And shedding 'round a strange, unearthly light. 
 
 Unfolds its solemn wings and wins the eye. 
 
 Thoughtful and grave should ever be the hour. 
 
 When on the " Ways of Providence " the mind 
 
 Would dwell ; when it would send pale reason's ray 
 
 To fly afar as a venturous beam athwart 
 
 The dark and clouded ocean of that theme ; 
 
 When as a mounting cherub it would dare 
 
 To rise in contemplation toward that seat 
 
 O'erflooded with the blaze of that dread Power 
 
 Which in life's ordinary wavering course. 
 
PROVIDENCE. 195 
 
 Or by a special intervention crowns with good 
 
 Golden and crimsoned with Heaven's smile of love, 
 
 And wings the hopes with joy, or disciplines 
 
 With suffering and loss ; now, unto power 
 
 And dignity, and bliss exalting high, 
 
 And binding triumph's arch with wreaths of gold ; — 
 
 Now, opening the dismal, black abyss 
 
 To engulf the hoary pomp of empires, thrones. 
 
 And Error's antique citadels bethronged 
 
 With her array of frowning warriors stern. 
 
 Nursing their tyrannous hate and love of wrong. 
 
 The wisdom and the strength of Heaven rules ; 
 
 The armies of the skies, earth's habitants, 
 
 All 'neath the power of that great sceptre dwell ; 
 
 Its beams, like lightnings, pierce the awful shades 
 
 Where Death's mysterious empire spreads, 
 
 And Thought lies slumbering like a frozen stream ; 
 
 It there maintains unchallenged sway, to wake 
 
 By one resistless flash of force divine 
 
 The pulseless life of the departed ones 
 
 To joy and honor, — or to bid them still 
 
 In the untrodden halls of silence rest 
 
 In mystic trance, reserved for judgments dread. 
 
 Yea, to her deepest heart must Hell herself 
 
 Shudder to hear its thunder-peals of wrath ; 
 
 And e'en the councils of lost spirits own 
 
 The awful might of that great sceptre, gloom. 
 
 Imprisonment and woes dispensing at Heaven's will. 
 
 Doth not His Word affirm it, which declares 
 
 Heaven is God's throne. His footstool Earth ; 
 
196 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 He makes alive and He destroys ; He " light " 
 
 Pours out in blushing beauty on the night 
 
 Of human life ; and He that light again 
 
 O'erwhelms 'mid " darkness," pierced with wails of woe ;* 
 
 Shrouding the blooms of life in freezing gloom. 
 
 Joy's fine elixir, sparkling to the brim, 
 
 The thirsty sand of low despondency 
 
 Drinks utterly up, when down cast by His hand. 
 
 " He overturns and overturns," to bring 
 
 From wild confusion order fair : the frame 
 
 (Tho' it had many a storm defied) — the frame 
 
 Of many nations " shaking," and the august courts 
 
 Of ancient empires hurling to the ground. 
 
 With all their hoary, ivy-grown defence, 
 
 That other forms of civic might may rise. 
 
 Inscribed with mottoes fair of clemency. 
 
 The shrines or homes of truth and righteousness ! 
 
 The tender branches of the living vine 
 
 He prunes with keen affliction's edge, that fruit, 
 
 Which finely mantles with the hues of heaven, 
 
 Richer and more abundant, may adorn 
 
 Those branches fed by such a glorious stock. 
 
 A kindly shepherd. He His faithful flock 
 
 Protects with watchful care ; or, with dark storms, 
 
 Gloomy with heavenly justice, doth avenge 
 
 The wrongs which they have borne. He opes. 
 
 Won by the pleadings of sweet Mercy's soul. 
 
 The hand which feeds the universe, and thus 
 
 * See Isa. xiv. 7 ; John xv. 2 ; Rev. iii. 9, 10. 
 
PROVIDENCE. 197 
 
 Their cravings cease — in comfort they repose ; 
 
 And softly 'round their slumber evening draws 
 
 Her curtains light and prompts their peaceful dreams 
 
 The plant of ample shade His hand hath set 
 
 (His holy Church,) this will He not forsake ; 
 
 Yea ; sooner will their bases grand the hills : 
 
 He will not fail, nor be discouraged, till 
 
 The course of "judgment " for the cause of truth 
 
 And Zion in the blaze and triumph fair 
 
 Of " victory " ends — by music of the earth, 
 
 And by the choral raptures of the skies 
 
 In concord hymned. " The fine gold," now 
 
 " Grown dim," shall yet be purified, tho' fire 
 
 Its dross shall purge away. 
 
 These truths accord 
 With Reason's teachings : Who shall say a king. 
 Whose sovereignty and glory shone like day, 
 Would sit upon his throne and yet not rule 
 A province when rebellious, while his power. 
 Exulting and magnificent, despised 
 All opposition ? Who will say a king 
 Would not the shields of his protection cast 
 About his subjects — loving, ever true — 
 Gladden the brave, devoted hearts with draughts 
 From glory's fresh, exhilarating springs. 
 And 'neath the canopy of a rich reward 
 Sculptured and blazoned with their honors won, 
 Those who have served him well in plenty seat ? 
 And He whose providence we sing is King, 
 
198 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Supreme in majesty, the dazzling Sun 
 
 Among the lesser, glimmering stars of power : 
 
 Wisdom and might confess in Him their source 
 
 And awful Shrine of glory ; goodness there 
 
 And justice dwell at home. The Love Divine — 
 
 That goodness which stretched forth the starry skies. 
 
 And bade the Sun a golden reign assert 
 
 Throughout his group of worlds, and kindly smile 
 
 Upon Earth's face, until she smiled again, 
 
 And blushed (with loveliness of flowers and fruits) — 
 
 That goodness which hath gemmed man's noble brow 
 
 With the bright circlet of its faculties ; 
 
 Which oped the crimson founts for guilt, unbarred 
 
 That door to Paradise where Mercy stands 
 
 With radiant finger beckoning, the woe 
 
 And travail of the worn, disheartened one. 
 
 Cheering with Hope's celestial melodies — 
 
 That goodness doth assure, that power Divine 
 
 Will with a providential influence guide 
 
 The spiritual ark amid life's rushing tides. 
 
 And in the paths to endless peace direct 
 
 The interest of Zion and her sons. 
 
 Such, sacred history's grand, momentous voice ; 
 
 And such the voice of Nature : moral rule 
 
 Is taught by law's dominion through her realm. 
 
 And mystery's veil that Providence may wrap ; 
 Nor need we wonder, when we see how dark 
 And mystical the movements are which Heaven 
 Has ordered in rich Nature's wondrous realm : 
 
PROVIDENCE. 199 
 
 What mystery in the forest-tree resides, 
 
 From its first flower unto the leafy pomp 
 
 Which wins the romping peasants to the shade, 
 
 Made doubly grateful by the noonday chant, 
 
 Voiced by the birds which rest at home above. 
 
 What mystery dwelleth in the rose, transformed 
 
 From bud to blossom, yielding to the seed. 
 
 Which sprouts and grows, until the eye again 
 
 Is charmed with grace, the sense with fragrance rich ! 
 
 And what dark mystery envelops life, 
 
 From its dim rudiments to its forms mature ! 
 
 The egg, beneath maternal plumage warmed. 
 
 Changing to shapes instinct with passion, sense. 
 
 Intelligence, which rise and float with grace 
 
 And lustrous beauty in the air — this bids 
 
 The mind to ponder how God's " thoughts are deep," 
 
 The perfect gems which low, 'neath ocean lie, 
 
 " Though the unwise doth not consider this." 
 
 With divers fragile forms that wing the air — 
 
 (The tinted, delicate vignettes in Nature's book,) 
 
 The " gray gnat " and the butterfly proclaim. 
 
 While in the summer breeze they float at will 
 
 In sparkling coquetry with leaves and flowers, 
 
 A lesson of the mystic wisdom seen 
 
 In their strange, charming changes.* How doth man 
 
 Move as another glorious evidence ! 
 
 That polished shrine, with fire of genius lit, 
 
 • The "grey gnat" undergoes two changes ; in two states, it is a water 
 insect ; what is its head, in one aquatic state, becomes its tail in another ; 
 and vice versa. 
 
200 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Was once but as the quarry-fragments rude. 
 Such are the mystic changes Nature knows : 
 And such the depth and mystery which pertain 
 To the beauteous problem in her book displayed. 
 Mysterious darkness ; there the sage's lamp 
 Emits a ray that deeper makes the shade. 
 We need not wonder, then, if shadows dense 
 Should o'er the plans of Providence repose ; 
 That man its means and operations dark 
 Cannot explain ; or that his lantern dim 
 Should fail to light that vast and awful realm 
 Of mystery. 
 
 By natural law 'tis oft 
 (As all can witness at their will) 
 That Providence works out its wise designs, 
 And by its ordinary moral rule. 
 Behold the invalid, with trembling steps. 
 And languid eye, forgetful of the fire 
 Which once did dwell and revel there ; man reaps, 
 (How oft !) in watchfulness and pain, the fruits 
 Of crude imprudences and sins that laughed 
 In free and riotous recklessness, in years 
 Long past committed. Hours and days, 
 By follies wasted and consumed, are borne 
 (As torn and scattered pages in the blast,) 
 Resistlessly away unto the grave 
 Of past Eternity, which swallows all ; 
 But pallid sorrows, like avenging ghosts, 
 Which scorn the prison-house of death, pursue 
 
PROVIDENCE. 201 
 
 And overtake their victim — bid him look 
 
 On memories saddening, and upon the page 
 
 Of Hope, once fair and pictured, now defaced 
 
 And blotted with sad stains and tears ; his frame, 
 
 Meanwhile, with fevering pains and varied ills 
 
 Often harassed. The inebriate mark ; 
 
 And in his trembling nerve, his morbid flush, 
 
 His tyrannizing craving, phrenzied mind. 
 
 His blighted happiness, extinguished love, 
 
 His shattered fortune and tormenting ills 
 
 Maturing early, it may be, in death — 
 
 Behold in these how Providence o'errules, 
 
 Thus hallowing Nature priestess of His wrath. 
 
 To warn and punish. Such the mournful course 
 
 Of one who yields unto the wayward force 
 
 Of appetite unchecked : as when the stream, 
 
 Laughing in sunny freedom, sparkles on, 
 
 Inviting prophecies of a long career, 
 
 Amid the fruitful vales where harvests bend 
 
 Beside the placid wave, and cities shine 
 
 In marble beauty by the glimmering stream ; 
 
 But from such destiny turns soon aside. 
 
 Its bright tide squanders in the thirsty sand. 
 
 Or, with a frenzied, fearful plunge, it sinks 
 
 Raving and lost in caverns dark, which man 
 
 Hath never with a mortal foot explored : 
 
 They who beside its rivulet's bank rejoiced. 
 
 In horror start : its waves, in yonder vales, 
 
 Shall bear no precious freight, nor by its glass 
 
 Shall loveliness behold her smiling charms. 
 
202 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 And weave her tresses with the wild-flowers sweet. 
 
 But in the pleasing picture opposite, 
 
 Behold how industry and temperance, 
 
 (With wheaten wreaths and dewy roses crowned) 
 
 And noble, hallowed virtues, gain the meed 
 
 Of blest prosperity, and win her smiles, 
 
 And enter, e'en in mortal guise, the courts 
 
 Where happiness in flower-wreathed beauty reigns ! 
 
 Yon star of clear and kindly beam that floats 
 
 Upon the dewy verge of heaven, shall know 
 
 No sudden downfall, no perplexed career ; 
 
 But, in the silvery triumph of its course, 
 
 Shall grow familiar with the heights above, 
 
 And add its glad notes to the music there, 
 
 And burn its golden lamp in the azure dome. 
 
 The imprudent recklessness of Nature's laws 
 
 Sows disappointment and sharp misery oft ; 
 
 And, hence, disease and death ; which, pitiless. 
 
 Prey, now upon the form mature, and now 
 
 Seal infancy's sweet eyes in marble sleep, 
 
 And cloud in pearly whiteness those rich glows 
 
 Of dawn-like beauty lately on its cheek. 
 
 But, ere we note that Heaven o'errules for good 
 
 The deep shades flitting o'er the path of life. 
 
 And oft, hy special intervention^ dims. 
 
 The face of happiness by sad eclipse. 
 
 And agitates with vexed disquietude life's calm, 
 
 I will a tale rehearse which tells a strange 
 
 But not unfrequent incident in life ; 
 
 It is a chapter whose marked picture oft 
 
PROVIDENCE. 203 
 
 (Though modified) recurs in life's full book : 
 Such sunshine and such shadow often fly 
 In hurried chase across man's varying way. 
 
 The morning-gleams unclouded flash 
 
 Athwart the voicefal skies ; 
 And glad as childhood's laughter, dash 
 
 The waves in glittering dyes. 
 Unloose the cable ! this bright day 
 Invites us to our watery way, 
 
 Where morning spreads her golden sheens 
 lingering friends, a fond farewell ! 
 We go, swift-borne o'er ocean's swell. 
 In distant climes awhile to dwell 
 
 Amid their storied scenes. 
 
 A fond farewell to all we love. 
 The pomp of western skies above, 
 The grandeur of the woods below, 
 The dizzy crags and mighty flow 
 
 Of kingly Hudson's stream. 
 Adieu unto the scenes, where first 
 Our infant eyes the blossoms saw 
 In April sunbeams softly burst : 
 Adieu unto the spot where erst, 
 In after times, we fondly swore 
 To cherish one for evermore ; 
 And to the hallowed scene where Love 
 Connubial fondness pledged to prove, — 
 Admired all other scenes above, 
 
204 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Upon our native shore. 
 Farewell the city's crowded ways, 
 
 And our familiar haunts ; 
 The gardens where the bird and breeze, 
 Like playmates revel 'mid the trees. 
 And charm the ear with rural lays ; 
 Adieu the holy shrine where prays 
 The loving, that we may not want 
 Heaven's kindly arms around us cast, 
 When we are rocking 'mid the blast. 
 
 Upon the furious seas. 
 
 The shore retires ; they onward sweep. 
 
 Borne by a rushing power sublime ; 
 And, lost amid the circling deep, 
 Down sinks, behind, the highland steep 
 
 Some loved in burning youth to climb. 
 Then nature's leafless waste was lit 
 With social merriment and wit. 
 Which nought for days did intermit ; 
 The lovely there were with the gay, 
 
 Marked warnings that their hearts be wary ; 
 For, the fair, I trow, were not, that day, 
 When floating on their ocean way, 
 'Mid the native foam where Love arose, 
 Quite thoughtless of her genial glows. 
 
 Or of their smiling witcheries chary. 
 
 And some lay down at night to dream 
 Of Europe's legendary lands ; 
 
PROVIDENCE. 205 
 
 And in the entrancing hour did seem 
 
 To tread upon the strands ; 
 They saw her ancient cities rise 
 With hoary towers towards the skies, — 
 
 The crumbling pomp of ages gone ; 
 They heard the nightingale at eve 
 Chant from old walls where ivies weave 
 Romantic garlands fit to wreathe 
 
 A poet's funeral stone. 
 And some within the abbey's walls, 
 (Death's statue-ornamented halls,) 
 Fancied they stood, where spirits glide 
 Of mighty bards and kings, who died 
 
 To rest 'neath glory's palls. 
 
 Some saw in dreams the sacred spot 
 Where rests the honored dust of Scott, 
 
 And where Childe Harold's bones. 
 They saw the Norman relics grand 
 Start up to Sleep's mysterious wand, 
 Where knelt of old the knightly band 
 
 Seen sculptured on the stones, — 
 Whose chivalrous glory, like the dash 
 
 Of waves upon the risen shore 
 Which once in plumy light did flash 
 Like warrior's streaming, silvery sash, 
 
 Is gone forever. 
 And some to whose enthusiast soul 
 
 Art's beckoning glories called from far, 
 Beheld in dreams of sweet control 
 
206 PEOVIDENCE 
 
 Her wonders to the eye unroll 
 
 And glow like morning with her star. 
 They saw in Holy Mary's fane 
 The ancient gods of Raphael shine, 
 Great Jove with awful mien divine, 
 And Mars, who now to saints resign 
 The honors of their reign.* 
 
 They saw, by modern genius lit, 
 Bendeman's seer 'mid ruins sit, 
 Zion's heart-breaking fall to mourn ; 
 
 And Delaroche's prison-view. 
 And Scheffer's sweet and glorious group, — 
 Jesus consoling all who stoop 
 
 For his pure blessings warm to sue, 
 The slave, the sick, the chained, the worn, 
 
 Athirst for heavenly dew. 
 In visions, by the midnight brought, 
 
 Antinous with lofty port 
 In thoughts' commanding grandeur stood ; 
 
 And Psyche's head divinely wrought. 
 With the soul's pensive beauty wooed ; 
 Again ; and Love, upon her lip 
 
 The essence of his spirit gave, 
 While she, the enrapturing gift to sip, 
 
 Unto the god in fondness clave. 
 
 But some in tenderer dreams than these, 
 Beguile the silent hours of night ; 
 
 * An allnsion to a design of the Great Master. 
 
PROVIDENCE. 207 
 
 The hands of parted friends they seize, 
 
 And weep in luxury at the sight : 
 0, sweeter than the flattering song 
 
 Which wakes a maiden from her sleep, 
 And doth its melting verse prolong, 
 
 And in the soul of passion steep, — 
 Is the rich gush of joy that fills 
 
 The heart abroad when kindred meet ; 
 Strange and cold scenes are 'round, but thrills 
 
 Of bliss and love their accents greet. 
 'Tis like the joy the Warsaw maid 
 
 Knew when the crimson day was past, 
 Beholding her brave lover's blade 
 
 In triumph o'er him cast, — 
 Himself the nation's anthem singing, 
 
 In hope that Poland now was free, 
 Since the fierce strife, whose praise was ringing, 
 
 Had foiled Diebitsch and caused to flee 
 The Russian's swarming bands. 
 
 But hours passed on : the giant swell 
 
 Betokened danger on the wing : 
 And the cold blasts began to tell 
 
 In their far muttering. 
 The story of their strength and wrath, 
 And foaming glory of their path ; 
 Now rush the reinless steeds of heaven 
 Before the whirlwind chariot driven, j^^^ 
 
 As maddened by the thunder's crack 
 
208 PBOVIDENCE 
 
 And swift upon their wreck-strown track, 
 
 As falling stars at even. 
 An awful crash ! the slumberers start, 
 
 And spring upon the flooded deck ; 
 When the wild woe of woman's heart 
 
 Was heard above the wreck ! 
 What glassy tower above them rose ? 
 
 It was the iceberg's fearful bulk ; 
 And like an avalanche of snows, 
 
 It whelmed the crashing hulk. 
 One moment shrieked the pallid crowd, 
 
 " God of love, in mercy save !" 
 Another, — and vexed billows loud 
 
 Roared o'er their hopeless grave. 
 
 thou of pictured dreams, — the bride ! 
 
 Where now the visions soft you saw, 
 Flushing in beauty, like the tide 
 Beneath the morning's splendors wide, 
 Lovely and winning as the blush 
 Which lately on that cheek did flush, — 
 
 As fair as truth e'er wore '? 
 Sweet art shall wreathe domestic bowers. 
 And fountains deck with lovely flowers, 
 
 But not for eyes of thine : 
 For, friendship yearning after thee, 
 When fear shall turn to certainty, 
 With its hot, tearful eyes shall see 
 
 (How hard that loved one to resign !) 
 Far in the caverns of the deep 
 
PROVIDENCE. 209 
 
 Thy bridal beauty in the sleep 
 
 That none except the Lord Divine, 
 Can rouse with new vitality.* 
 
 'Tis thus th' imprudent, eager haste of man, 
 
 Intoxicate with dreams of sudden wealth, 
 
 And flushed with hot and prayerless thirst of good. 
 
 Is bitterly reproved ; his recklessness 
 
 Of life's high value, by the dread results f 
 
 Which leave their legacies of memories dire. 
 
 Is branded with its guilt, — the lesson taught, 
 
 That happiness is but a flickering light 
 
 Which dances on the sullen waves of Time, 
 
 And life itself, in all its full-blown strength 
 
 With crown of flowering hopes, is as a rose 
 
 Pluck'd in a moment by a passer's hand. 
 
 And scattered on the hurrying current's wave ; 
 
 A sparkling chalice brimmed with wine that's drain'd. 
 
 E'en in an instant, by the quenchless thirst 
 
 Of Death and sable-stoled forgetfulness. 
 
 Mourn ! in thy lonely chamber, mourn, and tell 
 
 Bereaved one, thy sorrows by thy sobs 
 
 To Nature's ear, till changeful April sweet. 
 
 Weeping to miss the flowers that last year bloomed, 
 
 Which died and were not sown again, 
 
 * This piece was written with reference to the steamship "President ;" 
 a bride was among the lost. 
 
 t These disasters are here attributed to their usual cause, unfitness in the 
 appointments personal or material, permitted thro' a mercenary and reck- 
 less spirit in owners and their employees. 
 14 
 
210 PEOVIDENCB. 
 
 Refrains her grief at sight of woe like thine ; 
 
 Mourn sore, bereaved one ; but now confess 
 
 The heart's devotion should be trained towards Heaven, 
 
 Not wreathed profusely 'round earth's fading forms ; 
 
 Before its crumbling shrines the brightest fires 
 
 The breast e'er knows must not be lavished thus. 
 
 Through special intervention, righteous Heaven, 
 
 Which, tho' in bright and spotless vesture robed 
 
 Of awful justice, oft decrees in love. 
 
 And with its nectar sweetens all the draught 
 
 Which bitterly is mingled for the lip ; — 
 
 By special breath and word of Providence, — 
 
 By tjie assault of woes which do not dog 
 
 Always the slimy steps of vice and chafe 
 
 The dangerous ease of lukewarm souls, — by these, 
 
 By dark afflictions winged upon their path, 
 
 Speeding on pinions wet with poison-dews, 
 Or, rushing as upon a tempest's form, 
 Darkening all joy beneath the awful shade, 
 
 All-wise and righteous Heaven, th' adored and blest,. 
 Reproves, and warns, and purifies. 
 
 But hark ! 
 What murmurings from afar, from History's dim 
 And shadowy vistas steal upon the ear ! 
 The muffled thunders from a time long past, 
 O'er which hang thick the webs of dusty age, 
 Still reach us with their solemn, earthquake tones ! 
 We hear the tumult of a world o'erthrown, 
 When from the frowning blackness of the heavens 
 
PROVIDENCE. 211 
 
 The ground affrighted sank, and fountains deep, 
 
 Fed from the furious skies or distant seas, 
 
 Disdained their earthly barriers and rejoiced 
 
 In their dread license ; as some fev'rish dream 
 
 That hovers o'er the sick man's couch, lit up 
 
 With wild, impassioned scenes, dissolves away 
 
 Extinguished in the blank and frozen night 
 
 Of death's long sleep, — so, soon, the pomp of power. 
 
 And glittering shows of pleasure's haunts, and fires 
 
 Of turbid passion and the clash of strife. 
 
 Were quenched and tombed in ruin wild and dark. 
 
 More dread and fearful was the flaming woe 
 
 Which on the wings of smoky clouds came down, 
 
 And brooded with a suffocating plague 
 
 Where couched the ancient cities of the plain. 
 
 Then, checked in her career of strife and lust, 
 
 The blood-stained eye of vice beheld the threats 
 
 Depictured in the angry skies, and heard 
 
 The rush of fiery torrents ; Pleasure's cup 
 
 Conceived a venom in its ruby depths ; 
 Dropt from her hand the timbrel and the lyre. 
 
 And on her cheek the morn-glow faded back 
 
 To twilight pale of fear, and grief, and woe. 
 
 And Egypt's pride, and tyranny, and chain 
 
 Of gross idolatries drew down the bolts 
 
 Of Heaven's avenging lightnings. Judgment oped 
 
 Her gloomy book of wrath, and turned 
 
 The leaves of many chapters written there. 
 
 And read their sentences ; till white and cold 
 
212 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 The foam lay on the breathless lip and cheek 
 Of Egypt's monarch, and the sea-weeds bound 
 With their salt wreaths the noble's brow ; 
 The horseman and the horse alike slept low 
 In twilight caverns of the Red Sea's flood. 
 As when the falcon with swift, eager wing. 
 Pursues some trembling bird which has escaped 
 With ruffled plumage his remorseless clutch ; 
 Now in some narrow gorge the affrighted thing 
 He shadows with his swooping form, when quick, 
 From unseen hand, an arrow shot, his breast 
 Fatally pierces : down he drops and beats 
 The stream below with quivering wing, and stains 
 Its limpid waves with crimson : free and glad 
 His victim flies afar to peaceful groves, 
 And there his rapture chants at close of day. 
 
 So Providence, again, with high control, 
 
 Aiming at justice and at warnings, called 
 
 The raging tide of battle forth, and poured 
 
 Its fury on the Amorites : as dark 
 
 The frown of Fate and ruinous : it stormed 
 
 Against those principalities corrupt ; 
 
 And they before the torrent strong dissolved. 
 
 And night's eternal shade their glory quenched. 
 
 Ye harps, that in the desolated halls 
 Of Zion's holy land still mouldering hang. 
 Your potent melodies in silence wrapt, — 
 Awake ! and tell how Israel's glory bloomed. 
 
PROVIDENCE. 213 
 
 Beneath the smiles of Providence afresh, 
 Or, withered in the shadow of its frown, 
 As either their paternal virtues grew, 
 Or, pride, and covetousness, and unbelief, 
 As poisonous fruit, hung on their ancient vine 
 And breathed their sickening, fatal odors forth. 
 The fruitful pomp of autumn, victory, peace. 
 Were to their bosoms given ; or, plagues and war ; 
 While Famine's pallid, shivering shade enforced 
 Her awful rule, the tender light of love 
 And joy domestic darkening in their shrines ; 
 With living spectres peopling every home. 
 How did corruption in Achaia break 
 In fevering and sore-vexing civil strife ; 
 The inward fires, out-bursting, rock the land ; 
 And foreign, artful tyranny o'erwhelm 
 Her peace and freedom in ensanguined woes. 
 And veil the triumph of her morning star, 
 When Greece her early virtues long had lost ! 
 When avarice and reckless lust of power 
 Had stained th' inscription of an earlier age 
 With blackened hues of guilt mature, at length 
 Rome, too, the poisoned chalice from the hand 
 Of Justice took and drank the fearful woe 
 Which pestilence and rapine brought ; and see ! 
 Her purple robes were dyed afresh, in blood. 
 The once bright blaze sank in a dark red cloud : 
 Th' imperial crown, by lightning struck, down fell. 
 
214 PROVIDENCE, 
 
 But individual rewards the Power that rules 
 
 Scatters throughout its empire ; as, when bowed 
 
 In penitential sackcloth, David sought 
 
 The life of his young innocent in vain, 
 
 And plead against the solemn voice of Death 
 
 Which called that fluttering, tender soul to rest 
 
 In the dim, voiceless chambers of his vast 
 
 And peopled prison-palace ; — or, as when. 
 
 Struck by the arrows of the bow of Heaven, 
 
 And bleeding with the spirit's viewless wounds, 
 
 All sightless and in chains, Manasseh mourned 
 
 His kingdom lost, — by penitence regained. 
 
 As when the parent, chastened by His hand 
 
 Who doth " rebuke and chasten whom he loves," 
 
 The death-struck happiness of home deplores, 
 
 Or, health and fortune blasted ; till new smiles 
 
 Of providential goodness do reward 
 
 The growth of faith and faithfulness restored. 
 
 And home's sweet, joyous music wakes again, — 
 
 Its leafless bowers leaf out and flower anew. 
 
 And hope's late moulted wings are fledged once more, 
 
 And with their pristine lustre buoyant float. 
 
 Our own free country, — what shall be her fate ? 
 As sure as desolation marks the track 
 Of th' locust cloud which blotteth out the Sun ; 
 As sure as droop the flowers and blooming shrubs, 
 And dies the gorgeous beauty of the groves 
 When northern winds blow icy cold at night, 
 So surely, if eJBfeminacy, vice, 
 
PROVIDENCE. 215 
 
 And mindless superstition wide prevail, 
 Will sad decay invade the strength august 
 Of national prosperity ; the nation's powers 
 (Her noble crown of dignity downcast) 
 Suffer deplorable eclipse, and harmony, 
 Justly we dread, in furious strife be lost. 
 As th' skies' fair image in th' awakened deep : 
 While knowledge, virtue, piety will blend 
 The fabric fair of freedom and of power 
 To strengthen ; nursed beside such streams, 
 Fed by such living founts, the stalwart tree 
 Will deeply strike its roots and raise on high 
 A form majestical. The unseen Hand, 
 If Error's grovelling serpent-brood are nursed 
 Amid the filth of vice, will be upraised 
 Against our peace ; and there will be ordained 
 In Justice' chambers dread the scourge, and fire, 
 And thunderbolts of wrath to scathe and waste ; 
 But plenty and protection shall be given, 
 (As shields of gold filled high with Ceres' gifts,) 
 Where virtue, righteousness, and wisdom rule. 
 
 In the soft beauty of the twilight hour. 
 When the deep hush of night with witching power 
 Came with the shadows gray to veil the flush 
 Of evening's tender gleams and purple blush, 
 As when from locks unbound some maiden throws 
 A shadow deep across her cheek's rich rose. 
 Or, as when o'er her pleasant love-dreams fair 
 A thought of tearful sadness comes to bear 
 
216 PROVIDENCE 
 
 The rosy light of hope and bliss away, — 
 
 At that dim hour, devoted to the sway 
 
 Of the fond power of dreams that shun the day, 
 
 At thought's still Sabbath, came again the theme, 
 
 And with it, of the future scarce a dream, 
 
 Kather a vision which had features caught 
 
 Of what the seers of olden time had taught : 
 
 But, first, a form symbolical I saw, 
 
 Kising majestic from the cloud of war ; 
 
 The crimson glory of the western sky 
 
 Shone o'er its wings and lit its piercing eye ; 
 
 Fresh was its vigor, upward swift it soared, 
 
 'Till in the starry blue its form careered ; 
 
 It seemed the monarch of that western sky, 
 
 A type of victory, power, prosperity. 
 
 Full many a captive chained, with eager eye, 
 
 Beheld that form in boundless freedom fly, 
 
 And longed to rise and soar where neither chains 
 
 Nor stormy thunder-clouds the flight restrain. 
 
 Full many, gathering boldness from the sight. 
 
 Unfurled their wings to take that noble flight ; 
 
 But Tyranny's fell lightnings then appeared. 
 
 The fresh, fair hopes of Liberty were seared. 
 
 Their strength was blasted by the rage of Power, 
 
 Their dreams of glory darkened in an hour ; 
 
 Except that some, despite the fiery shower. 
 
 Arose to partial freedom, then to show 
 
 That ignorance and vice must ever throw 
 
 Clouds of embarrassment and mutual strife 
 
 Around the pathway of a nation's life. 
 
PROVIDENCE. 217 
 
 Then, in the vision, I beheld, in time, 
 
 How Justice hurled her burning ire sublime ; — 
 
 How Tyranny, rebuked, relaxed its hold, — 
 
 Tho' Error raged within her ramparts bold, 
 
 And still her crimsoned lance held poised to pierce 
 
 The heart of Truth disdained with accents fierce, — 
 
 Till, by convulsion dread of earth and heaven, 
 
 The fatal blow by power Supreme was given , 
 
 And in the abyss of deep, eternal night 
 
 The stars of fire malign were gulfed from sight. 
 
 The smithies murk where chains were forged to bind 
 
 The .eagle-pinions of the human mind. 
 
 The prisons, armories, and forts, and tower, 
 
 Where victims wailed, and blood-stained steel the power 
 
 Remorseless of the three-crowned Error told ; 
 
 All these, both palaces and strongholds bold. 
 
 Were in a fiery gulf of ruin hurled. 
 
 Amid the joy and terror of the world. 
 
 The birds obscene in undisturbed repose 
 
 Nestled their young where Rome's old courts arose. 
 
 And silence brooded there, (save when from far 
 
 Of Truth's and Freedom's hymn of joy the ear 
 
 Of Nature listening, genial strains to hear, 
 
 Caught the last swell of some full chorus grand ;) 
 
 Wild life and solitude possessed the land. 
 
 The rich and glorious calm of joy and peace 
 
 Followed that day of strife ; release 
 
 From all the fevering woes of war was given. 
 
 And health and plenty, too, with truth from heaven. 
 
218 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 The harp that twanged with notes of discord wild, 
 
 Renewed the song with strains of sweetness mild ; 
 
 And He who whelmed in death the scornful foe, 
 
 Who once himself was slain in bitter woe, 
 
 And had by just decree been clothed with power, 
 
 As is the sun with glory's matchless dower, 
 
 (Peerless, except that he shall see that day, 
 
 " Ashamed," an orb of purer, brighter ray, 
 
 "Who, 'midst the envious clouds whose hate oppressed, 
 
 Went down bestained with bloody steams to rest, 
 
 Only to rise upon a cloudless morn. 
 
 And ope of brightest day the glorious dawn) — 
 
 This orb of power, in majesty divine, 
 
 Amid the throng around him called to shine, 
 
 Unchallenged reigned. His might the slumbers broke 
 
 In death's dark courts, and tore his grievous yoke 
 
 From off the children who yet drew their breath. 
 
 Living to love, but subjects unto death.* 
 
 0, Zion's mount ! no more thou'lt bear thy shame ; 
 
 Renew the splendors of thine ancient name ; 
 
 Shake off the foes who have thy ruins trod, 
 
 And smile to welcome thy descending God ! 
 
 More brilliant than an Eastern poet's dream. 
 
 Or than Hope's morning visions, then shall seem 
 
 Thy glories and prosperity. Ye skies ! 
 
 Whose wondering orbs saw Bethlehem's star arise ; 
 
 Who 'round its infant beauty softly bent, 
 
 * " Subject to bondage." St. Paul. Subject i. e. to the tyranny of the 
 fear of death. Living believers (" we who are alive ") " shall be changed " 
 at His coming, &c. 
 
PROVIDENCE. 219 
 
 While with its beams were love's red watch-lights blent, 
 
 (Like earth-born wishes and solicitudes, 
 
 Mixing their glow with light of hopes which brood 
 
 With sacred, heaven-born beauty in the mind 
 
 Of the Virgin-mother, Mary, pure and kind) — 
 
 Ye Orient skies have ne'er gazed on a scene 
 
 Like that which ye shall see that day, I ween ; 
 
 No festal life and pomp like that your light 
 
 Hath ever lit and opened to the sight : 
 
 No blazoned page like that in Time's great book, 
 
 With its rich, golden scenes, the eye e'er took, 
 
 And showed such proof how Providence brings forth 
 
 The blessings which it promised unto worth. 
 
 And makes the travailing hours of woe to bear 
 
 A progeny of never-fading joys. Appear ! 
 
 golden age restored ! and victory bring. 
 
 And triumph's splendors, unto Zion's King, 
 
 Whose throne, upreared where David reigned of yore, 
 
 Shall be sustained by love as well as power, 
 
 And garlanded, as by celestial flowers. 
 
 With clusters thick of spirits glad and free. 
 
 Clad in the robes of immortality. 
 
 The river which sends forth in yonder vale 
 
 Its murmurings in the woods, and hides its stream 
 
 In thickest shades, shall sooner ever fail 
 
 To find an ocean where beneath the beam 
 
 Of undimmed day 'twill spread, than shall the ways 
 
 Of Providence, through every misty maze, 
 
 To th' period grand of vast awards to flow j 
 
220 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Yea, sooner shall the orb of day ne'er know, 
 After its setting in autumnal haze, 
 A morrow's rising : sooner far delays, 
 And e'er her nest and cooling eggs forgets 
 The anxious bird which storm uncouth besets, 
 And never brings to perfect life and form 
 The lately-cherished charge she kept so warm. 
 
 Wise, just and good, the Providential rule 
 Demands that we our hearts and lives should school 
 To reverence, and trust, and fruitful love. 
 That we may share its great awards above, 
 As well as here its guardian goodness prove. 
 
POEM. 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE HUNTINGTON FESTIVAL AT NORWICH-TOWN, CT., 
 SEPTEMBER 3, 1857. 
 
 Wedlock ! fond source of pure relationship, 
 
 The fountain-haunt of many a bliss, where throngs 
 
 Of tender dreams and shapes of happiness 
 
 Were by Creative Love designed to brood ; 
 
 Wedlock ! with mention of thy name, and thoughts 
 
 Of thy pure influences and concord fond 
 
 Well may I ope this strain ; so that my verse 
 
 Shall be, tho' graceless, like a stream that springs 
 
 Where sweet retirement is embowered 'mid blooms 
 
 Which breathe ambrosial odors. 'Round that bond 
 
 Which marriage ties with silken knot 
 
 Heaven throws its sanction, interweaving it 
 
 As a thread of gold throughout the bond beloved. 
 
 Type of Messiah's union with His Church ! 
 
 (Comparison with holy lessons rife, 
 
 And teaching us how fond and pure should be 
 
 The union of the hearts which wedlock binds.) 
 
 See'st thou yon river that adown the vale 
 
 Flows on in majesty, wherein suffused 
 
 The soft and blushing glory of the morning rests 
 
 Till wave and sunshine-richness seem dissolved 
 
 Into one stream of light and power ! So, in one tide 
 
222 POEM. 
 
 The affections and desires should flow 
 Of those whom Hymeneal bonds have joined, 
 Mingling and glowing in harmonious stream. 
 See'st thou yon stars that seem in heaven to meet, 
 Blending their rays in soft, unquenching beams ? * 
 Across that azure sea above they float, 
 "With even movement keeping union e'er ; 
 The zenith finds them still in commune rapt ; 
 Their voice according and their light still blent 
 When down the western hill they sink and bid 
 The watchers or the sky-charmed sage " good-night :" 
 So, like two voices, in some song of home 
 Where music lavishes her tenderest heart. 
 Should flow harmoniously the wedded lives. 
 With awe-struck recognition of His laws 
 And of that mystic union to God's Son, 
 (In marriage stainless and love-lighted typed,) 
 And with conviction of the holiness 
 Which unto wedlock's sweet alliance clings. 
 Our fathers, of the earlier days, did found 
 Our wide-spread, populous family. 
 And here th' eternal truths of virtue taught. 
 Here, doubtless, to the young, the parents sage 
 The grand, ennobling doctrines of Heaven's word 
 Unfolded, telling to the listening soul 
 Of Him whose Spirit everywhere doth brood, — 
 O'er the wild haunts and lonely rocky wastes, 
 As well as where bright Civilization sheds 
 A flood of luxury and glory o'er 
 • I do not know who first used this comparison. 
 
POEM. 223 
 
 The populous realms of life : alike where flows 
 
 The murmuring chant of streams that ne'er 
 
 Mirrored the snowy sail ; and where ships superb 
 
 In the crowded river's glassy depths ride deep 
 
 By reason of the varied, glittering spoils 
 
 Which Commerce from far-distant shores has won. 
 
 Here breathed they to the curious mind of youth 
 
 The story of the holy men of old, 
 
 Who, in the childhood of our race, when yet 
 
 Narrow the river of corruption ran 
 
 Down Time's grave-margined stream, the turbid tide 
 
 Nobly resisted, and for Truth and God 
 
 Inscribed and broad unfurled their vessel's flag. 
 
 The eventful course of years they told. 
 
 And marked their solemn lessons ; then the tale 
 
 Most woeful, yet most triumphing, they breathed, 
 
 Of Him who came to show how God and love 
 
 Could in a human heart reside ; and how 
 
 The fearful gulf which shuts us out from Heaven 
 
 Could, by a cross of wood, be safe bridged o'er, 
 
 Safe unto all who walk by faith's clear star 
 
 And in the love-lit path of righteous life. 
 
 Thus in the ear of listening youth they poured, 
 
 Doubtless, their solemn lessons, and the stamp 
 
 Pressed kindly on the yet impressible heart, 
 
 That, with the noble form of virtue e'er, 
 
 It might conspicuous prove. And so 
 
 In sacred virtue and in industry 
 
 The bases of our family renown and strength 
 
 They wisely, deeply laid. 
 
224 POEM. 
 
 I ween, 
 Like that mysterious tree Ezekiel saw 
 In fruity affluence and strength, that grew 
 Beside the sacred stream in Holy Land, — 
 So flourishes the tribe or house which strikes 
 The roots of its development in sound 
 And healthful virtues ; while its veins 
 Are coursed by energy and living hope. 
 So swells rejoicingly the stream which springs 
 From broad-based hills that rise to seek the sky ; 
 And 'neath the solemn and the mighty shade 
 Of ample ranges, takes its seaward course. 
 While beauty and prosperity smile bright 
 Upon the shore it laves. 
 
 Far o'er the seas, 
 From where the precious sunbeams light the marge 
 Of England's storied waters mirroring 
 The crumbling pomp of feudal walls and gleam 
 Of ivy-mantled towers and fanes, — from scenes 
 Where still the genius of her power in strength 
 August and undecaying rules, they came. 
 The edifice of civilization here 
 And Truth's fair form to rear. The ranks of war ! 
 Dreadful and sad the mission which they haste 
 Upon the fields ensanguined to fulfill ; 
 How sad the light which shines upon the folds 
 Of Victory's banners, — light, which dying hopes 
 And the faint, stifling flames of sinking life 
 Cast with their final flickerings ; and which 
 
POEM. 225 
 
 The fires of ruin dart from crumbling seats 
 
 Where Power was throned and from the ashy wrecks 
 
 Of Art and beauty overwhelmed ! 
 
 But fair and wreathed with blessings is the brow 
 
 Of Christian Civilization ; and the end 
 
 Of her advance claims justly songs and praise. 
 
 Yet should again 
 The august genius of our Freedom sigh 
 O'er her immunities assailed, and call 
 For brave defenders and for sacrifice, — 
 The martial genius of our slumbering sires 
 Would in their sons be seen to wake. 
 
 The angry waves, 
 Storms of the desolate coast, the snows 
 Burying th' inclement shores in ice and gloom, 
 Quenched not their courage or their faith. The dream 
 Of southerly skies and climes might fair 
 Have gleamed and glowed in the mind's atmosphere ; 
 But bleak and wintry was the scowl which gloomed 
 Above the shores where tempests drove their bark. 
 Yet in the cold, forbidding day of grief, 
 They sowed the seed which, smiled upon of heaven, 
 When in the after glory of a summer time 
 It sprouted, grew into flourishing beauty, bloomed 
 And with a wealth of fruitage decked wide boughs. 
 As oaks that wrestle with September's gales, 
 As rocks and crags that battle with the surge, 
 How many were their struggles with the force 
 15 
 
226 POEM. 
 
 Of wild and wintry tempests and the stern 
 And yet enchanting rudeness of the land, 
 O'er which a wierd and dim romance reposed, 
 Romance of its untutored race, the tribes 
 Of plumed and painted swarthy men ! 
 
 The charm 
 Which was breathed forth from those strange scenes 
 And from the picturesque and novel life 
 Which chronicled itself upon Time's chart 
 In that wild realm of wood-girt hills and floods 
 Solemn and mighty and of forest-shadowed plains, 
 Whose silence Civilization scarce had broken, — 
 This charm was then but as a flickering light 
 On the dark cloud of their experience 
 When want and war their feebly-guarded homes 
 Roughly assailed : They nerved themselves for strife ; 
 As from the marble crude the sculptor shapes 
 The form of grandeur and expressive grace ; 
 As from the hideous belchings of the mouth 
 Of flaming mountains and from desolate mines 
 The builder hews in rock and scoria forms 
 Wherewith he raises architectural grace, 
 The soaring pomp of beauty and of strength, — 
 So reared they a prosperity and name 
 Noble for virtue, energy and mind, — 
 Upraised it from amid their trials rough, 
 From elements in natural rudeness found. 
 The murky desolation of the sky 
 Grew bright ; a fair-brow'd day was born, 
 
POEM. 227 
 
 Some still the plough drove in the rugged field ; 
 
 Some in the ranks of war, upon the plains 
 
 Where streamed his banner like a meteor red, 
 
 Drew for their country and their homes their swords ; 
 
 And lit with the bright flashing of their steel 
 
 A path 'mid dark and thorny fields 
 
 To victory and renown. Theirs was a share 
 
 In glory's harvest ; to the flowing stream 
 
 Of our prosperity and name, their sweat 
 
 And their life-currents added : blossoms fair 
 
 To the wreath of literary fame which binds 
 
 America's young brow, some added ; light 
 
 And " orient pearls " of wisdom sowing thick 
 
 In the rude soil of the western world of mind. 
 
 Into th' enchanted palace and the flowery fields 
 
 Of dreamy Romance, some our footsteps led, 
 
 Lighting the scene with graphic charm : 
 
 While Art, (soft-hued, bewitching solacer, 
 
 Of this our stirring, dusty life,) sweet Art 
 
 Wove the rich web of the entrancing dreams 
 
 Which spell-bound some ; while Science, too, ' 
 
 With mien august and face symmetrical 
 
 As Grecian beauty or a Doric fane, 
 
 Commanded reverence and love, and oped 
 
 Unto the awe-struck, gladdened gaze of some 
 
 Her gates magnificent, to the great world 
 
 Of God-stamped wisdom ushering. 
 
 But as the wheel of Time kept rolling, 
 
 And our numbers were increased, — ] 
 
228 POEM. 
 
 To the wide West, rich and glorious, 
 
 A young band their footsteps pressed. 
 
 Some enchanted, where the Mohawk 
 
 In blue lustre seamed the mead, 
 
 Near the sparkle of its waters. 
 
 Tarried, built and sowed the seed ; 
 
 There they prospering were gladdened, 
 
 With the joy of home and love. 
 
 Zoned with children as with flower-wreathes, 
 
 'Till Heaven called of these, above, 
 
 Not a few, fond, lovely spirits 
 
 Which their gentle radiance cast 
 
 O'er the waves of life's swift river, 
 
 Leaving thus a hallowed past. 
 
 When the cares of home were ended, 
 When their toils in State were done, 
 On Religion's breast, they languished, — 
 Life's light quenched, its courses run. 
 
 Others where Lake Erie's billows 
 Bathed in diamond-light its shores ; 
 Or, amid New-Jersey's green glades 
 Found a home. Where ocean roars, 
 
 With " sea spray " gemming grassy meadows, 
 Others in a quiet shrine 
 Their household happiness embowered. 
 To science given and art divine. 
 
POEM. 229 
 
 By the swift Missouri's waters : 
 Where the Thames and Yantic glide ; 
 'Mid New England's northern mountains, 
 Widely spread our prospering tribe. 
 
 As bees unto the hive returning, 
 Though fair flowers they leave for home, 
 So unto their olden homesteads 
 Rich with memories sweet, they come. 
 
 As in spring the joyous swallows 
 Thrilling with their early love. 
 Seek their peaceful, native valleys, — 
 So we come our hearts to prove. 
 
