6Z\ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/petraprizepoemreOOburg 
 
11 e t r a, 
 
 ■ A PRIZE POEM, 
 RECITED IN THE THEATRE, OXFORD, 
 
 JUNE IV, MDCCCXLV. 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 PRINTED BY W. BAXTER. 
 
 FRANCIS MACPHERSON, HIGH STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXLV. 
 
8^1 
 
 i 
 
 PE T R A, 
 
 THE capital of that portion of Arabia which is thence 
 called Petrsea, occupies a mountain -hollow in the rocky- 
 region known as the Land of Seir; extending from the 
 north-eastern extremity of the Arabian gulph to the 
 south of the Dead Sea ; — a territory which the Almighty 
 assigned to the Edomites, or descendants of Esau. 
 It is twice mentioned in Scripture by the equivalent 
 Hebrew name Selah, or the Rock: and thenceforward, 
 (namely, from the seventh or eighth century before our 
 eera,) it obtains no further notice for four hundred years. 
 During this interval the Nabathseans, or descendants of 
 Nebaioth, the eldest son of Ishmael, had expelled the 
 Edomites from their ancient stronghold, and driven them 
 northward, where their territory was recognised for a few 
 centuries under the Hellenized name of Idum?ea. Then 
 it was that one portion of the prophecy concerning the 
 descendants of Esau obtained its fulfilment: they faded 
 from the world's eye, and ceased to be a nation- 
 
 Petraea, henceforth part of the Nabatheean territory, 
 became a Roman province; and Petra, as some ancient 
 historians relate, and as its astonishing ruins abundantly 
 testify, continued to be its wealthy and flourishing capital. 
 
4 
 
 It obtains some slight ecclesiastical notice so late as the 
 sixth century : hut from that time it suddenly disappears 
 from the page of history; and the doom pronounced on the 
 land of the Edomites was entirely accomplished. Petra 
 had continued wholly unknown for twelve hundred years, 
 when the adventurous Burckhardt discovered its ruins in 
 1812. 
 
 Some valuable and interesting notices of this wonderful 
 city, and the surrounding region, are found in the second 
 volume of Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches; and the 
 external features of the place are delineated in Laborde's 
 folio work on Petra; but Roberts's Sketches are by far the 
 most eloquent commentary that has yet appeared on the 
 subject. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Sacred associations allow us to regard the land of Edom 
 almost as the birth-place of song.— In the desolation with 
 which it has been visited, Petrahas shared largely.— Enviable 
 feelings of the Traveller who discovered its forgotten site.— The 
 magnificent scenery around Petra,— recalling the miracle of 
 the Exode.— Wonderful approach to the city— Meditation on 
 its beautiful ruins.- The grandeur— gaiety (suggested by the 
 remains of a theatre)— and flourishing condition of Petra in 
 the time of the Romans —from which, in common with the 
 rest of the cities of Edom, it fell by some awful but unrecorded 
 visitation.-The early and later state of the surrounding country 
 
 contrasted Its present barrenness exhibits the fulfilment of 
 
 the prophecies concerning it ; denounced chiefly in consequence 
 of the hostility of the Edomites against the children of Israel. 
 
 The Poem concludes by contrasting the hopeless desolation 
 of Edom and the extinction of Esau's descendants, with the 
 prospects of the Holy Land and the glorious promises in store 
 for the posterity of Jacob. 
 
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou 
 that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation 
 is high ; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down 
 to the ground ? 
 
 " Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though 
 thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring 
 thee down, saith the LORD." 
 
 Spirit of Song ! that oft at dewy eve. 
 When Elfin sprites their frolic dances weave, 
 Meetest the poet as he walks unseen 
 The twilight valley, or the dusky green ;— 
 Or hy some mountain lake's romantic hrim 
 Wakest the drowsy echoes, all for him; — 
 And many a time art well content to stray 
 Where garden-alleys quench the hlaze of day, 
 And small birds sing, and babbling fountains play: 
 Know'st thou the land— a land of giant mould — 
 By Heavn assign'd to Edom's race of old*? 
 
 a " I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 
 Deut. ii. 5. 
 