 As the waters brightly sparkling 
 That from hill-sides course away, 
 Gliding on in creek and river 
 Till they're lost 'neath ocean-spray ; 
 
 From that mighty waste returning. 
 Rising in the showery winds. 
 Fall in gladdening streams where erst they 
 Gushed in founts their course to find ; 
 So, from th' western world's wide ocean, 
 From its heaving, restless tide, 
 Hither to their source our kindred 
 Gather thick from every side. 
 
 Hither they've come ; the aged, on whose sight 
 These storied scenes burst with affecting power ; 
 
230 POEM. 
 
 They gazed upon them in youth's rosy light ; 
 Now, in life's autumn and its soberer hour 
 They greet the view again, and they are blest 
 Here by ancestral homes once more to rest. 
 
 Welcome ! ye aged ; in the name of those 
 Whose lot and homes amid these scenes are fixed, 
 Welcome unto this spot where ceaseless flow 
 The quenchless light and stream of memory's mixed 
 But clear associations blest ; the same, 
 Though changed, this spot of olden name. 
 
 Death has been busy, as we have been told, 
 
 Gathering the ripened sheaves to granaries full. 
 
 Those radiant in young bloom beside the old 
 
 He has not shrunk with icy hand to cull ; * 
 
 Like miser antique, rich with ample store. 
 
 Whose pale and covetous clasp seeks more and more. 
 
 But here beside you, are the youthful throng 
 Of sons and daughters, relatives of ours. 
 And those maturer ; unto whom belong 
 The features of the lost ; as in the flowers 
 And fruitage of this year, we see the type 
 Of those that in your youth were fresh and ripe. 
 
 A welcome here our friends extend to all, 
 
 To youth all glowing with its undimmed hopes, 
 
 And those who have responded to the call 
 
 • " He reaps the bearded grain " &c. ^Longfellow. 
 
POEM. 23 1 
 
 To active, thoughtful life of various scopes, — 
 To all may Pleasure pure a sweet return 
 Proffer, full-flowing from her liberal urn. 
 
 Here may you feast, like bees among the flowers, 
 Upon associations old, to memory dear. 
 Gladdened by visions of the vales and bowers 
 And rushing streams you loved in childhood's years. 
 Beauteous and spotless to your fancy rise 
 The forms of lost ones in a heavenly guise ! 
 
 Here may our contact strike etherial sparks, 
 Lighting the scene with wit and blameless glee, 
 Here in this ancient spot may care that carks 
 And all of bitterness and anguish flee ; 
 May love and friendship smile like Eden's morn, 
 And sweet and holy visions here be born. 
 
 May sentiments of pure and sacred worth, 
 
 Breathed forth from prayer, from public thanks and praise. 
 
 Or having 'mid our private converse birth, 
 
 Like gems which 'mid its sand some stream displays ; 
 
 May such now find impressible our hearts, 
 
 And rich and lasting values here impart. 
 
 Here at the ancient hive, may honey true, 
 And gathered from th' eternal fields of Truth, 
 With its uncloying sweets our souls imbue ; 
 Than an elixer true of life and youth 
 
232 POEM. 
 
 More gladdening and enduring in its power ; 
 May sacred beams shine 'mid this festal hour ! 
 
 So may this meeting favor our advance 
 
 In the glad ways of peace and turn the thoughts 
 
 As doves unto the ark where brightly glance 
 
 The sunbeams of the love divine, and sought 
 
 Security of life and pleasure dwells, 
 
 And social joy forever freely wells. 
 
 In that communion noble opened here. 
 Through its pure, glowing spirit may our hearts 
 A foretaste drink of that commune so dear 
 Which Heaven with its undying love imparts ; 
 The silver bonds of kindred now renewed, 
 May they there then all of our own include. 
 
 As flocks, of the like plumage, scattered far 
 By harsh alarms, gather again on high. 
 Cutting with swift and eager wings the air 
 Till their glad voices mingle in the sky, — 
 So, tho' afar dispersed by life's shocks here, 
 May we in heaven's pure air unite fore'er. 
 
 The ocean shall give back its sunken pearls. 
 And every deep the gems engulfed there ; 
 The silenced notes of music wake ; the world 
 Of harmony their strains shall know once more ; 
 The seed which full of virtue fell to earth 
 In a new growth to beauty shall have birth. 
 
POEM. 233 
 
 Yea ; even those timid, youthful thoughts that rose, 
 
 Rose and then fell, like fluttering, half-fledged birds, 
 
 Shall waken yet unto a life that knows 
 
 No death-like darkness, if to holy words 
 
 And kindly they were joined ; those thoughts in might 
 
 Shall revel in th' unclouded realms of light. 
 
 But now 'tis fit this strain should know its close : 
 'Tis fit this stream of humble thought should cease : 
 And yet, perchance, oblivion's thirsty sands 
 May not at once drink up this current spent ; 
 Since from a bosom stirred by love's pure breath 
 These parting words are voiced. 
 
 Ancestral homes ! 
 Tender and beautiful and fond the light 
 Which floats around ye ! Here ajQfections come, 
 Seeking the haunts and homes of buried worth, 
 As life's warm currents seek again the heart, 
 Or as the many echoes their one source. 
 Tombs of my sires,* who in yon graveyard sleep ! 
 There is a voice which in your silence speaks : 
 Amid your darkness and your dust there springs 
 A fresh and lovely light ; and forms beloved 
 Start up and beckon with engaging smiles. 
 
 • The dust of Brig. General Jedediah Huntington, of the Revolutionary 
 service, and late of New London, sleeps in the vault of his father, Maj. 
 General Jabez Huntington, at Norwich-town. Hon. Benj. Huntington, M. 
 C. and Judge of the Supreme Court, is commemorated by a monument 
 near by ; tho' the ashes of that prominent civilian repose among his de- 
 scendants at Rome, N. T. 
 
234 POEM. 
 
 Scenes eloquent and solemn ! ere I part, — 
 
 Ere from my mind your picture floats to rest 
 
 Beneath a shadow for the while, may hopes 
 
 And strong resolves burn bright to meet 
 
 The sainted who have found the soul's sweet rest ; 
 
 "Whose spirits, purified and lighted up 
 
 With the image of " the Sun of righteousness," 
 
 Have risen at His calling, as the drops 
 
 Of dew that image forth the Sun, 
 
 Rise at his summons to the glorious skies. 
 
EXCERPS FROM A POEM PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE SIGMA 
 PHI AT HAMILTON COLLEGE, 1841. 
 
 THE aENEROtrs VIRTUES FIT US FOR LIFE, AND INVOKE THE INDULGENCE AND 
 FAVOR OF PROVIDENCE. 
 
 But if, by blighting all the buds that youth 
 
 Reveals of guilelessness and trust and love 
 
 Guiltless of mercenary stains, we seek 
 
 To fit the heart for life's " cold, trying years," 
 
 For happiness and true prosperity. 
 
 In contact vsrith a stern and wily world, — 
 
 We act the part of folly : 'twere to pluck 
 
 From off the new-fledged bird the plumage fair 
 
 "Which gilds its untried wings, because those wings 
 
 Must shortly beat the storm whose gusts would shake 
 
 With rudeness, to their delicateness unmatched, 
 
 The feathers of its trust. But rather, let 
 
 The young bird, taught, in his own plumage rise : 
 
 Behold ! doth not the awful King of Storms 
 
 Smile thro' the terrors of his battling clouds ; 
 
 And, won with innocency's beauty rare, 
 
 Charm the wild air to silence by a word ! 
 
 The soft winds gently press the silken plumes. 
 
 And the glad pilgrim thro' the yielding air 
 
 Floats on His breath towards everlasting bowers. 
 
 What though, with borrowed feathers from some bird 
 
236 E X C E R P s 
 
 Fierce-hearted, gloating e'er on dreams of prey, 
 
 It, with a struggle, baiSed oft, should reach 
 
 At last the heights long sought ? from thence, the flash 
 
 Of Heaven's avenging bolt may hurl it down ; 
 
 The meed of spoliation, cold distrust, 
 
 And cherished heartlessness, and selfish pride. 
 
 THE NOBLE AND UNSUSPECTING. 
 
 * * * What tho' the world should deem 
 This breast confiding like a citadel 
 With its portcullis up, its bolts all drawn. 
 And warriors slumbering on the watch-towers high 1 
 What tho' the selfish should, insidious, plot 
 To cheat this trusting heart of all its hopes ! 
 Let all this be. Far better that the shrines 
 Of Trust and Love should smoke with sacrifice 
 Of their own worshippers and priests, 
 In martyrdom most bright consumed, than that 
 No step should break the silence of their aisles, 
 No heart should live the votary of their cause, 
 Nor tell how rich their incense-fires ; how fair, 
 How passing sweet the triumphs of their power. 
 
 THE POWER OF BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 What mystic power shall bathe in slumber deep 
 
 The throng of passions harsh that haunt 
 
 The shadows of disquietude within ? What glance. 
 
 Refulgent with celestial fire, shall melt 
 
 Pride's frosty barriers, and the frame 
 
 Of cold formalities which rules a world 
 
E X C E R P s . 237 
 
 In custom's mighty despotism bound ? 
 Upon what throne, in royalty and light, 
 Sits that etherial power whose voice can bid 
 The winter of the heart dissolve and smile 
 Into the genial spring ? Hail, Love, supreme 
 Of all the virtues that came smiling down 
 With the creating word, when light, the sign 
 And prophet of thy mild benificence, 
 Shot o'er the icy deep ; when man uprose 
 In beauty from the dust, and stood sublime, 
 A glorious temple for thyself upreared. 
 Hail ! Love, the happiest spirit, and the first 
 In might as well as birth ; " beneath thy steps " 
 Immortal " roses spring ;" Elysian airs 
 Float from thy spreading plumes. * * * 
 
 HONOR TO THE MORAL CONQUEROR. 
 
 With truth sublime wrote Zion's regal sage : 
 " Full mightier is he who rules his heart 
 Than he who takes a city." Then, ye stars ! 
 Flash forth from 'mid th' eternal flowers 
 Which bind the moral victor's brow ; 
 Deep be the reverence which meets his glance ; 
 And rich with poetry's divinest glows, 
 The song which tells the story of his life. 
 
 THE AIMS OF CHARITY. 
 
 An aim that tends 
 To sweeten what may still be sweet ; to soothe 
 The cankerings which care and sorrow cause ; 
 
238 E X c E E r s 
 
 Of peace the wounded elements to heal ; 
 
 Lower paradise to earth, and calm the tide 
 
 Of human life that, in its clearer face. 
 
 May dwell the images of heaven, to glass 
 
 In fairer lines man's origin and end, 
 
 The glories of his destiny and source. 
 
 Nor does the value of results embrace 
 
 Solely these beauties of a moral change ; 
 
 But with a working, beautiful and strange, 
 
 The generous emotions tend to grace 
 
 Man's motions all and lineaments of face. 
 
 In this the heart and mind alike unite ; 
 
 So, light within an alabaster vase ; 
 
 The pleasant glories thro' the sculpture glow. 
 
 And make the urn a brighter picture show. 
 
 Nor only do these influences bright 
 
 Breathe thro' the mien and face their charm and light, 
 
 But with sweet subtlety conspire to mould 
 
 The faults of features into those less bold ; 
 
 A soft and intellectual meaning finds 
 
 Within the countenance its lasting shrines. 
 
 'Round beauty's footsteps and upon her head, 
 
 Her magic loveliness Love seems to shed ; 
 
 The stamp divine is fixed upon the face. 
 
 Throughout posterity's ennobled race ; 
 
 The heritage, in all, forever seen. 
 
 Gives to humanity a nobler mien, 
 
 A brow more like the throne of love and thought, 
 
 A lip to kindlier expression wrought. 
 
 While eyes of softer and of lovelier glance 
 
 Reveal the deeps where Eden's sunbeams dance. 
 
POETRY AND ROMANCE OF THE INDIAN COUNTRY AND ITS 
 
 TRIBES. 
 
 PART I, 
 
 WONDERS AND GLORIES OF THE WESTERN WORLD. 
 
 Oh, Solitude ! thy realm is surely here ; 
 Thy vast and noiseless pinions here extend, 
 Brooding o'er nature's majesty. The air 
 Is wonderful, and boundless in its range ; 
 But here do earth's dominions vie with those. 
 How sea-like, as the mirrors of a cloud 
 That deems itself the monarch of the skies, 
 Those lakes in brilliancy expand ! The hordes 
 That spring and flash within that crystal flood, 
 What glistening beauty vests their mighty sides !* 
 Those rich, vast gardens of the West, which wave 
 So glorious in their wealth of grass and flowers, 
 Like to the green pavilion of some king, 
 By morning airs caressed, now shake 
 With the startling thunder of the mighty herds 
 That roam their trackless prairie. Oft it burns 
 Afar, in dread magnificence ; death-doomed. 
 Unless with winged feet, they bound away. 
 
 • The salmon trout is found in the great lakes ; and it has been found to 
 weigh as high, I learn, as 150 lbs. 
 
240 THE INDIAN COUNTEY. 
 
 HYMN TO GOD — (A CHORUS.) 
 
 All praise to Thee, creative Power, 
 
 Whose hand these mighty regions spread. 
 
 And countless forms of bloom did shower 
 On the green path man's foot must tread. 
 
 Like to Thine armies in the skies, 
 Yon glorious forests proudly stand ; 
 
 Thy wisdom bade those mountains rise, 
 To edge the broad and fruitful land : 
 For all, be praise to Thee. 
 
 INDIAN WARFARE — (RECITATIVE.) 
 
 'Mid the thick tangles of their trackless wilds 
 The prowling band now lurks. The swarthy hue, 
 The painted face, the mighty bow, the dart of flint. 
 The eye with vengeance lit, and feathered head, 
 Betray the Indian braves. With one wild yell 
 They spring upon the careless foe : now spouts 
 The crimson life, and fall in death's dark swoon 
 The warriors of those tribes. The wounded groan, 
 As groans the falling tree by lightning struck. 
 And 'mid the pauses, list ! the deadly bow ! 
 Oh, death ! thy carnival is surely here. 
 
 DEATH SONG OF PRISONERS, BEFORE BEING BURNED. 
 
 Ah ! treacherous foe ! 
 As the panther unheard, thou has sprung ; 
 Thy weapons as fierce as his grasp ! 
 
 Ah ! treacherous foe ! 
 The children of panthers, their scholars in war ! 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTEY. 241 
 
 Shall we never the dart 
 Wing in wrath 'gainst your tribes, 
 As of yore, when these arms 
 Over many flashed red ? 
 Your proudest fell then ; 
 What a triumph was ours ! 
 Their scalps are thick hung in our wigwam's repose, 
 A heart-cheering sight, 
 Oh, ye treacherous foes ! 
 
 BEAUTIFUL BIRDSj PECULIAR TO THOSE REGIONS, CATCHIKG THE INSPIRA- 
 TION OP SONG, BY THEIR MELODY TEACH HOW LOVELY IS NATURE'S 
 HARMONY, AND THUS CHIDE TH3 SANGUINARY DISCORD OF THE SCENE 
 BENEATH — (a DUET.) 
 
 But listen, now, what dulcet voices, 
 
 As his songs whose heart rejoices 
 
 In an elysium found, now flow 
 
 From yon thick shade that bendeth low. 
 
 It is the liquid merry chant 
 
 Of mocking-birds, whose full hearts pant 
 
 With their melodious rivalry, — 
 
 A sweet rebuke to what they see. 
 
 As stars that peep through angry skies, 
 
 As dew-drops falling in the fire, 
 
 As smiles of love to frowns of ire, 
 
 So seem those notes to war's fierce cries. 
 
 Is there a language in those notes. 
 Where prophecy in music floats ? 
 From nature's shrine, a voice divine 
 Sings, " Peace shall triumph yet benign." 
 16 
 
242 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 SPEECH OF AN INDIAN CHIEF. 
 
 My warriors ! — In the glory of the sun, 
 Steeping the mighty plains with quickening light, 
 Whose image see ye ? Whose that voice ye hear, 
 Amid the tempest, when the battling oak, 
 War-worn, distracted, seeks the earth's repose ? 
 And whose that smile, that in the summer's flush 
 Beams forth the favor Heaven has deigned to shower 
 Upon the tribes that people this broad range ? 
 'Tis the Great Spirit's, guardian of the free 
 That roam these solemn forests. 
 
 Whose those plagues 
 That in the forms of pestilence and drought 
 Are loosed upon us, faithless to our trust ? 
 From the weird councils of the Evil one. 
 By Heaven's permission, they are hither sent. 
 Court not the benefits of the Evil one, — 
 Wreathe not his name with blessings or with prayers ; 
 With shaggy offerings let yon mountain-tops 
 Attest your piety to God, whose awful feet 
 Touch, wrapt in thunder-clouds, th' astonished crags. 
 Give not, I entreat, so tamely, Ilis great gifts 
 Unto the pale intruders, lest he blast 
 Despisingly the race that deems so light 
 The favors of munificence in Heaven. 
 
 CHORUS OF PRAISE TO THE GREAT SPIRIT, AND A CALL TO ARMS. 
 
 All glory to the mighty King above. 
 
 Whoso power amid the pomp of nature burns ; 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 243 
 
 Whose glance outstrips the lightning, and whose frown 
 Breeds war and famine, wheresoe'er it glooms, 
 While imps of darkness tremble at His wrath ; 
 At His dread thunder-words, alarmed, they fly. 
 From Thy high triumph, in the glistening air, 
 Stoop, with benignant countenance, and clothe 
 Our cause with victory, while we rush to drive 
 Back to the eastern seas th' invasion pale, 
 That, like the burden of the winter storms, 
 Sweeping afar, will else fill all the land. 
 A boundless ocean skirts the western shore. 
 And scarce an island clouds that lower sky 
 With its inviting green. 
 
 Oh, whither then. 
 Can our thinned race escape ! 
 
 To arms, arise ! 
 
 SUNSET O'EK the WESTERN LAKES — (RECITATIVE.) 
 
 Are nature's cups of rich aerial hues, 
 By the genius ravished of the western skies, 
 Now poured with robber-like profusion forth, 
 That thus they rival here Italia's lights. 
 In her rich and kindling heavens ? 
 
 The day-god's beams 
 From lake succeeding lake are hurled anew 
 'Mid evening's purple mists. His dying hour. 
 Like the departure of the human great, 
 
244 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 Is bathed with ripest glories ; fame and love 
 And honor strew with roses bright their couch, 
 And gild the last sight of their chariot-wheels 
 With triumph's heavenly beams. 
 
 The evening flush, 
 The beautiful realms of cloud-land image forth 
 The paradise the Indian brave expects 
 To roam through, when full many moons have passed. 
 Then bury by his side his faithful steed, 
 And arrow-heads of sharpened stone, and bow, 
 And beady belt with feathers broidered rich ; 
 One day, a call shall burst his earthly bars. 
 And- summon him to life's enraptured chase. 
 
 PAE.T II 
 
 WONDERS AND GLORIES OF THE WESTERN WORLD. 
 
 Dim, in the voiceless, vast, and chilling gloom 
 Of caverns unexplored to their dark bounds, 
 Flits the gray shade of nations now extinct. 
 Once roamed they where the Indian hunters roam ; 
 And here in their weird sepulchres they sleep, 
 Sitting for aye* in death's unmoving trance, — 
 The glittering stalactites around 
 
 • Bodies of the ancients are found, in a sitting posture, in the caverns of 
 the West. The Indians, it is said, do not enter these caverns, believing 
 that the Great Spirit pei'vades them with an especial presence. Hence the 
 bodies are supposed to be those of an earlier race- -perhaps of a race akin 
 to the Aztecs, For this statement I believe I am indebted to Mr. Brad- 
 ford, to whose valuable work on Indian Antiquities the reader is referred 
 for many interesting particulars. 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTEY. 245 
 
 Their canopy of glory. Footsteps here 
 
 Of the wild followers of their race ne'er break 
 
 Upon the enchanted silence of their tomb ; 
 
 But the Great Spirit — so the red man dreams — 
 
 Makes these dim caves His solemn, holy shrines, 
 
 And guilty mortals may not enter there. 
 
 Yet may they tread beside His glorious work. 
 
 When bends His glowing bow, and sounds His voice, 
 
 Above Niagara's swift, majestic plunge ! 
 
 There, sheeted in its pure and flashing foam, 
 
 Lingers the warrior's ghost, and holds commune 
 
 With the majesty of nature and of God.* 
 
 Long, journeying rivers, whose untiring waves 
 
 Touch shores a thousand leagues apart ; 
 
 Vast, rolling plains, in flowery verdure clothed ; 
 
 And rocks, f by nature's pencil pictured ; hills, 
 
 Where lonely cities seem in ruin bowed, 
 
 A-ud crumbling, pillared temples seem to gleam | 
 
 In rich decay ; and mountain ranges high. 
 
 Where springs the innocent antelope, and screams 
 
 The kingly bird of heaven -, and, 'neath the sky 
 
 Of blander climes, the grand, religious mounts, 
 
 * Red Jacket, chief of the Senecas, expressed a belief that his spirit, 
 after death, would linger about the falls of Niagara. 
 
 t " The picture-rocks."' 
 
 t Oa the Missouri may be seen appearances as of some ancient and bound- 
 less city in ruins-^ramparts, terraces, domes, towers, citadels and castles, 
 cupolas, magnificent porticos, and here and there a solitary column and 
 crumbling pedestal, and even spires of clay, which stand alone and glisten 
 in the distance as the sun's rays are reflected by the thousand crystals of 
 gypsum imbedded in them. The colors are glowing and beautiful, and the 
 effect highly picturesque. — Catlings Notes. 
 
246 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 Offering their incense and eternal fire 
 
 Unto the favoring heavens ; these are but part 
 
 Of nature's glories in her western world.. 
 
 THE SCALP-DANCE BY TORCH IIGHX.* 
 
 By the ghastly glare of torches bright, 
 
 The red throng bound and dance ; 
 How wildly flourish they the axe 
 
 And the gory, feathered lance ! 
 How firmly guarded still their breasts 
 
 With the shields of thick skin tanned, 
 That caught the poisoned eager darts ! 
 
 Upheld by woman's hand, 
 The scalps, with life's red drops still wet. 
 
 Stream in the afi'righted air ; 
 The maddened tramp and cry she hears 
 
 Of warriors drunken there 
 With war's infuriating draught ; 
 
 For can this be but show ? 
 That song of sad, but frightful notes, 
 
 Shall soothe the anger low, 
 And blunt the curses of those souls. 
 
 That menance rankling woe. 
 
 • The scalp-dance has been supposed to be conciliatory towards the manes 
 of their victims, as well as in celebration of victory. It is danced by torch- 
 light, and is pronounced impassioned and vivid in the extreme. 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 247 
 
 DANCE TO THE MEDICINE OF THE BRAVE,* 
 
 Now the dance is by the cabin 
 
 Of the warrior's widowed bride, 
 And the drum's triumphal music 
 
 Sounds the bounding throng beside. 
 They with hot gesticulation, 
 
 Vaunt the hero's courage high, 
 And, perchance, among their trophies, 
 
 Those he took salute the eye. 
 
 On a branch, before his wigwam, 
 
 His mysterious pouch is hung ; 
 And, beneath, the gifts of pity 
 
 To the one bereaved are flung. 
 
 Ere the half-month is departed 
 
 She will dry her bitter grief. 
 For that broidered fur he cherished, 
 
 Wraps a charm of strong relief. 
 
 SACRIFICES TO THE GREAT SPIRIT, 
 
 The smile of God seems in the flushing heavens ; 
 'Tis meet the glorious sun should now behold 
 Man's sacrifices to that Spirit whence 
 Sprang life and beauty on the earth. Send forth 
 And load the airs that travel to His seat 
 With incense of wild sage and odorous herbs 
 
 • The dance of the Sacs, to the '' medicine-bag " of the brave, has been 
 illustrated by Catlin. It lasts one hour in a day for a fortnight. The 
 nledicine bag is honored by the Indians almost as a god, ever carried and 
 often buried with him. It is made of various skins, frequently beautifully 
 decorated. 
 
248 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 And leaves of spicy scent ; and let the choice, 
 
 Best morsels from the slaughtered deer 
 
 Be lifted up towards heaven. And scarlet cloths, 
 
 And blue, like to the midnight sky, and fit 
 
 For the shoulders of a mighty chief — let these 
 
 Wave in the winds aloft. And on yon hills. 
 
 Where shrink the stern rocks from th' Almighty's steps, 
 
 When midnight spreads her cloudy wings in heaven. 
 
 Spread forth the fringed, embroidered robe. 
 
 Worked with bright feathers from the breasts of birds, 
 
 Of changing hues, and soft and beautiful, 
 
 And the fine quills of the porcupine, rich-dyed. 
 
 As the great sun takes from the flow'ret's cup. 
 
 And from the bubbling spring, (so small that trout 
 
 Ne'er laved their pink and spotted sides therein,) 
 
 A tribute faint ; so, from our stores shall He, 
 
 The tassels of whose vast pavilion touch 
 
 The boundaries of the universe, accept 
 
 An offering from man, though it be small. 
 
 THE AMUSEMENTS OF PEACE. 
 
 Let the blood-red flag be furled — 
 Peace, the blue-eyed, smiles again ; 
 
 And beneath her smile there stealeth 
 Music's sweet and tender strain.* 
 
 • Ac^ording to the author last quoted, the songs of the Indian, in his 
 quiet domestic hours, are sometimes quite sweet and tender, and pleasing- 
 ly accompanied by a low murmuring from his drum. 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 249 
 
 Now the Winnebago lover 
 
 Softly blows his " courting flute ;" 
 Through the wigwam's pictured cover,* 
 
 Dark eyes answer to his suit. 
 
 She, meanwhile, the robe is fringing, 
 
 Which her warlike father wears ; 
 But, while fringing and embroidering, 
 
 She has thoughts beyond her cares. 
 
 Now her brothers, in the boat race, 
 
 Cleave the Mississippi's stream ; 
 Or, in sport, with strength and fine grace, 
 
 Wing the arrow like a beam. 
 
 Some, upon their half-wild coursers, 
 
 Bred upon the prairie vast, 
 Full of nature's light and wildness. 
 
 Everywhere are bounding past. 
 
 Beauteous crests of eagle's feathers 
 
 Plume the rider's peaceful brow ; 
 Warring, chieftains only wear them — 
 
 They may grace his forehead now. 
 
 And upon his courser prancing, 
 
 Lo ! the same proud crest is fixed ; 
 On his lance, its grace enhancing. 
 
 Plumes and streaming locks are mixed. 
 
 Some, amid the deep-green ambush, 
 Watch the wild-duck's reckless play, 
 
 * In one or more of the tribes, their wigwams are elegantly decorated. 
 
250 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 Till the wane of evening's sky-flush 
 Cheats the rifle of its prey. 
 
 Some are listening to the legends 
 Strange and beautiful that float 
 
 Down tradition's misty current, 
 That no pencil ever wrote. 
 
 One discourseth how a wanderer 
 Saw the ' heavenly sisters ' glide, 
 
 In a blithe and fairy movement, 
 As the leaves upon the tide : 
 
 How, excited with their beauty, 
 Forth he rushed upon the dance — 
 
 But, alas ! beheld them vanish 
 Back to heaven at a glance ; 
 
 How again, transformed, he waited 
 For their willow-car to lower 
 
 Down to earth the twelve, whose shyness 
 Made him yearn the more and more. 
 
 How he sprang and clasped the youngest. 
 And resumed at once his form — ■ 
 
 His sweet prize to ask in wedlock, 
 And to win with pathos warm. 
 
 Then 'twas told how Waupee reveled 
 For a year in nuptial bliss ; 
 
 But that yet his boy and consort 
 He was fated long to miss. 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 251 
 
 She into her native heaven 
 
 Floated in a woven car, 
 And rejoined the bright eleven, 
 
 In their paradise afar — 
 
 As some tropic bird, imprisoned 
 
 In a dull and dreary land. 
 In a free and happy moment 
 
 Darts out towards its native strand. 
 
 But the beauteous boy reminded 
 
 "Waupee's wife of earth and him ; 
 And the boy desired to visit 
 
 Mortals in that region dim. 
 
 Waupee wept beside the circle 
 
 Where the radiant fairies danced ; 
 But at last he heard her chanting, 
 
 And his eyes upon them glanced. 
 
 With what joy he fondly clasped them, 
 
 Heard the invitation kind. 
 To bring up with them to heaven 
 
 Gifts of living things behind ! 
 
 His swift arrow won the offering — 
 
 Then they soared above the ring, 
 And with joy and feast were greeted 
 
 By the gracious Starry King. 
 
 And the guests took each a present. 
 And were changed to what they chose ; 
 
252 iRE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 Waupee chose a white-hawk's feather — 
 White-hawk's wings about him rose ! 
 
 His devoted son and consort 
 
 Chose the same, and they were changed ; 
 And these hawks, to earth descending, 
 
 Through its airy regions ranged,* 
 
 When this curious tale was ended, 
 One discoursed how there did rove 
 
 One to find the bright pavilion 
 Of the Lord of life and love. 
 
 He was welcomed by a woman 
 
 At the hallowed mountain's base — 
 
 Purified by sacred waters — 
 Brought before the Holiest's lace. 
 
 In that place of light and beauty, 
 
 Resting on a golden seat, 
 
 He to God's commandments listened, 
 Sitting near his awful feet.f 
 
 Others tell how slumber's minions 
 Watch to trance one night and day ; 
 
 How to Manito's dominions 
 Mortal feet have found the way. 
 
 How one in a trance did journey 
 On the road to Paradise, 
 
 • The tale of "Waupee, or the TVhite-Hawk, is a Shawnee tale, given la 
 H. R. Schoolcraft's work. He is the authority, too, for that which follows 
 the story alluded to above. 
 
 t An allusion to the story told to the Indians, by Pontiac, previous to 
 tlie confederation against the English, in 1763, 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 253 
 
 And that they who traveled thither 
 Seemed in richly-burdened guise — 
 
 Laden with the guns and weapons, 
 
 Buried with them in their graves — 
 Burning for the chase delightful, 
 
 Where th' e'er-blooming prairie waves. 
 
 In that land of light and beauty. 
 
 Heaven's joys around them burst ; 
 But disaster, foul and dreary, 
 
 Strikes, ere there, the bad and cursed. 
 
 Passing o'er a slippery pathway, 
 
 O'er a deep and grim abyss, 
 Missiles from a guard of spirits 
 
 Cause them foothold sure to miss. 
 
 Wrecked below in sharp misfortune, 
 
 Circled with disgusting things, 
 They catch gleams afar of heaven. 
 
 Sighing for the gift of wings. 
 
 But the frown of God th' Avenger 
 
 Darkens like a midnight cloud ; 
 And the torrent, rudely dashing, 
 
 Roars about them hoarse and loud. 
 
 Some aver they're sternly hastened 
 
 To a bleak and frozen land, 
 Where th' Eternal binds them, chastened, 
 
 By His strong and dread command. 
 
254 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 HUNTING THE BUFFALO. 
 
 List ye his thundering step ! How free 
 Roams the enormous herd ! The prairie vast 
 It darkens with its hosts. 
 
 Now swift with bow 
 And lance and gun, the Indian hunter flies 
 Amidst his game. Some rush, in fright, afar ; 
 The snorting of his steed is heard behind, 
 And the swift arrow veils its sheen in blood. 
 How staggers now the monster, gleaming wrath 
 From his ensanguined eye ? The strength forsakes 
 That massive neck which once the white wolf tossed, 
 Howling and bleeding, far above his gang. 
 Yet, see ! his spirit kindles ! Mad with pain, 
 Against the conqueror's steed he turns. 
 And, 'neath the fallen conqueror, dies. 
 
 PART III. 
 BURIAL PLACES. 
 
 Wrapt in his ample robe of fur, and raised 
 Above the reach of beasts of prey, repose 
 The warrior receives ; the cup from whence 
 Death's lips upon his shadowy way shall draw 
 Refreshing draughts, is by his side : above, 
 The green of summer waves. 
 
 Yon stirless form. 
 Wrapt in the bright-hued robe, a chieftain lived. 
 And yonder scene of fleshless skulls, where bends 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 255 
 
 The faithful form of woman, speaks her love. 
 One yet will make society with him, 
 "When dark corruption's frightful task is done : 
 Then, trusting that the spirit dwelleth yet 
 In its pavilion ghastly and forlorn, (as glowed 
 Of old the golden branch in Hades' shades,) 
 She'll breathe a thousand tender words, and bring 
 A banquet for the tasteless mouth of death. 
 Have ye not seen a soft and luminous mist, 
 That seem'd astray from the rich, kindling verge 
 Of an evening cloud, and hovering o'er a dim 
 And noisome fen, with rotting fatness cloyed ? 
 Lo ! in this loathsome place of skulls and bones, 
 Where wings of birds obscene in death's foul courts 
 Flap with unwelcome sound. Love's tender eye 
 Pours its impassioned beams, and lights the scene, 
 Sacred to beautiful thoughts and feelings pure ; 
 So shines a jewel in a coffin's dust, — 
 And flowers in glorious beauty spring and bloom 
 On ground with war's libations rank and damp ; 
 And so a pure and lovely thought I've seen. 
 Sparkling amid profane and unchaste verse. 
 Fond, weeping widow ! dry those useless tears ; 
 Nor waste those tender memories on the air ; 
 The cold and vacant ear of death no breath 
 Shall catch of all thy blandishments ; nor voice 
 Ever from 'mid the silent air shall give 
 The answer to thy fondnesses. Are not 
 Thy children languishing for thy return, — 
 Unhappy while no parent's beaming smile 
 Invites to happiness and fearless mirth J 
 
256 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES. 
 
 When annually the day of hoi}'- rites 
 Convokes the people of the tribe, 'tis wont 
 Some implement of sharpened edge to cast 
 A sacrifice to water. For, with such, 
 The ancient ark was from the forest hewed, 
 And that meet offering, they say, may still 
 Propitiate the Spirit of the streams, — 
 That mighty deity, whose voice unsealed 
 The secret prisons of the chafing springs, 
 And whelmed the world in wrath ! 
 
 The willow-boughs, 
 Whose leaves, 'tis said, the wearied dove then bore. 
 Now in the village meet the gazer's eye ; 
 And the rude semblance of the ark now forms 
 The hallowed centre of the throng. And there. 
 Within the sacred lodge, convene the youths 
 Whose patience soon shall superstition, pride, 
 And stern remorse try with their galling scourge, 
 'Till nature sinks beneath the torment fierce. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF CHEISTIANITT. 
 
 Genius of love ! in whose blest hands the torch ^ 
 Glows with celestial and unfading fire. 
 Caught from the altars of the skies, and rich 
 With mercy's tints of beauty, — thou whose beams 
 Rushed arrowy and bright amid the forms 
 Which ancient superstition shaped and fed 
 With rites unholy, cruel and unchaste, 
 
THE INDIAN COUNTEY. 257 
 
 Firing the exploding mass that shook the fanes 
 Of mighty gods, and piercing hopeless through 
 The panic-struck, disbanded deities ; 
 Thou, unto whom Thy Father, God, hath given 
 The nations for a gift, and earth thy realm, 
 Are not these haunts of sin and folly thine, — 
 By right a part of thy domain, — the scene 
 Where thy pure star should triumph and dispel 
 The murky reign of pagan night ? Arise ! 
 And let thy heavenly plumage beam where roll 
 The blue Columbia's waters, and where soar 
 The rocky mountains of the west ; and there, 
 Unto the sad, benighted, wandering tribes, 
 The gladdening gates of Paradise unbar. 
 Chanting the words of mercy's music-call. 
 
 XOOSING THE WILD HORSE. 
 
 How wildly beautiful the prancing troop ! 
 
 The riot glad of energy and health. 
 
 Which curb nor hardship ne'er repressed, 
 
 Beams forth in every form and bound. In vain 
 
 The hunter dashes at full speed to reach 
 
 The noblest of that group. With streaming mane 
 
 And rivaling the wind, he speeds afar : 
 
 The lasso 'round the laggards coils its noose, 
 
 And gracefully their liberty they yield 
 
 For man's companionship and toil : 'tis meet. 
 
 THE SNOW-SHOE DANCE. 
 
 Lo ! Lo ! how soft and bright 
 Gleaming fair with hope's soft light, 
 17 
 
258 THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 
 
 Winter's gift is on the plains, 
 Precious as the summer-rains. 
 Now the snow-shoe light and fleet 
 Bears us up with clogless feet ; 
 Now on him be jeer and shame 
 Who shall fail to bring the game ! 
 
 Lo ! lo ! 
 In the deep, deep snow, 
 Flounders now the Buffalo. 
 
 Dance, dance. 
 
 Wave the lance ; 
 
 Welcome winter's white advance. 
 
 Now remember 
 
 In November 
 To send up to heaven our thanks 
 
 For the treasure 
 
 Without measure, 
 Which rejoices all our ranks. 
 
 THE GKEAT PIPE STONE QUARRY. 
 
 In a lone, distant region of the West 
 A mighty quarry of red stone is seen, 
 Engraved with symbol names. The spot is robed 
 With strange and hallowed mystery. Long since, 
 (So Indian legends tell) the Great and Good 
 Did consecrate those rocks to blessed peace. 
 The war-like cry there never must be heard ; 
 But from those stones the pipe of peace be formed 
 Whose fumes the fiery pulse of War allay. 
 Seeming, like Autumn's haze, to breathe repose. 
 
THE STORY OF GERALDINE KURNER. 
 
 Come, sweetest Olive ; this is strange, new ground 
 To feet of thine, I ween ; and I rejoice 
 That o'er this valley now the full-orb'd moon 
 Claims the blue empire of bewitching night, 
 And sheds o'er summer's pomp her beams. 
 
 This scene. 
 In hour so favorable, I would should ope 
 Upon your tasteful eye. In yonder glen. 
 Among wild, moss-grown rocks, 'neath hanging vines 
 And affluent chestnut and acacia boughs, 
 A torrent brawls with ceaseless din ; the haunt 
 Of ring-doves and the noisy owls : now list ! 
 It is their cry ; and shudder not ; no sounds 
 More startling ever thro' this lone vale break ; 
 Beyond those wooded hills that bound our sight 
 The hardy huntsmen have pursued the wolves 
 To the dark caverns in the mountain-side. 
 Here, by this gray, cathedral ruin, crouched 
 Upon this mossy seat, let us survey 
 Fearless, the enchanting scene. But did I seek 
 Bliss for myself alone, — from this fair scene, 
 In the voluptuous pomp of nature drest. 
 To thee, my gentlest Olive, I would turn : 
 
260 GERALDINE KUENER. 
 
 And in thy rarest face (where thought divine 
 
 Blendeth its high refinement with the charms 
 
 Sweet innocence and lovely smiles diffuse,) 
 
 The garden of a perfect beauty find. 
 
 I look on Nature and upon the page 
 
 Where Poetry in liquid, musical stream 
 
 The gems of her imaginations fine 
 
 And glow of fervid passions hath enshrined, 
 
 (As sparkling stones and shells in crystal rills,) 
 
 I look upon her lovely page, and yet, 
 
 My gentlest Olive, unto thee I turn. 
 
 When thou art near, or when thy image beams, 
 
 My heart is full of love and thoughts of thee 
 
 And of thy love and of the smiles thou givest. 
 
 As is the full-blown rose with sweetness, when 
 
 Its god looks on it from the summer skies ; 
 
 Or as the air with song and light when June 
 
 Resumes her rose-wreathed and embowered throne. 
 
 This view is lovelier now that thou art here ; 
 
 A lovelier romance is brooding soft 
 
 O'er yonder valley flecked with moony flash, 
 
 Cast from the streams half-hid. And this rich scene 
 
 Of mouldering beauty 'round us, of quaint shaft 
 
 And pinnacles and statues fallen and wreathed 
 
 With wandering, graceful vines, (like visions fond 
 
 Of those who are benumbed in death, entwined 
 
 Thickly with love's warm thoughts,) all this rich scene 
 
 Borrows from thee enchantment. These old walls 
 
 Echoed with the solemn music of the chant 
 
 Not many years ago. The ghosts of Hymns, 
 
GERALDINE KURNER. 261 
 
 Te Deums, Litanies and Sancti high 
 
 Seem here to linger still, and 'neath yon arch 
 
 Upon the ears of sacred solitude 
 
 To breathe the echoes of their ancient power. 
 
 Beneath this transept's roof, (now fallen in dust) 
 
 The deep bass of the organ trembled ; all 
 
 The groined vault and vine-capt piers did shake ; 
 
 And on those heaving and impassioned waves 
 
 The voice of sweet-lipped music stirred, the heart 
 
 Enraptured rose unto the Throne of power. 
 
 Here once a fane to Aphrodite rose ; 
 
 Seest not yon composite capital that bares 
 
 Its time-stained ovolo and chaste volute 
 
 Thro the vine's ample leaves ? And see ! 
 
 Of the florid cornice a grey fragment lies. 
 
 The rites of Venus and her rosy fires, 
 
 The dancing youths with cheeks by passion flushed, 
 
 Nor more amid this bowery paradise 
 
 Honor the Queen of beauty and th' imagined throne 
 
 Whence Love's delicious lightnings rained. The star 
 
 That rose o'er Bethlehem's manger shot its powers 
 
 Upon this distant clime ; and faint and sick 
 
 Flickered the flames in Cytherea's shrine ; 
 
 Her priestesses fled from her vacant courts. 
 
 Then holy men an altar reared within 
 
 Sacred to emblems of the love divine : 
 
 And Aphrodite's devotees their voice 
 
 Raised in loud " Glorias " and hymns of joy. 
 
 So in the temple of the human heart 
 
 Where love's idolatry has madly burned 
 
262 GERALDINE KURNER. 
 
 And passion's wild extravagance, — have Hope, 
 Fresh from the climes of heaven and holy love, 
 With all the flowers and fragrance that she brings, 
 A shining circle of unspotted thoughts, 
 E'en virtues' priceless glory, found a shrine. 
 But now the holy anthem wafts no voice 
 Throughout this ancient pile. A peaceful nook 
 The owl hath found within, and o'er the floors 
 The serpent unmolested glides. 'Tis lone, — 
 Lone as her heart who in the grave has laid 
 Children and husband dear, and desolate 
 And darkly veiled is weeping. Lone ? 
 " Lone," did I say ? Ah ! no ; for God is here : 
 And here (as sweet south winds thro' groves,) 
 Glide angel spirits, who do love the spot 
 Where souls were freed in early days from guilt 
 And error's fearful chains by love and truth : 
 And some imagine, those blest souls do haunt 
 With tender, rapturous joy this hallowed ruin, 
 As odors linger o'er the lifeless rose 
 Where they in summer's hours of bliss were born, 
 Or twilight gleams long haunt the purple grave 
 Where the sun's vivifying glories sank. 
 Now listen, I will tell thee a strange tale 
 Which to this spot belongeth : In the halls, 
 The castle-halls of Kurner, lived a maid 
 So sweet and beautiful that time and wo, 
 Methinks, should e'er have spared her charms : 
 Yea, on such virtues mellow summer-glows 
 Of bland experience, ripening, may they fall ! 
 
GERALDINE KURNER. 263 
 
 Her father planned a marriage-scheme : De Groot, 
 Dark-eyed and passionate, and stately, rich 
 And proud, should be her consort : But De Groot 
 Was vicious : vice, with happiness, you know. 
 Is prone to quarrel ; and she loved him not. 
 And feared to wed him. But an upright one, 
 (For, such an one he then was justly deemed,) 
 Upon whose countenance the noble stamp 
 Of intellect and virtue was aflSxed, 
 An impress clear as summer's on a peach, — 
 Was shrined within her heart. The day was fixed 
 When Lord De Groot should wed her : but her lips 
 Protested, as her heart, against the scheme. 
 Her lover, tho' forbidden to approach, his love 
 Told in soft whispers in the starlight dim. 
 Burdening that willing messenger, the air, 
 With treasures from the heart's exchequer rich. 
 And made the night musical and sweet to her. 
 They fled, as you surmise. One autumn day. 
 When in the chase, her father roved the woods. 
 Young Haller to the altar of this church 
 Bore off the gentle prize ; and trembling she. 
 Yet willing but for fear, as is the lamb 
 To listen to the shepherd's flute at hand. 
 Or feel the smoothings of his kindly palms. 
 All deeply veiled she entered. The keen eye 
 Could not detect Lord Kurner's daughter ; nor 
 Surmised the priest that the fair maiden spurn'd 
 The hand of her proud suitor. Yet in fear 
 Some gentle runaway besought his aid 
 
264 GBRALDINE KURNER. 
 
 To bind in bonds forbidden her young hand, 
 He asked her name and residence. Sudden fears 
 Chased all remaining color from her cheek : 
 But quick her lover in alarm replied 
 " 'Tis Olive Mayner ; far from here, her lands 
 Spread broadly to the sunshine ; and her sire 
 Sleeps in the silent grave." Now Olive dwelt 
 Indeed afar, but yet well known was she 
 Among the priestly corps ; and known as one 
 Of liberal words, — a heretic whose mind 
 (Blest and enkindled with truth's holy light) 
 An influence glanc'd around which roused the hate 
 Of divers of the priest-hood near. A flash 
 Of strange excitement lit the monk's swart face ; 
 Then loud the organ pealed a marriage hymn, — 
 And they were soon in wedlock. 
 
 Tremblingly 
 Her noble steed she mounted ; by her side 
 Young Haller hurried on with rapid speed ; 
 Scarce from those pallid lips a kiss he stole, 
 But hastened on thro' unfrequented paths. 
 The deep and almost trackless woods for miles, 
 Were witnesses of their impetuous haste. 
 Yet, for a few brief moments they delayed 
 In the shady forests' depths. On lovely banks 
 Of moss, with pale-blue violets and grass 
 Besprinkled, they delayed. Around her neck, 
 His arms he fondly threw ; and pressed those lips 
 With love's impassioned emphasis. Above 
 
GERALDINE KURNER. 265 
 
 The warm, glad current of afl'ection, rose 
 
 Fair visions of the future ; happy hours lit up « 
 
 With home's serene delights ; sweet as spring's blooms ; 
 
 A father reconciled, — a mother's smile ; 
 
 New budding hopes and former hopes bright-crowned 
 
 With this fruition. So, a moment, he. 
 
 In joy's bright cup, beneath the foamy brim 
 
 Immersed his raptured lips. The woods 
 
 Soon rang again with their impetuous speed. 
 
 An hour passed on. When from a bye path, dim 
 
 With overhanging boughs and thickleaved brush, 
 
 Three sturdy ruffians, armed and mounted well, 
 
 Sprang at their horses' heads. The damsel swooned ; 
 
 And Haller drew his virgin sword in haste 
 
 But drew in vain ; two valiant arms their steel 
 
 So dexterously wielded, he was hurled 
 
 Down from his charger, wounded and appalled. 
 
 Then the stern three the fair one seized, 
 
 As a cruel hawk the dove, — and bore her off 
 
 Swift to a gloomy crypt or prison. 
 
 Soon 
 Young Haller woke as from a fearful dream. Faint 
 With the loss of blood, yet so relieved of pain 
 That he upon his steed again could mount. 
 How suddenly the glow of marriage joy 
 Went down in darkness ; as a lovely star 
 Smiling a moment at its rising, then with clouds 
 Shrouded in utter gloom ; as tho' the strains 
 Of some exulting melody were, at the height 
 
266 GERALDINE KURNER. 
 
 Of ravishment most strangely, madly dashed 
 With shrieking discord, followed by the hush 
 And silence of the chords unstrung, and broken. 
 genius of the happiness of Love ! 
 Who for a moment visiteth our gloom ! 
 How soon the glory of thy wings grows dim, — 
 Thy beauty vanishing from the tearful eye afar ! 
 What agony now wrung his heart ! where 
 Was she whom he adored 1 And who assailed 1 
 Fierce, reckless, bandits ? And was she the slave 
 Of their remorseless lust ? Oh ! horrid thought ! 
 That sacred vessel grace a pagan feast ? 
 Were they but thieves 7 He drew his purse : 
 The tempting gold within it was untouched. 
 Perhaps, he mused, they were the errand men 
 Lord Kurner had dispatched to capture back 
 The gentle prize he bore away from home. 
 Then soon he might again in her fond smiles, 
 He argued, be at rest : For Kurner's ire 
 Tho' furious and rash, was wonted soon 
 Its flaming, surging vehemence and roar 
 T' abate, and offer tempting calm for words 
 And actions unto reconciliation fit : 
 Soon would relax his heart ; and his stern brow 
 Learn bland, forgiving aspects. While he paused 
 In thoughts like these, the tramp of hoofs 
 Was heard near by ; and soon, by few 
 Accompanied, Lord Kurner with severest frown 
 Rushed to confront him, " Daring wretch !" 
 He thundered ; " how is it thou hast presumed 
 
GERALDINE KDRNER. 267 
 
 To invade the sanctuary of my home, and rob 
 That home of its fair treasures ? Now confess, 
 Upon the instant, where thou hast concealed 
 The girl whom thou has snared and witched away 
 From happiness and duty." Then replied 
 The unhappy bridegroom with brief words like these : 
 " Good sir ; in agony I speak. I know not where 
 Thy daughter can be sought : three ruffians grim 
 Upon this very spot assaulted us ; first me 
 They quite unhorsed ; and wounded, and bereft 
 Of strength, they left me or to live or die, — 
 Bearing her in their flight. Did'st thou not send 
 These men upon their errands ?" 
 
 " thou wretch 
 What hast thou done ! Good heavens ! do I hear 
 Thy words aright ? My idol in the hands 
 Of lawless bandits ! Draw thy sword, or die ! 
 This outrage now I charge on thee : And thou 
 Must pay the forfeit for this villainy." He smote ; 
 And Haller only parried blows, — but fell ; 
 Alas ! he fell ! sinking in death's dark swoon, 
 And faintly saying, " tell my bride I loved 
 And spake of love in death ; may God forgive 
 This guilt of thine, my father." Thus he died. 
 Soon, not unpierced of conscience, Kurner sprang 
 Upon his saddle, and on every side his search 
 He urged with restless zeal. In time was solved 
 The tragic mystery. In a dungeon dim. 
 By priestly mandate, she had been immured ; 
 
268 GERALDINE KURNER. 
 
 They, from young Haller's words, surmised their noose 
 Had fallen o'er a heretic's head. 
 
 When Kurner knew 
 His daughter had been wedded; that the words 
 Of Haller had the angry priesthood moved 
 To send their emissaries to entrap the girl 
 (Fancied fair Olive Mayner,) and that she 
 Was all unharmed, bitterest regrets his breast 
 Long haunted for his rashness ; ah ! too late ! 
 Young Haller was no more ! Most poignant grief 
 Wrung the fond maiden's breast. Her father's house 
 Her soft step knew again ; but not those smiles 
 Pleasanter than the rose-light of fairy lamps ; 
 And not the happy tones of that sweet voice 
 And laughter merry as the little birds 
 That rock on the boughs in June. A fearful gloom 
 Brooded upon her mind. The flowers even lost 
 Their wonted beauty in her sight ; and her sad eyes 
 Familiar grew with tears as are the shells 
 Upon the ocean-strand with briny spray. 
 One day, with her attendants, she rode far 
 And visited the fatal spot ; the ground 
 Where they in love's embraces sat, she pressed 
 And gathered thrice-kissed violets from the grass -, 
 With dismal sobs and tears she long bedewed 
 The memory-hallowed sod. But ne'er again 
 Her father's halls her beauty graced ; for there 
 In the green forests, on the flowery turf, 
 She stooped, and died. Mourn e'er and sigh. 
 
GERALDINE KUENER. 269 
 
 solemn woods, a requiem o'er that scene ! 
 
 And from your wreathed heads drop frequent tears 
 
 To water that fair bank of violets 
 
 The offering, now, of nature to their names. 
 
 But, Olive, see ! the lengthening shades forewarn 
 
 All loiterers like us, that Eve apace 
 
 Advances ; hark ! the solemn woods are waked 
 
 By sounds of melancholy night-birds who, 
 
 The gairish day ne'er sweeten with their song, 
 
 But make night sad and charming. Yon tree-top 
 
 Scarce trembles in the dying breeze ; afar, I see, 
 
 Thro' openings in the groves, the hunters slow 
 
 And laden with their game move towards their homes. 
 
 'Tis fit our steps should likewise turn to seek 
 
 Our homes and the sweet concourse of the Eve. 
 
 But ere we quit this scene, well may we weigh 
 
 How one incautious word untrue may spring 
 
 A snare of fatal misery o'er the heart. 
 
 And bury pleasure in a bloody grave. 
 
THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SKY. 
 
 Nature's cathedrals, grand in lofty towers 
 
 And spires of icy glory piercing heaven ; 
 
 With vaulted caves o'erhung by crystal'd showers, 
 
 Pendent in bright stalactites ; 'tis given 
 
 To you, when your proud heights at even 
 
 Are bathed in mellow splendor and reflect 
 
 From waterfalls and icy cliffs the seven 
 
 Rich, rainbow hues, — 'tis yours to thus project 
 
 The type of beauty, grandeur and of strength erect. 
 
 As hymns of praise sincere, far in the skies 
 
 Ascend the soaring larks, 'till like dim specks 
 
 They fl.oat amid the blue ; yet they arise 
 
 But as 'twere o'er the grass, if we reflect 
 
 How boundless, airy sea, thy deeps ! How decks 
 
 The Almighty Sovereign the ceiling grand. 
 
 Studding the blue with golden fires ! While vex 
 
 The waterfalls their torrents ; tho' the land 
 
 Gorgeously glows ; ye boundless skies, our song demand ! 
 
 It is the lovely hour of Eve : the hour of thought, 
 Of waking visions steeped in twilight hues : 
 Above the blooming fascinations here inwrought 
 Into the face of Nature, may I lose 
 
THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SKY. 271 
 
 My thougM in yon expanse and there infuse 
 My spirit in the essence pure and fine 
 Which fills with poetry pure as with sweet dews 
 Or fragrance delicate the air above. Divine, 
 sky, is thy inspiring breath ; unmatched thy glories 
 shine ! 
 
 But, list ! it is the breath of that blue world 
 Stirring amid the sleeping boughs, and wakening all 
 The slumbering loveliness of Nature, 'till unfurled 
 Far in the breeze her banners green in the hall 
 Of purple-curtained Night toss free. For all, 
 E'en for the humblest of the Earth, must we 
 Learn, like the sky, to smile, and to each call 
 To shed the soft-distilling dew of pity free 
 And nobler gifts and favors showered liberally. 
 
 How swells the mighty music of the storm, 
 
 Sounding the strong, loud tenor of the sky ! 
 
 While flies in gloomy, furious haste its form, 
 
 The stately trees bend o'er their heads; some lie 
 
 Prostrate in dust and deep humility ; 
 
 As when, upon the desert, pilgrims bow • 
 
 Submission to that tyrant of the sky, 
 
 The hot Simoom. As storms the air, so now 
 
 May trials purify, and with meek grace endow. 
 
 Boundless and beautiful and glorious sky ! 
 Type of the infinite ; pavilion vast 
 Of the Almighty's Spirit : we descry 
 
272 THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SKY. 
 
 In th' faintest, farthest glimmerings of the last 
 
 Of Night's bright, gold-mailed host but where have passed 
 
 The angel choir the smallest circling zone 
 
 Of their wide, wondrous range : thence cast, 
 
 The lines of their blue traverse-fields are thrown 
 
 Far as the thoughts of God in* power creative shone. 
 
 If thither, to the centre grand of all, 
 
 Our thoughts upon the wings of prayer ascend, 
 
 Our souls, drawn in their wake, up towards the hall 
 
 Of might supreme, will follow, and unbend 
 
 In the free air of heaven from toils that lend 
 
 Their aspects of solicitude and woe ; 
 
 Thence God his glory and his rule defends, 
 
 (The central Power to which the world doth bow,) 
 
 As o'er his orbs the Sun his luminous sway doth throw. 
 
 Uttered one word ; and all the golden fruit 
 
 Which clusters on the arching arbor blue, 
 
 Would fall to wreck, and from their stations shoot ; 
 
 As when the mighty gusts of heaven down threw 
 
 From orange bowers their glory, (thick as dew 
 
 Sprinkled upon the ground,)when tempests raved 
 
 With direst fury on some tropic isle : A new 
 
 And startling splendor, at one word, forth waved 
 
 Would wrap the earth and air, no more from ruin saved. 
 
LOVE'S OVERRULING DECREES. 
 
 All vainly now, ye things of beauty glow. 
 Ye forms of Art sculptured by skill divine ; 
 "Weak now, if dazzling once, your show ; 
 Your rarest charms have ceased awhile to shine. 
 
 The glossy and illumined page inscribed 
 With the rich thoughts and dreamings of the Muse 
 Tempts me no more ; and where I erst imbibed 
 Delight in history's wells, there joy I lose. 
 
 Music, thou soft enchantress that transmutes 
 The breath of flowers, the gush of light to song ; 
 That changeth thought, and eloquence dilutes 
 To melody, canst not thy spell prolong. 
 
 Your fascinations now are vain : 'tis thine. 
 Yes, thine alone, immortal seraph, Love, 
 To claim my raptured homage ; still divine 
 In wealth of blessing to thy votary prove. 
 
 As asks the parched and ashy soil no boon 
 Save what the clouds in sparkling wealth can give : 
 As yearns the prisoner in his dungeon's gloom 
 Solely for Freedom's light, therein to live : 
 18 
 
274 love's oveeruling decrees. 
 
 As craves the famislied heart no gift but food ; 
 
 The faint and thirsty ask for drink alone ; 
 
 So crave I only for the matchless good 
 
 That thou, Love, canst shower from thy throne. 
 
 But as within the mountain's heart unseen. 
 Are often locked deep springs and swelling founts 
 Which burst at length their walls and flash their sheen 
 'Mid thriftier, livelier verdure down the mount : 
 
 So, in the bosom, oft, the fullness swells 
 Of yearnings and afiections deep as life ; 
 Profound and sleepless in their mystic wells. 
 And bursting forth, in time, with vigor rife. 
 
 Impatient founts those holy passions prove 
 "Within my heart, Alice mild and sweet : 
 Speak but the word, and all their wealth of love 
 In power shall flow, and thy dear presence greet. 
 
 Full many a fancy green and bright shall spring, 
 While nurtured by that free, rejoicing stream ; 
 And aspirations fair and fine take wing 
 In hope's delightful air, and love's bright beam. 
 
 The planets circle 'round their suns on high ; 
 The moons around their planets ever move : 
 The birds keep near their nests and mates ; so I 
 Discern my thoughts from thee averse to rove. 
 
BAPTISM. 
 
 As the light that beams in the watery streams, 
 First on the brow of the penitent cast 
 Doth fall, as he stands 'neath the upraised hands ; 
 So Truth on the mind first is passed. 
 
 As the waters that flow o'er that sealed brow 
 In their clear, natural Sowings purify ; 
 So the pardoning grace from the soul doth chase 
 Guilt's filth and stains of every dye. 
 
 As the waters refresh the wearied flesh, 
 And a pleasant serenity leave ; 
 So, the comforting peace of the Spirit release 
 To the woe of the bosom doth give. 
 
 As the stream from the wave which the forehead doth lave, 
 In a fine, dewy vapor doth rise ; 
 So the warmth of the breast, for the blessing possest, 
 A gratitude breathes to the skies. 
 
CONFIRMATION. 
 
 Transplanted from the Church's nursery, now 
 
 Into the garden of the Lord ye're brought ; 
 
 May Heaven's choice dew upon you shed, 
 
 Nourish the vigor of prolific life, 
 
 And cause with noble firmness your strong roots 
 
 Deeply in your positions to descend ! 
 
 ever stretch aloft beseeching arms, 
 
 As flourishing boughs that yearn up towards the sun ; 
 
 And to the Orb of spiritual glory offer 
 
 The modest, blushing fruits of righteousness. 
 
THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 The soul were faint, 
 Without the rare and nourishing food which Thou, 
 bleeding Savior, to our mournful plaint 
 
 Affordest now. 
 
 How hot and dry 
 With th' low, sin-sick fever of the heart 
 Were all within, if sweet draughts Love's blest sky 
 
 Did not impart ! 
 
 How dark and drear 
 Were life, unless a dawn-like ray did shine 
 Upon us, from the crimsoned cross, to cheer 
 
 With light divine ! 
 
 Partaking now 
 Of these the emblems of thy flesh and blood, 
 By grateful, humble faith we taste below 
 
 Celestial food. 
 
 Our onward way 
 As pilgrims full refreshed with commune sweet 
 And with choice banquet, we resume to day 
 
 With willing feet. 
 
278 THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 Beneath the palms, 
 The grand, eternal palms of Heaven's blest plains, 
 May we, our journey o'er, rest free from harms 
 
 In Christ's domains. 
 
 In that high feast 
 Which there the ransomed shall partake in joy, 
 May it be ours, in humble place at least, 
 
 To find employ ! 
 
 The withering sprout. 
 Which here the Heavenly Gardener in his vineyard placed, 
 May then be shown in foliage full-leaved out. 
 
 With fruitage graced. 
 
 Those leaves perfumed, 
 (The graces of the Spirit opened here,) 
 Will there bedeck Christ's festal glory doomed. 
 
 And ne'er be sere. 
 
 The precious blood 
 Which He around the languishing root did shed 
 Will then be fully deemed like quickening food 
 
 To raise the dead : 
 
 The banquet rare 
 Which we partake by faith, in grateful love, — 
 This rich, reviving mercy, — it must share 
 
 Esteem above. 
 
SCROON LAKE, N. Y. 
 
 Upon the lake the stars are bright ; 
 
 The glorious moon scarce yet her light 
 
 Flings o'er the fleecy clouds that rest 
 
 Upon the hill-top high their breasts. 
 
 Par out upon the waters now 
 
 Glide we in this light skiff, with prow 
 
 Turned toward the Scroon's most wide expanse, 
 
 Where wild-birds wake and ripples glance 
 
 Beside the beach of sand or shores 
 
 Where 'gainst steep rocks the white wave wars 
 
 When winds are high. How beautiful ! 
 
 The moon is up ! and dutiful 
 
 Around her path the stars retire 
 
 Quenching in seas above their fire. 
 
 How lone, how beautiful, how grand ! 
 
 In wood-girt pomp the mountains stand 
 
 And gaze upon the slumbering lake, 
 
 As e'en the aged gaze nor take 
 
 That wondering look from off the face 
 
 Of one in whom the witching grace 
 
 Of beauty fresh and radiant glows. 
 
 And so may he who clearly shows 
 
 The signs of cold, rude shocks, the storm 
 
 Which hath impressed both mind and form, 
 
280 SCROON LAKE. 
 
 Look down and see thro' memory's air 
 
 With pleased eye the vision fair 
 
 Of youth's fresh life of peace and bliss, — 
 
 A picture soft like that calm lake 
 
 Which charms with beauty which doth take 
 
 Heaven's hues and its bright glistenings. 
 
 How sad the strain the night-bird sings 
 
 In the dense shadow of that grove ! 
 
 minstrel ! why so sad ? to rove 
 
 In liberty is thine -, 'tis thine, the sky 
 
 Kindling with starry brilliancy, — 
 
 And thine the boundless fields and shades, 
 
 The seedy herbage in the glades. 
 
 And gush of springs from rocky cleft. 
 
 Say : art thou of thy mate bereft, — 
 
 Or has some pitiless tempest flung 
 
 From rocking boughs thy unfledged young ; 
 
 Or, canst thou, like a human heart, 
 
 Know unrequited love's keen smart,* 
 
 And feel life's spring-tide light and bloom 
 
 Thro' blasted hope to grief give room ? 
 
 Can expectations dark o'erpower 
 
 Thy breast in life's young, tuneful hour, — 
 
 The dread of some devouring woe 
 
 Hang heavily like storms of snow ? 
 
 why that mournful strain repeat 
 
 So wild and strange and sadly sweet ? 
 
 • I have seen this idea in some bard, I think, but forget who first used it. 
 
SCEOON LAKE. 281 
 
 Upon the edge of yonder isle 
 The heron lingers yet awhile, 
 Poised on one foot : he hears the oar 
 Of our swift skiff, and stands no more ; 
 But, spreading towards the northern sky 
 His wide, grey wings, he seeks his nest 
 To fold his pinions there at rest. 
 But see ! roused by his heavy flight, 
 The wild swan with his plumage white 
 Striped with a dark ring round his neck 
 Soars up and far, till like a speck 
 He seems in distant moonlit skies.* 
 The slumbering loon near yon far shore 
 Wakes, as the swan speeds by, to pour 
 His notes so like a loud halloo ; 
 They echo all the region through. 
 Seest thou that rugged steep ? from there 
 Mt. Marcy thou canst see to bear 
 His crown majestical, in state, 
 A monarch 'mid his nobles great. 
 Here thro' these forests stretching wide 
 And vested with the pomp and pride 
 Of nature in her early years, 
 Supple and graceful spring the deer. 
 Free thro' these ranges wild to roam ; 
 By many a stream and lake at home ; 
 Free as the swallows of the shore 
 
 • A large white swan was seen in Scroon Lake some years ago This 
 allusion may be mostly if not wholly due to Noble's admirable lines on the 
 wild swan in Huron. 
 
282 SCROON LAKE. 
 
 That skim the billow's crest or soar 
 Far as they choose from the sheltered banks 
 Where their nests are ranged in social ranks. 
 Where twilight gleams have ceased to shine, 
 Towards yonder realm of day's decline, 
 The catamount ranges ; seldom here 
 A shape so fearful doth appear, — 
 Quenching his thirst within the Scroon, 
 Or springing 'mongst the trees aboon. 
 
 Here, now, companions, let us rest 
 
 Amid the lake's calm shining breast ; 
 
 What beauty here the eye enchants, 
 
 And to the mind enraptured grants 
 
 The brilliant traits of wild romance 
 
 As potent here to realize. 
 
 Where nature w^ears such glorious guise. 
 
 And shows, too, beauty's lovelier smiles. 
 
 What wonder she the heart beguiles 
 
 Away from the love of the crowded street 
 
 And the rooms where the gay and formal meet. 
 
 But, 'mid night's blue, high rides the moon 
 And we must leave thee, charming Scroon ! 
 This ramble feigned upon thy breast 
 Must cease, and we, too, sink to rest. 
 0, when death's solemn night is near. 
 May I fair hopes of heaven see clear 
 Within the page of promise sweet 
 Which sacred writ displays to greet 
 
S CROON LAKE. 283 
 
 All hearts who with God's love do beat ; 
 Hopes, visions, clearly glassed as beams 
 Of starlight or the moon's in streams 
 UnrufHed, or as heaven's fair sheen 
 Is mirrored in thy calm this e'en. 
 
THE GLORY OF ART. 
 
 Seest thou upon yon high and radiant throne 
 A spirit of majestic brow and mien ; 
 With form of wildering beauty and with face 
 Wherein the beams of power and love are seen ? 
 'Tis wondrous Art : sweet Art, — it is to thee 
 We offer now the burst of minstrelsy. 
 
 As doth the Sun to beauty and to life 
 
 E'er minister with high and strong control ; 
 
 The hues of beauty summoning, and all 
 
 Life's mystic currents gladdening, — 'till the soul 
 
 Is rapt with nature's loveliness ; so, Art 
 
 Enkindles thought, — refinement bright imparts. 
 
 She bids the scene historic rise afresh 
 
 Before the charmed eye in life's rich hues ; 
 
 Forth from their dim, deep caverns she compels 
 
 The spirits of the dead ; and then imbues 
 
 Their misty forms with force and light ; they stand 
 
 Embodied, and act o'er Earth's drama grand. 
 
 The fields of fancy and of feeling, — these 
 Are thine, illustrious, sorrow-cheering Art ! 
 Life's grosser scenes and passions to forsake 
 
THE GLORY OF ART. 285 
 
 The witchery of thy triumphs wins the heart ; 
 As morning's beauty woos the mist to rise 
 From rank, dark fens to brighten in the skies. 
 
 While fancies, poetry, and lovely dreams, 
 Fair as Love's wings, or as Hope's sunniest smile, 
 And lofty thoughts, sublime as Alpine heights. 
 Engage thy power ; e'er let not aught beguile 
 From sacred themes, — whose spirit grandeur lends ; 
 Earth's loftiest triumphs claim some sacred ends. 
 
WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 
 
 Bright meteor on the hot, dark cloud of war, 
 
 Whose beams the Hght of liberty dispense. — 
 
 Star-like, lit up with fixed, unwavering ray ! 
 
 I see that form majestical advance 
 
 In danger's thickest maze. The veteran ranks 
 
 With their drilled courage, and the deadly blaze 
 
 That prostrates hundreds, shock his breaking lines. 
 
 On bravely mid the thickest hail he rushed. 
 
 Sublimely scornful of the grave : and then, 
 
 Amid the sulphurous theatre of death. 
 
 He, for an instant, stood. Altho' unknown. 
 
 That sacred form unseen was panoplied 
 
 In Freedom's own invulnerable mail. 
 
 His eye, where wontedly deep calmness dwelt. 
 
 Flashed with defiance and unfaltering zeal. 
 
 And seemed the orb of Freedom's morning-star 
 
 O'er the threat'ning shades of battle risen. 
 
 Firmness each feature chiseled : fire 
 
 That death's dark baptism alone could quench, 
 
 Gleamed in his sword and in his dauntless mien. 
 
 With thrills sublime they see their fearless chief, 
 
 And rush once more to the encounter red 
 
 As speeds the Delaware to his ocean-goal, 
 
 Or Morn's bright-arrow'd onset towards retreating Night. 
 
WASHINGTON AT PEINCETON. 287 
 
 In vain, in vain, invaders ! pierces now 
 
 Your haught}'' flag the clouds of war. E'en now" 
 
 Falters the pulse of hope : yea, dark dismay, 
 
 In strong and solemn tones, bids ye behold 
 
 Your sovereign, — Death ! Plumeless the oppressor's death ; 
 
 The grave of tyranny ; with no tears gemm'd ; 
 
 Watched by no angel-eye ; nor mourned aloud 
 
 By the sad spirits that bewail the good ; 
 
 The very stars dispense malignant fire 
 
 And wilt the accursed grass that o'er it grows ; 
 
 And, ages after battle's turmoil calmed, 
 
 The vultures on that lone, lone spot alight 
 
 To tear the hideous spoil they've borne from far. 
 
 Great Nemesis who on yon castled hills * 
 Gazeth afar upon War's fortunes, notes 
 Upon her fearful scroll the shifting gales 
 Prompted by her avenging breath ; and on 
 Thy scutcheon, America, engraves 
 Symbols of triumph and of power. Rush on ! 
 They fly, they fly ! unharmed your chieftain soars 
 'Mid the wild rush of victory's shouting hosts ! 
 March on ! and let the brazen prizes peal 
 In thunder to the skies, " we will be free." 
 
 And you, ye dying heroes, hear ye not, 
 Above the call of death's dark angel, loud 
 
 • Alluding to natural rock-castles, or picturesque bold summits of moun- 
 tains. 
 
288 WASHINGTON AT PEINCETON. 
 
 The joyous shout ? doth it not light your eye, 
 
 Whereon the world is fading, and revive 
 
 The faltering tides of joy ? Yes ! yes ! And staunch 
 
 Those gurgling w^ounds, and nerve those flagging arms ? 
 
 Ah, no ! the early streaks alone of dawn 
 
 In Freedom's sky can greet you : Fare you well ! 
 
 Winged with God's pardons, may your spirits flit 
 
 To realms where battle's fearful cry ne'er sounds, 
 
 Nor tyrant's frowns are known ; but Love's bright flag 
 
 Far waving from the sapphire palace-towers 
 
 Glows in the air of Heaven. 
 
 There is a field 
 Where nobler wreaths are won ; and brighter gleams 
 The arms of that unsanguined war: Faith, love, 
 Meekness and prayer ; these are the weapons true 
 That overcome the spirit of the world, 
 And storm e'en Heaven's gateways. " Bloodless " 
 Did I name that holy war ? Alas ! the snows 
 Of Europe's mountain-heart have blushed with hues 
 Shed not alone from sunset's crimson pall ; 
 Her pure, rejoicing streams have flushed with dyes 
 Caught nor from fire-bird's hovering wings, nor sands 
 Purple and glimmering from the rocky steeps. 
 Fierce persecution's tiger-grasp has wrung 
 How many a faithful martyr's heart ! 
 Forgotten now : nor famed in sculptured stone ; 
 In saintly lists uncanonized, nor borne 
 Upon the tireless wings of song above 
 The realms of change, oblivion and death, — 
 
WASHINGTON AT PEINCETON. 289 
 
 Yet in thy memory blazoned, King of Kings ! 
 Still live and bloom on high those hero-names ; 
 While in the halls of Immortality, 
 Encircled by the buds of hope's sweet crown, 
 Illumined by a smile from Mercy's lips, 
 And fanned by breezes from the peaceful clime. 
 They dream of walks by life's eternal spring, 
 Of glory's march and triumph ne'er to end. 
 
 19 
 
LOVE AND WEDLOCK. 
 
 Sweet Olive, unto thee this morning hour 
 I yield with pleasure rapturous and deep ; 
 While feels so thrillingiy my heart the power 
 Of strong afiections which refuse to sleep. 
 
 My soul is full of purest love to thee, 
 
 As is the evening sky with rosy light ; 
 
 Or as the Muse's bowers with minstrelsy ; 
 
 Or childhood's breast, at play-hour, with delight. 
 
 Come from the deeps, then, of my heart, my thoughts. 
 Laden with passion, as the bees with sweets, 
 Which from the flowery, perfumed vales are brought ; 
 Come, feelings fresh, this lovely theme to greet. 
 
 Olive, to thee this day-dream doth belong ; 
 This hour with its warm impulse, I devote. 
 Like a pure sacrifice of light and song 
 To her whose memories sweetly o'er me float. 
 
 Come to the pine-wood grove, or to the shade 
 The young oaks fling beside the murmuring streams : 
 Come, and tho' dark be found the enwreathed glade, 
 Thy presence shall there shed enrapturing beams. 
 
LOVE AND WEDLOCK. 291 
 
 For thee I yearn intensely, as the orb 
 Of " negative " lightning courts the " positive " fire ; 
 Far drawing towards its burning heart t' absorb 
 Its flash in union of deep, rapt desire. 
 
 Love, thou gentle visitant from heaven, 
 Spirit irradiate with transcendant joy ; 
 Instinct and breathing with the soft might given 
 To holiest things and loveliest, that ne'er cloy ! 
 
 fairest Love, descend ; for, sure, thou art 
 No stranger on the earth, nor e'en a guest 
 Unknown or welcomeless in my own heart ; 
 There hast thou known serene tho' raptured rest. 
 
 Come, sweetest spirit, lift our thoughts on high 
 To the pure realm where love eternal flows ; 
 And to the scene where souls enamored sigh 
 Into each other's depths their holy glows. 
 
 Unveil to our entranced eyes the home 
 
 Of sweet connubial fondness, where thy breath 
 
 Suffuses each with joy divine, whence roam 
 
 No more the yearning thoughts ; engaged till death. 
 
 blessed dream ! nay, truth of real hue, 
 Fond, wedded love ! all loveliest hopes and thoughts, 
 Sweet breaths of delicate passions, and the dew 
 Of the young heart's fresh life have sought 
 
292 LOVE AND WEDLOCK. 
 
 Thy bower of bliss excelling, and there blent 
 Their influences, as the odors of Spring flowers 
 Meet in the soft, aflfectionate air, upsent 
 To wed the spirit of song in its bright bowers. 
 
 Fair Olive, in that haunt of blended love, 
 Beneath its twining branches may our hearts, 
 In memory fond of goodness from above. 
 In the sweet calm of peace dwell till death parts. 
 
 The Church's wedlock unto Him who died 
 With holy blood to sanctify the soul, 
 May this as typified in marriage, bride 
 Elect and loveliest, sway with high control ! 
 
 Like some blest isle where pure and softest airs 
 Kiss waters mantling in celestial blue, 
 While every grove is sweet with flowers rare 
 In fragrance and in grace, is wedlock true. 
 
 Such is the fond, sequestered peace 
 Embosomed in the restless tides of life ; 
 'Tis like some witching song that doth not cease 
 Its passionate flow harmonious 'mid the strife 
 
 Of winds without the peaceful cot, which rage. 
 Wrestling with forest-giants, tossing high 
 The foam, and yet defacing not one page 
 Of the sweet book of song and bliss so nigh. 
 
MUSINGS AT EVENING HOURS. 
 
 EELATIVE TO THE DEPAKTED. 
 
 Spirit ! what art thou, that within me wakes. 
 Rousing my soul, as winds the grove asleep ; 
 Or as the breath of star-lit heaven which breaks 
 The enchanted slumbers of the lake's blue deep. 
 
 where thy home ; in what delightful clime ? 
 Enrapturing inspirer, whence art thou ? 
 Thou whisperest of what is great, sublime, — 
 Of things as lovely as Spring's blossomy bough. 
 
 " Spirit of poetry !" thy name I speak, 
 
 Thy home and haunts are wide as earth's domain ; 
 
 Thou hast thy dwelling on the snowy peak, 
 
 In summery vale, on wooded mount and plain. 
 
 Where beauty brightens and where music breathes : 
 In the deep voices of the winds and waves ; 
 Where life and splendor meet ; where friendship weaves 
 And love their garlands for tear-hallowed graves. 
 
 There is thy presence felt, thy light is thrown ; 
 Yes ! where the gloom of sorrow darkly broods. 
 
294 MUSINGS AT EVENING HOURS. 
 
 Where hope doth languish, there thy power is known ; 
 With blest Religion cheering saddest moods. 
 
 muse of song ! sweet are thy breathing charms ; 
 Thy fragrant flowers from Thoughts' enchanting fields 
 Win with exquisite spells the heart ; alarms 
 And griefs subside : such power thy spirit wields. 
 
 Come, 'mid Death's sylvan haunts at soft night-fall, 
 Wake images of splendor, thoughts of might ; 
 With silvery beauty broider o'er the pall ; 
 With blaze of oil perfum'd the dark tomb light. 
 
 Show how Imagination wakes from sleep 
 The loved and lost, and with etherial forms 
 Clothes them anew ; thus cheering those who weep 
 As by soft sunbeams after sombre storms. 
 
 The vision ope unto the darkened eyes 
 Of Love's pure clime of light and bliss divine ; 
 Bid through the pearly gates of Paradise 
 A joy enkindling radiance soft to shine. 
 
 The future's curtain drawing, grant the soul 
 A prospect of the immortal triumph high ; 
 On its dull ear cause from afar to roll 
 An unspent wave of heavenly harmony. 
 
 Waked by thy touch, we see the loved at rest 
 Bursting the grave's imprisonment, as flowers 
 
MUSINGS AT EVENING HOUES. 295 
 
 The seal which Winter's icy hand impressed, 
 Gifted like them with hale, fresh bloom and powers. 
 
 From mortal stain and sorrow laved, refined, 
 As every thought from grossness which has pass'd 
 Thro' the bright, burning heaven of the mind 
 Of some grand, sacred bard of purest cast : 
 
 So to our vision seems she ; so she is ; 
 And we still love with tender, holy love ; 
 And cast a wreath of poesy in this 
 Our offering at the grave of her above. 
 
 As beauty softened by the veil's thin guise ; 
 As tapers brighten'd by eve's deep'ning shade ; 
 So thro' the veil and twilight of death's skies 
 The spirit's image fairer seems portrayed. 
 
 Buried, forgotten in sepulchral dust, 
 Sink every memory of those we love. 
 Save recollections sweet and fond and just ! 
 And bright and soothing may they ever prove. 
 
 Bird of th' entrancing hour ! that clearly pourest 
 Melodious sorrow from thy trembling breast ; 
 Thy strain, voiced now ere to thy nest thou soarest, 
 Shall be as my lament for her at rest ; 
 
 Thine be the fitting music for my song ; 
 
 And thine, fair orb on high, the honoring light 
 
296 MUSINGS AT EVENING HOUKS. 
 
 Which, silvering the marble, will burn long, 
 To give at death's sad shrine an offering bright. 
 
 Thus honors of an offering I'd confer ; 
 
 And worthy is the oblation Nature gives 
 
 In beauty, light and music unto her 
 
 Who loved the Source of all and with Him lives. 
 
 Almighty Father ! from thy bow-spann'd throne 
 Dart down one precious ray of life divine : 
 In patience, hope and love may we, tho' lone, 
 Most thankfully thro' life continue thine. 
 
 HYMN TO THE SAVIOR. 
 
 Savior, we dedicate to Thee 
 
 This evening-hour of toil's repose : 
 
 With gush of sacred minstrelsy 
 
 We flood the day-light's purple close. 
 
 As seeks the bird at twilight's hour 
 Her well-loved and her sheltered nest ; 
 So, to thy throne of love and power 
 Our thoughts are fondly now addrest. 
 
HYMN TO THE SAVIOR. 297 
 
 * 
 
 Thither they float, as to their home ; 
 With gratitude's full song they rise ; 
 Perfumed with incense may they come, — 
 The incense of thy sacrifice. 
 
 As at the close of Summer's day, 
 The hot earth thirsteth for the dew ; 
 So yearn our spirits while we pray 
 That thy rich grace may them imbue. 
 
 In mercy's pure tho' crimsoned fount, 
 Our souls, Deliverer, purify ; 
 From that sweet laving may they mount 
 On wings of love and hope on high. 
 
 As fade day's scenes upon the eye ; 
 And slumbers now the weary flower ; 
 So may the world's attractions lie 
 Shadowed and slumbering, at this hour. 
 
THE CHURCH. 
 
 Amid the fearful wild, a temple stands 
 
 Chiseled in beauty in the solid rock, 
 
 Cut from its mountain grandeur ; haunt secure 
 
 As sacred, save to those assailed by bolts 
 
 Of Heaven's most just omnipotent decrees, 
 
 Scathing and dread as is the lightning's flash. 
 
 In grace and grand security of strength 
 
 An emblem of the Holy Church is seen 
 
 In that e'er during fane. But silence there 
 
 Broods with an awful spell, while voiceful throngs 
 
 Wake the deep, glad harmonies within the walls 
 
 Of the Church's shrine of strength ; and there. 
 
 Broods not, as in Petrea's lonely fane. 
 
 The bird of gloomy omen, but the holy dove. 
 
 Wafting by her pure wings the delicate wind 
 
 Of spiritual influence, and of sacred peace 
 
 The blest refreshment to the heart that loves. 
 
 In this " munition of the rocks," by faith and love. 
 
 May our security, Lord, be fixed, 
 
 Safe thro' all storms until thy coming grand 
 
 Upon the sacred citadel shall pour 
 
 The splendors of thy festal day of power ! 
 
 Bouyed up by courage, in faith's atmosphere, 
 
THE CHURCH. 299 
 
 Thick gather flocks unto the spiritual Ark, 
 
 As birds on fearless, hopeful wing of old 
 
 Flew to the floating home and temple 
 
 Of pious Noah. On the mount of God 
 
 That mystic ark shall rest ; and there 
 The rescued ones, alighting, shall 
 
 With grateful wreaths, beneath the olive's shade, 
 
 Their new-raised altar, in triumphant bliss. 
 
 With ceremonial lofty consecrate 
 
 Unto the Power Supreme that guides and saves. 
 
 Mark well the ancient bulwarks which support 
 
 In noble dignity God's holy Church : 
 
 Her courts of beauty note, the niches rich 
 
 Adorned with memories of her glorious saints ; 
 
 The golden lightnings of the Law, and hues 
 
 Mellow and tender of the Gospel's truth 
 
 Streaming, like floods of roseate splendor thro' 
 
 The rich-dyed, glassy blazonry of Gothic lights. 
 
 Here " power and beauty " dwell ; here, then, 
 
 The fire and incense of your love and praise 
 
 And throbbing, tear-bedewed prayer command 
 
 Unto the Builder of the fane to rise. 
 
TWILIGHT THOUGHTS OF SORROW. 
 
 Thou star that 'midst the deepening purple sinks 
 Of the dim Western sky, thy latest gleams 
 Fading like Autumn's flushes on the leaf 
 Which Winter whirls and darkens ; in thy last 
 And dying sparkles, quenched amid the cold 
 And prodigal tears of Eve, I see a sad 
 And eloquent remembrancer. gentle breath, 
 That, sweet with ravishment of fading flowers, 
 On some late Autumn night expires and fills 
 The sorrowful trees with a soft sigh as sad 
 As love's regret, — gentle wind, a dream 
 Of sorrow and a thought of grief the sigh 
 And trembling of thy presence wakes. 
 
 Fair stream, 
 Child of the pure, enamoring haunts 
 Of Nature (great in mastery o'er the heart,) 
 That to the bosom of the ocean flows, 
 Burying thy currents in its boundless deeps. 
 Or which in desert sands thy bright tide wastes,- 
 I gaze on thy departing waves and drink 
 The light and music of thy wavelet's play. 
 And dream of life's last streams that flowed, 
 The heart suffusing with love's delicate bliss, 
 
TWILIGHT THOUGHTS OP SOEROW. 301 
 
 Now in death's thirsty and oblivious sands 
 
 Sunken and gone. In yonder Oakland scene 
 
 Peopled with silent dwellers, 'neath the arms 
 
 Extending of a youthful tree, there lies 
 
 A form late warming with life's mystic glows. 
 
 Its sacred fire Heaven has withdrawn ; the fruit 
 
 Blushing and bright with living charms and powers 
 
 That Heaven alone could give, the shadowy hand 
 
 (Commissioned by the Throne of Light supreme) 
 
 Has plucked ; and sowing for a certain growth, 
 
 Immortal and all-glorious, low has hid 
 
 In earth (now hallowed) all of what we mourn : 
 
 And yet not all : whom faith's celestial light 
 
 And meek-eyed homage and a patient love 
 
 Have consecrated and the mystic breath 
 
 Of the Great " Comforter " has dwelt in, 
 
 Never dies, but lives securely blest, embraced 
 
 In God's most loving guardianship, as lie 
 
 Safe, undisturb'd, beyond th' adventurous hope, 
 
 (Tho' less secure than they in their repose) 
 
 Jewels of gold and gems in mines profound 
 
 In Nature's adamantine treasury locked, 
 
 Unvisited of sight, beneath the base 
 
 Of mightiest hills ; or as the stars 
 
 Dwell far above all change or blight, 
 
 Or ravage of terrestrial storms, enthroned 
 
 In the inviolable shrine of azure heaven 
 
 Vast as its Author's love. 
 
302 TWILIGHT THOUGHTS OF SORROW. 
 
 Sighs, sighs for thee 
 Who slumberest in yon grave ! esteem's fond sighs 
 From many a breast has risen : Affection pure 
 Stili follows thee ; and fired with courage strong, 
 Borrowing the wings of faith, invades the realms 
 Awful and shadowy of the soul's repose 
 Where Love Divine unslumbering watch preserves 
 O'er all the loved and ransomed of all time, 
 Counting with eagerness the loitering hours 
 Which yet must pass ere Death shall be despoil'd. 
 Sighs, sighs for thee ! And yet the husbandman. 
 Sowing in earth his fairest, precious grain, 
 Laments not at the thought of loss, but sees 
 The future brightening with the harvest's pomp. 
 Feeding his mind with hope's delightful dream : 
 So may the mourners for the loved of Christ 
 Be taught of him to sorrow with fair dreams 
 Of His great harvest-home and fadeless bliss. 
 In a new lamp for Heaven's high temple made 
 Life's quenchless beam with glory fresh shall burn. 
 Sleep quietly ; loved one, rest ! while we 
 Treasure the memories of thy radiant youth 
 And womanhood so full of life and bright 
 With cultured thought's enchantment and so warm 
 With natural affection, and long stamped 
 With Christian faith and piety sincere. 
 As in the ashes long the fire doth glow ; 
 As sweetness from the lifeless rose exhales ; 
 And falling stars a bright track leave behind, 
 
TWILIGHT THOUGHTS OP SOEEOW. 303 
 
 A luminous wake in heaven's cerulean sea, 
 So now live memories fair and loved of thee. 
 
 Tremble and sink amid the West, fair orb, 
 
 Departing herald of Night's dark-veiled train ! 
 
 Let the dull sands thy beauty bright absorb, 
 
 blue and glimmering stream, which towards the main 
 
 Wast journeying on : soft 'mid the trees expire 
 
 The breeze which bore like bees intoxicate 
 
 The sweetness of the flowers ; if yet the fire 
 
 Of love, the holy and the true, doth mate 
 
 With our own spirit in the cells of thought 
 
 Sacred from eyes without : if yet a dream 
 
 Of one whose smiles and hopes were blent with ours. 
 
 Born 'mid fond memories and by yearnings brought 
 
 To life and power, life-deep, shall shed its gleam 
 
 To cheer and warm ; if yet the hallow'd breath 
 
 Of love and hope shall triumph over death ; 
 
 If fair remembrances serene and blest 
 
 Shall flow upon the soul until its rest. 
 
CREATION. 
 
 Ye mountains, coned with dazzling snows, and strong 
 
 In rude, majestic towers and walls of rock, 
 
 Whence firs and pines hang o'er the dizzy deep, 
 
 Trailing their clambering vines in grace ; superb 
 
 In beauty and in grandeur soars aloft 
 
 Of your magnificence the image bright. 
 
 Ye stars, that glitter o'er the icy brows 
 
 Of those sky-piercing hills ; with characters 
 
 Of rich and golden import made t' illume 
 
 The azure drapery of Nature's halls, — ye stars 
 
 Blaze down upon us with delightful charms, 
 
 The heart enkindling with romantic joy. 
 
 With soft allurement through the embowered dell 
 
 The frolic stream glides silently along, 
 
 Shedding from out its blue and glimmering glass 
 
 Enchantment as from sparkling streams of song. 
 
 Fair are the meadows softly waving, whilst 
 
 Careers the breeze above ; and fair the flowers 
 
 Which nod beside the stream, and glass their grace 
 
 Within its smoothly-flowing tide, as images 
 
 Sparkling amid the poet's liquid verse. 
 
 Majestical and glorious is the expanse ^ 
 
 Of ocean, theatre of grand events 
 
CEEATION. 305 
 
 In the dread wars of nature or of men ; 
 
 At times, the image of the glassy pave 
 
 Sparkling with golden fires before the throne 
 
 Of the Eternal One ; at times aroused, 
 
 Vexed by the furious and impatient storms, 
 
 Or blazing fitfully with the deep-red lights 
 
 Of battle's jubilee so wild and dread ; 
 
 An emblem of the fiery-vaulted realm 
 
 Of the archangel fall'n, where leprous Sin 
 
 Is tossed by surges of remorse and woe. 
 
 Towering and beautiful the forest trees, 
 
 Nature's great standing army, waving high 
 
 Their leafy banners of resplendent green, 
 
 And guarding well the harvests 'gainst the storm 
 
 With which they battle, — beautiful are these. 
 
 But yet than these more wonderful and fair 
 
 In beauty's fine, enamoring grace were they 
 
 Who moved with stately port and mien divine 
 
 Amid that loveliness and pomp. In them 
 
 Grandeur and gracefulness, the charms and bloom 
 
 Of skies, and rivers, trees and flowers 
 
 Were blent and with the lustre of the soul 
 
 Suffused and brightened ; as when some rich fane, 
 
 To which all nature has its tributes given. 
 
 Is lit and hallowed by the presence dread 
 
 Of that high deity for whom 'twas framed, 
 
 Descended with the blaze of mystic fire. 
 
 20 
 
LINES IN MEMORY OF MISS LUCY M. LUFF. 
 
 Laughing and bright as brooks of summer showers ; 
 
 Like them, how brief thy race ! or as the flowers 
 
 Soon vanishing, that we with beauty filled 
 
 May not be gorged, like bees with sweets distilled : 
 
 Or like the meteor whose bright, frolic course 
 
 The enchanted eye scarce kindles, ere the loss 
 
 Of the celestial pilgrim we lament ; 
 
 So from earth's scenes, our loved companion went. 
 
 In fair and fragrant gardens, (lovely page 
 
 Where nature writes pure thoughts from age to age,) 
 
 There, with a fine enthusiasm filled, 
 
 The wasting energies of life she spilled ; — 
 
 Sending the ardent, rapturous mind to roam 
 
 In poetry's elysium made her home ; 
 
 In Beauty's world of matter and of mind, 
 
 'Twas thine to dwell and joy etherial find. 
 
 Farewell ! tho' sad the word : unto thy God 
 
 Thy soul we yield, thy body to the sod. 
 
 In heaven we'll meet thee, friend devout, sincere ; 
 
 Earth's joys eclipsed thro' all its endless year. 
 
 The radiant beam which on yon pool descends, — 
 
 That dark, still deep, — to heaven again ascends : 
 
 The myriad drops which in the ocean blend, 
 
 Called by the sun, the sea aloft shall send ; 
 
 There, in the free and luminous air they'll roam : 
 
 As chainless thou, when God shall bid thee come. 
 
THE WHITE LAKE CREEK— A SKETCH. 
 
 How lone and beautiful this place ! Here flow 
 
 The White Lake's waters, forcing midst the rocks 
 
 Their foamy pathway. High o'erhead, the trees 
 
 Of this wild forest-track branch wide around, 
 
 Forming vast, vaulted chambers, wrapt in shade 
 
 Cool and delicious. Down the varying stream, 
 
 Tempting the trout from his cold haunts, 
 
 We pass ; but not with eye unmindful now. 
 
 Nature, of thy wild beauty, we reneAv 
 
 Our wanderings along this lonely creek. 
 