Where rocks on rocks — on mountains mountains piFd — 
 
 Have form'd a scene so wondrous and so wild. 
 
 That gazing there man seems to gaze upon 
 
 The rough rude ocean frozen into stone ? 
 
 Full well thou know'st! for sure, w^hen Israel wound 
 
 His homeward journey o'er that hallow'd ground, — 
 
 Forc'd in the depths of those wild hills to wait 
 
 And kneel, a suppliant, at his brother's gate, — 
 
 While burning anlhems rose from many a tongue. 
 
 Not coldly mute the harp of Judah hung ! 
 
 And did not one, in yet remoter time, 
 
 Wake there the ' birth-notes of the holy chime 
 
 Doth not to Edom's rugged land belong 
 
 The man of Uz — the Moming-star of song^ ! 
 
 Yea, and to Fancy's ear, o'er rock and hill 
 More solemn harphigs there are floating still. 
 Harps that long since have been attmi'd above 
 To hymns of joy, and sera})h-lays of love, 
 In awful strains from many a trembling wire 
 Have pour'd o'er Edoni words of deepest ire ! 
 
 Job i. 1. The date commonly assigned to this Book, the 
 most ancient in the world, is B.C. 1520. — The land where Job 
 dwelt (which seems to have derived its name from Uz, the 
 grandson of Shem, Gen. x. 23.) is identified with Edom by the 
 prophet Jeremiah, Lament, iv. 21. 
 
9 
 
 Words that yet live and burn — in whose keen ray 
 The life and light of Edom ebb'd away : 
 Still fading, star-like, from the blaze of day ^ ! 
 And thou too, Petra, tho' the Roman came 
 And fann'd thy dying glories into flame; 
 Carv'd the tall column — rear'd the stately dome — 
 And seem'd the founder of a second Rome, — 
 How brief the pageant^ ! On thy dying brow 
 Men laid a crown — but who shall crown thee now ? 
 A thousand summers o er thy ruins crept : 
 A thousand winters o'er thy ruins wept : 
 A thousand years — and still the very spot 
 Where once thou wert so glorious, was forgot ! 
 
 What joy was his — the wandering man, who first 
 Dissolv'd the spell ; — on whom the Vision burst 
 Of that enchanted City, as it lay 
 Bath'd in the splendours of a Syrian day. 
 O Fancy, thou that must so oft have shed 
 Dreams of its beauty round his sleeping head; 
 Woke in his heart the wild-bird's wish to roam. 
 And told of marvels in that mountain-home; 
 
 c The prophecies concerning Edom, in fulness and minute- 
 ness, are second only to those concerning the chosen people of God. 
 
 d Whereas Edom saith. We are impoverished, but we will 
 return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of 
 hosts, The^ shall huild^ hut J will throw downJ^ Malachi i. 4. 
 
10 
 
 Still be it thine with angel-hand to guide 
 These longing footsteps by that traveler's side! 
 Waft o'er mine ear one echo of the strain 
 Which dark-eyed Kedar pours along the plain ; 
 Or let one gaze, how brief soe'er, inspire 
 These falt'ring lips to glow with Eastern fire ! 
 
 Sudden^ around me rocks and cliffs arise ; 
 The earth their footstool, and their crown the skies : 
 Some soaring steep, as if to curtain round 
 From mortal gaze each nook of holy ground : 
 Some prostrate hurl'd, as if by that fierce storm 
 Which rent the mountains, when th' Almighty form 
 ' Rose up from Seir;' and trembling Sinai saw 
 His thousand Saints dispense His fiery law" ! 
 And one there is which, beetling o'er the rest. 
 Pillows a Saint upon its rocky crest ^ : 
 
 e The scene of terrific splendour which attended the delivery 
 of the Law, so dimly hinted at in the Book of Exodus, is partly 
 disclosed to us in later portions of the Bible. Thus in Deute- 
 ronomy ; ^' The Lord came fi'om Sinai and rose up from Seir 
 unto them ; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came 
 with ten thousands of saints : from his right hand went a fiery 
 law for them." Deut. xxxiii. 2. Compare Ps. Ixviii. 17. and 
 the references to the New Testament in the margin. See also 
 the seventh and eighth verses of the same Psalm; which seem 
 a quotation from the Song of Deborah and Barak. 
 