 The laurels tangled on the banks forbid 
 
 The sportsman's steps upon the shore ; nor, now 
 
 That June's rejoicing sun is reigning high, 
 
 Need he regret his steps must be along 
 
 The pebbly channels of the cooling stream. 
 
 Or if we rest upon some open bank, 
 
 Still cooling visions shall delight us : rocks 
 
 Dripping with foam, and beautiful with moss ; 
 
 The shadowy haunt, above, of orioles ; 
 
 The glassy cave of yon old trout, who scorns 
 
 Our fly and squirming bait, but darts like thought 
 
 At every luckless miller fluttering by. 
 
 With startling and exciting splash, — 
 
 These shall our thoughts beguile. 
 
308 THE WHITE LAKE CREEK. 
 
 And we will dream 
 Of icy drinks that float the fragrant rind 
 Of the golden lemon ; visions shall delight 
 Of water-falls by sun-bows canopied. 
 The fine spray flying in the restless breeze ; 
 Of couches spread in small craft on the lake, 
 The air around with music sweet — with breath 
 Of distant hay-fields and the fragrant meads : 
 We'll dream of caverns in the lonely wild, 
 The dim light glistening from the crystalled walls, 
 And o'er the Stygian waters, cold as snow, 
 That wash the statues rude, in rock, of men 
 Whose battle-axes, of the flint-stone cut, 
 Clashed in the conflict centuries ago. 
 Such cooling dreams shall charm us, till again 
 We tempt the timid dwellers in the stream ; 
 And the day grows rich as night steals on, like hopes 
 More brightly blooming near Death's sable hour. 
 Thou with the free and beautiful Mongaup 
 Wilt blend thy waters, lonely " White Lake Creek," 
 As though some pensive genius, lone and strange, 
 Were wedded to some maid of open face, 
 And fresh, fair beauty, after sorrowing years. 
 
 lonely, wild, romantic stream ! with thee, 
 And with the regions where thy waters gleam. 
 There are blithe memories woven : of fair youths, 
 Sunny and glad and winning ; as with rocks 
 And lonely Clio's upon the ocean shore, 
 Majestical and rude, in Memory's glass 
 
THE WHITE LAKE CREEK. 309 
 
 Are blent the images of lovely vines, 
 
 And soft, young blossoms, and the tinted moss. 
 
 Not thus, like thine, lonely stream ! 
 
 Be my life's destinies — through gloomy scenes, 
 
 Perplexed and in deep solitude. 
 
 Let the soft light of true romance, indeed, 
 
 Be flowing 'round my course ; but freer beams 
 
 Of heavenly sunshine be my constant lot, 
 
 With faith and hope and joy enkindling me. 
 
 THE DIVINE BENIGNITY. 
 
 Yea, might and majesty reside 
 At thy dread seat. Eternal One ! 
 Yet doth not gentleness and love 
 Breathe from thy angel-circled throne ? 
 Who took sweet childhood in his arms, 
 And on its glossy ringlets poured 
 With a soft, gliding pressure of his palms 
 Unearthly blessedness from God ? 
 Pray, who at His divine command 
 Bade human sorrow fly, 
 Wheree'er, amid his wondering throng. 
 Grief stood with tear-dimmed eye. 
 And wherefore from your horrid bed 
 Spring up, ye ghastly -featured dead 1 
 
310 THE DIVINE BENIGNITY 
 
 " Immanuel calls, we live ! we spring ; 
 
 And Health shines o'er us, with her wing 
 
 In healing rife, — her joys we sing ; 
 
 For, ne'er before hath gladness leapt 
 
 So like a current, thro' our frames, 
 
 And ne'er within our cheeks have slept 
 
 So beautiful the rosy flames." 
 
 And mark how in St. John's sweet book 
 
 What gentleness Messiah blends 
 
 With dignity's high grace ; 
 
 And makes us dream we see portrayed 
 
 The mildness of his face : 
 
 Then may the shepherd-boys breathe on 
 
 Thro' their soft flutes the fearless tone 
 
 When their tuned voicings grow sublime 
 
 With mention of the Eternal One. 
 
 And you who glide o'er moonlit lakes 
 
 In your blithe music-freighted boats. 
 
 Why ceaseth on your lips the smile 
 
 That curls them, when the star which floats 
 
 In Western purple calls your thoughts 
 
 Up to the Power who bade it shine ? 
 
 Smile on ; for. Love indulgent sought 
 
 Your pleasure with His works divine j 
 
 And Evening's cool and lucid airs, — 
 
 And Morning's dew-bespangled sight, — 
 
 With meek-eyed birds in loving pairs 
 
 Drunk with the extasy of light, — 
 
 All utter forth a Heaven benign 
 
 Who willed that Nature's joy be thine. 
 
TO ONE BETROTHED. 
 
 (an acrostic.) 
 
 Sweeter than lips of opening buds is she, 
 
 (All winds of heaven breathe perfume 'round her path 
 
 Richer than roses yield !) who vows in heart 
 
 All blameless in the hymeneal bonds 
 
 Her soul to keep. " Now gentlest love, strong, deep," 
 
 She saith, " Shall prompt life's pulses : 
 
 In confiding mood and mild long sufferance, 
 
 Liveliest sympathies, (like chains of gold 
 
 Linking with jewelled bonds the mated hearts ;) 
 
 Ready each error to forgive ; resolved 
 
 On every frailty with indulgent eye 
 
 Mildly, as bound, to glance, — I'll pass life's hours. 
 
 Each thus with love and sacred sweetness charged, 
 
 Never shall fail with its melodious wings, 
 
 Years thro', fond blessings on my soul to waft. 
 
LOVE AND STUDY. 
 
 " "Were it not better done, as other use, 
 
 To sport with Amarylis in the shade. 
 
 Or with the tangles of Neseras' hair." — Milton. 
 
 FIRST VOICK. 
 
 How glorious is the hour of studious thought : 
 
 The mysteries of wisdom ; life, and death ; 
 
 Health's buoyant pulses, and the fitful throbs 
 
 Of dull disease ; the laws of grace. 
 
 Of beauty, motion, and the mystic rules 
 
 Which guide the planets onward ; these, and such 
 
 In dignity as these, the deep mind fill 
 
 With themes exalted and exalting, when 
 
 Philosophy's high hour commands our thoughts. 
 
 SECOND VOICE. 
 
 0, sweeter far is the sacred time of love ! 
 Then the deep soul springs to the eyes and lips, 
 And blends its mystic lightnings with the dawn 
 Of pure afi"ection in sweet woman's heart. 
 Then, tender thoughts make eloquent the lips, 
 Quickening and passionate. Celestial light 
 From the eyes, by glad, expressive light 
 Is answered back ; her pictured tissue bright 
 
LOYEANDSTUDY. 3 13 
 
 Hope weaves with cunningest power ; yea, dreams 
 
 Of delicate pleasure glow into the forms 
 
 Of rapturous reality ; to substance ripe 
 
 The shadows brighten. Thus, the matchless fount 
 
 Of earthly happiness is love. 
 
 FIRST VOICK. 
 
 The spring 
 Pure and unfailing of a joy divine 
 An earthly love can ne'er unseal. 
 
 Of bliss, 
 That source most pure, our admiration claims, 
 From which the live, unfaltering current flows. 
 Love's pleasant triumphs fade and die ; when fail 
 Th' enthralling charms of beauty ; when the rose 
 Laments its fading glory on the cheek 
 And lip, once ripe and crimson : When, at length, 
 The warm susceptibilities grow cold ; 
 And the ardors of young passion die ; and gold. 
 Or fame, and power their glittering idols rear ; 
 Faint in the breast the shade of former joys 
 Flits dyingly : But quest ot those fine truths 
 Which God expresses in great nature's face 
 Exalting light administers, and joy 
 As deathless as 'tis pure. 
 
 SECOND VOICE. 
 
 *' They sin who tell us love can die ;" the stars 
 As soon can perish, when its pure, blest fire, 
 
314 LOVE AND STUDY. 
 
 Kindlad by virtue and by mind, deep burns 
 In the true soul and wise. The matchless charms 
 Of thoughts refined, (the sunbeams of the soul,) 
 Of modesty, sweet piety and truth command 
 Affection's holy altar e'er to glow ; and breathe 
 Undying vigor to Love's delicate flowers. 
 But to our scrutiny, dim nature grants. 
 Oft, but the tantalizing glimpse ; and thought, 
 Wearied and baflled, mourns its wasted strength 
 And bright hours sacrificed in vain ; and burns 
 To lay its temples where Love's tresses stream, 
 Breathing ambrosial sweetness, and the air 
 Of pure, entrancing joy. 
 
 When Heaven vouchsafes 
 Its blessing (richer than the morning light,) 
 To ardors and attachments just and wise, — 
 Guiltless of all idolatry — no breath 
 That stirs the air of life knows more 
 Of quick, sweet happiness than Love's ; 
 Except that grace the highest Power all blest 
 Sheds o'er the thirsting hearts of penitent men. 
 
THE RURAL BURIAL-GROUND. 
 
 The solemn bell calls to the grove-hid church ; 
 It is the voice of death, his warning note ; 
 And clusters, with a slow and pensive gait, 
 Are gathering at the porch. Let us delay- 
 Here by this tomb, moss-groWn from tears of Heaven, 
 That mourns the loveliest face its beams e'er saw. 
 Till the sad bier and priest at church-door meet. 
 And his full voice the sentences pronounce. 
 Shall I grow eloquent with praise of worth 
 That sleeps beneath this stone ? Shall I rehearse 
 The kindness and sweet graces of her deeds. 
 And build anew in memory's shadowy air 
 Her soft and saintly loveliness of form ? 
 True spake the surpliced priest, " Dust unto dust 
 And earth to earth resigned ;" yet we, I trust, 
 Without an impious murmur, may call back 
 Time's melancholy flight ; and in her home 
 Command the vacant air to beauteous shapes 
 Till her sweet smile shall bloom on us once more. 
 Did she not trip with blithesome feet the fields 
 When noon-day bade the mowers to their shade ; 
 Or, gathering in spring the stainless blood 
 The maple's wounded veins did yield ? I see 
 
316 THE RURAL BURIAL-GROUND. 
 
 In the bright past her frolic face, and hear 
 A voice like hers in vine-hung dells ring forth. 
 When evening sports amused the fire-side throng. 
 No laugh than hers was merrier, and no lip 
 A lovelier prize in all the ruby group. 
 The poor beheld with gratitude her feet 
 Approaching, and their spirits warmed 
 By her good presents, and the pleasantness 
 Of her young, beauteous face. The spring 
 Beheld her blushing at a lover's kiss ; 
 And when the summer reigned in soft blue skies. 
 She on his shoulder leaned, and heard with tears 
 The whispering of his vows. Ah ! love, I ween, 
 Is mightier in its thrall to bind the heart 
 Unto its life, than aught of all we know ; 
 Yet, in the autumn-time, they laid her down 
 Beneath the tearful grass. The conscious earth 
 Clasped her sweet body with a mother's love, 
 In wonder that her dark and formless womb 
 So beautiful a shape had borne. 
 
 But, hark ! 
 The sad, low notes, float from the organ's swell : 
 Let us at once unto the church repair. 
 And list the choir a solemn requiem chant. 
 The last sweet tribute to the dead, that steals 
 Into the mourner's breast, and there doth mix 
 Music's soft, calm elation with his grief. 
 Now hear the reasonings grand St. Paul doth urge, 
 To prove this grade doth lead a nobler still, 
 
THE EUEAL BURIAL-GROUND. 317 
 
 Where mortals immortality assume, 
 
 As glory hath her steps, from earth to moon, 
 
 And from the pallid moon to glorious suns. 
 
 God ! in this heavenly hope let us repose. 
 
 When sad eyes damp the pillow of our death. 
 
 And on our pale and trembling lips we feel 
 
 The sweet last kiss mortality can know ! 
 
 But now the mourners round the grave convene, 
 
 And " dust to dust " drops from the sexton's hand ; 
 
 The choir once more the pleading prayers do chant ; 
 
 The white-robed priest his suppliant palm uprears. 
 
 Sleep quiet, gentle soul ! for none than thou 
 
 More gently led the dove-like hours away. 
 
 But there is one who o'er this scene hath pour'd 
 
 The tenderest soul of melancholy ; here now breathes 
 
 The very poetry of sadness ; and the night. 
 
 The lone, sweet, solemn night, can testify 
 
 ilis ofierings at the cypress-shrine of grief, 
 
 How frequent and how tearful ! And ye birds 
 
 That people April's blossomy bowers at eve. 
 
 Nursing your fluttering dreams 'neath wings of down, 
 
 Can tell how oft the sad heart-gushes broke 
 
 The hush of your dim slumbers. I have seen 
 
 Often, at dusk, the lover's form steal by 
 
 Yon brook that glitters 'neath that voiceful grove, 
 
 Towards this her grave ; these rose-trees, pinks, and vines 
 
 Of bright immortal green, he planted here ; 
 
 His tears have watered them, and hence they say 
 
 They thrive, but blossom never. Nature here. 
 
318 THE RURAL BURIAL-GROUND. 
 
 In spot so consecrated, checks her smile ; 
 
 Yet in the radiant blush of dawn, one day, 
 
 A fair, blue myrtle-blossom I surprised ;* 
 
 A single drop was in it ; did it fall 
 
 From the dark fringes of thy pensive eyes, 
 
 melancholy night ? or was it wept 
 
 From lids of human sadness ? One bland eve. 
 
 When the sweet, songless air stole softly on. 
 
 As love's first wakenings, or the odorous breath 
 Of innocency, lost 'mid halcyon dreams, 
 
 The gentleness of nature wooed him here. 
 
 Till midnight's awful tollings in yon tower 
 
 Startled the belfry doves. Beside her grave 
 
 Entranced he lay ; when, like the stately flush 
 
 Of a " northern dawn," up-rushing in the heavens, 
 
 And building glorious cities in the sky, 
 
 A grand mausoleum rose before his eyes. 
 
 Magnificence was thron'd upon its roof. 
 
 Shining with pinnacles, and towers, and domes ! 
 
 Strange figures from the speechless marble charmed 
 
 By art's resistless power, were twined around 
 
 About its battlements and lofty towers ; 
 
 Without, in niches, 'mid the enchanting blaze 
 
 Of sculptured richness, stood the forms of seers. 
 
 Great sages, patriarchs, and kings. Within, 
 
 No prince or knight with clasped hands was seen 
 
 Asleep in old barbaric stone : no tomb. 
 
 Proud of the dust of majest}^, and wrought 
 
 * The periwinkle is sometimes called the myrtle, I believe. 
 
TBfE RURAL BURIAL-GROUND. 319 
 
 With the bright signs of royalty and fame, 
 
 There met the eye ! but one there gleamed aloft ; 
 
 With angel forms 'twas sculptured, and the cross 
 
 Was sparkling on its summit high. A sun 
 
 Was pictured rising from an ocean dim, 
 
 And soaring nobly through the affrighted clouds, 
 
 To joyous triumph in eternal day. 
 
 Upon the tablet graved with gold he read 
 
 The name of her he loved ! while in the air 
 
 A form etherial beamed with soft, faint lines. 
 
 And whispered, " This mausoleum grand, and this 
 
 The tomb it guards and honors, symbolize 
 
 The heavenly love and honor that surrounds 
 
 The Christian's dying couch and the still sod 
 
 He consecrates in death. Though friendless, lone, 
 
 In his simplicity unknown, yet God, 
 
 If love and gentleness have sweetly dyed 
 
 The slender threads of life, shall bid him stand 
 
 Beside His jeweled throne, and on his name 
 
 Shall breathe the glories of a quenchless fame. 
 
 Like shining exhalations o'er the fens 
 
 Still hot and seething thro' Night's dewy hours. 
 
 This fair and luminous vision here arose 
 
 From his excited brain ; with image strange 
 
 Forth shadowing immortal, glorious truths 
 
 That overflow with consolations rich. 
 
THE WATERY WORLD. 
 
 With awe and wonder may I well approach 
 
 This mighty world in Nature, this great realm 
 
 Which glares its sceptre, a bright shaft of ice, 
 
 Both on th' Antarctic zone, the lone and bleak. 
 
 And on the Arctic hills ; which there uprears 
 
 In the soft flush of Winter's streaming sky 
 
 Its palaces of ice. The tropics, too 
 
 Are girt with its bright fullness ; East and West 
 
 The pulses of its mighty empire beat : 
 
 On India's and on China's shores its powers 
 
 Can hold their dazzling revelry. The inland hills,- 
 
 Its glittering armies sweep their steep defiles, 
 
 And sparkle on the plains below, that own 
 
 The green, voluptuous triumph of its power ; 
 
 For, stately groves with fuller beauty shoot 
 
 Their arching boughs above the stream, and strain 
 
 The sun's fierce splendors to a gentle light. 
 
 How richly on the banks, where rushes wave, 
 
 Nods the lobelia's crimson crest ! It seems 
 
 To recognize the grateful gift that steeps 
 
 The mould around its roots, and grants the sun 
 
 A blush more brilliant to demand. 
 
THE WATERY WORLD. 321 
 
 And man, — 
 How like the wilted flower lie sinks, if this 
 The pure, bright gift of love but fails his lips ! 
 Prone on the scorching sand he lies, his brain 
 Whirled with wild fever, or, perchance, insane, 
 And thronged with maddening fears and sights ; 
 Loud toward the source of heat he, writhing, flings 
 A fierce, delirious curse, and now he deems 
 The scorching blasts from Hell's red climes invest 
 His panic-struck and withering soul, till dews. 
 Shed from the bland and pitying lids of Eve, 
 Refresh his heated brow ; or 'till the hands 
 Of Love, the tearful, tender and the true. 
 Stroke with cool, moistened palms the home of thought, 
 Soothing its feverish strife. 
 
 On sun-burnt plains, 
 Far delving in the sunless depth of Earth, 
 Man the bright cordial seeks ; the rocky bar 
 About the secret paths of ceaseless streams, 
 He with explosive thunderbolts disturbs. 
 Hailing with joy the clear blood of its veins. 
 
 And when amid the crowded city's piles, 
 The pillared thrones of commerce, art and power, 
 The wild, high-tide of flame is billowing vast 
 In dread magnificence ; and sweeping quick 
 To one black, ashy tomb vast glittering spoils. 
 What joy plays bright within his anxious eye 
 To see the watery columns pouring forth 
 21 
 
322 THE WATERY WORLD. 
 
 To battle with the red artillery 
 
 And check the tyrant's rage : and then the blood 
 
 To thousand blanched cheeks returns ; and dreams 
 
 Of poverty and blackened wrecks flit off 
 
 And leave the decorated shrine of home 
 
 Lit with the same contented smile of peace. 
 
 Hark ! from afar what heavy rumblings sound ! 
 The ground now trembles with the grand sub-bass. 
 Is it the opening of Nature's hymn, 
 The first deep breathings of her anthem grand, 
 Whose chorus full shall shake the lofty skies ? 
 Or speeds to battle some tremendous host. 
 Ten thousand chariots rumbling o'er the plain, 
 High martial valor pressing hotly on ; 
 Or, sweep the buffaloes in frightened flight, 
 Shaking the earth with their stupendous throngs, 
 The fire-king with his swift and leaping sprites 
 Close crackling in the impatient chase behind ? 
 In thunder down his awful chasm, list 
 Niagara's phrenzied and abandoned plunge ! 
 The very fowls that sport upon the stream, 
 Bound by a spell of dread, or helpless whirled 
 In dizzying swiftness, sink amid the foam, 
 And lifeless drift upon the rocks below : 
 And woman in her loveliness and bloom, 
 Faint with the oppressive sense of awful power, 
 Has fallen, shrouded in the dazzling sj)ray, 
 And buried 'mid the foaming gulf beneath : 
 So falls from Evening's brow a glittering gem, 
 
THE WATERY WORLD. 323 
 
 Its beauty burying in some gloomy cloud ; 
 So, oft, a fancy rich and bright in bloom 
 Sinks into dark oblivion, swallowed \\-p, — 
 Submerged 'mid thought's tumultuous rush, 
 Unto the flowery realm of sentiment lost.* 
 
 Nor there alone the watery world is stamped 
 
 With majesty and terror ; childhood reads 
 
 With its unstudious eye those awful traits 
 
 Revealed on ocean's countenance when strive 
 
 The infuriate winds on that arena grand. 
 
 The emblems faint of power Divine, career 
 
 Amid the engulfing seas that hide 
 
 In their dark depths the loved, the missed, the mourn'd : 
 
 There calmly sleep the beautiful and young, 
 
 Their locks with the sea-vines wreathed, their brows 
 
 Kissed by the gliding spirits of the waves. 
 
 Thy deep and wandering currents know the spot 
 Where lie on coral-beds the throng that dared 
 To venture on the " President " above 
 Thy magazines of fury. Thou dost glass 
 The charming scene of peace, the moonlit group, 
 With love and music and light laughter glad ; 
 And, too, the shock of battling nations whilst 
 The red and sulphurous tempest roars, more mad 
 And deadlier than thy fiercest storms ; as when, 
 
 * "Wild fowls, my impression is, have been found drowned, or, for some 
 cause, lifeless, below the falls. A lady, who ventured under the column 
 some years ago, fell into the abyss. 
 
324 THE WATEBY WOBLD. 
 
 For Greece and jealousy, the triple powers 
 Shivered the proud and sullen naval strength, 
 O'er which the crescent shone : and when 
 Don John and Doria in Lepanto's gulf 
 For Christendom against the Turk unfurled 
 Their signal banners high inviting war : 
 And battle's fiery demon in his cloudy wings 
 Their squadrons folded, shrouding in the flame 
 The Sultan's valiant thousands, and defiled 
 Their once proud standard, prostrate now, despised 
 Upon the crimson seas. 
 
 But nobler scenes 
 Are glassed within thy breast magnificent. 
 When floats the Bethel flag, and voices sweet, 
 To Christian love in distant regions pledged, 
 Disturb the stillness of the Sabbath air 
 With songs and hallelujahs. 
 
 What vast wealth. 
 The spoils of commerce whelmed amid thy deeps. 
 Lies in thy sunless caves ! the wreath that could 
 Bid the bright cross shine every where and break 
 The sable reign of superstition's shade. 
 Death in thy caverns deep must hold his court 
 Decked with the jewelry of thousands spoiled. 
 
 Once more in fancy, ocean, I will gaze 
 Upon thy grand expansion, ere I leave 
 This theme of glory and of power ; but not 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE DEPARTING SAINT. 325 
 
 In thy wild tempests rise before my mind ; 
 
 But heaving gently 'neath the glimmering air 
 
 (As falls and rises the peace-calmed breast 
 
 Which the soft light and smile of grace have stilled,) 
 
 And breathing thro' its boundless space the gifts 
 
 Which it shall shower upon the thirsty fields. 
 
 And so, methinks, the great and glorious e'er 
 
 To acts of sweet and gentle charity 
 
 Should condescend and thus their greatness prove. 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE DEPARTING SAINT. 
 
 The gloom and anguish of life's fading powers 
 Advance upon me and assault my heart ; 
 Poor, trembling citadel ! which these sad hours 
 Doth show unequal to its proper part. 
 
 How dim the beauty of the world doth grow ! 
 
 Upon its joys and charms now death doth feed j 
 
 Its glories vanish, like the autumnal glow. 
 
 Or Evening's lights that, night-chased, westering speed. 
 
 But towards the seat of boundless power and love, 
 As sparks and winged fires that seek the skies, 
 
3.26 THOUGHTS OF THE DEPARTING SAINT. 
 
 My thoughts and hopes aspiring rise above 
 
 The thickening cloud which o'er earth's interests lies. 
 
 Thou, who all of human woe hast known ; 
 
 Who through death's dark and chilling porch hast passed, 
 
 Although unworthy that Thou me should'st own, 
 
 I'll trust in Thee, Friend, faithful to the last ! 
 
 Up boils from its mysterious depths my soul 
 With grateful gushes of warm love and praise ; 
 And prayer breathes forth with potent sweet control 
 My fears to drown, my confidence to raise ; 
 
 For, Thou respondest ; in my pardoned breast 
 A holy calm, a heavenly peace doth reign ; 
 With each new word of faith and love-deed blest 
 Higher the tide of joy o'erflows my pain. 
 
 As fountains in the sunbeams springing free. 
 As melody's glad bursts that fill the sky. 
 As eloquence from hearts on fire that be, 
 So springs my spirit towards its home on high. 
 
 Soon, soon with Thee, chief of martyrs crown'd ! 
 My thirsty soul shall drink at life's pure stream ; 
 The stains of sorrow as of sin be found 
 All cleansed away in Thy rich glory's beam. 
 
 Farewell, then, dreams of earthly hope ! farewell, 
 Ye scenes of earth, and tearful friends, adieu ! 
 
TUXEDO LAKE. 327 
 
 Life has no sorrow and no joy can swell 
 
 The breast like those which do this hour imbue. 
 
 But gladness triumphs ! like a Sabbath morn 
 Of Eden's dawn-hojirs rich with light and song, 
 Victorious over night : new joys are born, 
 And fair orbs welcome me, a radiant throng. 
 
 Amid th' unebbing tides of interest high 
 (Yet scarcely new,) my soul ascends to bathe, 
 As an imprisoned bird that seeks the sky 
 When free in its fresh, pearly light to lave. 
 
 TUXEDO LAKE. 
 
 A VISION UN ITS SHORES. 
 
 Is this the realm of silence ? Are these rocks 
 Th' unechoing haunts of solitude '? So near 
 The populous and ever-sounding streets, 
 That their deep, mighty anthem almost rolls 
 Its farthest murmurings to these shores ; yet all 
 Is with the grand, rude seal of Nature stamped, 
 And hushed in breathlessness of deep repose. 
 Upon the mountain-sides, beyond the sheet 
 
328 TUXEDO LAKE 
 
 Of waveless loveliness before my eye, 
 From 'mid the trees peeps out one lonely hut ; 
 Perchance the axeman's, whose loud-sounding steel 
 Alone the echoes woke, and scared the birds 
 That stalked along the pebbly beach. No more 
 The smoke curls from its roof ; but mountain-gusts, 
 When crashing storms those summits darkly crown, 
 Rattle its mossy doors, and play wild sports 
 "With the oak-bucket near. How still the lake ! 
 The fisher's rods bestrew the shore, but none 
 Stray here to-day to tempt the spotted trout. 
 Which holds in glassy caves his silent courts. 
 The deepening dyes of purple, rich and bright, 
 On the wild vines, with berries bowed, now win 
 Of peasant boys and girls the steps. 
 
 This hush. 
 This beauteous trance of nature, seems t' invite 
 The mind to meditative moods ; the air. 
 Misty and shadowy of the land of dreams. 
 Seems breathing on my brow ; bright earth, farewell ! 
 The visionary world a sweet, low call 
 Is whispering to my soul ; and sinking here. 
 Beneath the pine's deep shade, I yield to dreams : 
 
 List ! what soft, delicious music 
 Floats upon the charmed air ; 
 
 Blandly, as from beds of roses. 
 Steal the gentle winds that bear 
 
TUXEDO LAKE. 329 
 
 Their pure sacrifice of sweetness 
 Slowly towards tke holy skies ; 
 
 That rich burst from out the gardens 
 Of the queen of visions flies. 
 
 ni. 
 There amid the brilliant poppies 
 
 And, in crowds, somnific flowers, 
 Couches woo to rest and slumber, 
 
 Shadowed by enchanting bowers. 
 
 IV, 
 
 Soaring in the placid moonlight. 
 Hushed like beauty in a dream, 
 
 Lo ! the vision-queen's fair palace 
 Flashes in the silvery beam. 
 
 All who tread her holy chambers. 
 To oblivion sweet dispose 
 
 Every tinge of mortal sorrow. 
 All their deep regrets and woes. 
 
 VI. 
 
 O'er her throne in golden lightnings 
 Characters are written broad. 
 
 Telling all who see their radiance 
 That her power is willed of God : 
 
330 TUXEDO LAKE 
 
 VII. 
 
 Therefore in more blessed triumph 
 Than the moon in starry skies, 
 
 She at night serenely reigneth, 
 And before her, sorrow flies. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Lo ! into her curtained chambers 
 One with sad and hollow cheek, 
 
 Mourning his departed loved ones, 
 Moving tremblingly and weak. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Charmed by soft and soothing music, 
 
 He upon a couch reclines, 
 Till the enchantment breathing o'er him 
 
 On his brow smoothes sorrow's lines. 
 
 X. 
 
 Now he sees in life-like visions 
 Beings that in darkness rest. 
 
 Smiling like the bridal flowers 
 On a maiden's plighted breast. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Lo ! another downcast stranger 
 Entereth the twilight courts ; 
 
 Sudden ruin hath despoiled him 
 
 Of the wealth his hand hath wrought ! 
 
TUXEDO LAKE. 331 
 
 XII. 
 
 Poverty, with dingy sack-cloth. 
 Wraps his home's defaced shrine ; 
 
 But in dreams its pomp returneth, 
 And the marble forms divine. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Fountains, spouting in the gardens, 
 
 Temper the perfumed air ; 
 And within, rich paintings gleaming, 
 
 Highest admiration share. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 See ! another entering seemeth 
 Pierced with sorrow's poisonous dart 
 
 She to dreams of love and pleasure 
 Had resigned her burning heart : 
 
 XV. 
 
 But the hallowed fires were darkened 
 Which she lit in blissful youth ; 
 
 And the trampled embers flickered 
 Where was once affection's truth. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 But again in cheating visions 
 
 Hope breaks forth like stars above, 
 
 And one, pure and noble-hearted, 
 Folds her in the arms of love ! 
 
332 TUXEDO LAKE. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Sweetly sleep, slighted maiden ! 
 
 Let thy buoyant heart dissolve 
 In the golden dream of rapture, 
 
 While the sunless hours revolve. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Thou shalt waken on the morrow 
 With the smile upon thy lip ; 
 
 Then to feel th' entrancing pleasure 
 From thy fond embraces slip. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Thus hath God in love ordained 
 That the night with winning smile, 
 
 Breathing dew on feverish foreheads, 
 Should the mourning soul beguile. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Sleep ! it is a blessed spirit, 
 Reigning by His pleasure high, 
 
 On the stir of mortal anguish 
 Shedding calmness from the sky. 
 
THE CATHEDRAL SERVICE-HIGH MASS. 
 
 FIRST VOICE. 
 
 How solemn and how beautiful this spot ! 
 
 How soars the pictur'd roof ! the columns see ! 
 
 Marble, and sculptur'd with rich forms grotesque ; 
 
 And holy shapes of grave and thoughtful mien 
 
 Stand in enduring stone, in niches wrought 
 
 With traceries beauteous, o'er which the glow 
 
 Of sacrificial lamps so softly streams. 
 
 This spot, where through stain'd windows shines the sun 
 
 With splendors mellower than his setting ray, 
 
 And hues as finely varied, seems the shrine 
 
 Of majesty and beauty. Here confess 
 
 The gorgeous gate of heaven, — its porch divine. 
 
 SECOKD VOICE. 
 
 The painted roof, the pictured glass ; the shrine 
 Of ancient Saints, with incense, and with light 
 Of never-dying tapers honor'd, tells 
 Of Superstition's fatal, glittering charm. 
 
 FI£8T VOICE. 
 
 Hark ! how the deep, grand tremblings sound 
 
 From the organ's shining face ! The rich, sweet " swell," 
 
 Breathing impassion'd tenderness, now wakes, 
 
334 THE CATHEDEAL SERVICE. 
 
 Now dies with eloquent languishing away. 
 
 But list ! like wind-harp's plainings, strange and sweet, 
 
 Its music swells again ; and voices clear, 
 
 Full of expressive pathos, plead with heaven. 
 
 And hymn the sanctuary pure of grace, 
 
 Mary, the ever-virgin, kind and blest. 
 
 Sure, from her heavenly glory, her soft eyes. 
 
 When our warm anthems greet her ears, will dart, 
 
 Peculiar grace ; her face (that paradise 
 
 Where Love doth dwell, amid perpetual smiles,) 
 
 More sweet and potent for delight, on us 
 
 Shall beam, than when upon the gaze 
 
 Of Lover teaching passion to the flute 
 
 A beauteous maiden, crown'd with roses, smiles. 
 
 SECOND VOICE. 
 
 Bewitching falsehood ! Soft, melodious lies ! 
 And snares entwin'd of silk and golden threads ! 
 Hymn ye the Fount of G-race, the " Jilpha " high. 
 Without beginning, as uusearch'd in power ; 
 Gracious, but jealous ; who will not resign 
 His glory to created things ; not e'en 
 To Her whence sprang the glorious King, 
 Like a stately palm of Paradise from root 
 
 Buried, in humble dust, from mortal sight ; 
 Or, as Sharon's blossomy rose-tree from a seed. 
 
 FIRST VOICE. 
 
 List ye ! What soft, beseeching strains 
 Entreat the glory of the Incarnate God, 
 
THE CATHEDEAL SERVICE. 335 
 
 In His pure Tabernacle of silver shrined ? 
 The kneeling priests, in rich embroider'd robes, 
 Win, with th' imploring eloquence of song. 
 Their access to the Shrine. mystery deep ! 
 The hallow'd bread deceives the gazer's sight ; 
 Once broken on the Cross, behold Him now 
 By mystic re-production here to day 
 Broken for guilty man ! The essence high 
 Breathes in the Elements, and in the Cup 
 Flashes again on earth. In reverence low, 
 Thoughtful of sin and folly, let us bow, 
 And worship Whom the angels hymn in heaven. 
 
 SECOND VOICE. 
 
 mad infatuation ! Cease your hymns, 
 Ye ravishing minstrels ; or, direct their voice 
 To Him who reigns on high ; nor thus confound 
 The shadow with the substance true. Invoke 
 The Church's watchful Head. In viewless fount 
 His pardoning blood is ever warm. To thee, 
 Holy One of Bethlehem ! we kneel, 
 Tasting the symbols of Thy love ; athirst 
 For thy sweet presence in our contrite hearts : 
 Thither, Heavenly King ! descend ; there reign. 
 
THE AXE-MAN IN THE DEEP FOREST. 
 
 In the sounding depths of the forest shade 
 
 The wood-cutter's axe is flying ; 
 And the quick, wild spring of that fatal blade 
 
 The strength of the great is trying. 
 
 The woods are dark, and the wild vines thick, 
 
 In a 'wildering tangle grow ; 
 Unappalled at the thought of that labor immense, 
 
 He plieth the echoing blow. 
 
 Within that nimble, resistless steel 
 
 The wood-cutter flings on high. 
 The splendors of what keen lightnings dwell, 
 
 Whose thunders shall shake the sky. 
 
 When, rushing like the pinions of death, 
 
 The crashing maple descends, 
 And all the beauteous scene below 
 
 With terrible havoc rends ! 
 
 And the gorgeous shade above that's seen. 
 
 The musical breeze shall miss ; 
 And his sacrifice of languishing green 
 
 The sun's warm brightness shall kiss. 
 
THE AXE-MAN IN THE DEEP FOREST. 337 
 
 And by yon trunk, where the fragrant bee 
 
 His edifice doth build, 
 A garden sweet as the face of glee 
 
 That my rosiest moments filled, 
 
 Shall blossom around o'er the mellow ground, 
 
 And beauty's footsteps there 
 May tread with a light, enchanting bound, 
 
 As blithe as a bird's in air. 
 
 There, where the mighty, branching vault 
 
 Springs with translucent green. 
 And the only boss or pendent now 
 
 That from the arch is seen, 
 
 Is the hang-bird's nest, with the fiery gleam 
 
 Of his bright, little fairy form. 
 Revealed by the casual flutter of wings 
 
 O'er the eggs he keeps so warm, — 
 
 There will, perchance, the Gothic vault 
 
 The designs of nature mock. 
 And the Gothic spire with cross invade 
 
 The realms of the soaring haAvk ; 
 
 There, beauty, light and majesty 
 
 Shall hold a common shrine ; 
 And where now roams the rustic youth, 
 
 The forms of men divine 
 22 
 
338 CONTENTED THOUGHTS OP HOME. 
 
 Shall gaze aloft from sculptured niche 
 
 And monument rose-bound, 
 And the organ's mellow thunders roll 
 
 Where the wild bird's chantings sound. 
 
 Thus slowly, by determined power, 
 May man transform his mind 
 
 From the rude state that nature gives 
 To soaring powers refined, — 
 
 Beneath whose golden lustre sit, 
 
 As age on age flits by. 
 Vast crowds in admiration rapt, 
 
 His name exalting high. 
 
 CONTENTED THOUGHTS OF HOME. 
 
 No lovely bower, festooned with purpling grapes, 
 No home amid the orchard, where the peach, 
 The quince, and apricot are mellowing, now 
 Are mine : but a fair home is ours, 
 My loved one, not unblest with bright 
 And animating scenes. The river here 
 Floweth, while there the bay expands till wide 
 The bosom of Ontario heaves in sight ; 
 
CONTENTED THOUGHTS OP HOME. 339 
 
 And on the ear the dashings sound 
 
 Of her wild billows battling with the rocks, 
 
 Which shake not at their tumult ; they quail not, 
 
 Like hearts of mighty princes, undismayed, 
 
 While roll the rumors on their ears from far 
 
 Of the strong marshaling in arms and shocks of war. 
 
 Lo ! distant on the waters, scarcely seen, 
 
 Some merchant-sail is outlined. On this bank. 
 
 Whose rocky strata to the waves stoop down. 
 
 Let us recline, and gladdening o'er the scene, 
 
 Fill up our hearts, as it is meet, with thoughts 
 
 Of gratitude and dreams of hope and love. 
 
 The world is bright around us : Plentj^'s store, 
 
 Beautiful and nourishing, from her gathering arms 
 
 O'erflows upon our lap, and we are blest. 
 
 Thy lovely light and charm, beauteous Art, 
 
 Thou on our home dost not disdain to shed ; 
 
 The poet's never-dying thoughts, the bloom 
 
 Fadeless and fascinating, which the breath 
 
 Of stormy Winter withers not, and which 
 
 His glittering, icy knife doth not cut down. 
 
 And Love from his mysterious founts pours out 
 
 His grateful ardors, with a precious charm. 
 
 Hallowing and lighting up the stream of life. 
 
 And are not some of those sweet joys which cheer, 
 
 Where sacred love is cherished, are not airs 
 
 Of this celestial peace astir e'en now. 
 
 In our deep bosoms' climes, a theme for songs. 
 
 And thankful incense unto God Most Hia-h ? 
 
 On these pure winds that wander o'er this coast 
 
340 CONTENTED THOUGHTS OP HOME. 
 
 The spirit of Health is floating. See ! her touch 
 
 Glows on your cheek, whilst o'er these ancient rocks 
 
 You tread exultingly. The soil beneath 
 
 Is part of Freedom's empire. Here the heart, 
 
 Unterrified by sword, or fire, or chains. 
 
 Can worship as it lists : no tyrant crowned 
 
 Binds man in vassalage, and frowning blights 
 
 The free, fair budding of the mind. 
 
 And checks the course of august Science, 
 
 (With a thousand triumphs brilliant,) and casts down 
 
 Her pale-browed devotees to dungeons drear. 
 
 The breath of gratitude shall from our lips 
 
 Ascend for all our mercies. As the flowers 
 
 Which bloomed on Aaron's rod, yea, fairer far 
 
 And sweeter, are the words of gratitude 
 
 That gush toward Heaven sincerely from the heart. 
 
 Back to the skies for blessings showered shall rise 
 
 Our hearts' orisons, praise and prayer and love ; 
 
 As doth the Lake, for Morn's rich, rosy light, 
 
 Return a rosy splendor back to heaven. 
 
THE DAY OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY. 
 
 A FRAGMENT. 
 
 Then in the shadow, almost, of the Holy Fane ; 
 
 Amid sweet pastoral scenes, the hills and vales 
 
 Where David dwelt, the Mighty Guest of Earth, 
 
 Its Great Deliverer drew his earliest breath. 
 
 There in a human form, he shrined the light 
 
 Of His celestial glory ; to the woe 
 
 And weakness of our nature married then 
 
 Th' immortal strength of His high Sonship. 
 
 An emblem of his pure, refreshing truth 
 
 Is the clear stream in Bethlehem's vale that flows. 
 
 Prelude of spiritual harmonies and joys, — 
 
 Of songs sweet with the breath of gratitude 
 
 That were about to float o'er all the earth. 
 
 Was that which charmed Night's raptured ear, 
 
 Breathing from angels' lips. When in the deep 
 
 And starry azure of the skies they flew, 
 
 Fading on human sight, they show'd how souls 
 
 When in Love's mystic founts laved pure from guilt 
 
 And made anew by grace, shall mount at last, * 
 
 Winged by the immortal blessedness decreed 
 
 By Him who fills the world's majestic Throne, 
 
 And sent His Son with ransom rich as Heaven's 
 
 Great treasury could give, to buy us free 
 
342 ODE FOR FOURTH OF JULY. 
 
 From grasp of robber-conquerors, and then 
 
 To lead us by a lamp from Heaven's high fane 
 
 From out of Error's dark and wildering wilds. 
 
 Therefore within His temple we do keep 
 
 A holy festival ; and offer now, 
 
 Not gold alone as our heart's offering to His name. 
 
 But th' myrrh and frankincense of love and praise. 
 
 And as the song of nature flows afresh 
 
 With fuller rapture, and the waters shine 
 
 With richer beauty at the hour of morn 
 
 When first the Sun appears ; — so do our hearts 
 
 Breathe now a gladder music, are suffused 
 
 With fresher glows of love and hope 
 
 To see our Day-Star in the east again, 
 
 And list the story of Messiah's birth ! 
 
 ODE FOR FOURTH OF JULY. 
 
 When 'neath the starry blue 
 And the dawn's crimson hue 
 
 Freedom serene 
 Rose to her rocky seat, 
 Canopied by glories meet 
 Unto her banner's sheet 
 
 To lend its sheen : 
 
ODE FOR FOURTH OP JULY. 343 
 
 Then to her sons she cried 
 " Faithful and just abide ; 
 Love truth and right." 
 
 Deep based in virtue's soil 
 Rises with ceaseless toil 
 
 Her refuge — fane ; 
 In knowledge spread afar 
 More than in arts of war 
 The sure base whence to soar 
 
 Her shrine doth gain : 
 Hence to her sons she cried 
 " Upright as brave abide ; 
 
 Virtue is might." 
 
 Like " the Graces " hand in hand, 
 Freedom and virtue stand, 
 
 With knowledge joined. 
 As three hues in the light 
 Melt and blend into white 
 And one effulgence bright : 
 
 So be combined 
 The three whose praise we hymn ; 
 Joined thus, nor weak nor dim, 
 
 Freedom's glories live. 
 
 When the bard saw on high 
 In glories of the sky- 
 Type of her flag ; 
 Then doubtless, too, he saw 
 
344 ODE FOB FOUBTH OF JULY. 
 
 Emblems of living power, 
 Of freshness evermore, 
 
 Strength not to fag. 
 Enlightened virtue, sway ! 
 Then while shine stars and days. 
 
 Freedom shall thrive. 
 
 Voices grand, full, shall hail 
 Her sway from hill to vale, — 
 
 Chant without end. 
 Ice-cliflfs assailed by snows, 
 Rocks where waves vainly rose, 
 Castle secure 'gainst foes, — 
 
 Types these of her ; 
 Or emblems these of power 
 Which is hers, (glorious dower !) 
 
 Hers evermore. 
 
 Then, as the glowing skies 
 Ripen fruits, lending dyes 
 
 Unto the flowers ; 
 As pure winds, in the frame 
 Fan health's delightful flame, 
 So let influence e'er aim 
 
 To bless home's bowers ; 
 So our land's hopes shall bloom 
 Saved from the blight and tomb. 
 
 Fresh e'er her powers. 
 
THE COURT OF LOVE. 
 
 " All passions, all delights 
 
 That stir this mortal frame — 
 All are the ministers of Love, 
 
 And feed his sacred flame." 
 
 Coleridge. 
 
 I saw, in visions of the day, a throne, 
 
 And one in witching beauty on it sat. 
 
 Fresh in the morning blush of youth she seemed ; 
 
 But one who stood beside her glory, hymned 
 
 Her birth coeval with the birth of man. 
 
 The glancing of her soft, blue eyes, a light 
 
 Sinless, yet passionate and melting, shed. 
 
 From Nature's wildness, rosebuds rich and fresh, 
 
 In charmed beauty, wreathed her stainless brow, 
 
 Striving to rival her celestial face. 
 
 But, as a monarch's robe, though gemm'd, and bright 
 
 With rarest Tyrian dyes, is dim beside 
 
 The starry glow of rich, imperial Eve, 
 
 So did their beauty vainly vie with hers. 
 
 Her thoughts and hopes, too delicate to rest 
 
 E'en on the gilded page of spotless white, 
 
 She told by flowerets grouped. And she. 
 
 From odors sweet of Heaven that round her streamed, 
 
 And eloquence of soft and fond blue eyes — 
 
 By lips which kindled for the impassioned kiss, 
 
 And verse divine which round her breathed, 
 
346 THE COURT OP LOVE. 
 
 With the harp's accompaniment, I knew was Love. 
 
 Her ministers were round her : some as fair 
 
 Well nigh, as was their queen. First, Poetry. 
 
 Touching her golden lyre, her gifted soul 
 
 In eloquence poured forth, charming the mind 
 
 With images of truth — with fancies fair, 
 
 And passion's conquering fire. And when she ceased, 
 
 Love's pensive eyes were fixed upon her face. 
 
 As spell-bound so ; excitement's flush 
 
 Glowed on her heavenly cheeks, like morning's beams, 
 
 Purple and glorious on a light blush rose ; 
 
 And a deep sigh her ardent bosom heaved, 
 
 As when a billow rocks a milk-white crowd 
 
 Of water-lillies floating on a lake. 
 
 Then Eloquence, with lofty mien, his voice, 
 
 Mellifluous and modulated, raised, 
 
 Charming attention ; and impassioned fires 
 
 Flashed through his high, imaginative speech. 
 
 (He spake of love's pure joys, the policy 
 
 Which feeds the sacred flame, and makes the lips 
 
 Familiar with bland smiles and kisses, sweet 
 
 With the fresh honey-dew of tenderness.) 
 
 Next, Music, with her rich-toned harp, assumed 
 
 Her honied empire, and the air refilled ; — 
 
 With tender melodies and concords sweet, 
 
 Closing pathetic discords ; so the bursts 
 
 Of April sunbeams chase the transient glooms ; 
 
 So Heaven, at last, with joy and peace shall heal 
 
 Those pangs of wo and death e'en saints may know. 
 
 Art, too, the triumphs of her chisel showed, 
 
THE MOHAWK EIVER. 347 
 
 The god-like form of beauty, and the throne 
 Of mind, and majesty, and lofty love. 
 Upon the beaming countenance ; and sweet. 
 Harmonious, and mocking in life's hues 
 Upon the canvas glowed and smiled the shapes 
 Which Genius bade in commune pleasant join. 
 Or in affection's ecstacies embrace. 
 
 Thus did the ministers of Love perform, 
 
 Before her rose-wreathed throne, their offices, 
 
 And kindled brighter, on her altars pure, 
 
 Her sky-born flames ; while warmer, fuller shot 
 
 The lightnings through her spirit-form, 
 
 And her deep eyes with tenderer pathos burned. 
 
 THE MOHAWK RIVER. 
 
 Visions of beauty float before mine eye ; 
 
 The islands where gigantic trees upsoar, 
 On which the free vines climb so gracefully, 
 
 Where merry children swing, — their eyes yet more 
 
 Finely bestained with brighter blue than wore 
 Ever the Mohawk's tides, when, clear and glassed, 
 
 They showed the sky its beauty. Now a shore 
 I see, that springs erect as doth a mast, 
 While far across the stream its shade at eve is cast. 
 
348 THE MOHAWK RIVER. 
 
 Approach its source ; the mountains hem it in, 
 As monarchs and high statesmen stand around 
 
 A child that yet its princely breath doth win 
 Most gently from the air, but yet may found 
 A glorious name which o'er the earth shall sound ; 
 
 And sway the hearts of millions, laying deep 
 The bases where prosperity abounds ; 
 
 So gently flows this streamlet, which shall sweep 
 
 Far on and to the sea its mighty movements keep. 
 
 Below, amid dark rocks, it foams along. 
 
 Whirling in eddies 'gainst its craggy wall, — 
 To teach us how, by perseverance strong, 
 
 The ends of difficulty stern are all 
 
 In time attained ; mark where its eddies brawl ; 
 E'en the hard rock is worn away ; so learn, 
 
 With hope indomitable, all the gall 
 And wormwood and life's obstacles to spurn ; 
 So victory with joy shalt thou at length discern. 
 
 And here, where o'er the plain the waters roll 
 
 And there turn towards the glimmering east away, 
 Of old, St. Leger's lawless bands did stroll, 
 
 Dark savages and soldiers fierce as they ; 
 
 About Fort Stanwix's walls they skulking lay, 
 The forests startling with their horrid cries ; 
 
 But the firm hero, in that trying day, 
 With scorn upon their army turned his eyes, 
 Trusting to his bright sword and to the favoring skies. 
 
THE MOHAWK RIVER. 349 
 
 Beside yon pure and sparkling spring tliere roved 
 Two children, plucking from the purple vine 
 
 The dainty fruit. A mother deeply loved 
 Her tender arms around their forms to twine, 
 And drink from their pure lips the bliss divine ; 
 
 Laughter and health were on their rosy cheeks ; 
 But hark ! the rifle cracks ! Life's precious wine 
 
 Spouts from the heart of one ! the other shrieks 
 
 To see the crimson stream that o'er her sister reeks.* 
 
 In yon ravine the bones of warriors lie, 
 
 Who fell in battle's fierce and desperate strife ; 
 Ah ! many there lay down in pain to die, 
 
 And gave to freedom and their land their life ; 
 
 Amid that scene with awful discord rife, 
 A hero,t with a mortal wound, surveys 
 
 The harvest red of death's remorseless scythe, 
 And coolly now the cunning scheme he lays, 
 Which e'er that field shall shed the light of triumphs rays. 
 
 As yet, no marble o'er that valley tells 
 
 The countless throngs that by the river pass, 
 
 How, in the quiet of that stream-washed dell. 
 The bones of warriors slumber in the grass. 
 Which, on that fattened soil, in tangled mass. 
 
 * This horrid murder, beside Fort Stanwix, was probably committed by 
 some of " those hell-hounds of savage war " who fought under the British. 
 
 t Gten. Herkimer, who commanded at the battle of Oriskany. 
 
350 NEW TOEK IN SPRING. 
 
 Grows with luxuriant strength ; but still the youths 
 
 Who wander by the Mohawk's sheet of glass 
 Recall, when near this place, historic truths, 
 And thrill when o'er the spot their kindling vision moves. 
 
 NEW YORK IN SPRING. 
 
 Not as amid the country's bowers doth Spring 
 
 Here in our city vast her presence show 
 
 In the full glory of her blossomy j^omp : 
 
 But yet e'en here her breath is fragrant ; soft 
 
 Upon the eye steal forth her tender hues 
 
 Of green just married to the virgin white 
 
 Of May's delicious blooms. The memories fair 
 
 Of other joys, like this, soft, sweet and pure. 
 
 Are kindled by the radiance and perfume 
 
 Which stream from her bright flowers ; the kiss 
 
 Of childhood's stainless cheek ; a maiden's breath 
 
 That flows through lips with love's enkindlings warmed. 
 
 And sweeter than the heliotrope doth seem 
 
 To him Avho doth its ruby portals press, 
 
 And dreams that Eden's odorous verge is near. 
 
 Grramercy's tiny park, an emerald gem, 
 
 Invites with its soft, varied mass of green, 
 
NEW yOEK IN SPRING. 351 
 
 The eye, while it unbosoms to the sun 
 
 Its young, voluptuous loveliness. And far, 
 
 Within the limits of the olden town. 
 
 The lofty trees, now, as in many a Spring, 
 
 The dazzling sunshine court with out-spread arms. 
 
 But tho' bland Spring doth not amid the stir 
 
 Of our metropolis her wealth of blooms 
 
 Most lavishly unfold, — yet beauty here, 
 
 In ranks like May's thick groups of blossoming trees 
 
 Which fragrantly emparadise the home 
 
 'Mid rural scenes, moves on in witching light, 
 
 And fires the poet's heart with love. Sweet one ! 
 
 In whose young cheek the deep rose richly glows, 
 
 As though a soul on fire had blended there 
 
 The beautiful flush of passion with the bloom, 
 
 The pure, ripe bloom which health melts on the cheek. 
 
 As if the feverish glow of sunset-light 
 
 Were mixed with morning's clearer, pearlier beam, 
 
 I see before me now thy stately form ; 
 
 The glancing of those soft, blue eyes, their light 
 
 Flashes athwart my heart ; and that pure look 
 
 Of innocence and modesty and truth 
 
 Seen in thy " face of flowers" breathes forth a power 
 
 Diviner than the magic of thy form, 
 
 Or beauty's roseate hues, tho' all Spring's flowers 
 
 Are jealous of thy charms, that win the eyes 
 
 Once sparkling at the sight of their sweet grace 
 
 Nor thou alone ; a thousand fair walk forth 
 
 To taste the grateful air and bid us feel 
 
 That not alone amid the rural ways 
 
352 SONG OF THE SIBERIAN EXILE. 
 
 Doth God prepare the beautiful visions meet 
 To fill the heart with worship and delight. 
 
 The slightest touch will soil the bloom which decks 
 The butterfly's tinted wings, or the delicate blue 
 Upon the ripening plum ; yet many here, 
 Unsoiled their modesty do still preserve. 
 And dare not give again the gazer's glance : 
 'Tis thus some tender, modest flowers, when day 
 Doth brightly look upon them, close their eyes. 
 
 SONG OF THE SIBERIAN EXILE. 
 
 Poland, my country, forever in dreams, 
 
 1 see thy rich nature in summer's soft beams ; 
 I see thy full harvests like warrior's plume 
 Gently nodding, as seen ere the days of my gloom ; 
 
 And I yearn to be there. 
 
 Poland, the land of the noble and bold, 
 Resplendent in glory of deeds that were told 
 With harpings divine, all over the earth ; 
 
 1 long to behold thee, sweet land of my birth, 
 
 Free, honored and blest. 
 
THE KUIN AT GOLDAU. 353 
 
 I see the gay dance where the bright maidens smile, 
 And I hear the old songs that at evening beguile 
 The circle where, once, as a free, welcome guest, 
 I sang with the cheerful, discoursed with the best, 
 As familiar as air. 
 
 In this cold, dreary land, I languish away ; 
 But for memory's sunshine and Christ's cheering day. 
 No throb of true joy would relieve my deep woe. 
 Or a flower from the gardens of Paradise blow 
 On my desolate breast. 
 
 THE RUIN AT GOLDAU. 
 
 Hark ! hark ! as a crack of rending spheres 
 A mighty thunder downward rolls ; 
 Is it the call of doom, or a peal 
 From some dark, furious storm which folds 
 The mountain's top ? 
 
 Ye clouds ! no more upon that crest 
 Your sunlit pomp at Eve shall rest ; 
 Ye eagles ! your young brood are cast, 
 Nestless and trembling on the blast 5 
 The mountain falls ! 
 23 
 
354 THE BUTTEEFLT IN THE CITY. 
 
 List to the roaring of its pines 
 Down sweeping with chaotic rush, 
 Whilst sleeps the village far below, 
 As in past years, in tranquil hush : 
 Awake, ye doomed ! 
 
 The hill-top glooms above you all, — 
 With fearful ruin dark and wild : 
 One moment more, and young and old 
 And mother with her smiling child 
 Are whelmed in death ! 
 
 THE BUTTERFLY IN THE CITY. 
 
 Whither, fair, fluttering pilgrim of the air. 
 Dost soar, — quite lost, amid the engrossing zeal 
 Of enterprise and care ? So, sunbeams play 
 Unseen o'er troublous clouds. 
 
 A thousand forms 
 Pass to and fro beneath thee ; who will mark 
 Among the throngs of business, thy flight ; 
 Or, seek with a brief glimpse of wondering love 
 His anxious spirit to refresh 1 
 
THE BUTTERFLY IN THE CITY. 355 
 
 Bright guest, 
 From the soft, blossomy breeze of Weehawk heights, — 
 A welcome to the imprison'd air ! 
 
 With thee 
 Come visions of delightful things, — wild flowers 
 That rock the inebriate bee ; and children glad, 
 Their rich locks glorying in th' exulting breeze, — 
 And thy frail form the prize of their wild chase. 
 But few here mark thee, or behold the hand 
 That shaped in wisdom thy atrial frame. 
 And with the dust of sunbeams, flour'd thy wings ; 
 Thus, 'mid the crowd of speculations gross, 
 And cares that centre in bright bags of gold, 
 The poet's thoughts, tho' with the charming gems 
 From fancy's mines illumed, — save, by a few, 
 Are met not with admiring eye and love. 
 
 And now, blow swift, but soft, 
 
 Ye Western winds : 
 Waft to the Greenwoods' groves that living flower ; 
 Nor pause amid the rapture of your flight 
 To kiss the frolic lips of dancing waves. 
 There, on the " Sylvan-water's " margin clear. 
 Its spotted form on rocking reeds shall rest. 
 While Nature with her wizard pencil paints 
 The delicate picture of those tinted wings. 
 Hie, thing of gossamer, to the lily's bells ! 
 For, in her mystic heart she now secretes 
 The nectar that thy tiny palate loves ; 
 
356 THE VIBTUOUS PILGRIMS. 
 
 And glad and free thy rovings thro' the dells 
 Unmindful of the boding voice that sounds 
 Where sleep the buried in mausoleum grand. 
 Thus, from " the dust and stir of this dim spot " 
 In the heart's pilgrimage, let it be ours, 
 Ere long, in the budding bowers of bliss to rest ; 
 Yet not unthoughtful of the marble homes 
 Or humble turf-couch that shall claim us soon. 
 
 THE VIRTUOUS PILGRIMS. 
 
 Upon a long and trying way 
 
 Which through a wild, sad, hideous, lay, 
 
 Where crags and tangled fens the ray 
 
 Shut from the travelers' path ; 
 
 A few of brave and noble soul 
 
 Which not adversity could tame, — 
 
 Lofty tho' scorned, in strength forth stole, 
 
 Pledged all to reap at their far goal 
 
 Life's noblest good with fame. 
 
 Each bore a sword and noble shield 
 That oft on danger's darkened field, 
 Bade threat'ning shapes of evil yield, 
 
THE VIETUOUS PILGEIMS. 357 
 
 And baffled shrink away. 
 
 But Passion sent her ardent throngs 
 
 Witching and beauteous as the eyes 
 
 A serpent lighteth when he longs 
 
 To charm the gazing bird whose songs 
 
 Guided him towards the prize. 
 
 E'en these they slighted, though they shone 
 
 Like beauty bound in star-gemm'd zone, 
 
 Rose-crowned, upon her pearly throne ; 
 
 And on unfallen moved. 
 
 Yet one a golden chalice held 
 
 In which the rosy grape-juice glowed ; 
 
 Another swept the lyre and thrilled 
 
 With music soft as ever filled 
 
 Pleasure's embowered abode. 
 
 And some with sweet, bewitching glance 
 
 And grace that might the heart entrance, 
 
 Moved in the airy, mazy dance. — 
 
 But tempted them in vain. 
 
 Towards the wild pass and thro' the dell 
 They journey on where torrents rave 
 In reckless might man scarce can quell, 
 And where the wolf or panther fell 
 Scream from their bone-strown cave. 
 
 At times upon the mountain's crown. 
 Where the keen frosts come thickly down, 
 And wintry clouds most sternly frown, 
 
358 THE VIRTtrOUS PILGRIMS 
 
 The night their steps did check. 
 
 But trials of a fiercer cast, 
 
 (Dark spoilers armed with mace and darts,) 
 
 Rushed on them like a winter's blast ; 
 
 And prompted all to shrink aghast, 
 
 Except the bravest hearts. 
 
 Yet all, their courage gathering, fought, 
 And deeds of lofty daring wrought. 
 Till all their foes the cover sought 
 Of forests dense and night : 
 And then, while lying on the ground, 
 The luxury of repose to share. 
 Delightful visions hovered 'round. 
 As, after fearful storms, abound 
 Sungleams and rainbows fair. 
 
 These not alone shed blissful beams ', 
 For, lovely doves, as fair as dreams 
 Of Innocence, by flowery streams 
 In rosy slumber couched. 
 Came floating to their fainting band. 
 Bringing rich fruitage from the land 
 Where life's fair trees immortal stand, 
 Clad in the blooms of heaven. 
 
 At times when o'er their thorny way 
 The tempest blotted out the day. 
 There stole from Heaven a genial ray 
 Rich with its holy love. 
 
THE VIETUOUS PILGRIMS. 359 
 
 And here and there amid the lone 
 And howling deserts where they went, 
 Some stately castle on them shone 
 'Mid groves with April blossoms blown, 
 Whose lord a welcome sent. 
 
 Within, reclining in the rooms 
 
 Where maidens,* ripe in beauty's blooms, 
 
 Made them forget the desert's glooms. 
 
 They thrilled to music's voice. 
 
 And the warm hand, in welcome given, 
 
 Scattering the thoughts of all they'd feared, — 
 
 And, fairer than the blush of Even, 
 
 Bright glimpses of the gates of heaven, 
 
 The weary pilgrims cheered. 
 
 At length their pilgrimage was done : 
 
 Of their eventful day, the sun 
 
 Purples the West ; their race is run ; 
 
 They reach at last the goal. 
 
 The splendors of an orient dream, 
 
 Yea, brighter, on them sudden beam, 
 
 (Which shed thro' death's dark vale a gleam 
 
 To cheer its sullen gloom.) 
 
 Emerged in day's eternal blaze, 
 Their gates the royal castles raise, — 
 
 * The reader is requested to understand by the maidens "Faith, Hope 
 and Charity." The evidences of these cheer the Pilgrims in Churches 
 visited. 
 
360 THE VIRTUOUS PILGRIMS. 
 
 And each the oft-breath'd homage pays 
 Unto the Prince of life. 
 fairer than the pomps of Even, — 
 Resplendent are the courts of Heaven ! 
 For, unto truth and love 'tis given, 
 With Him, those courts to light. 
 
 They who have delved in Baca's vale f 
 Will see at length the clear spring swell. 
 And drink bright joys beyond the pale 
 Of Time's dim, mournful range. 
 The rude and murky Winter air 
 (Dark as the trials Pilgrims bear) 
 Will soften in the Spring, and wear 
 Summer's rich smile, in time. 
 
 t " Blessed are they," &c., and " the man" Stc ; " who passing thro' the 
 valley of Baca make it a well ; the raia also fiUeth the pools. They go 
 on from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before 
 God."— Psalm 84, 6. 
 
 The passage may be intended to teach that they are blessed who labor to 
 improve spiritually desolate places, that blessings descend upon their fields 
 or spots of labor, and that they will be welcomed before God. 
 
 Note. — It needs, perhaps, hardly be remarked to some that the doves 
 spoken of the reader is requested to refer to the comforts of Heavenly grace 
 granted to the Christian after triumph over temptation. 
 
WHITE LAKE. 
 
 In the dreamy light of reverie, I see 
 
 White Lake's expanse lie beautiful, all hushed 
 
 In Evening's purple trance. Beneath the shades 
 
 The woody hills cast on its glassy verge, 
 
 How 8parkle,in the bright reflection, gleams 
 
 Of Cytherea's orb, and the rosy flush 
 
 The setting sun bequeaths the twilight hour ! 
 
 I see a group just treading to its shores ; 
 
 " Oh ! haste, and let us on its bosom float away ! 
 
 Our decorated sail fills in the breeze 
 
 That still, at times, floats o'er the Southern marge ; 
 
 And the heart, with the soft, sweet joy that breathes 
 
 Throughout this charmed air, is swelling high 
 
 And thirsts for more enjoyment ? Now I see 
 
 How o'er that radiant expanse they speed, 
 
 How gaily streams their pennant to the breeze, 
 
 Which swells anon to softly die away ! 
 
 And with a softer flow, how liquidly 
 
 Music's enchanting strains float forth ! Around, 
 
 The floor of nature's temple widens ; 
 
 Glassing broad pictures of the world above, — 
 
 Like truth divine, which images — what forms ! 
 
 Emblems of spiritual loveliness, and types 
 
 Of Heaven's eternal glory ! Lo ! again 
 
362 WHITE LAKE. 
 
 The zephyrs rouse the slumb'rer. Now I see 
 
 How thro' the narrow pass they fly, and cleave 
 
 The floating gardens, where the lilies spread 
 
 Their pink-lined foliage, and their scented flowers 
 
 Of white and golden hue. And now they turn 
 
 To where the expanse spreads towards the golden West, 
 
 To gaze on brighter beauty : for the sky 
 
 The lake here mirrors with a wider scope j 
 
 And with an equal glory, on the bank. 
 
 The chestnut swings its blossomy boughs. ! this, 
 
 I ween, is Love's most fitting hour ; and this 
 
 The scene congenial, to his power ; for now 
 
 To quick and sensitive life the heart is touched 
 
 By the softly-breathing spell that evening sheds 
 
 From her purple, dewy wings. While thus I gazed, — 
 
 As a bright image from the poet's mind. 
 
 Out from the beautiful serene below, (for now 
 
 The day-breeze had its last sigh given, and all 
 
 Was brilliant quietude ;) out sprang from the depths 
 
 A sylph-like form, like naiad of the wave ; 
 
 Or blue-eyed genius of that sparkling realm ; 
 
 And on the listening air these accents fell ; 
 
 " Ye mortals, who in Love's sweet, troublous depths 
 
 Your souls would bathe, remember well 
 
 High, heavenly aims should ever reign above 
 
 Our plans and pleasures ; each with unction touched 
 
 Of holy purposes ; our pleasures each 
 
 A hallowed symphony in Duty's hymn, 
 
 And not our chiefest music ; freshening showers 
 
 That fall upon us while we culture truth ; 
 
EUGENIA. 363 
 
 Or sought, if sought, as quickening to strength. 
 
 And storing themes for gratitude. If thus 
 
 My youthful heart had shaped and stamped its joys, 
 
 And sought them in the path of duty fair, 
 
 Not now lamenting in these twilight depths, 
 
 My soul would be deploring its lost bliss." 
 
 Thus speaking, in a cloud of mist she sought 
 
 The shadowy world ; while wonder deep usurped 
 
 Those youthful faces which delight had lit 
 
 So smilingly before ; fain they would deem, 
 
 Forgetful that on every eye it gleamed. 
 
 The vision but a phantom of the mind — 
 
 An emblem of that pure, romantic grace, 
 
 Impersonation of that beauteous hour, 
 
 Those tender, languishing hues of eve, arisen 
 
 Amid bright Fancy's warm, excited air. 
 
 Then from my pleasant day-dream I awoke. 
 
 EUGENIA. 
 
 Youth's morning hues are thine, Eugenia fair, 
 The fresh, soft Spring and blossom of thy life ; 
 I would not prophesy a summer drear, 
 And sorrow darkening thine autumnal year, — ■ 
 For, happiness serene may light thy way. 
 
364 EUGENIA. 
 
 No dim and doubtful twilight, but the clear 
 
 And glad effulgence of the mind's high day. 
 
 Such sunlight hath been often woman's dower, 
 
 And God from His blest throne hath tempered mild, 
 
 Congenial to her tenderness, the air ; 
 
 So tropic winds, in bland Columbia's wild, 
 
 Sweet with the blameless sacrilege of flowers, 
 
 Breathe warmth and scented dews o'er blooming bow'rs. 
 
 What destiny awaits thee ? Wilt thou tread 
 
 Like Siddons with a tragic air, sublime 
 
 And solemn as the shades of mighty dead. 
 
 Seen darkly peopling dim, departed time 1 
 
 Or wilt thou pour thy glorious soul upon 
 
 The poet's page in thoughts the world shall love ; 
 
 Fame's everlasting blooms triumphant won. 
 
 And smiles approving beaming from above ? 
 
 Or, rather, in retirement's twilight bowers. 
 
 The bands of truth and love wilt thou entwine — 
 
 The wife and mother, zoned with childhood's flowers t 
 
 Yes ! let this charming destiny be thine. 
 
 That brow, which seems the firmament of thought ? 
 
 Smooth, soft and tranquil, like the heavens above. 
 
 Shines with the promises of peace. May nought 
 
 Dampen thy heart, lit with a generous coal j 
 
 E'er sweet and glad companionship, and true, 
 
 The effervescence of a sparkling soul. 
 
 The circle of thine influence bedew ! ; 
 
 So may thine earthly friends, too, wear, 
 
 In gratitude affectionate, thy smiles ; 
 
SPRING. 365 
 
 Yea, and the viewless dwellers in the air, 
 With their transparent fingers, smooth thy curls, 
 Loving and praying that their Lord would bless, 
 And in thine ever buoyant pulses pour 
 Tides of celestial happiness, 
 
 And thou, 
 Immortal pilgrim, Love ! art sore. 
 Thrust out from heart to heart, forever flying. 
 Like the rich birds of paradise, that rove 
 With unalighting flight from grove to grove 1 
 Is not thy curtained couch Eugenia's breast ? 
 Fold then thy pinions for eternal rest ! 
 
 SPRING: A SONG FOR MUSIC. 
 
 Welcome, again, reviving breath of Spring ! 
 The fierce, remorseless blast and icy air 
 Have made thy tokens grateful as the smiles 
 Of one whose imago in the heart we wear. 
 
 The floating of the blue-bird's wing awakes 
 Visions of blue and softly-gliding streams ; 
 Already in the noontide blaze they flow, 
 Pure, sparkling like an Eastern poet's dreams. 
 
366 SHE GOETH UNTO THE GRAVE TO WEEP. 
 
 Behold the hyacinth, with its soft green blade, 
 Pierces the damp warm mould : the withered grass 
 Freshens to pleasant greenness : and the tront 
 Stirs in the stream, as shy as rural lass. 
 
 Come, gentle Genevieve ! and let us taste 
 The morning air so full of promise sweet ; 
 The Sun no scorching fervor yet casts down, 
 But pleasures everywhere our saunterings greet. 
 
 •'SHE GOETH UNTO THE' GRAVE TO WEEP THERE." 
 
 COMPOSED WITH REFEEE^fCE TO A DESIGN WITH THE ABOVE TITLE, WY C. SCHUKSSELE. 
 
 lone and beautiful One, that pressest thus 
 Thy hand upon thy brow, and wanderest forth, 
 Say, whither bend thy steps ? The glorious day 
 Beams over nature like a smile from Heaven ; 
 Fondly as broods the dove upon her young, 
 Or, as the mother o'er her child that sleeps. 
 Feeble and cold, within her tender arms : 
 So, o'er the trembling, budding life, now broods 
 The sunny warmth and beauty of the day ; 
 Fostering with genial glow the opening flowers. 
 Has not the spring's bright beauty a soft charm ? 
 Are not her opening buds, (the winning types 
 
SHE GOETH UNTO THE GRAVE TO WEEP. 367 
 
 Of early sweetness, promise young, and hopes 
 Shaping themselves in youthful loveliness,) 
 Do not these opening buds attract thee now ? 
 Hath the sweet odor of those blossoms pure, 
 No luxury for thy sense, maiden fair ? 
 And the clear gush from throats of her glad birds, 
 Which sound the mellow flutes and silvery pipes 
 In nature's concert, doth not this delight ? 
 Doth not hope spread before thy mental eye 
 A scene of beauty flushing 'neath a sky 
 That melts in morning's richest, rosy light l 
 
 Not to the flowery path the rill beside, 
 Not to the shade beneath the stately palm, 
 Where laughing maids assemble with their lutes, 
 To sing sweet songs of home and love, and read 
 The poet's fanciful thoughts ; nor to yon hill 
 To join companions loved, who fill the air 
 With merriment of wit, while pruning vines. 
 No pleasant dreams light up, I trow, thy mind, 
 Like light of perfumed oil in rural manse, 
 Whose fairest rooms are blazing for a feast. 
 That brow is throbbing now with grief; thy heart 
 Is darkened with the sombre shade which comes 
 Behind affliction, brooding long. Thy steps 
 The solemn tomb are seeking ; so they deem, 
 As from the house of sorrow forth thou goest. 
 But not with death to hold companionship, 
 She hurries forth : unto the presence loved. 
 Of Christ, " the Way, the Truth, the Life," 
 
368 SHE GOETH UNTO i THE GKAVE TO WEEP. 
 
 She turns her steps. In Him is comfort pure, 
 
 As in the bosom of the skyey mount, 
 
 Are reservoirs of waters sparkling, clear, 
 
 Which freely gush for those who seek to breathe 
 
 The pure air of the hills, and choose their founts. 
 
 In Him are found the springs of life ; and He 
 
 Is the appointed Way, the gateway true. 
 
 Sculptured by Heaven's own wisest hand, that opes 
 
 Unto the mansions and the climes of bliss. 
 
 He is the Truth, its prophet high, its shrine, 
 
 Yea, even its pure embodiment. And he 
 
 The pressure of the hand of sorrow feels ; 
 
 And sees in vision clear his coming fate, 
 
 Gloomy with pain and woe ; He sees how truth. 
 
 Glowing and pure, and how His holy zeal 
 
 Will bring the tempest dark of hate ; as glows 
 
 Of clear-aired summer days bring on, ere eve, 
 
 The desolating storms. To Him, 
 
 maiden, sorrowing, hie thee quick : with Him 
 
 Dwells the resistless, quenchless Power, that soon 
 
 Shall summon whom thou lovest from the tomb, 
 
 And for a sable gloom give smiles and joy, 
 
 And hymns of thanks and praise. For, He who shaped 
 
 The form of man in beauty, adding then 
 
 The gems unto the casket., mind and soul, — 
 
 And gave the lip its rose tint, and the flowers 
 
 Their grace and color : — He can with a breath 
 
 Bid the rich tinges blush in that pale cheek. 
 
 And their death-vanquished lightnings rule again 
 
 In those night-dark, but closed and moveless eyes. 
 
THE CONDITIONS OF TRUE, ENDURING FREEDOM. 
 
 " For, who loves that, must first be wise and good." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 Silent and slow is formed th' enduring rock ; 
 
 The tree, which looms for centuries, sprang up 
 
 With silent and unnoticeable growth : 
 
 So nations ! form and grow the glorious shapes, 
 
 The spirit and the strength of Freedom's high 
 
 And lasting constitutions. Worship God 
 
 In j)urity of faith ; in mere}'' walk ; 
 
 Let charity, adorned with gifts, go forth ; 
 
 The grand control of principle maintain ; 
 
 Of Bethlehem's star th' unclouded light diffuse 
 
 Thro' every haunt in life, — and ye may see 
 
 A juster and enduring fabric rise 
 
 As a bright fane for Liberty, a tower 
 
 Towards which a myriad sworded braves will rush 
 
 That sacred edifice to guard, the light 
 
 And worshipped genius of the spot to keep 
 
 From foreign force and its polluting breath. 
 
 As gathering thunder-clouds around Eve's glow 
 Drive off polluting airs which seek 
 To taint her peerless loveliness, and flash 
 Their fiery menaces and bolts, and bid 
 24 
 
370 THE ALLIANCE OF VIRTUE AND FREEDOM. 
 
 Dark vultures and the poison-airs to flee 
 
 Which fain with shade obscene would cross her light, 
 
 Or taint her breezes ; so, with fearful might, 
 
 But with a constant vigilance and zeal, 
 
 The sons of Freedom will her purity 
 
 And her illumination blest defend. 
 
 THE ALLIANCE OF VIRTUE AND FREEDOM. 
 
 When Virtue, pilgrim to our shore. 
 Her wings of heavenly radiance furled, 
 
 She breathed the breath that shall, we trust, 
 Regenerate the olden world. 
 
 And Freedom's spirit, whose pure flame 
 Sheds quickening splendors from our clime, 
 
 Burns only in her breath with strength 
 That shall defy the frosts of time. 
 
 But when alliance, dark and strange. 
 Would Freedom's beauty wed to Crime, 
 
 The solemn mockery she spurns, 
 And springs away in pride sublime. 
 
ANGELICA. 371 
 
 Then band together, Freedom's friends ; 
 
 In Virtue's triumph her's prolong — 
 That years unborn, like ours, may chant 
 
 Her everlasting nuptial song. 
 
 ANGELICA I AN ACROSTIC. 
 
 WRITTEN BT REQUEST, IN REGARD TO ONE UNKNOWN, 
 
 All the stern hills around us, friend, 
 
 Now in the morning brightness glow ; 
 
 Golden and lovely is the day, 
 
 Ere the summery sun is high, — 
 
 Like a day sacred unto Hope ; 
 
 Irradiate as the mantle rich 
 
 Circling her form : So, life's rough scenes 
 
 Are brightened by thy heart's more lovely glow. 
 
THE HUMMING BIRD. 
 
 'Twas in the golden morn of time : The Sun 
 
 Since Eden's blossomy loveliness was crowned 
 
 With perfect beauty in the birth of Eve, 
 
 Had glanced his brightness only o'er light clouds, 
 
 Light as the wings of Love. Then one mild youth, 
 
 On whom the smiles of God were slumbering full. 
 
 Sat 'neath the sheltering vines, and gazed with joy 
 
 Upon the soft luxuriance which forecast 
 
 The shadow of his future in the skies. 
 
 Why, gentleness, that start, and that quick flash 
 
 In your blue eyes ? Was it the flash of fear ; 
 
 Or, did the soul's clear mirrors glass 
 
 The sudden lightnings of the clouds 1 
 
 It comes ! 
 The image of avenging power, — the storm, 
 Wrapping in its dark wings the aerial powers 
 Subtle and wild and blasting. Now they leap, 
 Like furies changed into the forms of fire ; 
 And the raven's young are nestless ; for, his pines 
 Are crashing on the hills : and e'en the oak 
 Is shivered to a wreck, a legacy 
 To the wandering poor. The lion now 
 Distrusts his power and grandeur ; majesty 
 
THE HUMMING BIED. 373 
 
 And strength appalling ride amid the clouds ; 
 Cower now thy daring front ! 
 
 It comes ! 
 The lake forgets its bright tranquility, 
 And rolls sublimely. Now 'tis sweet 
 Thy guardianship, Almighty, to believe 
 Circling our hearts, to thy dear throne enchained, 
 A chain no thunderbolt can shatter. Swift, 
 As was its coming, lo ! the terror flies ; 
 And see ! the East with beauty's arc is spanned. 
 How beautiful ! yon lovely, loitering cloud 
 That kindles in the freed beams of the sun, 
 Is glory's throne, the bow her canopy. 
 And when the rattling vollies die afar 
 In the East still muttering from its cloudy deeps. 
 And that dread fire is in the distance veiled 
 That mixed strange splendors with the light of day, 
 (As Belgium's war-peals blent with festive songs ;) 
 And all the pomp and beauty of the scene 
 Fades far away, the gentle youth exclaims 
 " Stay, radiant arc ! the loveliest part 
 Of all the glorious show, stay, and glow 
 In the cerulean skies, and richly stain 
 The fleeces of the slumbering clouds. The home, 
 The beautiful, the loved, the angel-filled, 
 Of souls beatified seems nearer Earth 
 When that bright ladder springs aloft to heaven, 
 And seems our pathway unto bliss." He scarce 
 Had uttered these fond words when light 
 
374 THE HUMMING BIRD. 
 
 Which dimmed the soft, exquisite rays that blent 
 
 Into the rainbow's arc, the steps announced. 
 
 And S3^mbolized the mind of one from heaven. 
 
 " Beloved of God ! thy wish is heard, and soon 
 
 It shall be gratified : the Giver bless :" 
 
 He spake, and vanished ; as the rainbow flees 
 
 And melts its lovely glories into air. 
 
 Or as the twilight in th' empurpled West 
 
 Fades when the night her spangled reign 
 
 Claims in the stainless skies. His voice, too, ceased 
 
 Upon the charmed ear, as when at night. 
 
 Beneath the honey-suckle's bowers, the sense, 
 
 Intoxicate with sweetness, hears entranced 
 
 Th' eolian tones in strange and fitful swells 
 
 Die in the moonlit air. But soon a form 
 
 Less lovely, (but how radiantly rich !) emerged 
 
 Prom 'mid a thicket of bright flowers, and poised 
 
 Himself on viewless wings in air. His breast 
 
 Stained with unfading beauty like the rose 
 
 That wreathes the triumphs of celestial climes, 
 
 The purple changing into green and gold 
 
 And that to sparkling crimson ! Suitor fit 
 
 To woo the dazzling balsamine and kiss 
 
 The dewy lips of gillia-flowers and pinks. 
 
 Child of the morning ! messenger of stars 
 
 That sparkle with their rich and changing light 
 
 Far in the voiceless heavens, linger here 
 
 Among the impassioned flowers that love 
 
 The thrilling touch of thy refulgent breast. 
 
 And I will bless the matchless hand that called 
 
THE FOREIGN LAND. 375 
 
 That airy form to being, and ordained 
 The rose's dew-drops as the bridal gems 
 T' adorn thy marriage to its virgin blooms. 
 
 THE FOREIGN LAND. 
 
 Welcome to your white clififs, foreign land ! 
 
 The foaming dash of ocean, the wide realm 
 
 Of waters where not even flits the gull ; 
 
 The long, sad absence from the friends we love ; 
 
 The restless swelling of the mighty Sea 
 
 (As tho' its breast did heave with some deep woe, 
 
 Or mourned the slumbers of the dead beneath,) 
 
 The sky unbroken by the forests' boughs, 
 
 And by the mountain and the spire unpierced, — 
 
 All these at length do weary me : I yearn 
 
 To gaze on some new page in Nature ; some new hymn 
 
 In her attractive worship to enjoy ; 
 
 In her kaleidoscope a grateful change 
 
 To picture on the eye's living mirror. 
 
 These novel costumes, these swart faces, eyes 
 
 Full of the passionate lustre of the South, 
 
 The tones and language strange admonish us 
 
 That we are tarrying in a foreign land. 
 
376 THE FOREIGN LAND 
 
 Strange music floats upon the airs of night ; 
 
 The poet's song, which music warbles forth, 
 
 Is strange and* meaningless to us. 
 
 Yet, while we linger here, let not the heart 
 
 Be desolate, without its home : Let not 
 
 The spirit wander forth to seek new haunts 
 
 Where it may dwell in joy, as bees to seek 
 
 New fields of honied flowers. Contented well 
 
 With those fond breasts which love us, tho' afar ; 
 
 In those fair homes which twilight's tranquil hour 
 
 Calls up in voiceful beauty to the mind, — 
 
 There dwell our souls in vivid dreams of bliss, 
 
 Tho' here the body wanders 'mid fair scenes, 
 
 And Art and Nature interweave their spells 
 
 Beauteous as living flowers on wreaths of gold ; 
 
 And royalty and rank their pomps display. 
 
 There is another land afar, where feet 
 
 Which have in sweet and holy pathways walked 
 
 While men were pilgrims in this earlier life, 
 
 Shall yet be welcomed ; welcomed they shall be 
 
 More warmly, joyously, in truth, than he 
 
 Who worn with war, and laurel-crowned, returns 
 
 To his paternal, bannered hall, that rings 
 
 The while with music. Hearer ! walk while here 
 
 In clear-eyed faith, in patience, trust and love, — 
 
 And then, in that land (if to thee a far 
 
 And foreign, not a cold, forbidding shore) 
 
 Shalt see the King in His grand beauty ; there. 
 
 At His bright marriage supper sit, a guest 
 
 Welcomed and peaceful, loved for ever more. 
 
ELISABETH: AN ACROSTIC. 
 
 "WHICH THE READER MAT APPLY TO ANY TO WHOM HE CHOOSES TO DO SO. 
 
 Evening ! thou soft enchantress of the hours, 
 Loveliest and richest of the radiant train ; 
 Is not the image of thy ^vinning power, 
 Sweet gentleness and beauty, — one whose face 
 All gaze on but to bless the eye and brow 
 Benignity and purity have lit ? 
 Bach flush that kindles o'er the heavens now. 
 The blushes, hiding 'neath her dark curls, show 
 Happily typified ; star-beams her eyes emit ! 
 
 TO L. G. : A VALENTINE. 
 
 " Blest as. til' immortal gods is he, 
 The youth who fondly sits by thee ; 
 Hears thee speak, and sees thee smile, — 
 Fondly listening all the wliile." 
 
 Sappho. 
 
 The almond-blossoms and the dew they've caught, 
 To others breathe a sweet and stainless thought ; 
 But when I'd dream of loveliest purity. 
 My thoughts, delighted, turn to heaven and thee. 
 
THE REQUIEM OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 
 
 SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE, REPRESENTING A TOUNG MAN WITH A MUSICAI. 
 
 INSTRUMENT, APPARENTLY SINGING A MOURNFUL STRAIN BESIDE A 
 
 YOUNG FEMALE IN HER LAST ILLNESS. 
 
 Now when at Eve the flush so softly melts 
 
 Across the healthful cheek of Day who seeks 
 
 His rocking ocean couch afar, 'tis meet 
 
 That music's tender voice and faith's low prayer 
 
 And love's impassioned tones, and e'en the soul, 
 
 (If so God wills) should float serenely forth. 
 
 Afflicted, dying, but still lovely one ! 
 
 In that deep, melting eye and in that face 
 
 We read the tokens of a soul on fire. 
 
 Nor one that hallowed flame ; for earthly love 
 
 Its bright and stainless element doth mix 
 
 Amid the saintly glow ; as when at morn, 
 
 A beauteous bird, with tinted, lustrous breast, 
 
 Seeking the eastern sky, his hues are blent 
 
 With heaven's more lovely dyes. 
 
 To-morrow's sun 
 Will shine on heaven's new-born and purple buds, 
 (Sweet as a maiden's lips when pleasure, love 
 And modesty peep out at once therefrom) 
 With genial influence : — and merry birds, 
 
THE REQUIEM OP THE BEAUTIFUL. 379 
 
 Intoxicate with May's delicious breath, 
 The praises of her flowery beauty chant, 
 Shaking her blossoms in a snow-like shower, 
 As boldly they alight. How sweet for thee, 
 To wander healthful by thy lover's side, 
 gentle maiden fair, — and list the words 
 Whose tender eloquence would make the song 
 Of Nature hymned for thee almost in vain ! 
 In vain the lips of opening flowers would pout 
 While other lips thy charmed attention claimed ; 
 And then in vain for thee the blue bird's wing 
 Would brightly be unfurled, while ardent hope 
 Her fairer pinions spread amid the sky 
 Of promising futurity. Beside yon vine 
 That clasps the aged elm, I dream I see 
 Thy stately form at rest ; the wind at play 
 Flutters thy opened book but cannot break 
 The smile of taste's delight that curves thy lip 
 While the poet's beautiful thoughts into thy soul 
 Slips like a dew-drop into fount serene : 
 Or, as a pearl sinks melting in the tide 
 Which dyes the golden chalice. 'Tis a tale 
 Of love which wins thy earnest gaze ; a dream, 
 Pictured in verse, of wedlock's stainless bliss. 
 Such themes might well delight a maid like thee. 
 Plighted to Hymen's hour : — but ah, in vain 
 The pleasing visions rise ! Thy lover's heart. 
 Deep-struck with sorrow, mourns the fading rose 
 Upon thy spotless cheek, while ne'er from lyre 
 Of mighty minstrels stole such melting power 
 
380 THE GRAVE OP THE RURAL PASTOR. 
 
 As in thy low, sweet whisper lurks, for him. 
 The fading of the beautiful, sweet youth's decay, 
 The tolling bell and requiem teach the worth 
 Of treasures in the skies, — of deathless hopes 
 Born o'er the altar, where, in holy blood 
 Sprinkled from stain, the faithful, penitent heart 
 A welcomed offering was laid. 
 
 Thus 
 By death's dark strokes, the ardent heart of youth 
 Is taught the unsteadfast nature of its joys : 
 Since even woman, God's most precious gift. 
 Fades like the blushing summer, or as day 
 Smiling and warm and fragrant, — sinking soon 
 In gloomy, cold and uncongenial night. 
 
 THE GRAVE OF THE RURAL PASTOR. 
 
 WEITTEN AFTER VISITINa MARLBOROUGH, N. T. 
 
 How beautiful, amid the rocky hills 
 
 Eolls the majestic Hudson ! nobly tower 
 
 The highlands on the south — as from this height 
 
 I gaze upon the scene around, and view 
 
 The autumn hues now fading ; though romance 
 
 Here never dies. Though beautiful and great 
 
THE GEAVE OF THE EUEAL PASTOR. 381 
 
 Is Nature, ever loved, around — yet he 
 
 Who, 'neath yon mound so fresh, is slumbering, 
 
 Is not forgotten. So, thy course, 
 
 My friend, is ended ! darkened now 
 
 The play of wit's quaint fancies in the cloud 
 
 Of death, and chilled in his cold gloom 
 
 The beams of kindly sympathies. The Church 
 
 Can hope no longer, in this rural spot. 
 
 For voice of thine to fill this holy air 
 
 With solemn Litanies, and " Lessons " rife 
 
 With the pure wisdom that exalts and saves. 
 
 Here, in the Lenten days, no more his lips 
 
 Shall the sad story of the Cross rehearse ; 
 
 Nor listeners, on the Sabbath, see the gleams 
 
 Of Heaven's salvation beaming winningly, 
 
 While he, in ministration solemn, breaks 
 
 The emblems of the living Bread of Life. 
 
 That rose shall bud and bloom again, when Spring 
 Her musical summons, in the soft, sweet air. 
 Anew is sounding ; but those lips which rest 
 Beneath that sod shall redden ne'er again. 
 Those trees again shall rock in summer's winds, 
 But he who planted them shall move amid 
 Their waving beauty never. Stilled his voice. 
 His step arrested, and his work is done ! 
 
 Here must I the repeated lesson learn : 
 The day is fleeting — night will come anon. 
 While the sun lingers in the sky, ere yet 
 
382 THE GEAVE OF THE RURAL PASTOR. 
 
 The shadows of the voiceless night draw on, 
 
 We should our work urge forward : then that day — 
 
 Greatest of all the days — shall show us blest 
 
 Above all other blessing, in the joy 
 
 Of our Lord's " harvest home.'' He sought the night 
 
 That day on us might rise : as the sun sets 
 
 And dies 'mid sanguinary streams, shade-wrapt, 
 
 That he may rise in brilliant morn on those 
 
 On whom the shadows of the night are cast. 
 
 The river in dark chasms plunges down, 
 
 But leaves a radiant sun-bow hung above ; 
 
 So Christ into the deeps of suffering, 
 
 Of vexed debasement and of death went down, 
 
 But left a shining promise, richly fraught 
 
 With mercy's tints of beauty, hung in sight 
 
 Of those who loved Him, that redemption full 
 
 He'd gain for all. He rose to urge his gifts, 
 
 Sealing the promise heavenly : so night 
 
 To those who've served Him, shall a brighter day 
 
 Usher unto their ripest happiness. 
 
 The buds of hope, which death essays to crush 
 
 Beneath his icy tread, shall open fair. 
 
 Wooed by the sunbeams of Christ's advent bright. 
 
 Matured into fruition blest, beneath 
 
 His glance of power, all-conquering and Divine. 
 
WHOM THE GODS LOVE, &C. 
 
 Whom the gods love, they teU us, languish young 
 And in the bloom of manhood fade away ; 
 And spirits in their heavenly countries keep 
 High festival when their sweet guest arrives, 
 (Whose lingering blest too much a sinful world.) 
 The shining mark the gifted, likewise, form 
 Whereat the faultless archer wings his shaft ; 
 For, God, who saith " the secret things " as yet 
 " To me belong," and hath the grades ordained 
 In wisdom's everlasting march, doth check 
 Thought's searching splendors when the}^ dare intrude 
 On the deep province to the angels given. 
 
 SAMUEL, THE CHILD-PROPHET. 
 
 The solemn midnight reigned o'er all Judea. 
 And slumber, like the dreamless trance of death, 
 Drowned man and nature in her mystic spells. 
 What lustre flickers yonder in the West ? 
 A star that languishes 1 or, ray that's left, 
 
384 SAMUEL, THE CHILD-PEOPHET. 
 
 Imprisoned in the folds of distant clouds, 
 
 And may not follow where the elfin beams 
 
 Their riot of eternal sparkling keep ? 
 
 Or, is't, indeed, a mortal stirring now. 
 
 His torch-lit pathway groping thro' the fields. 
 
 Seeking his cot ? Behold ! thro' giadden'd airs, 
 
 That follow for the sweetness of his robes, 
 
 A " liveried angel " glides ; and seeks the spot 
 
 Where Zion's tabernacle gleamed. For yet 
 
 The Temple's lamp waned not, bnt blest the air 
 
 With the soft, purple glories of its flame, 
 
 And wooed with quenchless light forgiving heaven. 
 
 Lost in the beauty of his sinless dreams, 
 
 The fair child Samuel slept ; and saw anew 
 
 The gem-impris'ning ephod glow, and belt 
 
 Of gold and scarlet and of lily-white 
 
 That girt Jehovah's priest. Nor stirr'd the boy 
 
 When the hush'd waving of that angel's wing 
 
 Left his soft curls all trembling with its wind. 
 
 A moment on the boy the seraph gazed. 
 
 Then bow'd his head, as in the air he saw 
 
 The token of the presence of his God. 
 