 f " And Moses did as the Lord commanded : and they went 
 
11 
 
 Uplifted high — where none but stars can keep 
 Their bright-eyed vigils round his lonely sleep. 
 Fit scene for marvels ! In such land should none 
 But giants move, and giant deeds be done. 
 O'er such huge hills might fitly seem to stray 
 A ransom 'd people on their homeward way. 
 In such wild valleys, round their Ark rever'd. 
 At set of sun their myriad tents be rear'd. 
 Myriads ! and yet, above them and around. 
 Such giant features of the landscape frown 'd. 
 They seem'd no more— that people and their guide— 
 Than Jethro's flock on Horeb's hallow'd side ! 
 
 Ah say, ere gather 'd in their destin'd fold. 
 While Israel wander'd o'er this waste of old; 
 As, eve by eve, upon these mountains brown. 
 Silent as snow the heav'nly bread came down ;— 
 From the cleft rock as gush'd the sparkling wave 
 
 To cheer their sinking spirits, and to save; 
 
 And the bright pillar, through the livelong night. 
 Shed o er their tents its soft celestial light ; 
 
 up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And 
 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon 
 Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the 
 Mount:^ Numb. xx. 27, 28. 
 
Did none perchance of Judah's faithful line 
 Read the high teaching of each heav'n-sent sign ^ ? 
 Say— while around him others pin'd forlorn 
 For Canaan's valleys standing thick with corn' — 
 Did no fond heart, with nobler instinct fraught, 
 Sigh for the substance which those shadows taught ? 
 On trembling pinions seek to soar above, 
 Refin'd by sorrow, and sublim'd by love, — 
 Till Faith discern'd what Reason dimly scann'd, 
 And Hope gave promise of the better land ? 
 
 Still on for Petra,— till the desert wide 
 Shrinks to a valley ; and on either side 
 The rude rock springeth, and a long array 
 Of tombs, forgotten, sadden all the way\ 
 Then the earth yawns, teiTific : and a path. 
 By Nature fram'd in waywardness or wrath. 
 Winds where two rocks precipitously frown, — 
 The giant warders of that wondrous town ' ! 
 
 g The spiritual nature of both Sacraments was clearly set 
 forth by Moses in the wilderness. Dent. viii. 3. and x. 16. 
 
 h The valley contracts more and more, and the cliffs become 
 
 higher, presenting od each side a street of tombs Here 
 
 is the opening of the terrific chasm, which anciently formed 
 the only avenue to the city on this side." Robinson, ii. p. 
 .515, 516. 
 
 i " The rocks are all of reddish sand stone, perpendicular on 
 
13 
 
 Day comes not here, — or in such spectral guise. 
 
 She seems an outcast from yon happy skies. 
 
 In silent awe the Arab steals along. 
 
 Nor cheers his camels with their wonted song. 
 
 Well may the spirit, left alone to brood 
 
 On the dim shapes which haunt that solitude. 
 
 Overflow with joy — that dreary pathway past — 
 
 When Petra bursts upon the gaze at last. 
 
 O passing beautiful — -in this wild spot 
 Temples, and tombs, and dwellings, — all forgot ! 
 One sea of sunlight far around them spread. 
 And skies of sapphire mantling overhead. 
 They seem no work of man's creative hand. 
 Where Labour wrought as wayward Fancy plann'd ; 
 But from the rock as if by magic grown. 
 Eternal— silent — beautiful — alone ! 
 Not virgin white — like that old Doric shrine ^ 
 Where once Athena held her rites divine : 
 
 both sides ; and in some places they overhang the passage, so 
 as almost to shut out the light of the sky. .. .Indeed the 
 whole vast mass of rock seems as if originally rent asunder by 
 some great convulsion of nature, leaving behind this long, 
 narrow, winding, magnificent chasm." Ibid. p. 516. 
 