 One moment more, and thus aloud he prayed : 
 
 " Thou that art the Sun of Love's bright heaven, 
 
 Who oft the emblematic silver of Thy breast 
 
 Spotlessly white, dost gem with golden heads 
 
 Of smiling cherubs bosomed for repose, — 
 
 Now grant me that with lips oi human sense 
 
 My kiss their mortal counterfeit may wake ; 
 
 For, as I gazed, a gush of heavenly love 
 
SAMUEL, THE CHILD-PROPHET. 385 
 
 Poured its rich lightnings thro' my soul. No voice 
 Replied, but well the angel knew, that love. 
 In earth or heaven, its privilege might claim, 
 And therefore prest the soft, ambrosial sign 
 On mouth that shamed the rose's bud, or bow. 
 Resistless and bright-curved, of Cupid's grasp. 
 The sleeper smiled and spake, as if strange bliss 
 Leapt from those heavenly lips on his, nor broke 
 The rosiest enchantment of his dreams. 
 Then spake the majesty of God, and called, 
 (In tones of winning tenderness subdued) 
 On Samuel the child. The red-plumed page 
 That on the footsteps waited of his King 
 Vanished to viewlessness. 
 
 The boy arose 
 And sought from aged Eli his command. 
 " Lie down again, my son, I called thee not ;" 
 And to his couch the gentle Samuel went. 
 An awful silence ; and again that voice 
 Made the place shudder with prophetic awe, — 
 (For Heaven designed that Eli's ear should take 
 From Samuel's lips the announcement of his woes.) 
 Again that call ; again he Eli sought. 
 Returned once more, the summons yet he heard ! 
 " Nay, but thou didst just call me ;" " no, my son," 
 The priest again replied : " But if again that voice. 
 At once reply, ' Speak, Lord, thy servant hears.' " 
 Then came again, in shadowy secret veiled. 
 The Father or the Word, and called the child 
 25 
 
386 SAMUEL, THE CHILD-PROPHET. 
 
 And heard the lisped sweetness of his voice. 
 
 " Behold," said God, " a thing in Israel 
 
 I do, on hearing which, shall both the ears 
 
 Of every one in Jacob tingle ; then 
 
 My words 'gainst Eli's house shall be performed ; 
 
 When T begin, the consummation dire 
 
 Shall surely follow. As his sons have made 
 
 Themselves most vile, and he restrained them not, 
 
 I've therefore sworn the sins of Eli's house 
 
 By sacrifice or offering shall not be 
 
 Purged out for ever." Then the angel droop'd, 
 
 Grieving for the reproving stroke which not 
 
 The sacred beauty of the priestly robes 
 
 Could shield from heart not void of piety. 
 
 Rejoice ! Israel, — the temple's paths 
 
 Shall holiness re-bleach with heavenly light, 
 
 Though, on the head of sinful weakness fiung 
 
 In stern, heart-breaking lightnings ; yet received. 
 
 To thine immortal praise, old man ! with words 
 
 Of pious resignation. So, for thee. 
 
 Thine earthly woes shall be thy punishment, 
 
 (We, reading thy sad history, will hope,) 
 
 And heaven shall welcome thy glad soul at last : 
 
 As feeble stream, that loitering in the vale 
 
 Is by the fierce, reproving blasts fast bound 
 
 In prison of ice ; and yet shall leap when glows 
 
 Of genial Spring shall flush the scented air. 
 
 And clap its hands with ocean's rapturous waves. 
 
 Back to his home the ministering spirit flew, 
 
 And Heaven's high Diplomatic Angel wrote 
 
 That Samuel, the child, was Seer of God. 
 
THE DWELLING-PLACES OF HAPPINESS. 
 
 AN ACROSTIC. 
 
 To what fair scene, illumed with blushing flowers 
 
 Of rarest sweetness, and with sunbeams like 
 
 Juliet's soft glances warm with love and hope, 
 
 Unto the impassioned gaze of Romeo given, 
 
 (Light bursting from the soul,) may one now turn 
 
 In hope of finding that fair prize of bliss. 
 
 All are athirst for '? Can the tropic skies, 
 
 All odorous and brilliant, shower it down ? 
 
 No. Can the exciting thrill the sportsman feels, 
 
 Darting amid the forest's shadowy pomp, — 
 
 Gliding in ambush o'er game-haunted lakes, 
 
 Ever the heart persuade of perfect joy ? 
 
 Oh, no ! Earth's Eden is not found, — not e'en 
 
 Round the Euphrates where it bloomed ; but where 
 
 Grace, gentleness and love are beaming forth 
 
 In the pure circle blest of woman's heart ; 
 
 All airs of heaven that ever breathed on earth 
 
 Now loiter in her smile. The fireside, forest, field, 
 
 All are emparadised when she is there. 
 
A TRIBUTE : LINES SENT TO * * * 
 
 Thy beams are beautiful, soft evening-star, 
 
 In the glassy trance of the river's breast ; 
 
 (As the sweet child reflects the mother's smile, 
 
 Up gazing on the face it loves, so here 
 
 Are shot again to heaven its lovely beams ;) 
 
 Thus in my soul a dream of woman's heart 
 
 Dwells silently, but clear and pure and bright ; 
 
 But to the minds that those sweet visions lit, 
 
 Their lineaments I will not mirror forth ; 
 
 Guard thou, my heart, the images I lov€ ! • 
 
 But I with such cannot but converse hold, — 
 
 So potently those memories control 
 
 The tender tides of feeling ; and my thoughts 
 
 Dwell gladly in such choice tho' far commune. 
 
 loved and thrice-blest pen ; and sweetest page. 
 
 Worthy of perfumes from Spring's loveliest flowers 
 
 That here engage to catch my words ; so wings. 
 
 Motioned by wondrous art, may bear them hence 
 
 Unto * * * 's hand ! Her eye will beam 
 
 Upon this page ; then, as a trifle, she 
 
 Will casts its words aside. And yet, perchance. 
 
 The thought that here a sentiment there breathes 
 
 Of deep, enthusiastic love for truth. 
 
 For gentleness, and purity, and warmth, 
 
DEDICATORY LINES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM. 389 
 
 Where'er they blend in woman's kindlier heart, 
 Shall make her closely guard and prize still more 
 Those traits whose power, when hallowed, aids to form 
 Fair virtue's realm harmonious and blest. 
 
 DEDICATORY LINES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM. 
 
 To thought and poetry and feeling be 
 
 These pages sacred. Here let friendship breathe 
 
 Her pure and gentle inspirations, fresh 
 
 As is the spray from fountains flung, and sweet 
 
 In memory's atmosphere as flowers' perfume. 
 
 The living and the lovely gushings free 
 
 And glow of youth's fine feeling and its hopes 
 
 Be pictured here ; and from the heart 
 
 Be poured such truthful strains as ever please. 
 
 Like gems amid a laughing stream, here, too, 
 
 May wisdom's thoughts and counsels win the eye. 
 
 As proved Manoah's visitant no guest 
 
 Of human character but spirit blest 
 
 From heaven's resplendent climes, so here 
 
 May pleasure sought by many a friend 
 
 In poet's words luxurious and sweet 
 
 Prove deathless, high and holy benefit : 
 
390 woman's part in life. 
 
 So they who to the gay and flower-decked founts 
 Of poetry approach, may there be won 
 To enter and to learn in Wisdom's fane.* 
 
 WOMAN'S PART IN LIFE. 
 
 WBITTEK FOR HRS. N. H. D. 
 
 To greet the freshness of the morning skies 
 
 With th' air and words that speak the mind which doth 
 
 Alike on beauty and on duty dwell ; 
 
 Loving the zeal of industry to rightly mix 
 
 With the rich spirit that the flush of dawn 
 
 And sound of flowing waters and the breath of flowers 
 
 Enkindle in the soul refined ; (the sight 
 
 Reminding us of sheaves of wheat bound round 
 
 With circlets sweet with dewy buds.) Around 
 
 The household group to twine the anxious thought, 
 
 And plan the sweet home-drama of their bliss ; 
 
 To lead them by her side in heavenly ways : 
 
 With courtesy and th' tempting, ready store 
 
 Of entertainment that the mind and hand 
 
 Can give to stranger and to friend ; 
 
 To make their tarrying in her presence glad ; 
 
 • In allusion to a picture on the first page of the Album. 
 
A PILGRIMAGE ON A CLOUD. 391 
 
 To sympathize with suffering, and plot 
 
 The schemes that yet its ruffled hours may smooth, 
 
 And minister in love to sorrow's woes, 
 
 Drowning the vexing heat in calm and hope. 
 
 To light with genial thoughts the dusky Eve 
 
 And charm her solemn ear with music's breath, 
 
 Where heart the witching modulation gifts 
 
 With warm and melting power ; these are a part 
 
 Of woman's office in the sorrowing world. 
 
 Nor unforgetful nor unskilled in these 
 
 Is she, for whose especial eye these lines 
 
 Have soiled the whiteness of this pictured page. 
 
 A PILGRIMAGE ON A CLOUD: A SKETCH. 
 
 " I wandered lonely like a cloud 
 That flits on high o'er vales and hills." 
 
 WOBDSWOETH. 
 
 for a light, etherial frame to ride 
 
 On the soft folds of yonder rosy cloud ! 
 
 How richly doth it swell amid the skies 
 
 Like to the broidered couch, befringed with gold, 
 
 That eastern grandeur spreadeth for a King. 
 
 If o'er the air a subtle spirit reigns. 
 
 This is the couch his glory would receive. 
 
392 A PILGRIMAGE ON A CLOUD. 
 
 Lapped in voluptuous beauty, let me sail 
 
 With the soft breathings of the South ; how fond 
 
 It loiters in the glittering roll ! Ye winds, 
 
 Bear gently now o'er fragrant fields where grass 
 
 Falls with sweet swoon before the mower's scythe ; 
 
 And where upon the golden grain the birds 
 
 Are rocking while they sing. 
 
 Now to the fields 
 Where meadow-larks and mocking-birds do vie 
 In their mellifluous rapture, and make drunk 
 The heart with music, Now beside the top 
 Of thunder-blasted mountains let us range, 
 And gaze o'er dizzy crags and chasms where 
 The eagle glances with his tameless eye. 
 And screams upon his prey. Behold the lair 
 Where the fierce panther hides his playful young ! 
 Soon must we quit this scene, and float serene 
 Where commerce brightens with her sails the tide 
 Of the abounding river. List the voice 
 Mellow and rich of bugle-horns that wake 
 The echoes of the hills to glorious song ! 
 'Tis thus the boatman cheers his leisure hours 
 And adds to nature's poetry. And now. 
 Fair pilgrim of the azure climes of heaven. 
 Veiled in delightful slumbers, let me glide 
 And wake where Andalusian damsels blush 
 To the passionate glances of the sky. I see 
 Their dark locks wave beneath the vines 
 Whose tendril-curls they rival, while their cheeks, 
 
A PILGRIMAGE ON A CLOUD. 393 
 
 Ripe as the purple spoils, are flushing now 
 
 With the dance that celebrates the day. Yon tower, 
 
 Crumbling to rich, romantic ruin, tells 
 
 What tales of war and chivalry and love ! 
 
 How lonely now and silent ! and how art 
 
 Yields unto nature's triumphs with sweet grace, 
 
 Her ivies wrapping all things in their shroud 
 
 Of most luxuriant beauty. Hence we float. 
 
 Now waft, ye winds, to where Italia's art, 
 
 Amid magnificence in ruins throned, 
 
 Smiles with enchanting glory. Pause ! 'twas here 
 
 Angelo's genius poured eternal fame 
 
 Upon the land which bore him, and gave art 
 
 New dignity and lustre ; Raphael here. 
 
 The glorious in design, first drew the breath 
 
 Which death should ne'er have quenched : and here 
 
 Canova's genius triamphed and set free 
 
 The prisoners that were closed by marble walls. 
 
 Da Vinci, the Caracci, Guido, here. 
 
 With Titian, Domenichino and Lanfranc 
 
 Enriched Italia with renowned designs 
 
 That tempt the gifted sons of Art from far. 
 
 Wealth like expanded gold ; a visible spell. 
 
 Here where the mighty shade of Cicero glides 
 
 Through vine-hung arches in the moonlight dim, 
 
 'Twere glorious to linger, if a voice, 
 
 Winningly potent, called not to the grove 
 
 Where Plato's lofty musings had their birth. 
 
 If Truth with awful countenance doth shine 
 
 High on the brow of steep and rugged rocks, — ' 
 
394 A PILGRIMAGE ON A CLOUD. 
 
 There are fair gardens glistening in her smile, 
 
 And there his spirit wandered, near her throne. 
 
 Great names rush on the memory. The soil 
 
 Must e'er be sacred unto classic fame. 
 
 On, beauteous cloud, float on, and pause at length 
 
 Where trod the feet of Jesus ; there are tones 
 
 Yet lingering of immortal power ; for truth 
 
 And love conspired to weave the bands 
 
 Which nations bound and yet must bind the world : 
 
 Illustrious, He, beyond the classic name, 
 
 In virtue's peerless triumphs and in birth ! 
 
 Not like the morning-cloud that melts in air 
 
 Shall prove the ascending star of Bethlehem ! 
 
 All nations yet shall gladden in its light. 
 
 beauteous cloud, like beauty's queen thou'st born 
 
 From the dazzling foam of ocean ; and like her, 
 
 Whose reign voluptuous is broken, thou 
 
 Shalt melt and leave but visions soft behind. 
 
 No more I'll wander in my fancy led with thee ; 
 
 Farewell, bright wanderer ; seek the ocean's breast. 
 
 My twilight, desultory dream is o'er. 
 
TO AN EAGLE SOARING. 
 
 Where goest thou 1 to heaven 1 Thy lessening form 
 
 Is dim upon the sky. Seest thou a storm 
 
 That rises in the West, — or, is thy burning heart 
 
 Drunken with that " empyrial air " wherein thou art 1 
 
 Or, what strong influence there so far from earth 
 
 Should keep thee from the mountain of thy birth. 
 
 My streaming eye ceases at last to follow thee. 
 
 Thou fearless wanderer on yon island-broken sea ! 
 
 (For, we can dream the clouds are floating, castled isles, 
 
 Where over-flowing light in richness ever smiles, 
 
 Arising 'mid yon sea like promontory piles.) 
 
 Gleamed there no terror in thy startled eye. 
 
 When lone amid the thunder-cloud on high, 
 
 Thou gazedst on the lightning couchant there, — 
 
 That tameless lion, springing from his lair ? — 
 
 Despatched from Heav'n's dark, cloud-hid judgment-room, 
 
 A quick executor of fearful doom. 
 
 Clad with the bright sublimity of God, 
 
 And hurried by th' impatience of His nod. 
 
 So, thro' the clouds of horror and of war. 
 
 Let Liberty herself sublimely soar ; 
 
 Fear not the lightnings of despotic power, — 
 
 IfoTE. — The above is an eflPusion of earlier date, having been written in 
 Collegiate days. It bears date 1837, and appeared in the " New Yorker." 
 
396 A FRAGMENT. 
 
 Glance from her waving wing its iron shower, — 
 
 Dreadless upon her ear their thunders roll. 
 
 And all unshaken still her mighty soul ! 
 
 Thou sky-delighting bird, soar on, soar on ! 
 
 A passion-stirring sight to look upon ; 
 
 A living type set in her brilliant skies 
 
 Of Freedom's glory here that with her eagle dies. 
 
 FRAGMENT OF LINES WRITTEN IN REFERENCE TO DEATH 
 OF T. S. MACAULEY. 
 
 A COLLEGIATE EFFUSION. 
 
 " Far off is he, above desire or fear : 
 
 No more submitted to the change and chance 
 
 Of the unsteady planets ; 
 
 'tis well with him I" 
 
 Coleridge's Walleinstein. 
 
 Live I awake, or lost in visions. 
 While upon my ear there seems 
 To rise a voice as from the prisons 
 Of the viewless cavern streams 1 
 Cavern-rivers darkling downward 
 Thro' their channels 'neath the ground ; 
 While e'er flowing sunless onward. 
 Solemn tones are rising round j 
 Again they rise like notes of warning, — 
 
VALLEY BY THE MOUNTAINS. 397 
 
 Friendship's heaving sobs ! too sad for aught besides, I fear ; 
 And breathless as the lips of morning, 
 Listening, trembling, mute I hear 
 
 The wild heart-breathing music of the bier ! 
 
 ****** 
 
 A star has fallen from the sky 
 
 Of human intellect and worth, 
 A star has sunken, nor is nigh 
 
 The hour of its return : Tho' Earth 
 Should share no more its lustre rare. 
 
 We hope o'er other climes away 
 'Twill brighten in the golden air, — 
 
 Burn mild amid that higher day, 
 Calm as a Seraph's heart in prayer. 
 
 VALLEY BY THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 A PERSIAN SKETCH. 
 
 Where 'neath the glances of the radiant morn, 
 
 Luristan's high crown, flushing in the dawn. 
 
 Hath lovelier vision burst upon the sight 
 
 Than that which hath been thine since new-born light 
 
 Scattered the gloom of chaos '? Beauty here 
 
 Her throne of majesty doth surely rear ; 
 
 And 'neath her dome of pearly, mottled blue 
 
398 VALLEY BY THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Reveals a scene magnificent to view. 
 Romance itself here in that wild ravine 
 Must linger all the year ; now in soft, green, 
 Voluptuous loveliness attired j and then 
 Veiled by the jealous hand of winter, when 
 The monarch of white locks and silvery crown 
 Returns to this his palace, and casts down 
 Soft, showy carpets, and bids Nature wear 
 A robe of whiteness pure as childhood's fair 
 And sunny dream of home and love and bliss. 
 
 surely in a scene as bright as this 
 
 Th' enkindled soul must upward rise and greet 
 
 The smiles of heaven with homage warm and sweet ; 
 
 The soft, green, slumbering loveliness we see 
 
 'Round yonder brook shall voiceless quickener be 
 
 Of tender dreams which in the sunshine sleep 
 
 Of Fancy's eye, and of heart-musings deep. 
 
 The painter when with wizard wand he makes 
 
 The canvass to a mirror change, which takes 
 
 Th' enchanting image of this scene of grace, 
 
 (There fixed, as is the sweet and flowery face 
 
 We fondly loved preserved in memory's glass, 
 
 A picture bright that never thence can pass) — 
 
 The painter of this scene shall honored be 
 
 By souls exalted and refined to see 
 
 This charming page of Nature's poetry. 
 
 As Venus smiling by the side^of Mars, 
 
 With countenance as fair as dew-washed stars. 
 
NIAGAEA VISITED IN AUTUMN. 399 
 
 Turned lovingly up toward the hero grand, 
 
 So looks this loveliest vale of all the land 
 
 Up toward Luristan's rugged heights sublime, 
 
 The mighty guardians of this rosy clime. 
 
 Lo ! in the distance, sparkling through the green, 
 
 The minarets of Ispahan are seen. 
 
 NIAGARA VISITED IN AUTUMN. 
 
 Here in great Nature's gorgeous fane we stand, 
 Where grand libation endlessly is poured. 
 And incense soars aloft forevermore : 
 Th' Almighty King the offering receives. 
 And on the rising cloud of homage hangs 
 His bow of promise and of grace. 
 How fair and gladdening (as a dream of love 
 And of the pure, fond bliss of childhood's hours 
 To the mind torn and tortured by stern grief 
 And vexed by sullen gusts of wild despair,) 
 Shines near the foaming, furious cataract. 
 This promise writ in rich-hued beams of light ! 
 Here swells in Nature's temple thro' all years 
 Her hymn of praise, while sound the thunder-tonea 
 Of her great organ builded not by man, 
 Shaking th© bases and the rock-reared walls. 
 
400 NIAGABA VISITED IN AUTUMN. 
 
 The rich, dark evergreens with icy fringe 
 Hang sparkling now beside the dread abyss. 
 They seem like a swarthy queen in jewel'd gear, 
 With divers prized and fond attendants by, 
 As Cleopatra decking for the step 
 Adown the fearful steeps of death to realms 
 Of mist and shades. 
 
 How beautiful yon grove 
 In all the wildness and the majesty 
 Of Nature's primitive growth ! Rich mosses wrapt 
 Around the noble trunks are velvety 
 In colors brightened and bedewed with spray. 
 The tiny flower which blooms upon the sod. 
 Like it, is freshened in the flying mists 
 Which breathe their welcome day-dews thro' these trees 
 And hence, we, charmed with matchless beauty, learn 
 True greatness hath a ministry of love. 
 E'en for the humble and obscure, as for 
 The gorgeous and the stately in their hour 
 Of need and decadence. 
 
 Yon beetling cliffs 
 Which dark and dizzy, rise above the flood. 
 Adorned with crimson, pendent trees like vines. 
 Graceful and young, are types of strength. 
 The glorious architecture of a hand 
 Divine and infinite in power. And here. 
 Below the falling sheet, where foams the flood 
 With ceaseless roar and ever furious gusts 
 
NIAGARA VISITED IN AUTUMN. 401 
 
 Of rack and wind, — in this dim cave 
 
 The poet well might feign the genius fair 
 
 Of this enchanting, gorgeous spot had shone 
 
 At twilight when no other eye beheld ; 
 
 As beamed the bright nymph thro' the sparkling spray 
 
 Unto the eye of Manfred 'mid the wild, — 
 
 Th' embodied, rich-hued glory of the scene. 
 
 If here the spirit of the Indian brave * 
 
 Dwelleth amid the flying mists of the mad 
 
 And fearful cataract, (its grander traits 
 
 Conspiring in his stern, etherial shape ;) 
 
 Forth from the poet's imaged sprite doth glow 
 
 The light, the hues, the fresh, eternal charm 
 
 Of waters and of rocks and moss and flowers, 
 
 Of sun-bows and of foam-washed crystals clear, 
 
 The sparkle and the rich and bloomy grace 
 
 Which in the lovelier features of the scene 
 
 Adorn the spot as Nature's glorious shrine. 
 
 This noble gem of scenic beauty set 
 
 Upon the swelling breast of Earth, hath, too. 
 
 Its fair and delicate chasings as surroundings meet. 
 
 • Alluding to the idea, (elsewhere also mentioned) that the spirit of Red 
 Jacket, Chief of the Sen^cas, ling^ers near the Falls of Niagara, iu harmony 
 with his belief that it would. 
 
 26 
 
SPRING LOITERINGS BY WOOD CREEK, 
 
 Beneath the shadow of this stately elm. 
 
 Here, wooed and won by Nature's beauty wild, 
 
 Let us recline, and free the imprisoned thought ; 
 
 Aye, let the fancy mount on unchecked wing. 
 
 Like that of Nature's freest child, the bird. 
 
 Let feeling flow as freely as the stream 
 
 Which dedicates its azure wavelets to the day, 
 
 Kissing the drooping violets on the bank 
 
 To sip the honey-dew within their lips. 
 
 Mark how the soaring strength of the fine, old trees 
 
 Which toss above our heads is richly robed 
 
 With coats of moss ! The birds at rest 
 
 Wait for the cooler hour of Eve, on high, 
 
 'Mid shade of noble foliage-masses ; there 
 
 Breaking up silence with many a trill 
 
 And gush of untaught music. Here 
 
 Beside us wander o'er the grassy verge 
 
 Of this old forest, groups of lowing kine, 
 
 Glossy and sleek with the land's fatness. Quick 
 
 Upon the sleeping water in yon curve 
 
 Of the dark-hued stream, the glossy " whirlwig " black 
 
 Circles in blissful play, as aimless as 
 
 Rove now our thoughts : — yet, rove they now ? 
 
 Are they not true (tho' seeming to float free) 
 
SPRING LOITERINGS BY WOOD CREEK. 403 
 
 To the controlling and pervading glow 
 
 Of Love's mysterious fire ? as birds that range 
 
 In the wide fields and woods to find 
 
 Wherewith to gladden their dear nests, still pant 
 
 With yearning love of those they've seemed to leave. 
 
 Within this deeper shade, and by this trunk 
 
 Enormous with the growth of ages past, 
 
 Let us amid this scene of curtained pomp 
 
 Our footsteps check awhile : Hearest not above 
 
 The tapping of the wood-pecker at work 
 
 On dead and topmost boughs ? The dapper wren 
 
 With his light, trilling song and restless life 
 
 Forsakes awhile his nest in the mossy fence 
 
 To watch for insects haunting damp and shade. 
 
 Beneath the tangled thicket coped by firs 
 
 And a crowd of hemlocks young, that rustling tread 
 
 Which now you hear, betrays the partridge. There, 
 
 Now alarmed, she fears to build her nest, 
 
 And meditates to spread her whirring wings 
 
 For forest sanctuaries unprofaned 
 
 Where the tall reeds wave by the reeking fens. 
 
 And interlacing ferns gemmed with the blaze 
 
 Of crimson cardinals and the amethyst-light 
 
 Of the fringed gentian nodding o'er the ooze 
 
 Unite to canopy and screen her haunts. 
 
 Once more, before we leave this charming scene, 
 Beside this murmuring brook let us repose ; 
 The moving picture of its surface scan. 
 
404 HYMNINGS AND ASPIRATIONS. 
 
 And learn a lesson. On its hurrying tide 
 But brief and broken images of heaven shine, 
 Save where in yonder cove-like nook the calm, 
 Like twilight, sacred contemplation, mirrors forth 
 The higher world of glory and of grace. 
 Thus may our life be stilled in many a lull, 
 Not whirled in restless eagerness that knows 
 No peaceful meditation on the world Divine, 
 But tranquil ized and lit with visions oft 
 Which with the hues of heavenly promise beam ! 
 
 HYMNINGS AND ASPIRATIONS. 
 
 The Earth is beautiful ; but to the stars, 
 
 The boundless world of sky spread out above, 
 
 Spring up my thoughts, as birds fly up or sparks 
 
 Ascend to spangle the blue robe of heaven. 
 
 "Vain, vain are now Earth's ties, the poAver 
 
 She breathes upon my soul from field and flood. 
 
 From wave-swept shores, or from the shade and calm 
 
 (Music and Poetry in stillness veiled) 
 
 Of the grand forests ! Up to thee, my God, 
 
 My aspirations now ascend ; and drinks my soul, 
 
 Expanding, in the infinite sublime, 
 
 Slaking its yearnings in commune with Thee. 
 
HYMNINGS AND ASPIRATIONS. 406 
 
 Ye soaring clouds majestical, and clad 
 
 In sombre mantles lined with silvery furs, — 
 
 Mantles that erst have robed the Deity ! 
 
 Ye mighty winds, that speed upon your way 
 
 Unseen, like Time or angels in their flight ; 
 
 And bear the melodies of Art and gush 
 
 Of wood-notes sweet and odors of the fields, 
 
 The grateful offering of Nature fair ; 
 
 While voiceful hymns ye breathe of Liberty ; 
 
 Ye eagles, soaring in your pride of power 
 
 And freedom chainless ; and ye birds of prey 
 
 And waterfowl in long, careering line 
 
 Panting for unseen shores and grassy strands ; 
 
 Far, far above ye, soars my kindling thought ! 
 
 He, who beneath this vast, blue, vaulted fane. 
 
 With the admiring love of mysteries. 
 
 Enters with wisdom's musings, should not halt 
 
 Till in the innermost sanctum, as High Priest 
 
 In Nature's temple, he adores ; and o'er his eye, 
 
 Meekly in reverence dropped, there stream the rays 
 
 Of that mysterious glory reigning there, 
 
 And on his soul its still, small voicings breathe. 
 
 Unseen of fleshly sense, but living Light, 
 
 Sourceless and quenchless, in commune with Thee 
 
 The spirit's dignity and peace are found ! 
 
 Up to the triumph of Thy fellowship 
 
 Lift up our souls, as eagles bear their young, 
 
 Or as the mighty winds lift up Heaven's veil 
 
 Of light and gossamer clouds far towards the Sun. 
 
406 HYMNINGS AND ASPIRATIONS. 
 
 Joy, joy is theirs, the noble, half-divine, 
 
 Who with souls purified ascend and hold 
 
 Believing, worshipful commune with God ! 
 
 They are the high, rejoicing stars of earth, 
 
 Discoursing harmony fit for deathless ears ; 
 
 Compeers of angels ; their etherial fire 
 
 And princely stateliness of worth and soul 
 
 Prefiguring on the earth ; the blossoms fine 
 
 And fragrantest of fruit of seraph beauty 
 
 That the bowers and gardens of the skies 
 
 Doth richly grace. Adore and joy with them. 
 
 Rise to the height of this great fellowship : 
 
 Rise, spirit, weary with life's arid care. 
 
 As springs some languid wing from heat and dust 
 
 To bathe in skyey springs, 'mid freshest dews ; 
 
 Rise in Truth's sunlit atmosphere ; 
 
 Soar towards the Fountain of your heaven-born fire, 
 
 As flames of wind-tost pines that burn 
 
 By lightning kindled ; mount aloft and breathe 
 
 Your incense into favoring skies above : 
 
 Mount now that ye may mount forever more : 
 
 Rise, soul, and tell the seraphs near the Throne 
 
 A child of earth sublimely seeks its God, 
 
 And with their heavenly wreaths of praise would bind 
 
 Some incense-breathing leaves and blooms from Earth. 
 
ENSLAVED TO CORRUPTION. 
 
 " "While they promise them liberty, they are themselves the servants of 
 corraption." 
 
 Not in the sunny South alone, 
 Or in the Czar's wide realm and there, 
 Only can slaves to us be shown ; 
 They live and move among us here. 
 
 Here, in our Northern climes, beneath 
 Our pure and healthful Northern skies. 
 Still more degraded thralls do breathe, 
 Enslaved to ultra theories :• 
 
 Enslaved to passions strong and fierce 
 And impulse reasonless, tho' these, 
 While Truth they rack and wrest and pierce. 
 They name as holy liberties. 
 
 Such liberty's licentious rage, 
 The fuming folly of mere slaves 
 Who trample down the gospel's page, 
 That highest law which guides and saves. 
 
 Warts growing on a lovely face ; 
 
 The wire-worm gnawing 'mid the rose ; 
 
408 EXSLAVED TO CORRUPTION. 
 
 A poison dropt into the vase 
 
 That with the nectared wine o'erflows ; 
 
 A rankling counterfeit, dim, gross 
 Beside the silvery coinage bright, — 
 Such, to sound zeal for Freedom, shows 
 Their wretched raid 'gainst truth and right. 
 
 Her holiest breath the soul sets free 
 Prom sin's degrading, blighting chain ; 
 A faithful, loving reverence, she 
 Inspires for Law's majestic reign. 
 
 Truth smiling with celestial love. 
 Sweet with her holy words of peace, 
 Her mission from above doth prove 
 And gently bids Earth's evils cease. 
 
 The rough and boastful winds essayed 
 To move th' embedded rock in vain ; 
 The gentle streamlet flowed and bade 
 The rock, dislodged, to seek the plain. 
 
 Gently the Gospel wears away 
 
 The errors and the ills of old ; 
 
 And then unbars, 'mid Heaven's bright day, 
 
 To Freedom's climes, her gates of gold. 
 
THE 
 
 GUESTS OF BRAZIL, 
 
 MARTYRDOM OF FREDERICK. 
 
 A TRAGEDY 
 
TO ERASTUS CLARK, ESQ., OF T7TICA, N. Y. 
 
 Dear E., 
 
 As dedications are not yet obsolete, I have inscribed this work to you. 
 It was written four or five years since. I deem it scarce fit for the stage. 
 It lacks incident in parts. Here and there, to'o, the rhythm is rude ; 
 though sometimes intentionally so. Do not scan it very critically, but 
 accept it as my faint acknowledgment of that " love which passetlx the 
 love of woman." If it adds a mite to the poetry of the world, to the plea- 
 sure of one single heart, or thereby to the honor of the Author of mind, it 
 shall UQt have been written in vain. 
 
 Yours, afiectionately, 
 1844. GURDON HUNTINGTON. 
 
TO E. CLARK, ESa. 
 
 I. 
 
 This book shall mind us of our former love, 
 
 And is, my long-tried friend, inscribed to thee ; 
 
 Though our strong intimacy needs, we see, 
 No rivet in its lengthening chains, — above, 
 
 I trust, Time's keen, corroding breath. But we 
 Will, by this page, remember we did prove, 
 
 Alike, the strength of nature ; in wild glee. 
 Bidding both sense and thought to freely rove 
 
 In pleasures which the wise in caution taste,* 
 And the chill raptures of the high sublime ; 
 
 Till the worn life did falter where it rac'd 
 In feverish youth. And now in earlier time, 
 
 The mortal sister of immortal love, sweet Health, 
 
 Hath poured on thee inestimable wealth. 
 
 II. 
 
 And I do woo her smiles with pleading zeal, 
 And feel at times the air to blandly stir, 
 
 * This passage must be understood to imply only those imprudencies, 
 neglects and mental excitements which induce a decline of nervous energy 
 not unfrequent with students. 
 
414 DEDICATORY 
 
 With the near impulse of her pinion's whir, — 
 Though she her rosy fount doth not unseal ; 
 Beloved not only for the joy we feel, 
 
 But for that vigor which may not demur, 
 
 For principle's high crusade, as it were. 
 To panoply our souls in blazing steel. 
 
 For what, with its true majesty can vie ? 
 Can Georgia's massive oaks of fadeless green ; — 
 
 Or ice-coned mountains, glorying in the sky, — 
 Or monarchs on their warlike chargers seen 
 
 Rushing to battle, with vindictive eye. 
 And prophecies of triumph in their mien ? 
 
 III. 
 With his fierce, blasting fires shall Death consume 
 
 The beauty of the tree, and lay it low ; 
 
 And the ice-spires of the vast hills shall glow. 
 In time, no more with morning's loveliest bloom,— 
 But find in ocean's caves their rayless tomb. 
 
 On War's stern glories shall oblivion blow, 
 
 And they shall sink in darkness ; and the foe 
 Shall wrap all living in his voiceless gloom. 
 
 But principles shall die not ; they partake 
 The greatness and eternity of God ; 
 
 The blasts that unto dust our being shake. 
 Their pure, celestial vigor wing abroad, — 
 
 And our freed souls triumphant then shall slake 
 Their thirst in glories unto which they soared. 
 
DEDICATORY. 415 
 
 IV. 
 
 He that with persevering foot shall reach 
 The skyey bound of yonder arduous hill, 
 Its barriers scaling with unfaltering will, 
 
 Shall need no heavenly breath his soul to teach 
 
 The stir of joy sublime that doth impeach 
 The paradise the Prophet feign'd. His bill, 
 That drinks from out the thunder-clouds that spill 
 
 Their lightnings 'round him in the awful breach, 
 Screams with the rapture of no loftier joy. 
 
 Yet who up Principle's bright Alps hath soared, 
 Though Passion's battlings did his soul employ, 
 
 Sublimer shall his spirit stream abroad ; 
 
 Its temptings deem'd superfluous, he shall cry, 
 
 Strike from the list the awards of heaven, God ! 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 EusTiN — in Enthusiast. 
 
 Sebastian — A Brazilian Priest, and a highly ambitious 
 
 Conspirator. 
 Sabino — A Priest. 
 
 Festino — A Brazilian of wealth and rank. 
 GoNSALYO — One of his household. 
 Attendants, ^x. 
 Amina — Daughter of Festino. 
 
 The Seem of the, Drama is on the coast of Brazil. 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 Act I. — Scene I. 
 
 An apartment in the mansion of Festino ; a casement opens 
 upon faintly-illumined darkness. Festino returning from 
 the halcony. 
 
 Festino, {solus.) 
 
 The storm has ceased, — but still the dismal clouds 
 And darkness starless hover in the sky. 
 For a long time the surge will hoarsely fret, 
 And to the blackness of the hideous night 
 
 The waves will fling defiance, and will find 
 
 * 
 No hour as yet for rest. 
 
 [Enter Amina.) 
 
 Welcome ! Amina dear : 
 Despondency, my love, is weighing down 
 My soul most heavily. And yet I think 
 I would not wish the sadness gone. I'd hear 
 From you a mournful song. Ah, sadly well 
 Remember I the night your mother died ! 
 (May Heaven give rest to her angelic soul !) 
 The night was dense, like this, and loud the sea 
 27 
 
418 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Roared on the coast of rocks. She took the lute, 
 
 And in a feeling tone breathed feebly forth 
 
 A strain which touched my soul. You know its words ; 
 
 Pray sing, — ^^while sympathizing with its strain, 
 
 I hear a heightened roar of waves — 
 
 {In a subdued, contemplative tone.) 
 
 Those lions wandering o'er the desert sea, 
 In search of argosies as prey. 
 
 Amina, {singing.) 
 
 The brightly-golden hush of day 
 Has long becharmed our waking hours ; 
 
 And to the silence of the Past — 
 Unwet by Grief's tumultuous showers — 
 
 Weeks have flown by. They're gone ! they're gone ! 
 
 All bathed in light as from the sun. 
 
 (Their struggling stars and conquering moons 
 
 Beguiled thee forth, and in the night 
 Made visible thy form, young Love ! 
 
 And touched thy arrow-points with light, 
 From moonbeams ravished, — as refined, 
 As strangely maddening to the mind ; 
 
 Thou hast been in the pomps which glare 
 
 Round Pleasure' throne, where virgins dance ; 
 
 In music's soft, empyreal air, 
 Have souls, enkindled by thy glance, 
 
 Flashed out in that bewildering look. 
 
 Which youth hath not the power to brook.) 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 419 
 
 But now ! how many are the woes, 
 
 Which load the flight of every hour, — 
 And Heaven and Earth command repose 
 
 To flee from Love's flower-paved bower. 
 The Earthquake heaves ; at every shock, 
 Tumultuously the billows rock. 
 
 Blood floweth here, smoke darkens there, 
 
 And wrecks are wafted to the strand ; 
 While in the sky the sun's red glare 
 
 Betokens horrors yet more grand ; 
 Vengeance is marching through the earth ; 
 She treads ; and agonies have birth. 
 
 (Quenched is the bliss which lately caused 
 
 The heart of youth to softly quake ; 
 And darkness fills the sumptuous hall, 
 
 Save when the fires of battle break 
 In ghastly splendor o'er the rooms, 
 Emblazed with gold, yet wrapt in glooms ; — 
 
 Save when the mountain-summits shake 
 
 With the volcano's vaulting surge ; — 
 Save when upon the ocean break 
 
 The bolts from storms which madly urge 
 The war-ship on, — confused and tost. 
 Rock-shivered, groaning, sinking, lost ; — 
 
 Save when the lightning strikes the mast, 
 And fires the vessel " in its spleen," 
 
420 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 And flames are freshening in the blast 
 
 Which drives them towards the magazine, 
 That, while the doomed and hopeless yell, 
 Gluts the wild skies with types of hell.j 
 
 when again shall come the hour, 
 All choral with the hymns of peace — 
 
 Sweet with her blandly-healing power. 
 Which sheds, when tumults sinking cease, 
 
 A balm and witchery and light. 
 
 O'er the soul's wounds, its griefs and night. 
 
 Oh ! come, delicious moments ! come. 
 With all your pageantries and joys, — 
 
 The bounding of the dancing girls. 
 The music of the minstrel-boys, — 
 
 The blush, the vow, the blood-felt bliss 
 
 Of woman's love and bridal kiss. 
 
 {Enter Gonsalvo and others.) 
 
 GONSALVO to FeSTINO. 
 
 Signer, while we were wandering on the coast. 
 With lanterns searching for the effects of wrecks 
 Which might be tossed to land, we heard a groan ; 
 And drawing nigh beheld — a man ; the light 
 Disclosed him weltering in the surge :— yet life 
 Was not quite gone. With feeble voice, he spake 
 And prayed assistance. It was given. We chafed 
 His cold, white brow and bore him here. 
 And couched him near the fire ; its warmth, we trust. 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 421 
 
 Will yet persuade his doubtful soul to stay, — 
 Cheating the phantom Death of his marked prey. 
 
 Festino. 
 
 Found you him yet alive and did not search 
 Around for others whom the wasting surge, 
 Struck with a pang of pity, may have thrown 
 Gently and living to the sand ? (To Am.) Stay here, 
 My daughter, and in heart give fervent thanks 
 To favoring saints, (if favoring there be,) 
 "Who may have snatched this victim that hath fall'n 
 A suflf 'rer 'mid the strife and strength of seas. 
 
 To GONSALVO.) 
 
 Gonsalvo, fly for medical relief, — 
 
 Swift as the winds ; yea, shame their wing'd despatch. 
 
 Exit Gonsalvo. 
 
 (To the other attendants.) 
 
 Show us forthwith the saved, and let us try 
 All means which lie within our grasp. 
 
 Exeunt all save Amina. 
 Amina {sola.) 
 On such a night as this my mother died ; 
 Here stood her couch, — here, too, the kneeling priest 
 Plead against the hoarse voice of the grave, which call'd 
 Her frame to slumber in its breathless glooms. 
 Here the last unction sanctified her eyes, 
 Hallowed so oft before by tears and smiles 
 Affectionately sweet ; methinks the worms 
 
422 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Themselves would pause, like one who falters pale 
 While plundering a chapel of a cross 
 Of sainted gold. That dismal evening quenched 
 A smile which ne'er shall shine on me again ; 
 And, in the world around, no warm pulse throbs 
 In love's prized unison with mine. 
 
 * * * I cannot ask the tomb 
 To yield me back the treasure it hath stol'n 
 From out these arms ; she rests above, I trust, — 
 And who'd now wish " to unsphere " her sainted soul 1 
 Let peace be hers ! Of her sad going hence, 
 The anniversary again has come — 
 This night, with its black scowl ! I pray Maria, 
 Mother of God's Son, that this wild night 
 May bring one who may fill, and more than fill 
 The place of the departed blest ; alas ! 
 This is too fond — too rapturous a hope ; 
 It cannot be. Cease, cease, impatient heart : 
 Break, or be still. 
 
 Act I. — Scene XL 
 
 Interior of an anteroom to a chapel ; Sabino is discovered upon 
 a hammock, asleep. Enter Sebastian, who approaches and 
 gazes vpon the other. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 His eyes are closed in sleep. Would that I knew 
 
 How I could wake courageous thoughts 
 
 Within the sleeper's mind ; some means whereby 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 423 
 
 I might dispel the tameness there {pointing to Sab. ;) 
 
 That he might then co-operate with mo 
 
 In the bold mint where we might melt the ore 
 
 Of our desire to bright resolves, and coin 
 
 Resolves into achievements noble, stamp'd 
 
 With affluence and dignity and name. 
 
 This life doth weary me to death, — this hush, 
 
 The quiet of this dull and common breath ! 
 
 Our life is ore ; grandeur and fame within 
 
 Lie hid ; when all the state is fiercely rock'd, 
 
 With some volcanic outbreak to be charged, — 
 
 Then in the heat of tumult, change, and war. 
 
 We might burn out the splendor of a name 
 
 Which would pass current through the mighty crowd 
 
 And buy our entrance to firm scats of power. 
 
 What if our mind bo grosser still, a rock — 
 
 A stone — or earth; war (which in this hot realm 
 
 Of fickleness and guilt, a fool may raise 
 
 Without a wizard's craft) war is, 'tis clear, 
 
 An alchymist, omnipotent, and strange, 
 
 Who turns the dust to sceptres and to stars, 
 
 The wonder of an age, — and in the cup, 
 
 With royalty and triumph jewell'd fair, 
 
 The elixir gives of immortality 
 
 In fame that laughs at time ! 
 
 {To Sabino.) 
 
 I would I could 
 Awake thee, man, — from thy far deeper sleep ! 
 Would that I could upon thy mind, which seems 
 
424 ' THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 As cold and passionless as glass, engrave 
 With force the burning creed of glory, thrones 
 And POWER. Now in its depths, the dreams 
 Of empire are indeed but dimly glassed, 
 Without effect, " as on the impassive ice, 
 The lightnings play." 
 
 {Awakes him.) 
 
 Awake, Sabino, — rouse thee, man. Hast heard 
 The news to-D ight '? 
 
 Sabino {arousing himself.) 
 
 The news ? of what ? explain ! 
 
 Sebast. 
 It argues well for us. The storm is spent — 
 But it has washed two bodies to the shore. 
 
 Sabino. 
 Living, or lost 1 
 
 Sebast. 
 
 At first, it doubtful seemed, — 
 And I in haste was called to Festin's house 
 To give some ghostly consolations there 
 Unto the two, who seemed to have a leg 
 Lowering toward Purgatory's flame. But strength, 
 When all restoratives were tried, revived. 
 One stared at me, and seemed to say by look, 
 " You are an arrant rogue ; pray, get you gone !" 
 He said it not ; 'twas well ; I might have pressed 
 A smothering hand most lovingly and soothed 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 425 
 
 Him quietly to death upon the spot, then mourn'd 
 The strange capriciousness of life that flared 
 From out its damp and dimness but to sink 
 When all seemed promising and fair. 
 
 Sabino. 
 Your words are uttered but in jest, I hope ? 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Now, to the point ! In truth these men appear 
 
 Of noble stature in the soul. One hath an eje 
 
 From which as from a palace gazes forth 
 
 Determination, valor, mind, and zeal ; 
 
 His brow 's for th' solemn pressure fit of crowns 
 
 Fraught with the lustres of great deeds : 
 
 His is a face commanding in its mien ; 
 
 Of power, the magic signature is there. 
 
 To which the multitude must helpless give 
 
 Obedience of soul and hand. 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 'Tis well ; 
 But what is that to us ? Is he some king ? 
 Or some high liege whose subjects are, in truth. 
 Innumerable diamonds and pearls ? 
 If so, — by all attention in this hour, 
 (Loaded with wretchedness and grief to him,) 
 And by persuasion, we may gather in 
 A competency from his aflSuence. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 'Tis true, all true ; but more : his wealth, I ween, 
 Is of the mind. While he so helpless lay, 
 
426 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL 
 
 Unsealed letters from his person fallen, 
 
 I saw upon the floor : a curious glance 
 
 I naturally gave them ; by the fire 
 
 I saw their import ; tempted then, I read 
 
 The most of several. He, it seems, stands high 
 
 In men's esteem in England. Civil power, 
 
 E'en in their parliament, and influence strong 
 
 I saw that he'd possessed : And not a few, 
 
 I judged from those epistles, looked towards him 
 
 As to one, fit, in popular movements bold, 
 
 To shake the strength of institutions old. 
 
 And with the mighty charms of eloquence 
 
 To sway the multitude. One confessed 
 
 That if some great and perilous hour of change 
 
 Should come upon their land, his eye to him 
 
 "Would turn as unto one whom Hope might claim 
 
 As formed for wondrous deeds. And hence I deem 
 
 His aid worth much. His boldness, cunning, nerve. 
 