 ^ The Parthenon was constructed of the marble from Mount 
 Pentelicum,— " admitting as fine a surface, and presenting 
 as beautiful a colour, as ivory." Leake's Athens, i. p. 334. 
 
14 
 
 Not saintly grey — like many a minster fane 
 That crowns the hill or sanctifies the plain : 
 But rosy -red ^ — as if the hlush of dawn 
 Which first beheld them w^re not yet withdrawn : 
 The hues of youth upon a brow of woe. 
 Which men called old two thousand years ago ! 
 Match me such marvel, save in Eastern clime, — 
 A rose-red city — half as old as Time 1 
 
 And this is Petra — this the lofty boast 
 Of Edom s once unconquerable coast ! 
 These the gay halls thro* which, in days of old. 
 The tide of life so rapturously roll'd ! 
 These the proud streets where Wealth, with lavish hand, 
 Pour'd the rich spoils of ev'ry Orient land ; 
 All that the seaman's timid barque beguiles. 
 To Gush and Ophir, ' Tarshish and the Isles :' 
 Afric's red gold, — Arabia's spicy store, — 
 And pearl and plume from India's furthest shore""! 
 
 * Not the least remarkable circumstance in the peculiarities 
 of this singular spot, is the colour of the rocks. They present 
 not a dead mass of dull monotonous red; but an endless variety 
 of bright and living hues, from the deepest crimson to the softest 
 pink." Robinson, ii. 531. Irby and Mangles, and Laborde, 
 repeatedly notice the singular effect of the rose-coloured 
 granite" of Petra. 
 
 The inhahitants of this region had early become ex- 
 tremely engaged in commerce, as the carriers of the rich products 
 
15 
 
 How chang'd — how fallen ! All her glory fled, 
 
 The widow'd city " mourns her many dead. 
 
 Like some fond heart which gamit Disease hath left 
 
 Of all it liv'd for — all it lov'd, bereft; 
 
 Mute in its anguish ! struck with pangs too deep 
 
 For words to utter, or for tears to weep. 
 
 Yet hearts and eyes there be, well skill'd to trace 
 The living features in the lifeless face. 
 For whom that silent desert air seems rife 
 With tuneful voices and the pulse of life. 
 For them sweeps by in glitt'ring pomp again 
 The warlike pageant and the peaceful train : 
 For them bright shadows fill these vacant halls. 
 And Beauty wakes where'er their footstep falls. 
 " Heard ye it not ?" — the bright-eyed dreamer cries,— 
 
 Heard ye no shout from yonder seats arise 
 
 of the East between the Red Sea and the ports of the Phenician&. 
 In the first expedition sent by Antigonus, the men of Petra 
 were absent at a mart, and Athenseus found in Petra a large 
 quantity of frankincense and myrrh, and five hundred talents 
 of silver. Strabo relates that the merchandize of India and 
 Arabia was transported on camels from Leuce Kome to Petra, 
 and thence to Rhinocolura, and other places. Under the 
 Romans this trade appears to have become still more pros- 
 perous," &c. Robinson, ii. 561, 562. 
 
 " On the coins of Petra, the city is represented as a veiled 
 and turreted female sitting on a rock. 
 
 « One of the first objects which arrests the eye of the 
 
16 
 
 (And his rapt gaze in ecstasy is bent 
 
 On what seems Pleasure's mournful monument.) 
 
 Ye deem the actor and his mimic rage 
 Pass'd like a shadow from you ruin'd stage ; 
 But to mine eye he lives and moves : — 'tis ive 
 Are shadows here — the substance only he 1 
 Or do I dream ? — they come and fade so fast — 
 Now here, now there— now present, and now past. 
 But now, a stern old king p,— whom anguish strong 
 Had goaded into madness— stalk'd along, 
 Sightless and crownless: .... now, a maiden^ stands 
 Evn where he stood; and in her lily hands 
 Enfolds an urn : ineffable the grace— 
 The marble sorrow of that classic face ! 
 It fades— 'tis fled I .... and on a lofty car 
 There sits another^ -.-—like some baleful star 
 
 traveller on emerging from the terrific defile which forms the 
 approach to Petra, is a " theatre, wholly hewn out of the live 
 
 rock The cliffs on each side are full of tombs; while in 
 
 front, along the face of the eastern cliffs, the eye of the spec- 
 tator rests on a multitude of the largest and most splendid 
 sepulchres. Strange contrast ! where a taste for the frivolities 
 of the day, was at the same time gratified by the magnificence 
 of tombs ; amusement in a cemetery ; a theatre in the midst of 
 sepulchres." Robinson, ii. p. 521, 522. 
 