 May bring the means to charge th' uncertain State, 
 
 With all its jealous vigilance and strength ; 
 
 By some manoeuvre shrewd, — by nimble deeds 
 
 Darkened and cloaked from mortal eye, these hands 
 
 May strike ignition, and explosion grand 
 
 To the whole kingdom 'round. Then, instant, we 
 
 May, with one subtle touch, our pathway blast 
 
 Through the great mountains that do now oppose, 
 
 Clear to the bright-gemm'd centre of high rank ; 
 
 The glance of his keen eye, or th' fires that drop 
 
 From his stern lips may, in the moment true, 
 
 The train to this bright sovereignty ignite. 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 427 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 You dream ; for ever and for ever do you dream ! 
 
 Sebastian {aside.) 
 
 "Ah, he knows not that great conspiracy 
 Which only waits an unmasked head ! 
 
 (To Sab.) 
 
 Good friend, 
 Know'st not, that if we sleep, we should but dream ? 
 Methinks there should not be a sleep without ; 
 If visions sumptuous and daring flash 
 Throughout the lazy clouds of slumber dense, 
 Our sleep will soon be broken. 
 
 We've not slept 
 But we have long been dead j but now I hear 
 The voice of the Archangel Fame, who calls 
 With a mighty trump.* And if I read, or kneel, 
 Or walk, or chant, or sleep, — I hear around 
 The awakening echoings of his thunder-shout j 
 And if we spring at once from out the grave 
 And company of worms to manliest life, 
 The stars will fall from out the rocking sky 
 Of the Brazilian State, and we may rise 
 Upon the wings of lofty deeds, — to tread 
 As gods in glory whence their ranks have sunk. 
 I thirst for skies not feigned. 
 
 {Flings down a cross from his neck.) 
 
 Sabino. 
 Blasphemer ! cease ! 
 
 * See note B. 
 
428 the guests op brazil. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 You are convinced, it seems, that all our creed 
 Is not delusion then ? Well, be it so ! 
 We know that much, at least, is air ; and yet 
 It is an air which brings to those who inhale, 
 A dull intoxication and a sleep, — 
 So one can lead them, as he chooses best, 
 T' advance his cause. The solemn sorcery 
 Let no one break. {Aside.) If broken, we are lost ! 
 
 {To Sab.) 
 I must hold converse with the shipwrecked two, 
 And cunningly must guage their powers, their mind, 
 Searching their aims. Perchance it may be found 
 Their aid may bring a key to us whose shape 
 May fit the complex lock which sternly bolts 
 (As it' for ever closed) the gates august 
 To majesty and glory in the land. 
 
 End of Act I. 
 
 Act II. — Scene I. 
 
 A sumptuous bed'Toom in the mansion of Festino. Eustin 
 is discovered sitting in a large easy-chair, in the loose-dress 
 of an invalid. 
 
 Eustin. 
 
 Can it be possible the hand of Heaven 
 Presses me on my course 1 Methought the flush 
 And flow'r and summer of my soul was bleached 
 To bleak and desolate winter, sternly iced 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 429 
 
 With apathy for aye ; and that the leaves 
 
 Of genial sympathy, thrice dead, were fall'n, 
 
 Leaving the nakedness of self and scorn ; 
 
 But now a voice, soft as the cuckoo's note 
 
 Which wakes the flowers, has floated o'er my soul ; 
 
 The ice of my indifference dissolves, 
 
 And the new Spring, may, brightening, smother yet 
 
 The sterile principles of selfishness, 
 
 Misanthropy and pride, with Love's most sweet 
 
 Luxuriance and fruits. 0, come, — renew. 
 
 Soft hours of purity and bliss ! your hopes, 
 
 Your paradise, and smile ! — Come, yet again. 
 
 From exile in eternity the past, 
 
 Back, dove-like flying 'gainst the stream of time, 
 
 In innocency white, — diffusing 'round 
 
 The music of content and peace. Alas ! 
 
 Would I could stifle thought ! — that I might now 
 
 All uncreate this skepticism, and the ache 
 
 Of fretfulness it shoots throughout this brain ! 
 
 This Corinnasus, by a mocking chance, 
 
 Seems now and then like one whose very name 
 
 Should burn my lip ; he seems a bodied curse, 
 
 A memory incarnate, doomed to haunt,— 
 
 To stifle peace and prompt a deed of blood.* 
 
 {Enter Amina.) 
 Amina. 
 I would entreat your pardon, honored Sir, 
 For this intrusion ; yet I trust th' excuse 
 (An interest in your welfare) will suffice ? 
 
 • Note C. 
 
430 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Araina ! If I freely thus may now 
 
 Your name pronounce, — believe me, when I say 
 
 Your ministry has touched my very heart. 
 
 You fully cannot feel how eloquent 
 
 The consolation of that voice and watching 
 
 Which you bestowed, as torpidly I lay 
 
 Awaking from my trance. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Good Sir, your tones 
 Repay the kindness I have given. A sleep 
 Has now composed the stranger who, with you, 
 Was rescued from the waves. Pray, may I hope 
 That all which we have done may not have failed 
 To make your comfort and relief complete ? 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Your father and yourself have giv'n strong proofs 
 
 Of your nobility and worth. For years 
 
 Long past, I never thus have known a gift 
 
 Of kindness which I thought sincere. But now 
 
 I could not doubt the goodness which hath watch'd 
 
 Above my feeble couch. Your kindness wooed 
 
 Departed health back to this sinking frame j 
 
 More equably its pulse beats now, than ere 
 
 It beat for years before. It were neglect 
 
 If I did not with warmth give thanks. 
 
 {Kneels and kisses her hand.) 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 431 
 
 Amina {^slightly withdrawing.^ 
 Good Sir, 
 May I request the history of your wreck, 
 And of the purposes with which you left 
 Your home for this far clime 1 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Maiden, I fear 
 That I should forfeit your esteem, if now 
 I should reveal my life, with its strange thoughts 
 (It was not rife with deeds.') Yet if confide 
 I may, I'll briefly speak : 
 
 Soft as the eye 
 Of a young seraph when in prayer, arose 
 The morning of my life. My youth was spent 
 In gentleness and joy. Then manhood came. 
 The bounty of a father (now no more) 
 Had stored my mind with learning, and with zeal 
 Still further on to press in wisdom's chase. 
 In poetry, a paradise I found 
 In which to riot as a bird among 
 The fairy bowers of Spring. I eager sought 
 To reach a station in the State, — to find 
 Employment for the powers which Taste 
 And Science had refined. I sought to strive 
 In the foray of thought ; — into the lists 
 Of eloquence to vault, and try my lance 
 Amid her dazzling chivalry. 
 At home, a bride, most tenderly beloved, 
 Fed, lived upon my name, as 'twere in truth 
 
432 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Ambrosial fruit. Life flowed like wine 
 
 Press'd from the vintage of the skies ; as drops, — 
 
 Its moments with the perfect image beamed 
 
 Of pure content and love. Existence seemed 
 
 A shell, the ocean of celestial life 
 
 Had given, to mimic here the tumult soft 
 
 Of sympathies and pleasures pure above. 
 
 Amina. 
 And was that being lost in your late wreck 1 
 
 EusTiN {gloomily.) 
 
 Her soul was wrecked, — but years have passed since then. 
 
 A comrade (older than myself,) whose mind 
 
 Delighted in the subtleties of thought, 
 
 In questions fine of right and law, and all 
 
 The entangled webs of sophistry, and maze 
 
 Of inquiry and doubt, — entered my home. 
 
 He had cut loose from all restraint, and deemed 
 
 There were no lines betwixt the right and wrong. 
 
 And while he did propound his curious views 
 
 Of life and death, — of spirit, mind and sense, — 
 
 I gave attention close. The faith till then 
 
 I knew in peace and hope, dissolved away. 
 
 Perplexity and anxious doubt and strife 
 
 Fill'd all my mind — I found no rest, scarce sleep. 
 
 Bad spirits seemed to whisper in my dreams 
 
 And prompted dreadful thoughts ; peace died -, I felt 
 
 But faintly in my breast the love I bore 
 
 Once fondly to my bride ; my altered look 
 
 Chill'd through her heart — 
 
 {PaiLses.') 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 433 
 
 Amina (hesitating.) 
 
 And did she not 
 Most anxiously search out the cause, and give 
 The comfort of devotion trebled, — yea, 
 And more, that she might win back your mind 
 To its first purity and joys ? 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Alas! 
 She did not ; — else I were not here ; — her life 
 Had not been added to grief's chronicles, — 
 Nor from " the page " of Hope her " name torn out ;" 
 
 [With an air of self-communion.) 
 Perhaps no voice had followed me, and cried 
 " There is no rest for thee !" Perchance the light — 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Your words are scorpions to my soul. Proceed, 
 I thirst, yet dread, to hear the rest. 
 
 BusTiN {with a heart-broken look.) 
 The rest ? 
 'Tis briefly told. When I was absent, one 
 Whose name I never can exorcise won 
 Her trust, if not affection ; — and that trust 
 Abused, and fled. Her shame — my anger — wrung 
 Her mind to madness, and she died. I felt 
 The last spark of kind feeling quickly sink 
 To ashes in my heart, when I resigned 
 Her form to dust. He who drew forth and wove 
 My infinite of woe, has not been seen 
 28 
 
434 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 For years. His face I ne'er again shall see. 
 Ask not his name — 'tis fraught with treachery. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Would that I could one pang dissolve of those 
 Whose bitterness hath curdled up your peace — 
 
 EusTiN {with gloomy energy.) 
 
 And shrunk my recollections of the past 
 To one grim brand of injury and pain. 
 
 Amina. 
 Would that a gift of mine by word or hand 
 Could with oblivion anoint the keen idea 
 Of wretchedness you feel. 
 
 BUSTIN. 
 
 Your earnest words are words miraculous, 
 That re-awaking faith, are strong to heal 
 The pain that palsied me. I kneel and say 
 That if I may not love, I do adore. 
 
 Amina. 
 kneel not unto me. There's one above, — 
 The blest Maria — who doth live to heal. 
 Kneel thou to her, and she will hear and bless. 
 
 EuSTiN {rising.) 
 
 Believe it not ; it is a tale, — her soul 
 Knows not its own existence (if it lives ;) 
 Yea, knows no presence even in that air 
 Sweet with the incense of her mysteries. 
 
the guests of brazil. 435 
 
 Amina. 
 
 You shock my ears ! You do not truly mean 
 What you have said ! And do I pray in vain ? 
 
 ( With an anxious smile half certain of triumph.) 
 Oh no ! I'm sure I'm heard : — for your return, 
 I asked, from the dim land where shadows dwell, — 
 And you're returned ! 
 
 The stranger with you saved 
 (For whom I grieve to say no prayer was made) 
 Sat long upon the trembling verge where light 
 Is faint, and life and death eternally 
 In feebleness conflict ; — 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Then be it so ; 
 Believe that I believe. 
 
 Amina. 
 Your language is 
 A mystery to me. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 The stranger whom 
 The storm, with me, gave living to the land, 
 Is " Corinnseus," who appears to guard 
 Some dark and terrible secret in his mind ; 
 But as for you, — your earnest heart 
 Hath been an angel stirring in those waves 
 Wherein, I feel, my soul descending finds 
 Deliverance from its deformity. 
 Its palsy, and its dust. 
 
436 the guests of brazil. 
 
 Amina. 
 Then T am blest. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 " Blest " did you say ? {earnestly) I do believe, — I yield 
 Most solemn faith to the sweet creed of — Love ! 
 
 ( Takes her hand.) 
 
 Amina. 
 
 My father wishes to see you at this hour, 
 And with the bearers has returned at length. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 I go with you to meet him. 
 
 {Exeunt.) 
 
 Act II. — Scene II.^ 
 {Another Room. Enter CoRiNNiEUS.) 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 Never, oh never can I break my vow, 
 Again tread in his path, and plant a thorn 
 In his breast already tortured by my guilt 
 Too late lamented. I do feel, — / know, — 
 I'm sure, he cannot the enchantment brook 
 Which lightens from her eyes. And shall I now, 
 When I have followed him with anxiousness. 
 Longing to pay, though faintly it may be, 
 The debt of satisfaction which I owe, — 
 JVow shall I add a venom to the curse ? 
 No, Eustin, no. I'll strive to still at once 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 437 
 
 The throbs of this new rivalry ; — Esteem 
 For her will cherish — but beyond it naught. 
 
 {Enter Amina.) 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Good Sir, may I inquire your health ? Has all 
 Which can be done, been done 1 
 
 CoRlNN-aJUS {wUh admiration.) 
 I could not point 
 Another kindness which your care could give ; 
 We owe a thousand thanks to you, — to all. 
 Amina ! (if I thus familiarly 
 May sweet the grateful air inspire,) I'd bid 
 Thy gentle ears an audience give. A tale 
 For thee alone I have ; 'tis eloquent. 
 And passionate, and true. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Oh speak ; I joy 
 To hear the tales of true romance, — of times, 
 That, with the glittering touch of hoary age 
 And chivalry and love, beam from afar. 
 But, may be, 'tis a tale of thine own life 1 — 
 
 CoRiNN^us {starting.) 
 Of mine own life ! Oh ! horror ! ask it not ! 
 Ask me to tell you of the hideous caves 
 That moonlight dare not lighten with her beams ; 
 Where, for their bloody spoils, fierce plunderers fight, — 
 And the gaunt wolf, that stalks at midnight forth, 
 Shrinks back in terror from the fiery clash. 
 
438 the guests op brazil. 
 
 Amina. 
 What may you mean ? Think'st thou I burn to list 
 The deeds of horror that the darkness court ? 
 
 CoRiNN^us {aside.) 
 I must not yield ! And yet how sweet her voicBj 
 With breath of opening buds bedewed ! But why 
 Should I to Eustin sacrifice my claim ? 
 Doth he not gravely meet my smiles, 
 His goodness mantling in a mien severe? 
 
 {To Amina. 
 
 The tale I'd tell is now enacting here, 
 
 {Placing his hand on his breast.) 
 With changeful conflict of glad hopes, sad fears, 
 And longings ardent — pure ; but with his soft 
 And delicate control. Love conquers all. 
 
 (Amina shrinks coyly.) 
 
 {Aside.) 
 
 Die, glorious hopes ! I must not love ! I'll rise 
 In magnanimity oi self-control ; 
 And that pure consciousness shall rain a flood 
 Of richer happiness than love. 
 
 {To Amina.). 
 
 Shrink not 
 At that delightful word, the sweetest far 
 That ever blest the listening ear ; for " Love," 
 Now on my lip, is but a synonyme 
 For friendship. Wilt thou listen now ? 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 439 
 
 {Convent bell tolls.) 
 
 But hark ! 
 What summons this 1 
 
 Amina, 
 
 It is vespers, Sir ; 
 A kind adieu ! 
 
 {Exit Amina.) 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 Amina ! I've deceived thee ; stay ! His love 
 
 Entreats most passionately. {Listening.) She has gone ! 
 
 What said I ? weakness ! that my heart should fail ! 
 
 Yet how resistless are her eyes ! her face 
 
 Engaging as the halls of Love when airs 
 
 (His voice is music) do forbid the touch 
 
 Of mortal minstrelsy to vie. 
 
 {Pauses and meditates.) 
 How hard, 
 When the young manhood rules the elastic pulse, 
 To bar the soul 'gainst Love's sweet, melting beams ! 
 When business, or care, or sorrow reigns, 
 How dark and prison-like and sick the mind. 
 Unless that soothing angel touch with light 
 The uncongenial thought. 'Tis bitterness 
 To picture bright within our mind's clear glass 
 The glory and divinity of Love ; 
 To know his seraph beauty, and his depth 
 And power and eloquence of bliss, and yet 
 To feel the stern decree of fate or chance 
 
440 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Shut from our famished souls these fruits of heaven ! 
 
 From pleasures else, yes, all, men's hearts have turned, 
 
 Unsatisfied and palled. The victor's wreath. 
 
 The rich man's banquet ; yea, the eternal hymn 
 
 Which hails the poet's triumph, all have failed. 
 
 But Love, in purest and in gifted souls refined. 
 
 Has won the welcome of perennial smiles ; 
 
 His gold, a dazzling purity confessed ; 
 
 Chief coiner in the mints of happiness ! 
 
 The veins run nectar where " his breath hath blown " 
 
 And sun-loved curls have waved ; and where he glides, 
 
 The grosser passions and the woes of life 
 
 Do swoon as mortals when a god appears. 
 
 Amid the heaven and brightness of his presence 
 
 Lost, eclipsed, consumed. 
 
 Ah ! well, I ween, 
 
 Elysian frankincense, they say, perfumes 
 
 The tear-dewed silence of his twilight fane. 
 
 Oh ! by my soul, how hard, how trying hard ! 
 
 To shut my heart against her voice ! But yet, 
 
 I must not yield ; I'll never crown the bowl. 
 
 So fraught with madness, which I pressed long since 
 
 Upon a brother's lips. No, Eustin, no ! 
 
 I will replace, if possible, the peace, 
 
 Which, brooding as a seraph in your breast. 
 
 Was startled thence by my curs'd voice and deeds. 
 
 {Exit.) 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 441 
 
 Act II.— Scene III. 
 {Apartment in the house of Festino. Enter Sebastian and 
 
 EUSTIN.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 Now that through our assistance you have leapt 
 To the firm soil of health, I pray that you 
 Will give a brief description of the storm 
 Which smote your vessel to a wreck. The waves 
 Never before, methinks, did strive so hard, 
 Upon the shore, to mock the thunders. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 With winds that did most tenderly coquette 
 
 With our full sails and flag, we left the port. 
 
 Briskly, ere long, the waves danced forth, — the shrouds 
 
 Began to shrilly sing their wild notes out 
 
 To every blast. And swiftly we flew toward 
 
 The Mediterranean Sea as bound. 
 
 Just as Gibraltar loomed in sight, the wind 
 
 As though it had been checked — as if its rush 
 
 Had bent on towards a point forbidden, ceased ; 
 
 And whirled to the Northeast. At night it blew, 
 
 And we were driven. And helpless seemed all hands ; 
 
 All courage weak. For near one week it flew. 
 
 Blasting and glooming wildly by, — as though 
 
 Commissioned to drive forth the usurping sea 
 
 Which like a type of tyranny did brood 
 
 Nearly o'er all the globe. I would have dreamed 
 
 The symbol marked, and such the errand grand 
 
442 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 Of the indignant storm, if, eagle-led, 
 
 It had rushed down from that northwestern clime, 
 
 Where sleepless Freedom her Columbia guards. 
 
 Frequent the wind did shift, but further still 
 
 It blew us from our coast. Towards your fair clime 
 
 Our helmsman bent the prow ; for here, it seems 
 
 Did business invite, — tho' not till their return 
 
 They'd purposed to drop anchor by your shores. 
 
 After respite, a dark and furious gale 
 
 One evening rushed again from the East and roused 
 
 The ocean's slumbering wrath. The storm-clouds raged 
 
 As messengers of doom. Our hopes again 
 
 Grew faint and sick ; and many wept, and wailed 
 
 Aloud their fears, and prayed. A shock ! — and 'round 
 
 Tumultuously dashed the shiver'd timbers. 
 
 And the waves triumphant rolled. But firmly clasped 
 
 To a floating beam, I heard no shout, — save once, 
 
 The cry of a departing soul ! The sea 
 
 Still whitely boiled. Benumbed and weak, I felt 
 
 At last the sand, but had no strength to rise — 
 
 You know the rest. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 To some kind saint, of course, 
 Yoti do ascribe your rescue from the deep. 
 I do remember now, upon that day 
 I did beseech St. Catherine to save, — 
 If any should be wrecked ; — 'tis fit that you 
 Some ample ofiering to her shrine should make 
 For this salvation manifest from her. 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 443 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Good father ! il am poor, save in good will, 
 A treasure newly found. You feel, of course, 
 A zeal and firm belief in what you say ; 
 But I still think my heartiest thanks are due 
 To that strong fragment of the wreck whereon 
 I floated to the shore. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 My ears are shocked, 
 My son, to hear such levity from you, — 
 While yet the saint is smiling o'er the soul 
 Of which she cheated the remorseless surge. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Father, I would I had thy zeal and faith. {Musing.) 
 
 Sebastian, (aside.) 
 
 I wish you had as much, full seventy times ; 
 
 I'd mould you like a lump of pliant wax 
 
 To our great purposes and ends. (ToEus.) My son, 
 
 I fear you this impiety may rue, 
 
 And that, to punish your ingratitude, 
 
 The saint above may yet withdraw her smile, 
 
 Through which alone you now feel vigorous health. 
 
 Pray, whither did you tend, when storms * 
 
 Emptied their horrid glooms upon your way, 
 
 And balked the purposes you held ? I'm sure 
 
 Some power above the forces of the air 
 
 Has driven you hither for good. 
 
444 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 In the far East, • 
 
 I had resolved to court the lips of her 
 Whose kiss so coveted and hard to win, 
 Gives immortality — the Virgin, Fame ! 
 I hoped, ere many years had fled, to 've won 
 An influence o'er a myriad swords, whose blades 
 Impatiently would fret to flash for me. 
 And scorch all rivalry to dust. I dreamed 
 That with delusions, promises and cheats, 
 I might bind fast those scimitars together 
 As with strong withes or chains, and thus ascend 
 As by a glittering ladder to the high 
 Authority of kings. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 And now, yet more 
 Am I convinced that viewless hands above 
 Have guided you, and have destroyed the ends 
 For which you sailed, — unholy ends, which saints- 
 Gaze on with horror and dismay. 
 
 EuSTIN. 
 
 I heard 
 The shout which hailed my victory in war ; 
 Methought I sat superbly couched, and throned 
 In Oriental pageantry and ease. 
 The play of fountains and the voice of girls 
 Whose presence in my courts had dimmed the day 
 And robbed the fragrance of a Georgian sky, — 
 The luxury fine of melodies and songs, — 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 445 
 
 Seemed floating 'round — intoxication sweet — 
 Elysium found — 
 
 Sebastian. 
 ^' Elysium found ?" — Son, you are mad ! Such dreams 
 Are sent from devils. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 « Found," did I say ? Alas ! 
 No sensual luxury can charm to sleep 
 The phantoms of the soul which ominous 
 Flutter amid the haunted gloom within, 
 Which not the sun can light. An awful dread, — 
 A restlessness, and agonizing thoughts 
 Would ne'er have suffered rest, — till quenched. 
 
 No charm 
 Of splendor, power, or loveliness, or wine 
 Could drown these woes. They're spirits fierce, — 
 Which no shaft pointed by a mortal hand 
 Can strike and slay ; — but Thought divine, I know 
 To be the only Michael who has nerve 
 To ingulf their strong malignity. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 You speak 
 As though not yet of mind bereft. Just now 
 I deemed your senses lost. 
 
 Eustin — {vnth an abstracted air, and with energy.) 
 God ! I would 
 I ne'er had known a friend to curse my life 
 With his most damning confidence and thoughts ; 
 
446 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 Or else I wish to me were given the strength 
 To wring an answer from the mystic lips 
 Of Nature and existence. 
 
 {To Sebastian.) 
 
 I have pried 
 Into their secrets, yet in vain. I'm awed — 
 Bewilder'd by the scrutiny I've given 
 To workings and to mysteries that are like 
 The eye of a Spanish girl, — as night, deep — dark, 
 Yet ravishingly bright.* Alas ! 
 No satisfaction have they lent. Unrest 
 Will ever, more or less, be mine. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Your mind 
 Is horribly bedimmed with doubtful clouds, 
 Blown from the mouths of fiends. I see in all 
 The circumstances of your wreck, a hand 
 Which strives to guide you from delusions dark. 
 Yet you must look for woes ; the foes will breathe 
 Shrewd falsehoods in your ear, and bid your friends 
 Destroy the seeds of healing which may drop 
 From goodness to your soul. Beware, beware ! 
 Of CoRiNNiEUS ! He has paid, my son, 
 Our kindness with harsh looks. He hides 
 A treacherous heart ; and jealously he looks 
 Upon you whensoe'er you meet. 
 
 {Going.) 
 
 * Note A. 
 
THE GUESTS OP BEAZIL. 447 
 
 My son, 
 I wish you may awake upon the morn 
 With mind more heavenly bent than now. 
 
 Adieu ! 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Adieu, good father. 
 
 {Exit Sebastian.) 
 He appears to me 
 Host earnest in his faith. How blest his lot ! 
 Afar is he above all woes ; content 
 Reigns sweetly in his holy soul ; and all 
 His meditations tend above, — are dyed, 
 As are the great cathedral's aisles, in light 
 Of a tempered mildness, soft as eve. The pomps 
 Of a warlike world, (which heaves so oft 
 With Freedom struggling, Titan-like, to rise. 
 And heave from off her giant limbs 
 The mountain- weight of empires and of creeds,) 
 All dignity and wealth, and even the bliss 
 Of wedlock — (thought divine !) — he doth despise. 
 Ah, happy man ! — And yet how vastly wide 
 The number of that crowd who render up 
 Their gold, and hopes, and liberty, and life 
 To men like him ! — In ignorance most dim, — 
 Debased, without one lofty throb or wish 
 Becoming gods on earth, save when their souls, 
 By despotism most severely ground, emit 
 A spark of brief resistance (which in hope 
 That it may strike some mine and prompt 
 
448 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 The earthquake destined to unbolt her tomb, — 
 
 The giant sepulchred below, proclaims 
 
 Her own) — save casually this, they live 
 
 In ignorance of those pure joys which spring 
 
 Where science, genius and free truth dispense 
 
 Their beams. A thousand virgins like apart 
 
 From the wide world where they should bloom 
 
 Anointing life's dull dust with scented dews. 
 
 In gloomy nunneries and cells, they brood 
 
 O'er their imagined guilt, and dig, with tears, 
 
 The graves of life's most rich and sinless dreams. 
 
 Emotions young, and the soft-playing throbs 
 
 Of love's delightful pulse, are all condemned. 
 
 The other sex in selfishness expend 
 
 (As once this heart desired to spend) the oil 
 
 From heaven's own olive-trees, which fills 
 
 This curious lamp of being which we bear. 
 
 And doth maintain the flame which should be spent 
 
 In lighting brethren through a world where crawl 
 
 Scorpions and asps. As for the priest — 
 
 He is a strange exception to the ranks 
 
 Of his deceitful tribe. I warmly wish 
 
 He could be moved to act with me, and break 
 
 The grand delusion of his pompous church. 
 
 In this new land, where History is young, 
 
 Where evil is not ground into the soul — 
 
 A portion of its life, — where literature 
 
 Is not yet poisoned in her every line 
 
 With witching lies and countless tales of war, 
 
 Contagious to the mind j but unemblazed 
 
THE GUESTS OF BEAZIL. 449 
 
 With glory's proud, seducing shows ; and dreams 
 
 Which blush with blood and flame, here, where the soil 
 
 Is " married to immortal " blooms, and trees 
 
 For ever stagger with their luscious gold. 
 
 On which in vain from his high, dazzling throne 
 
 Winter in envy looks ; where groves, superb 
 
 And beauteous, emparadise the land, 
 
 And yield abundance for the homes of man ; — 
 
 Here, it doth seem, if man were once set free, 
 
 And every wind of influence from without 
 
 Were held at quarantine, and purged of taint, 
 
 We might refute the blasphemy of those 
 
 Who say that general virtue, peace and joy 
 
 Can never dwell on earth. 
 
 And war itself 
 Must be regarded as the dragon-fiend 
 Whose tail draws down a third of all the lights 
 Which smiled, or which should smile, upon our gloom ; 
 Here poetry should never gild or chant 
 The murders of the great ; the Muses here 
 Should cherish on their breasts young Love 
 And his ambrosial train. 
 
 The rocks. 
 Beneath his footsteps, should spring off and block 
 For ever up that avenue to fame 
 And empire, which is strown so thick with waste 
 And fragments of exploded states. 
 29 
 
450 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 In my republic pure, 
 Where an unslumbering summer smiles, and grounds 
 On every side are paved with fruits ; where all 
 With labor light, a competence can win — 
 Nor poverty nor wealth should be, — for all 
 The interests of men should there be blent 
 Into one treasury, a common store 
 Of luxuries and gains. To this great work 
 Of breaking up the ground political, 
 I must devote a study most intense. 
 Meanwhile I'll try the pillars which uphold 
 The present constitution in its place. 
 This Corinnseus, who doth seem in truth 
 A giant in his mind, may knit his ends 
 And energies with mine. 
 
 {Goes to a goblet on the table.) 
 
 Amina ! here's to thee. 
 Whose breath woke from their tomb and frost 
 Within my breast emotions dormant long. 
 
 {Drinks.) 
 
 Did not the priest speak of some jealousy. 
 And say that Coeinn^us was a devil masked ? 
 Were he to cross me now, 'twould break my heart, — 
 Or, kindling fresh the memory of the past. 
 Make me to see in him the accurs'd, and bid 
 Wild furies riot in my veins again. 
 
 {Curtain falls.) 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 451 
 
 Act hi. — Scene I. 
 [The Chapsl. Sebastian and Sabino.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 If doubt before I had, no doubt remains, 
 That the bold stranger, from the jealous jaws 
 Of ocean snatch'd, is one whom Fate for deeds 
 Hath formed. Beneath the cradle where he rocked 
 In infant sleep, some despot's grave was hid ; 
 And the first light which kissed his opening eye, 
 Glanced from a sword which in times past had cut 
 Its death-wing'd pathway to the heights of power. 
 
 Sabino. 
 I fear you rhapsodize again — your hope 
 Becomes the wizard medium which doth dwarf 
 Mountains to molehills, and exalts mere men 
 To gods ; — and then with magical effect 
 Makes the gray twilight of the possible seem 
 
 The risen day of certaint}- and fact. 
 
 § 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Your words are fanciful : but there doth run, 
 Throughout your every speech, a vein of fear 
 And doubt, which moral analysts can scarce 
 Distinguish from the baseness of the dull. 
 Worthless reverse of energy and mind. 
 A confidence as reckless as the stream 
 Which plunges headlong down a chasm dark, 
 
452 THE GUESTS OF BBAZIL. 
 
 la the twin-brother to success. The stream — 
 Though all may prophesy 'tis lost, though pent 
 And struggling, it at last bursts forth, with shocks 
 And speed unbroken — reappearing. 
 
 Sabino. 
 Again you prophesy too bright an end. 
 Hast seen of late the stranger, who, you think, 
 The talisman to great authority 
 Holds fast within his grasp '? 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 You touch the point : 
 I find by converse with him in his room, 
 That he most boldly doubts the faith 
 Which we with such sincerity profess — 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 Ironically say that you with such 
 Sincerity profess. I'm not unmoored 
 As yet, from all restraints and fears. 
 
 Sebastian {with a disdainful smile.') 
 The stranger (Eustin is his name) I found 
 In such sad plight of mind (as it doth touch 
 The heavenly intervention of the saints) 
 That he most blasphemously dares t' assert 
 The fragment of the wreck deserves the praise 
 Which sweet St. Catherine claims. The truth 
 Is this. Upon his couch, half drown'd and wild 
 In speech and senses, Corinnseus said 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 453 
 
 That he had sav'd this Bustin from the waves ; 
 This we know false. And in this knowledge sure, 
 It flashed across my mind, while there with him, 
 That we by some fine stratagem may maze 
 This skeptic stranger in a labyrinth whence 
 His entered soul no exit e'er shall find. 
 If in delusion and in strong belief 
 His mind be once entangled fast, our hopes 
 May certainly break out in facts. 
 
 Explode 
 The popular faith, and all is lost ; or if 
 Not lost, as well not found ; for change, and falls, 
 And stabs, and crumbling crowns, will fill 
 The air with smoke and tumult, and the land 
 With bones, and hell (if such there be) with mirth. 
 
 SABmo. 
 'Tis true. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Else would I hide amid the crowd 
 Of theories and speculations new, 
 A dragon's egg, which, hatched beneath their warmth 
 In time, would, with the throes of its new wings, 
 Quick batter down the walls of Zion here 
 Into a hopeless wreck. But now I feel 
 That Faith alone can give the glorious chance 
 On which in triumph we may ride aloft 
 Into the seats which we desire ; — and she 
 Alone can palsy rank rebellion's zeal. 
 
454 THE GUESTS OP BEAZIL. 
 
 'Tis clear, then, if we would command the might 
 Within this Eustin's hand, to advance our cause, 
 Doubt must forsake his daring mind. 
 
 Sabino. 
 Of doubt 
 Completely shorn, — you'd find the impotence 
 Of a religious fear, — as weak as doubt 
 Before was strong. 'Tis Nature's certain law — 
 A strange result. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 I think you err ; — but even if right, — 'tis clear, 
 
 A mind like his would soon again perceive 
 
 How much of hoUowuess was in our creed. 
 
 The locks again would grow ; but ere 
 
 The grandeur of a scornful, tameless zeal 
 
 Could mock the influence that would sway 
 
 His ways for our own ends, — then in the point — 
 
 The very nick of time — we might lead forth 
 
 His blinded strength to those great columns press'd 
 
 By all the weight of state. 
 
 Sabino. 
 And would'st thou wish 
 That he might perish in the wreck which brings 
 Promotion unto you ? 
 
 Sebastian {with a lurking smile.) 
 
 He might be dragg'd 
 Alive from out the chaos : For, one crash 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 455 
 
 He hath survived. St. Catherine, methinks, 
 Piqued by his horrible neglect before, 
 Would not snatch forth the morsel from tlie teeth 
 Of the spectre. Death, again. One who hath doubts 
 Of the heavenly influences of the saints. 
 Deserves to die. 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 I do not feel convinced 
 That you are wise to jest — 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 I've read in books 
 That when a man's asleep, a whisperer. 
 Near by his ear, may stir and lead his thoughts, — 
 May prompt his dreams, and shape them into forms, 
 Hideous or lovely, as his choice directs ; 
 May charm the soul with love, or scorch with hate, 
 Or write persuasion of the vision as sent 
 From heaven upon its sleep. 
 
 I have a strange 
 Compound of herbs wherewith this sleep, with sense 
 Of faintnes, may be quick induced. And then 
 When he shall sink away, he may be brought 
 Here in a couch, according to a plea 
 Put forth by us, in kindness feigned. And lest 
 Festino should suspect some plan in us, I dropt 
 In Eustin's room a rose, of which I think 
 He can but smell ; a compound fine, in dust, 
 Was sprinkled in its leaves. This will induce 
 
456 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 A languor for awhile. To-night, by aid 
 
 Of our own dear Amina, we can tinge 
 
 His cup with opiates sweet. Thus his relapse 
 
 May not seem strangely sudden to the eye 
 
 Of her old father, who suspects these hands 
 
 Not saintly as they should be quite. With flowers, 
 
 Just as the potion works, I can drop in 
 
 By accident, you know, — and with kind words. 
 
 And " ohs !" and " ahs !" and pitying looks, I'll bid 
 
 The men bring forth the invalid here 
 
 To this our chapel room. 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 I ask you how 
 The good Amina will unite in this ? 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 I will persuade her, when she visits us 
 
 At the confessional to-day, that doubts 
 
 Most impious harass his mind who first 
 
 Was found upon the beach. I'll then assure 
 
 The trusting girl that heaven requires her aid 
 
 In fastening conviction on his soul, 
 
 Before of sufferance the hour is past. 
 
 I'll say the potion is a sacred dust, 
 
 Which, mingling with his wine, will nicely work 
 
 A dreaminess fit to list the toners and words 
 
 Of some kind saints whom I will pray to breathe 
 
 Faith, peace and confidence into his ear. 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 457 
 
 Sabino {hesitating.) 
 I go to gather flowers against the time. 
 
 {Exit Sabino.) 
 Sebastian {after a moments soberness as of deep reflection.) 
 'Tis well throughout th' economy of the State 
 So many evils and oppressions bold 
 The minds of men harass, and stir their fire. 
 The muttering genius of revolt, now low 
 Bowing its head in servile fear, anon 
 Breathes loud the threat of vengeance, and at heart 
 Muses on great reforms, and burns to hear 
 War's dreadful tocsin, as at Florence sound, 
 Calling the sons of valor unto arms. 
 Liberty, thou spirit great and fair, 
 Impersonation beautiful, august, 
 Of patriotism's noblest, holiest dreams 
 And aspirations warm in generous love ; 
 Well may we pause whene'er thy image bright 
 Confronts our sordid and ambitious souls ! 
 Yea, even as the lover when his mind 
 Dwells but one moment on the sweet idea 
 Of love unblemished by an earthly stain 
 And captive in no bonds but those which truth 
 And polished thought and gentleness can weave j 
 Yea, even as the lover, at Love's shrine 
 Doth vow all other bonds to rend 
 And sacrifice each base tho' glittering dream 
 Which lightened fascination o'er his heart ; 
 So do we, Freedom, at the vision fair 
 
458 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 Of thy pure, noble lineaments and power, 
 Abhor each sordid thought and scheme, and thrill 
 With those deep promptings of our finer souls 
 Repressed so long by earth-born, selfish thoughts 
 That rule our spirits with such mighty sway 
 And change them as by Circe's relished charms, 
 The liquid pleasures of her chaliced spells. 
 But yet, alas ! 'tis vain ; 'tis vain ' 
 Too fond, too beautiful and bright are all 
 Those high imaginations, 'mid whose light 
 (Caught from an Eden or Utopia blest,) 
 Thy image smiles unto the patriot's mind. 
 Unless the bases, (knowledge, virtue,) rest 
 As deep and broad security, 'twere vain 
 To frame the lofty hope of thy fixed sway, 
 And rear of thy palladium the walls. 
 
 {A knocking is heard.) 
 
 Who now desires admittance ? Are ye friends ? 
 
 Voices {without.) 
 Aye, " friends," good father ; we would see thee ; baste,- 
 Admit us ; we have word, of import good, — 
 Choice news which thou wilt welcome. 
 
 {Enter three Conspirators.) 
 
 If like the bee ye are laden with choice good, 
 Enter my hive with welcome. What news now 
 Is giving gladness to your hearts ? How fares 
 The scheme we have devised ? 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 459 
 
 1st Conspirator. 
 
 All's well ; afar 
 The leaven secretly hath worked. 
 
 2d CONSPIRATOlf. 
 
 We hear 
 That thousands far within the heart of the land 
 Are wakened by the secret summons sent 
 In the winged rumor of our plans. 
 
 No doubt 
 Among those stirred by these reports, there live 
 Men who are worthy to command and fill 
 A rebel leader's perilous place 
 
 Sebastian. 
 No doubt : 
 The hour will call them forth. My eye, good friends, 
 I will confess, is fixed on one whose powers 
 (From good authority, I learn,) are nobly fit 
 For popular influence and exalted place. 
 He is a stranger here, " Eustin," by name ; 
 A wanderer from the very land of power 
 And civic wisdom. 
 
 3d Conspirator. 
 
 Will he serve our cause 1 
 And can a stranger, heretic in faith, 
 Bring the full offering of zeal and love 
 To schemes of freedom in Brazil, a state 
 
460 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL 
 
 Most cordial in devotion, as all know. 
 To Rome's superb and venerable creed ? 
 
 Sebastian. 
 Our faith has much to win the mind ; and he 
 In time will yield unto its power. He left 
 His own far land, adventuring 
 For military fame and power abroad. 
 Here is a worthy field to claim the strength 
 Of his mind's noblest faculties. 
 Mark you, if we succeed, both wealth and rank, 
 A prince's power and dignity and lands 
 And your commendings to the smiles of Rome 
 Are mine : For, who hath been the head 
 Of all our band, — the fountain of designs. 
 The main-spring, secret, it is true, but bold, 
 Directing every movement which has seemed 
 To flow on towards success ? 
 
 1st Conspirator. 
 All true, 
 All true, most worthy father ; — 
 
 2d Conspirator. 
 
 Save the words 
 " Our faith has much to win the mind ;" 
 For this, thou knowest, as do I, is false. 
 Religion here is but the shining rind, 
 Rosy and golden, covering rottenness ; 
 A solemn drama, all deceit and show. 
 
the guests of brazil. 461 
 
 Sebastian. 
 Cease, thou profane ! I will not argue now : 
 But let this never be forgotten : Bright 
 Tho' be our hoped success, and strong 
 In popular approval tho' should prove 
 Our new regime, yet never must a breath 
 Assail th' immunities and fiefs and wealth 
 Of holy Church, great guardian of law, 
 Conservator of order, tower of light. 
 Our steady Guide. But to resume : 
 
 'Tis wise 
 To avoid this Corinngeus who was wrecked 
 With Eustin on our coast. Already he 
 In certain captainships around doth seem 
 To hold an influence with authorities ; 
 But not for us such influence will 
 Or can, indeed, be used. 
 
 {A knocking is heard.) 
 
 Amina {without.) 
 Father ! father ! 
 
 Sebastian {in a loiv voice.) 
 It is a penitent : I pray thee, friends, 
 Depart in silence by this private door 
 And down this secret way. 
 
 CONSPIEATORS. 
 
 Adieu, adieu ! 
 We meet ere long again. 
 
 {Exeu7it Conspirators.) 
 
462 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 (j3 knock.) Sebastian. 
 
 Come in, good friend, 
 
 {Enter Amina.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Peace to you, daughter ! step to the private room ; 
 I have commands voiced from no mortal lips — 
 Of infinite importance. You must hear ; 
 And having heard must act. 
 
 {^Exeunt.) 
 
 Act III. — Scene II. 
 (7%e Confessional. Sebastian and Amina.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Such is the duty which now waits thy deeds ; 
 
 And love, methinks, which all aver has sprung 
 
 From a celestial fount, should not forget 
 
 Its origin, — but, in its earthly flow. 
 
 Should consecrate its stream with heavenly hues,— 
 
 That God at last may not divorce its tides 
 
 On the grand brink of the Eternal Sea 
 
 From the warm current that it wooed in Time. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Yes ! true, most pious father, true, most true ! 
 And though the task were arduous, yet my hand 
 Shall lose, I trust, the memory of fear. 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 463 
 
 And now, my father, let my sins be shrived. 
 Thou hast, 'tis true, called me a saintly one : 
 My heart, I fear, if drinking grace from heaven. 
 And with the gentleness of guardian saints 
 Richly inspired, has wept too much on clay 
 The fragrant bounty of the skies ; as bends 
 The full-blown rose when glittering Avith dews, 
 Purpling the ground with hues that heaven instill'd. 
 And on the dust outpouring its sweet gems. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 That were, perhaps, a sin ; yet thy pure heart 
 Scarce needs, I trow, forgiveness, for its warmth 
 To earthly objects is eclipsed by love 
 And dutiful resolve to God. And shrived 
 Be every stain that spotteth with its eye 
 The beauteous apple of thy heart, — if " stain " 
 That which doth beautify may be. And now. 
 Farewell, my daughter ; soon we meet again. 
 
 {Exit Sebastian. Amina arises from the confessional seat, 
 and kneeling before a statue or picture of the Virgin, sings the 
 hymn that follows.) 
 
 hide thy face, mild virgin moon ! 
 A purer, lovelier queen I see ; 
 And thou, too, blush ! benignant noon ; 
 For here is more benignity. 
 
 For who can paint thy smiles that shine 
 Like morning on the slumbering sea ; 
 
464 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 Or, who shall dure to mark a line 
 'Twixt loveliness and thee ? 
 
 " Ave Maria !" let thy love 
 Encircling always be to me, 
 That my weak soul may share above 
 Thy throned and blest eternity. 
 
 {Rises and departs ; as she departs, a choir 'near at hand, yet 
 invisible, are heard chanting ; and, after a momejit, the music 
 becomes fainter , and dies away as in distance. Endo/ScEi^K 
 11.) 
 
 Act ill — Scene III. 
 
 {A room in Festino's House. Enter Eustin and C0EiNN-a3US ; 
 the rose is visible upon the floor. ^ 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 Your projects, to a great extent, appear 
 
 Most reasonable and fair ; — but I detect 
 
 A vein of error winding through your plans. 
 
 I am a man whom time hath ever found 
 
 'Mid speculations lost. I've watched the stream 
 
 Of popular life which fitfully roams on 
 
 Towards those dark gulfs wherein no eye hath gazed. 
 
 I've seen it when upon its quietness 
 
 The still stars smiled; — when airs, as soft and sweet 
 
 As Love's own breath, in wandering, paused. 
 
 Seeming with beauty hushed. When skies were blue — 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 465 
 
 The home of Peace herself, and gazing down 
 
 With influence mild as God's own blessing given 
 
 To calm the current in its flow ;— e'en then — 
 
 Yea, even then, it murmur'd ; and anon 
 
 Flashed angrily ; and dashed aloft the mist. 
 
 Which grew to clouds, whose blasts and fires 
 
 Churn'd into white confusion all its waves. 
 
 You dream. You cannot quarantine the winds ; 
 
 Bad influences on your happy state will blow 
 
 From every sky, — or if a canopy 
 
 Could shield you from their power, the earth herself 
 
 Would oft exhale her poisonous air and fumes 
 
 To suflocate the spirit of the good. Here asps 
 
 Abound ; and bitter herbs sprout forth 
 
 Spontaneous from the soil. A war 
 
 Forever must be waged 'gainst gloomy passions, hate 
 
 And selfish love, ambition, pride, contempt. 
 
 And jealousy, the fretful child of love : — 
 
 All must be met with arms and strife > 
 
 Religion's armory alone can give 
 
 The radiant weaponry, all " bathed in heaven," 
 
 Wherewith they can be met and vanquished. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Ah! 
 Hast thou such fervid faith ? 
 
 CORINNiEUS. 
 
 Jfow I have such. 
 
 30 
 
466 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Canst give us reasons strong, sucli as may chain 
 The mind unto the canons of your creed, and leave 
 No method of escape from its belief ? 
 
 COEINNiEUS. 
 
 I can. 
 Let's to the coolness of a public square. 
 The reasonings will be various and close. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 But ere we go — may I confide in you, 
 And ask a question ? 
 
 CoRlNNiEUS {aside.) 
 
 Does he pierce my mask, 
 And spite of all disguises, see in me 
 The friend who. cursed his youth ? 
 
 {To EUSTIN.) 
 
 May you confide ? 
 
 Oh, doubt it not. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Then may I ask your aid 
 In the fierce struggle to be made ere long 
 To purge this land with fire, and build an arch 
 Of Government, to mock at Time, and cast 
 A shadow o'er all other forms ? 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 467 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 A high 
 And difficult attempt ! 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 The mighty past 
 Speaks with a mighty voice, and it proclaims 
 The wise and foolish {picks up the rose.) 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 Results most certainly 
 Mark them out both to us ; — I can command 
 Assistance from the captainships around, 
 And help you cut the glorious stone which you 
 May shape and raise into an altar pure 
 For Freedom's sacred coals. You will not want 
 Assistance in that hour. For, as from 'mid 
 The incense flame the Hebrew lighted up, 
 (As told in holy writ,) his man-like guest 
 Did spring, and 'mid its brightness rush to heaven 
 An angel tho' unknown before ; — so here. 
 When Freedom's altars shall be fired, will men 
 Whom you had deemed of common earth 
 Spring up as gods into their proper heaven, 
 The cloudless sky of liberty and fame. 
 
 ( Curtain Jails. ) 
 
468 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL 
 
 Act IV. — Scene I. 
 
 {^Apartment in Festino's House. A casement opening upon 
 a moonlit sea.) 
 
 Amina {sola.) 
 
 How calmly shines the moon upon the tide 
 
 That seems the mirror where her virgin eye 
 
 Beholds her loveliness unveiled ! The winds 
 
 Beaeath the beauty of her face are hushed, 
 
 And awed to silence by her holy smile : 
 
 Or else we may believe a Sabbath reigns 
 
 Throughout the air ; the week of revelry 
 
 And passion being o'er. The laugh, the mirth, 
 
 The brilliant tournament and gala days 
 
 Of the glad waves have ceased. And now no more 
 
 The " spangled slumber " of the flowers is " rock'd." 
 
 At length have ceased the jubilee and dance 
 
 In the luxuriant gardens which the songs 
 
 And soul-charged kiss of lovers had hallowed. 
 
 Not e'en a cloud flits o'er the shell-paved beach. 
 
 But white th' unblemished glory lies, — as though 
 
 From his tall seat where wearied stars repose 
 
 An instant in their pilgrimage on high 
 
 Through the desert of blue — Winter (the king who sits 
 
 Above the Spring, as hoary wisdom towers 
 
 O'er youth and beauty, in the world of rank) 
 
 Had flung snow-carpets for his still descent 
 
 To kiss sweet Summer in her sleep 'mid flowers. 
 
 The very monsters of the sea contain 
 
THE GUESTS OP BEAZIL. 469 
 
 The tumults of their joy ! No splash is heard ; 
 The hush and deep tranquility of night 
 Doth seem a prophecy of times when pain, 
 Unholy revelry, and strife, are words 
 Expunged as obsolete from the volume fair 
 Of Being here below. 
 
 On such a night • 
 
 As this, we may believe, the virgin pure, 
 Mary the blest and all^adored, gazed first 
 Upon her infant God ; — while from above, 
 The watchers through the veil of azure peep'd, 
 And smiled in voiceless extasy. — To win 
 To her sweet faith, — this night my hand, as sworn, 
 Must give to one whom this full heart adores 
 With tenderness too like idolatry,— 
 This sacred potion. 
 
 (^Opens a small, white paper into a silver goblet ; — after which, 
 from a flask on the table, she fills the goblet with wine.) 
 
 Alas ! what if through some 
 Sad error it should trance his costly life 
 In slumber visionless and never waked ! 
 Yet it must be that she did thus direct 
 The holy father ! I do dread to give, — 
 Lest in the draught, his life, my hopes. 
 My very peace and happiness be drowned. — 
 But he comes now ! 
 
 {Enter EuSTIN, with a faded rose in his brtast.) 
 
470 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Ah, my Amina. — art thou here 1 — I feel 
 A weariness to-night, in consequence, 
 I may suppose, of thought severe to-day ; 
 And yet my mind hath consolation found, 
 To some extent, from its perplexities. 
 
 [Throws himself into a cushioned chair or sofa.) 
 
 Amina {/alteringly.) 
 Perchance some wine would bring repose ? 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 " Repose?" It should arouse the veins, and shoot 
 Its magic fire through quickening blood. Is this 
 Some of the fruit of your own vineyards, love ? 
 It hath a blush that's ravished from the cheek 
 Of evening or of morning in their bloom, 
 As poetry would feign. 
 
 Amina {beholding him about to drink.) 
 
 Oh, do not drink — 
 It is our own, — but 'tis not — 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 — 'Tis not worthy, 
 You would say. Believe me, those dear hands would lend 
 A lusciousness to tasteless fruits, — 
 And they would seem as though their blossoms, kissed 
 By Love's own lips, were ripened by his smile, 
 And scented by his breath. 
 
 {Lifts the goblet to his lips.) 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 471 
 
 Amina {with agitation.) 
 
 Desist, — oh, do — 
 One moment, while I speak. Your language falls — 
 In truth it does — upon my yearning breast, 
 I fear too fondly like a page which falls 
 From the book of titles to the bliss above. 
 You have become — (I need not hide it now 
 From me or you) — you have become the pulse 
 Within my veins. Your altered look, or loss 
 (I shudder at the word,) the loss of you — 
 Of your devotedness and smile, — would freeze 
 These throbs to stillness. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 And you fear 
 This draught will cheat my heated sense to think 
 That there is sunshine sweet in other hearts 
 And other eyes which beat and flash so oft 
 In groves around. You do not know me yet. 
 {^He drinks — Amina rushes forward, seizes his arm loith an 
 anxious look. EuSTiN, with a smile, yields the half-emptied 
 chalice. Amina places it upon the table ; and turning, 
 covers her eyes, hut her lips are seen to move.) 
 
 Amina, — you do err if you suppose 
 
 That I, howe'er bewildered, and though lost 
 
 My way upon the ocean dim of revery 
 
 And cold philosophy, without a chart, — 
 
 Would turn my eye one moment from the star 
 
 Of your pure love, which through the gloom has burned 
 
 To point me to the harbor of repose. 
 
472 the guests of brazil. 
 
 Amina. 
 O'erlook what I have said. It is too late. 
 But swear, (my boldness, Eustin, pardon,) swear, 
 That come what change may come upon your mind, — 
 No vow or deed shall dim your zeal, or part 
 Me ever from your soul. 
 
 Eustin {fervently, yet pleasantly.') 
 
 Can aught divide 
 The perfume from the bud, — from stars, their light ; 
 Prom June, its dews and blooms, — from spirit, life, — 
 The music from the quivering strings, or mind 
 From all desire, — from health, its pulse, — from youth, 
 Its fire, — from woman, smiles, — from joy, its song, — 
 A heaven from love, or bliss from heaven ? 
 
 Amina. 
 
 I will believe the promise which your words 
 So goldenly enshrine. 
 
 Eustin. 
 
 To know you rest 
 A confidence in those my words. 
 This is delightful. A calm trust 
 Is a sweet flower, with gentleness inwov'n 
 And with affection, wreathing fair. 
 As decoration choice, a woman's soul. 
 Fatigue and thought severe to-day 
 Have wearied me, in truth. {dozes.) 
 
the guests of brazil. 473 
 
 Amina. 
 The balm 
 For all such languors nature gives, the great 
 And beautiful provider for our wants ; 
 Breath of refreshment to the languid strength ; 
 Beguiling sorrow with delightful dreams. 
 
 EusTiN {speaks, pausingly, with drowsiness.) 
 
 A lover's dreams are best delight : 
 His last thoughts, ere he sinks in sleep, 
 Recast in some new shape, yet all suffused 
 In memory's loveliest effulgence, shed 
 By its best image. 
 
 Amina. 
 That, of course, 
 I doubt not ; and rejoice to hear you shrine 
 One image fond. 
 
 EuSTiN {closing his eyes and sinking his head.) 
 doubt me not ; 
 
 'Tis very sweet to hear you say, again, 
 
 I feel and ever mine — {inarticulate words.) 
 
 Amina, gazing in alarm, passes behind him, and sustains his 
 head, then adjusts its repose ; after which, going before a 
 crucifix, she kneels with clasped hands. {A knock — after a 
 pause, enter Sebastian.) 
 
 " Peace to you, daughter !" 
 
 (Amina rises.) 
 
 You've performed, I see, 
 The deed I did commend. You have confess'd 
 
474 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Your warm attachment to this man ? — This act, 
 Whereby he may anointed be with peace, 
 Is worthy of your zeal to him and Her 
 Who, far above, looks meekly down. 'Tis best 
 He should be borne at once into some spot 
 Where no rude laugh hath ever rung — where feast 
 And revelry and wine have ne'er been known ; 
 There, as we trust, the solemn glance and voice 
 Of Immortality will lend a hope. 
 Divine assurance and repose to him 
 Whose intellect is now bemazed with doubts, — 
 
 {Aside.) 
 
 And chemicals in wine ; — which seems to be 
 Like Mercury asleep in Bacchus' arms, — 
 Or powder giving power to the pressed grape. 
 {To Amina.) 
 
 My daughter ! This affair doth fill 
 
 My soul with heaviness. 'Tis meet, before 
 
 We bear the worthy stranger hence, that this 
 
 The remnant of the wine, too holy far 
 
 To wet another lip than his whose case 
 
 Demanded its fine aid, should be cast forth. 
 
 {Empties the goblet out of the window.) 
 
 All will be gratified, if, thro' our zeal. 
 
 He may that spiritual ladder see. 
 
 Whereon the thoughts, like angels fair, may step 
 
 From earthly unbelief to high commune 
 
 With bright realities in the spirit-world, 
 
 And reach th' ethereal height of heavenly hope. 
 
 {Enter Festino.) 
 
the guests op brazil. 475 
 
 Festino. 
 Daughter ! 
 How doth our guest to-night '? He sleeps, it seems. 
 
 {Exit Amina in apparent anxiety.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 It is a languor which hath fallen, at last, 
 
 Upon his frame, in consequence of those 
 
 Most horrid sufferings in the storm. His mind 
 
 For several days seemed buoy'd and clear, — but now 
 
 Mysteriously hath fallen, as I did fear, 
 
 Into a lassitude and dream. 
 
 Festino. 
 He said 
 To-day, a lazy languor's mist 
 Crept o'er his sense. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 As he hath kindly wish'd, 
 He should be softly borne without delay 
 To where all night I slumberless may watch 
 Around his invalid couch. 
 
 Festino. 
 
 I'll send at once 
 The bearers with my serpentine. 
 
 {Exit Fest.) 
 Sebastian {solus.) 
 They on Avhose senses sleep doth float 
 With soft, oblivious power ; as evening's calm, 
 
476 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Of a summer's night, upon the waters tossed 
 
 Just now of vexing winds, falls soothingly 
 
 And glassing images of beauty ; — they 
 
 Who're thus becalmed and entertained with dreams, 
 
 The visions of the beautiful and bright, 
 
 Are surely blest. Yet if we've slept, 
 
 To life more vigorous should we rouse our powers, 
 
 When fairly waked. To act is Nature's law. 
 
 To wake and act shall now be mine. 
 
 Then, farewell ! sleep. Ye voiceless heavens. 
 
 In vigilant glory bending o'er the world 
 
 To witness all things ; witness my resolve ! 
 
 And thou, Death, if to thy portal dark 
 
 My movements bold shall lead me, and my acts 
 
 Shall knock for entrance to thy mansions dim, 
 
 Shalt give the place of honor and the shrine 
 
 Worthy to hold the ashes of the brave 
 
 Which erst did glow and flash with hero-life. 
 
 {He wakens BusTiN who sinks almost immediately to sleep 
 again. He again arouses him.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Eustin, my son, art ill ? arise ! my son ; 
 
 Rest thee on me, §,nd walk with me at ease • 
 
 To the serpentine ; 'tis just now brought. 
 
 (EufaTiN arises languidly and walks, — leaning, as if in great 
 drowsiness, upon the Priest. Exeunt.) 
 
THE GUESTS OF BEAZIL. 477 
 
 Act IV. — Scene IL 
 
 ( Chapel. Sabino, Sebastian and Eustin. The latter is home 
 in, asleep upon a hammock-couch, superbly decorated. After 
 tvhich the attendants retire.) 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 It seems our fasting should be broken now — 
 And yet a banquet would be quite amiss ; 
 Some homely diet should the occasion match 
 Of this good effort to inspire with zeal 
 The wandered slumberer. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Say rather, man, 
 Some glorious feast, to. evince our joy elate 
 That we have caged a bird whose wings were form'd 
 To cuif the air about the awful heights 
 Of Cotopaxi's snow and flame. 
 
 'Twould seem 
 To undervalue the great deed inspired 
 By pure devotion's soul, if we should drink 
 Ashes and water on the occasion high — 
 Dry crusts for other times, when we despair ; 
 But now 'tis meet we should have mirth ; — no doubt 
 Upon my mind doth sit, that we shall rise 
 Through this fine stratagem to seal as ours 
 One who can work for us and openly. 
 Enthusiastic, valiant, bold, — great acts 
 
478 THE GUESTS OF BEAZIL. 
 
 May soon be witnessed and before his feet 
 Earthquakes may start, and from the rocky shores 
 Of Europe, echoes may rebound, of falls 
 And exaltations here. If these, our hopes. 
 Should ripen into victories, 'twould seem 
 Most strange to say that we had thus prepared 
 Our path #0 majesty and wealth ! 
 
 His mind, 
 Familiar long with daring plots for power, 
 And now with generous ambition fired, 
 Might, properly advanced by influence strong. 
 Blaze like the morning-star to front the dawn 
 Of revolution's coming day, if faith, 
 Which none could challenge, were his own. 
 
 We both 
 Well know, or might well know, how oft 
 By artifice and subtle, fine device 
 Visions of saints and messengers that shine 
 With glory of a higher world are made 
 Upon the opened, yet half-dreaming eyes 
 To gleam with apparition wonderful. 
 The history of our craft abroad is rich 
 With curious instances, and triumphs, too, 
 Which well attest the faultless skill whereby 
 The Virgin or the saints from heaven are brought 
 To waken or rekindle faith and zeal. 
 The personnel and all materiel fine 
 For this ripe scheme of mine are near. 
 
the guests of brazil. 479 
 
 Sabino. 
 But surely as a person in this play 
 Amina has no part ? 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Amina ? No : as soon would I a dove 
 Commission to o'ertake a hawk and tame 
 That swift-winged tyrant of the skies to live 
 And feed henceforth with pigeons, and forswear 
 His independent and wild corsair-life. 
 
 {Ji knock.) 
 It is Amina ! Enter, friend beloved. 
 {Enter Amina.) 
 
 Amina {with anxiety.) 
 How is he ? Is he well 1 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 No slumberer 
 Could rest more calmly than does he. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 No cloud amid the breathless summer sky 
 Reposed more tranquilly. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 But see ! 
 He moves ; he murmurs, as in dreams. 
 No feverish heat, I trust, disturbs 
 The motions of the brain 1 
 
480 THE GUESTS OF BEAZIL 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 ! fear it not : 
 The even movement of the dial's shade 
 Is fitful to the order of his pulse, 
 Which beats so softly, and keeps perfect time 
 Unto the sweet airs of his welcome dreams. 
 Now see ! he smiles : perhaps, e'en now. 
 Some holy influence its first, faint breath 
 Is wafting on his soul ; some vision fair. 
 The shadow of revealings more distinct 
 Hereafter to be given, may e'en now beam 
 Upon the mental eye. And who can say 
 But that, while tapers blaze with homage-fires 
 Before their images, some saint, in love, 
 May hallow this the vestibule of heaven 
 By presence, visible, at least, to him ? 
 The history of our faith records such facts. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Pray, what imports it, if I watch all night 
 With you, the slumberer's couch beside ? 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Much ; dove. 
 Think not those sensitive spirits of the purer clime 
 Reveal themselves when worldly, unshrived minds 
 That relish more or less the joys of sense 
 Are present and released from slumber's thrall. 
 Their beauty shows and glows amid the air, 
 As doth the moon-bow, (emblem chaste of such,) 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 481 
 
 When the gairish beams of day are quenched i' the tide 
 Of the western sea, display its silvery sheen : 
 So when the busy throngs are still, and softly dies 
 • The pleading, penitential hymn of those whose souls 
 Are cinctured with the vows of chastity 
 As by an honoring wreath of roses white, — 
 Then, like the stars, appear the light-clad saints, 
 And their strange voicings steal on hallowed ears : 
 But rare as weightiest pearls such instances. 
 
 Amina. 
 Then had 1 better soon retire ? 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Not here 
 Would e'en we linger, having flooded heaven 
 With fervid, incense-wafted praj^ers that faith 
 Her blessed dawnings in his soul may know : 
 But vigilant and fasting, nigh yon door 
 We shall his summons wait, the air of night 
 Awakening by our softly-breathed hymns. 
 Let me suggest : at early dawn of light, 
 Yea, ere the morn, like to some maiden child. 
 Has learned instinctively to blush and smile 
 At praises of her fairness, then arise 
 And gather dewy flowers of spicy scent : 
 If languid he, their fragrance may revive. 
 At least delight : and therefore early court 
 The power of sleep. 
 31 
 
482 the guests op brazil. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 'Tis well suggested : so, 
 To him and you a fond adieu ; I go. 
 
 {Exit.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 'Tis nigh the hour that that fair one designed 
 To play the saint, in gossamer draperies veiled, 
 Was here. So closely have I read how art 
 J las deep her subtle impositions pressed, 
 When, in a dreamy fantasy, the mind 
 Looked thro' its windows mistily, that now 
 I cannot doubt success my wish will crown. 
 
 Sabino. 
 
 Has disaffection in the Empire far 
 Fermented among those of much account ? 
 Is there a prospect that with leaders fit 
 The bristling opposition of the loyal arms 
 May be confronted and in time o'erpowered ? 
 
 Sebas. 
 
 I doubt it not. Full well we know how soon 
 
 The jealous of our order would oppose 
 
 The ascendancy of liberal, sceptic minds ; 
 
 And, dreading dark disaster to the faith. 
 
 The eclipse by clouds abhorred, and rights contemn'd, 
 
 If they an armed resistance had evoked. 
 
 Would add new fury to the war-like blaze 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZII. . 483 
 
 That greeted each advance rebellion made, 
 
 And would each policy which it proposed 
 
 Throttle, if possible, as soon as born. 
 
 Of course, some liberal concessions must be wrought 
 
 Into the frame-work of our civil scheme. 
 
 [Curtain falls. ") 
 
 Act V. — Scene I. 
 
 ( The, Street near the Chapel. .Wight.) 
 
 Sebastian {solus.) 
 
 Nought now remaineth but the springs to touch 
 Which the machinery and the shifting hands 
 Of Revolution start. Thus far the plot 
 ]Moves on with serious pace. 
 
 Ah ! hist ! who comes ? 
 i will lurk near and see. 
 
 {Hides, while Corinn^us enters.) 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 I would I had the boldi.ess to proclaim 
 
 Who rocked the cradle of my infancy. 
 
 But I do fear 'twould tear afresh his wounds. 
 
 Remorse ! well have men spoken of thy bolts 
 
 Which scathe the mind, and of those scorpions rank 
 
 Which thou upon the pillow of crime dost strew. 
 
 Thy scowl which makes the frowns of night seem smiles, 
 
484 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Doth shroud e'en hope itself in funeral robes, 
 And sickens thought -, — nay, all my being itself 
 Seems shrunk to one dry pain ; and even hell 
 In vain will multiply its arts t' exceed 
 The horror of thy pang, usurper black 
 Of joy's bright throne. 
 
 {Enter Eustin.) 
 Ah, Eustin, — art thou here ? 
 
 Eustin. 
 
 Yes, I am here, but almost fear to stand 
 
 On a dismal night like this with one like you. 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 What may you mean ? 
 
 Eustin {with his hand on his sivord.^ 
 
 I have talked with one 
 Who heard your exclamations when, half lost, 
 Your senses wandered. 
 
 CORlNNiEUS {aside.) 
 
 Is't possible ? Have 1 
 Exposed my name ? 
 
 {To Eustin.) 
 
 You are deceived, my friend ; 
 You've nought to fear from me. 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 485 
 
 EuSTiN {aside.) 
 
 How^very smooth 
 The bohl-faced villain speaks to-night ! 
 
 {To CORINN.EUS.) 
 
 Good Sir. 
 Hast aught to commimicate ? Speak quick ; — for I 
 Have my engagement hence and far. 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 May I assure you of my kind regard ? 
 
 I throw aside my sword to show my trust, 
 
 And that I have no hate for you. 
 
 {Throws aside his sword.) 
 
 EuSTiN {aside.) 
 
 Almost 
 I can believe the knave. 
 
 CORINN-^US. 
 
 May I inquire 
 The cause of your late conduct, which must seem 
 Unlike your former ways ? 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 I've had of late 
 A visitation strange. The kind old priest — 
 When I sank down into that dreamy trance, — 
 Bade the attendants bear me to his room, 
 That there he might watch o'er my rest. Give ear ! 
 
486 THE GUESTS OP BBAZIL 
 
 The trance was sent from Heaven ! And it revealed. 
 
 As a stream of scented oil on a tossing lake, 
 
 A voice, born of no mortal lips, fell soft 
 
 Upon my troublous dreams ; and said, " Awake 
 
 From your philosophy ! 'Tis vain. Count not, 
 
 When you arise, this vision but a shape 
 
 Prom the stagnation of your senses risen, — 
 
 A thin, delusive flame. But lo ! in proof 
 
 Of its divine descent, transpires a glow 
 
 Of waving light before your eye. A star 
 
 Sits on the spirit's brow." I looked and saw 
 
 In truth the fearful revelation there. 
 
 Again the mystery spoke. It bade me yield 
 
 My firm assurance to that faith which here 
 
 Spreads like the shadow of an angel's wing 
 
 Over this passionate clime. 
 
 {Jihsorbed attention and delighted satisfaction are alternately 
 visible in the action and countenance o/Sebastian, v'ho should 
 here be visible to the audience.) 
 
 It did enjoin 
 With awful threatenings that I should obey 
 What she (St. Catharine by name) should hint 
 Through the holy father to my ear. " Awake ! 
 To mighty deeds," cried she, " and I will bathe 
 Your sword in victory's light : And you shall build 
 From ruins of the present state, a shape 
 Of government conformed to ends desired 
 By every spirit in the world of light." 
 ►Such were her words, or nearly such. A doubt 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 487 
 
 Still held possession of my mind. 
 
 I spoke and bade the vision give again 
 
 A sign that it was truly real : " Bid " 
 
 I said " another token now to appear, — 
 
 A sign of sure reality." I gazed 
 
 And saw another proof ; a luminous ring 
 
 Glittered above the spirit's brow : its voice 
 
 Again was heard with like import. 
 
 Yea, still, 
 Tho' trembling, scarce did I believe, 'till yet 
 More evidence demanded shone. My heart 
 The influence celestial drank ; I live, 
 First, to be guided in achievements bold, — 
 But more I need not add. 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 I cannot doubt 
 But that you saw a shape before your eyes,— 
 But it was of your mind. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 You sadly err. 
 
 CORINN.^US. 
 
 Listen to me : That cunning knave, the priest. 
 By the connivance of some compound strange 
 Which he had mingled in your food, or else 
 Had sprinkled on the rose you wore, has woi-ked 
 Your mind fermented to these dreams. 
 
488 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 In vain 
 To me you speak ; but I will hear. 
 
 CORINN.EUS. 
 
 I heard 
 On that same night the villain laugh to think 
 How fast the current of his schemes would flow 
 On towards the ocean of his vast desires. 
 He spoke fantastically of saints whom he 
 Would to co-operation bring, by means 
 Of the jugglery he has done. 
 
 BuSTiN {with amazement.) 
 
 Dost speak indeed 
 The naked truth ? I am amazed ! — I'm shock'd 
 To hear of such atrocity in him ! 
 
 (CoRiNN.EUS resumes his sivord, and the Priest retires with a 
 vexed and angry countenance.) 
 
 CORINNzEUS. 
 
 My word is pledged — let us retire — 'tis late. 
 
 EusTiN {a^ter a moment's reflection.) 
 
 Yet I beheld the vision, — heard the voice, 
 
 And noted all ! {energetically) You cannot quench my faith. 
 
 CORTNN.EUS. 
 
 Nothing but friendsliip, Bustin, could draw forth 
 What now I say : — I've found that she whom once 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 489 
 
 I thought all tenderness for you, has joined 
 The Priest in this dark treachery. 
 
 EuSTiN {impatiently and with fury.) 
 
 Liar ! 
 Villain and devil ! Draw at once, or die ! 
 Art sunk by jealousy and hate 
 To slander base as this ? — Dost think thereby 
 To tempt these lips to insult and scorn 
 The worshipp'd of my soul ?— - But I'll waste 
 No words on thee. 
 
 ( They fight ; in the contest, the loeapon of Eustin is struck 
 from his hand.) 
 
 Strike ! 
 CoRiNNiEUS {sheathing his sword.) 
 Never ! I love thee still. 
 
 {Exit CoRiN.) 
 
 Eustin {solus.) 
 
 That I might pierce the mystery of the man ! 
 
 {A thoughtful pause.) 
 Who he may be, — 'tis vain to inquire. He fear'd ' 
 To strike, lest it should break her heart ; and strives 
 To cool my love, so she may turn to him, 
 Grieved from my breast ! I'll ne'er insult her truth 
 By seeking vindication from her lips. 
 
 {Exit.) 
 
 {Enter with a suspicious look, Sebastian.) 
 
490 the guests op brazil. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 All ! both are gone ! I'm shocked to hear the bald 
 
 And naked truth so insolently told ! 
 
 I'm dashed, it seems, by that accursed knave 
 
 Whose ears unseen must sail around on wings 
 
 To catch my every heedless word, as birds 
 
 Seize fast upon some luckless bug by day 
 
 "Wandering improvidently forth. And now 
 
 First to Festino will this news be brought, 
 
 And all the art of these manoeuvres shown : 
 
 Then all abroad, or to his loyal peers 
 
 The unsprung, maddening plot will be disclosed ! 
 
 Then follow, — shame, suppression armed and stern ; 
 
 Arrests, arraignings, bonds and death ! 
 
 Fair hopes ! extinct : good name ! defiled : the life 
 
 Of high ambition ! all down-cast to dust : 
 
 Each breath, perchance, a sufferance ; and the grave 
 
 Attractive as the living world : all this, 
 
 To hated Corinnfeus due ! One thing 
 
 Is certain as they live : They both must die ! 
 
 The occasion in its secrecy will soo-n 
 
 Come floating by, and bid some dagger leap 
 
 From its dry sheath to drink their blood. 
 
 And stab th' exposure ere 'tis born. Or else. 
 
 If the chance delays, — I'll bribe some scullion base 
 
 To poison all, and fire the towering house 
 
 To desolation on their heads : And then 
 
 "When comes the murderer to confess his sin, 
 
 I'll suddenly absolve him from all fears 
 
 Of trouble, in this world at least, and save 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 491 
 
 An arrow for old Death. These fearless hands 
 
 Can crowd a traveller through the press which mobs 
 
 The close-jamm'd gates of hell, long ere his time. 
 
 Is all, then, lost ? All is not lost ! 
 
 When I have mined and struck the very door 
 
 Which to the enchanted chamber leads, of fame 
 
 And empire hid as gold, shall I withdraw 
 
 Because a cobweb stretches o'er the spring 
 
 Which must be touched ere entrance can be gained ? 
 
 Or, when I've through the dismal passage groped 
 
 Till I have touched the castle's secret gate, 
 
 Shall I retreat, because a little mouse 
 
 Doth seem about to squeak surprise ? Shall I 
 
 The goblet dash upon the ground, lest that 
 
 A tiny insect in the bowl should lose 
 
 His life were I to drink ; or shall I place 
 
 Upon the wheels of my manoeuvres grand 
 
 Eternal clogs, lest when they move in fire, 
 
 A useless rosebud should be crushed and scorched ? 
 
 No, no ! This from Sabino must be cloaked. 
 
 {Exit.) 
 
 Act V. — Scene IL 
 (^ public garden. JVighf. Enter Bustin.) 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 To-night how blandly creeps the air — a thief 
 Who gives delight while he doth steal our pains ! 
 An hour for rest in this still spot ! Now, Love ! 
 
492 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 Shake thy kaleidoscope of dreams, and show 
 Delicious changes to one centre true. 
 
 {Reclines upon a bench and sinks to sleep. Enter CorinNwEUS 
 from behind.) 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 The hum afar of revelry and song 
 
 Glides from the city's pomps. Another month 
 
 May yet its tempest bellow thick with hail 
 
 Of iron and fire. Ah ! who doth sleep so sound 
 
 Upon yon seat ? 'Tis Bustin ! would that I 
 
 Could hope forgiveness from him ; I would lay 
 
 The secrets of my heart in his ! Then were 
 
 This air ambrosial as an angel's breath 
 
 Fresh from that tree whose rich and nectarous fruit 
 
 Is immortality and bliss, waxed ripe 
 
 'Neath the love-lightnings of God's eye. E-hist ! 
 
 Some step is stealing near ! 
 
 (CORiNNiEUS conceals himself in the back part of the stage. 
 Enter J cautiously from behind, Sebastian, disguised as a 
 robber. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Here have I seen the coward walk on eves 
 
 Of similar quiet. As I live, here lies 
 
 Some vagrant lost in sleep. Good heavens ! 'tis he ! 
 
 Now, dagger ! falter not. 
 
THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 493 
 
 {Draws a straight sword, and creeps near to Eustin. The 
 Priest is seized from behind by CorinntEUS. They struggle j 
 the latter tvrests the lueapon from the hand of Sebastian, 
 who, dropping a labelled hey aid piaper in the confusion, 
 exclaims in a subdued voice full of dismay ;) 
 
 " Spare me, spare ! 
 Necessity severe tempted me hither 
 To rob, not strike, unless in self-defence." 
 
 {They struggle; the Priest, seizing the arm of Corinn^us, 
 escapes and disappears in the thickets of the garden. Corin- 
 N^US picks up the key and paper, retaining in his hand the 
 weapon wrested from Sebastian.) 
 
 CORINN/EUS. 
 
 A key ! 'Tis labell'd. 'Tis the Priest's ;— his voice 
 Was not v^^ell feigned. These I reserve for day. 
 And close examination. 
 
 {EvQTm, unseen to Couinnjevs, awakes and gazes upon him. 
 After a momenfs anxious thought, the latter continues ;) 
 
 It is best 
 To conceal the murderous assault until- 
 
 EuSTiN {springing up and drawing a sword.) 
 
 Dost think me sleeping, murderer ! I know 
 From my own vision now, as from the words 
 Sebastian, cautioning, gave, that thou 
 Dost nurse base hatred, and dost scruple not 
 At MURDER, if it is darkly veiled. I know 
 
494 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 The treachery of 3^our mind at last. Prepare 
 For the fiercest struggle yet. 
 
 {They fight. Copjxnjous is wounded, and sinks upon the seal, 
 exd aiming :) 
 
 Oil ! oh ! I'm wounded ! 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Wounded ? You shall die ! 
 
 (tJnterfrom the left the Priest, as before, disguised. Approach- 
 ing hastily, he seizes EusTiN from behind, and struggles for 
 the dagger in the hands of the latter, They pass off strug- 
 gling to the left of the stage and disappear. CORINN^US 
 gazes after them, exclaiming in a low voice :) 
 
 The Priest will fall. For surgical relief 
 
 Ere I'm too faint to move alone 'tis fit 
 
 That I should seek. What misconstruction strange ! 
 
 {Exit CoRiNNJSUs feebly ; — at the sam.e time, re-enter the 
 
 Priest.') 
 
 Sebastian {with a searching glance.) 
 
 The key's not here, it seems ! What matters that ? 
 I oft stroll forth by day, and can assert 
 'Twas lost in the street. And they may wisely think 
 Some robber had found it. 'Twere a useful thing 
 To such a rogue. Perchance I lost it not 
 In this ^ugh scufile here. If so, all's safe. 
 The other plans remain. What if Hwere fixed 
 Upon my hand, — this masked attempt ! 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 495 
 
 The sooner they all fall ! Composure firm, 
 
 And the calm look of innocence are now 
 
 Important to success. Dark, dread and sure 
 
 As Death's approaching shade must move our plots ; 
 
 Not surer is the advent of the night, 
 
 Nor speedier, when the Sun forsakes h's hall 
 
 Of gala glory draperied in blue, 
 
 Than is the unfolding of the scheme we nurse ! 
 
 (Exit.) 
 
 Act V. — Scene III. 
 
 [Jlpartment in Festino's house. Enter Amina and Eustin.) 
 
 Amina. 
 
 Shall not the bearers bring a serpentine '? 
 An airing out towards the sea, I think, 
 Would give you strength 
 
 Eustin. 
 
 I may not now, my love ; 
 Expecting Corinnasus here. 'Tis time 
 He were upon the spot. He said he wished 
 A tale to read of his own life and deeds. 
 Now I remember, he desired that all 
 Might here attend to hear. 
 
 Amina. 
 
 They shall attend. 
 Is it a tale of grief or mirth ? 
 
496 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 He did not say. 
 Amina, 
 lie lias been absent in the town of late ? 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 He lias. We'll hear his tale. It Avill relate 
 To his deviltries in Brazil. I'll hear, and then 
 Refute til' ingenious lies which he has framed ; 
 I'll then explain of my late fears the cause, 
 And cover him with infamy and shame. 
 
 Amina. 
 (), do not speak so harsh ! What may you mean ? 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Dearest Amina, you will know to-night. 
 
 {Exit Amina.) 
 
 I thought aright ! 'Twas best to wait and see 
 
 What this base wretch could say why earth should not 
 
 At once vomit him forth. I would I could 
 
 Divine his object in this bitter hate 
 
 He cherishes — a hate which he would guard 
 
 From all suspicion of his prey. What more 
 
 Than envy can it be ? It will be well 
 
 To be upon the watch to-night. Perchance, 
 
 However, he may send his words and wait 
 
 To hear if falsehood thrives : Perfidious wretch ! 
 
THE GUESTS OF BEAZIL. 497 
 
 {Enter CoRiNNiEus, Sebastian, Sabino, Festino, Amina, 
 GoNSALVO, and several attendants.) 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 Friends, as a faintness sickens at my heart, 
 I will entreat some one to read the sheet 
 Which I've prepared. 
 
 {Hands the written sheet to Bustin.) 
 
 May I entreat that all 
 Who now look on me with abhorrence strong 
 Will give due heed to all he reads. 
 
 Festino. 
 
 Pray who 
 Looks on thee but with kind regard ? 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 Before 
 You do begin, I wish to give this key 
 To the holy father. He has dropt it when 
 Upon some loitering, in the city's parks. 
 
 {Having given a key to Sebastian, Corinn^us reclines upon 
 a couch. Sebastian, eyeing him keenly, places the key in 
 his bosom. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 I must suppose 'ttvas rifled from my breast 
 By a treacherous thief, who yesterday at dusk 
 Severely handled me for gold. (To Cor.) My thanks. 
 32 
 
498 the guests of brazil. 
 
 Festino. 
 
 Eustin, my son — we're all attention noAv, 
 
 (If I may thus anticipate events 
 
 And speak a father's words :) pray read ; we list, 
 
 Eager as drooping flowers for night's cool dews. 
 
 (Eustin: reads) 
 
 To all his friends in good Festino's house ; 
 
 Kind salutations, health and peace ! 
 
 With no narration wearying and long, 
 
 Will CorinnEBus your forbearance task : 
 
 But with th' occasion of the shipwreck dire 
 
 Will I begin. With deep solicitude 
 
 The mental state of Eustin (fondly loved 
 
 And justly, strongly settled in your hearts) 
 
 I watched from day to day : and could but see 
 
 In his eye and air, of peace the ruins sad, 
 
 And o'er the desolation of his soul 
 
 The brooding shadows of distracting thought. 
 
 By ghastly memories haunted ; by the fangs 
 
 Of dread remorse envenomed, I have sought 
 
 By ministration prompt of kindly deeds, 
 
 Ignoring self, t' appease the frowning shapes 
 
 Of lingering remembrances which, in his mind, 
 
 I knew were dominant. The moment came. 
 
 From the wild, stunning crash that wrecked, I woke 
 
 To see, in that faint light, the struggling yield, 
 
 As fainting soldiers to a conqueror strong. 
 
 A cry of anguish and of terror burst. 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 499 
 
 • . 
 
 Half-smothered, from our well-loved Eustin's lips. 
 
 Forth from my side a floating fragment quick 
 
 I urged, to rescue him, that life with him 
 
 Might linger, tho' the salt sea-wreaths 
 
 Should couch my dreamless rest. Else he. 
 
 Unpractised in the swimmer's stroke, had fallen 
 
 In that unequal strife with th' swollen pride 
 
 And turbulence of the sea, so fierce again 
 
 For championship where it so oft had won. 
 
 Drifting amid another ocean, vast 
 
 And dread and strown with mournful wrecks, 
 
 (The sea of visionary theories, 
 
 Of unbelief, the blind and proud,) here he. 
 
 Guided and warned by me, poor instrument. 
 
 Was rescued, and to harbor safely brought 
 
 In the glad, peaceful anchorage of faith : 
 
 And this he will explain. Forth from the snare 
 
 And labyrinths of priestly artifice, quite clear 
 
 From its delusions too, I trust, 'tis mine 
 
 (May gracious Heaven be blest !) to lead him forth. 
 
 Enamored of a soft and dewy shade 
 
 In a wide garden's heart, unto the spells 
 
 Of slumber he late yielded. Then drew near. 
 
 With stealthy tread, the assassin all disguised ; 
 
 Glittered above his head the dagger raised. 
 
 Swift rushed I forward, and that lifted arm 
 
 Bereft with mighty struggles of its steel. 
 
 In the confusion of that strife there fell 
 
 A key and letter in the dust : he fled, 
 
 (The foiled assassin) and was lost in shade. 
 
500 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL 
 
 _ft_ 
 
 Mature conspiracy is well revealed 
 
 In that epistle : and as place and wealth 
 
 Rather than high and noble ends attract 
 
 Their leaders and their head, already Power 
 
 Is roused to action to enwrap their dreams 
 
 With the chill cloud of dark defeat 
 
 And lay their mounting hopes in sullen shame. 
 
 List ! the assassin base stands here to-night : 
 
 Behold him in Sebastian ! Speak kind words 
 
 Which may the judgment on Sabino blunt. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Thou liest basely ! wretch, well mayst thou feign 
 A weakness now ; whose courage would not fail 
 When falsehoods were attempted like to thine ? 
 Friends ! this is base deceit, or error gross. 
 Believe him not : he may be mad ! 
 
 CORINN^US. 
 
 Read on, good Sir : and you will find disclosed 
 Still further proof of villainy, a scheme 
 Of blackest infamy, — to poison all ! 
 
 Sebastian {in hot impetuosity.) 
 Thou hateful miscreant, thou shalt rue thy words. 
 
 {Draws a dagger and thrusts at CoRiNNiEUS, who, rallying ^ 
 'parries the blow ; they fight.) 
 
the guests of brazil. 501 
 
 Festino. 
 
 Cease ! combatants, desist ! shame that you, 
 father ! shouldst forget thy sacred rank. 
 And, in the heat of passion, here profane 
 This hospitable roof ! 
 
 EusTiN {^seizing the Priest by the right arm.) 
 
 I now believe thee base 
 And overflowing with a deep deceit. 
 
 (CoRlNN^US sinks again to his couch, as if wounded afresh.) 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Unhand me, instantly ! or hell's black shades 
 May gulf thy spirit at a breath ! 
 
 {Jl loud knocking : Enter Officer and three soldiers ; others 
 
 vnthout.) 
 
 Officer. 
 
 Senor, 
 Is this Sebastian ? I arrest the man 
 For treason ; soldiers ! hold him fast ! 
 
 Sebastian {loith a loud voice.) 
 
 Ho ! comrades ! quick ! haste, comrades, all ! 
 
 {Enter several armed Conspirators impetuously, and by 
 another entrance.) 
 
 Haste, all, we are betrayed ! quick, strike ! 
 'Tis victory, or the dungeon's gloom and death ! 
 
502 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 {To the Soldiers.) 
 
 Withdraw your hands this instant ! do you dare 
 Thus rudely seize an hallowed priest ? if charged 
 With misdemeanors, to the sacred powers 
 Which rule in Zion, I'm responsible. 
 
 Festino {to the Officer.) 
 
 May I inquire, " has the Imperial Court 
 Dispatched this warrant." 
 
 Officer. 
 
 Yea ! good Sir ; 
 Yea ! and enjoined the sternest strictness ; chains 
 And even death should he resist. 
 
 Attempt 
 At murder and high treason are the crimes 
 With which he now stands charged ; the danger frowns : 
 This rankling, civil virus claims the knife. 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Shout loud our battle cry ! What ! comrades. 
 Cower ye at sight of these 1 for life and truth, 
 As ye have sworn, strike, all, and fear them not ! • 
 
 Officer {To Seb.) 
 Thou traitor ! dost thou dare ! 
 
 {^Two of the Conspirators discharge their pistols ; others draw 
 
 swords.) 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 503 
 
 Sebastian. 
 
 Ho ! all ! rush in ; 
 For life and victory and glory strike ! 
 
 {Drums and trumpets without; and cries of ''to arms! to 
 
 arms /") 
 
 Officer. 
 What ! darest thou still ? then die at once ! 
 
 {To Soldiers.) 
 Aim well and fire ! 
 
 (Soldiers /re; Sebastian /a//^.) 
 
 {To Soldiers ivithout.) 
 
 Now all advance ! seize fast 
 These traitors who surround their chief ! 
 
 {In alarm, exeunt Conspirators, save one.) 
 
 {Enter Soldiers and seize the remaining Conspirator ere he 
 effects his escape and pursue the others.) 
 
 Chain them in dungeons, and let none escape : 
 And thou, lieutenant, march forth quick to close 
 In deadly conflict with their force without. 
 
 {Exit Lieut.) 
 
 Festino. 
 A fearful hour is this ! 
 
 (JVbwe of firing and confusion without.) 
 
504 THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 
 
 CoEINNtEUS. 
 
 Good Sir, I beg 
 That what is further written in that sheet 
 May claim attention now. 
 
 EuSTiN {dropping the letter.) 
 
 Read thou ; 
 I cannot ; self-accused and horrified 
 By these developments ; my strength is gone. 
 
 {Turning aside.) 
 
 « 
 
 And can it be ! I've been indeed deceived ! 
 
 Festino {picking up the letter, proceeds.) 
 
 Beware of those three flagons mark'd for the feast, 
 The private banquet which you purpose soon. 
 Test well their contents : 'mid that mellow glow 
 A subtle poison lurks : Thus are ye snatched 
 From wretched doom 'mid agony and flame. 
 As unto one of aspirations pure, a path 
 Of honorable advancement now is oped, 
 Thro' influence of mine, for Bustin. Sad 
 Might else have been his lot, e'en had he 'scaped 
 The stealthy and malignant snare here laid. 
 
 (CORINNiBUS reclines more arid more, as ij' languishing.) 
 
 Eustin, my well-beloved friend, for whom 
 My love unto Amina I have quenched. 
 Have my dyed locks and altered costume foiled 
 Your searching and suspecting glance ? Behold 
 
THE GUESTS OP BRAZIL. 505 
 
 In CORINN.EUS, now from whom the gift 
 
 Most strange and precious may, perhapt*, have fled 
 
 To its Great Giver, as the mounting flames 
 
 From fires the Sun has kindled, spring aloft 
 
 Towards their bright source, — in Corinna?us see 
 
 Your former friend, the " Frederick " of the days 
 
 Of early love and happiness. Forgive, 
 
 As ye do hope forgiveness at Heaven's seat, 
 
 Whate'er of wrong, tho' dark indeed it be, 
 
 Which blots the chronicles of his life ; pray, yield ; 
 
 And dwelling on the vengeance in that grief 
 
 And sleepless energy of deep remorse 
 
 Which fiercely followed and have nigh consumed, — 
 
 O'erlook his errors and accept, tho' faint, 
 
 His services of late in your behalf. 
 
 Not long, I fear, it may be his to drink 
 
 The accents of forgiveness, if relief delays. 
 
 Festino. 
 Thus ends his letter ; noble 'tis, in truth. 
 
 (EuSTiN springs up and Jties to the .side o/'CoRiNN^US.) 
 
 But, see ! he languishes ! he faints, he sinks ! 
 Haste quick, Gonsalvo ! bring the well-known skill 
 Of our esteemed Roupinho. 
 
 (Exit Gonsalvo.) 
 See ! the gush 
 Of life's mysterious current stains his side ! 
 What ! wounded ? can it be ? 
 33 
 
506 THE GUESTS OF BRAZIL. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 speak ! speak ! apeak ! 
 Tho' but one word ! all love you ; yea, all, all ! 
 
 CORINNiEUB. 
 
 {Awaking partially from his swoon for an instant.) 
 Still spurns he me ? alas, alas ! and faint 
 And sinking ; wounded : where am 1 1 who speaks ? 
 Farewell to all, if here ; farewell ! 'tis o'er. 
 
 EUSTIN. 
 
 Loved friend, awake ! Forgive me ; you're forgiven ! 
 I've known you not, and wronged you every hour. 
 Oh ! oh ! it is too late ! Yon dastard's thrust, 
 Or else my murderous steel, hath pierced his soul ! 
 
 {^Leans with loverlike tenderness, hut overpowered by the anguish 
 of regret, upon Amina.) 
 
 {They gather nearer, with silent, intense fixedness of gaze and 
 look of horror. CoRiNNiEUS dies.) 
 
 Curtain falls. 
 
NOTES 
 
 Note A. 
 
 I have thought this comparison possibly too like one in Byron : "O night, 
 £^nd storm, and darkness, ye," &c. 
 
 ' Note B. 
 
 " Fame, the soul's Archangel."— jBuZwer. If he only meant that fame 
 was the ruling passion, the figures are not alike. 
 
 Note C. 
 
 The sanguinary spirit of retaliation, though in keeping with unbelief, is, 
 of course, deserving of the severest reprehension, under all circumstances. 
 
 " Hail of iron and fire." This expression was suggested by a passage in 
 Milton, where he speaks of " chained thunderbolts and hail of iron globes." 
 Some two or three figures of no particular note may also have been sug- 
 gested. 
 
 Note. — As to the character of Sebastian, the clime and race will apolo- 
 gize for his restless and vaulting ambition. History furnishes the instances 
 of unscrupulous lust of power in the Roman priesthood and of woful de- 
 pravity associated with infidelity. The reader may note illustrations of the 
 vice and misery to which unbelief conduct ; and the lessons of the impor- 
 tance of sound faith and morals as the bases of free government ; and may 
 discern a true picture of Romish imposition. 
 
 The tragedy has received a number of alterations since first written. It 
 is absurd to deny that the province of the drama is a noble and legitimate 
 department of literature. But the stage, has, alas, been degraded, by 
 ministering to corrupt popular tastes. Under proper restrictions and safe- 
 guards, and by a high, noble and religious influence, it might be elevated, 
 and made subservient to the cause of morality and even of sacred virtue, as 
 well as of knowledge, art and literature. 
 
TO THE ANGEL OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. 
 
 Etheeeal Beauty, throned in yon clear star, 
 That now, from thy most rich pavilion bright, 
 All draperied in gold and crimson light. 
 Doth seem to win my soul to soar afar, 
 And quit its prison's dull and gloomy bar ; 
 To thee I dedicate my song this night, — 
 Rejoicing that as yet my spirit's sight 
 Beholds thy loveliness that nought doth mar. 
 Yet sorrow's in my heart a lingering guest, 
 Because my thoughts may now so seldom dwell 
 Where the rich lustres from thy wings do rest, 
 In poetry's elysium loved so well. 
 Would that thy smiles Amina did invest ! 
 As sunbeams beautify the lily's bell. 
 
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