 p CEdipus. See the CEd. Tyr. v. 1307, and following verse^s. 
 
 a Electra. See the passage beginning u (piXrttrov fAvufAiTov 
 uv^^a^ofv ifAot. Soph. El. 1126. 
 
 r Cassandra. iEsch. Ag. 1039. 1054. 
 
17 
 
 Glares her wild eye'— and from her lips ofiije 
 Streams a full torrent of prophetic fire \ 
 She raves— she rises — and with frenzied hand 
 Dashes to earth her garland and her wand" .... 
 Suhlimely beautiful 1 when this is o'er 
 Let nothing follow. — I will gaze no more!" 
 
 And did ye thus, ye men of Petra — say. 
 Thus did ye while the listless hours away ? 
 Tho* ev'ry cliff, tho' ev'ry crag around. 
 With graves on graves innumerable frown 'd— 
 Thus could ye sit, contented with a toy. 
 And lapt in dreams of unsubstantial joy ? 
 Light-hearted race ! o'er them it flung no gloom 
 That Echo answer'd from a kinsman's tomb. 
 Bred in these mountain valleys, those dark eyes. 
 Fierce as their summer — cloudless as their skies — 
 Belov'd and loving — blest and blessing — here 
 Made friends with Death throughout the livelong year ^ : 
 
 * Ibid. 1063. T^o^os ^\ h^i ^$ vsat^irou. 
 
 ' Ibid. 1215. 5{r' aZ fAi ^uvhs l^SofAavnias ^ovo; \ (fr^o^Uy 
 tfu^aatrm (p^oifAtoig l<poifAiois, ». r, X. 
 
 " V U (p^o^ov mtrovT, See ibid. 1264—1270. 
 
 " In looking at the wonders of this ancient city, one is at 
 a loss, whether most to admire the wildness of the position and 
 natural scenery, or the taste and skill with which it was 
 fashioned into a secure retreat, and adorned with splendid 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 And hop'd, perchance, when Life's gay round was o er^. 
 And joy and sorrow sway'd then- hearts no more. 
 Their faithful souls, unfettered, yet might dwell 
 Amid the haunts they lov'd in life so well ! 
 
 And Petra thus had rear'd another race 
 In turn to revel in her pride of place : 
 Thus the old eagles of imperial Rome 
 Seem'd on her hills to find a second home : 
 And Roman arts with Roman arms arose. 
 To blot the mem'ry of her former foes. 
 Tho' Edom's line, by Ishmael's'' sword opprest^ 
 Had long been exil'd from their rock-built nest. 
 On Edom's rugged hills, as loath to set. 
 The sun of bygone summers linger 'd yet : 
 
 structures, — chiefly for the dead. The most striking feature 
 of the place consists, not in the fact that there are occasional 
 excavations and sculptures like those above described ; but in 
 the innumerable multitude of such excavations, along the whole 
 extent of perpendicular rocks adjacent to the main area, and in 
 all the lateral valleys and chasms ; the entrances of very many 
 of which are variously, richly, and often fantastically decorated, 
 with every imaginable order and style of architecture.'^ 
 Robinson, ii. 529, 530. Indeed throughout almost every 
 quarter of this metropolis, the depositories of the dead must 
 have presented themselves constantly to the eyes of the inha- 
 bitants, and have almost outnumbered the habitations of the 
 living." Irby and Mangles (quoted by Laborde.) 
 X See the Advertisement prefixed to the Poem. 
 
19 
 
 And men forgot — or deem'd an idle tale — 
 The words of doom that hung o'er Peira's vale. 
 It could not be — that old portentous chime 
 So long had slumber 'd by the shores of Time, 
 Why heed it now ? why talk of gloom to-day, 
 When Heav'n is blue, and Earth so green and gay ? 
 
 So spake the men of old — and ev'ry heart 
 To festive revel, or to crowded mart. 
 Flew for its joy, — not oft'ner sought than found,—- 
 So gaily there the circling hours went round ! 
 
 And nurs*d were they in Luxury — and knew 
 
 The spot of earth where ev'ry pleasure grew. 
 
 Their fountains flung their waters to the skies : 
 
 Their groves lay steep 'd in hues of Paradise ^ ! 
 
 Here rose the gorgeous sepulchre, and there 
 
 Some fairy palace hung its roof in air : 
 
 While climes remote each costly gift supplied, 
 
 (For ships of Petra sail'd on ev'ry tide;) 
 
 And all the East, in conscious splendour, roll'd 
 
 At Petra s feet her jewels and her gold. 
 
 O that her rocks had language ! and might tell 
 
 In what wild shape the storm of vengeance fell". 
 
 y T« f/,h Iktos (says Strabo, speaking of Petra) z^yifjcvod 
 
 Hfj^iiciv. xvi. 4. 21. (quoted by Robinson.) 
 ^ See Robinson, ii. 575, 576. 
 
 JB 2 
 
20 
 
 Svvift— sweeping — sudden — whensoe'er it came ; 
 Blighting and blasting, — like the breath of flame. 
 One piercing cry — one agonizing wail — 
 One voice from Edom's cities told the tale: 
 One cry of bitterness — and all was o'er; 
 But the far echo smote the Red-Sea shore''; 
 And peal'd along its waters — till the waves 
 Made hollow answer from their coral caves 1 
 
 How chang'd, O Edom, since that horn-, the scene 
 From what the morning of thy days had been 1 
 When many a valley rich with corn and wine. 
 When streams of earth, and dews of Heav n were thine ; 
 And flocks and herds — a patriarch's ample store — 
 Till all thy cup with plenteousness ran o er^ 
 
 a Hear the counsel of the Lord that He hath taken against 
 
 Edom The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the 
 
 cry, the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea,'' Jerem. 
 xlix. 20, 21. 
 
 b An Italian traveller relates of his voyage on the Red Sea, 
 that the weather was so calm, and the water so transparent, 
 that he amused himself by observing the peculiarity of the 
 depths beneath him, where weeds and corals grow to such a 
 size, and so disposed, as almost to have the appearance of 
 groves and gardens." 
 
 ^ The terms of Esau's blessing (Gen. xxvii. 39.) well agree 
 with what we read of the pastoral wealth of Job. ( Job i. 3.) 
 See also the evidence of a similar kind afforded by Numb. xx. 
 17: but 'He turneth rivers into a wilderness^ and the 
 watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, 
 for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." 
 
Then Faith with thee her sacred mansion made; 
 
 And holy lips, within thy summer shade. 
 
 Of bright Arcturusand Orion told; — 
 
 And the sweet sway the wand'ring Pleiads hold*^; — 
 
 And of the matin hymn which hurst sublime 
 
 From all Creation at th« birth of Time; 
 
 When ' Earth self-balanc'd on its centre hung/ 
 
 And * all the morning stars' like seraphs sung.— 
 
 Such were the themes thy children lov'd to hear 
 
 When first they dwelt along the vales of Seir. 
 
 While youths and maids from each romantic town 
 
 Went forth in dances when the sun went down ; 
 
 And antique tale, and legendary song. 
 
 And harp and timbrel* made the night less long. 
 
 But who are these ^ that kneel in lowly state. 
 And plead for love at Petra s haughty gate ; 
 
 c Job xix. 25 — 27. 
 
 d " Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or 
 
 loose the bands of Orion Or canst thou guide Arcturus 
 
 with his sons?" Job xxxviii. 31, 32. See also ix. 9. 
 
 e They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their 
 children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice 
 at the sound of the organ.'' Job xxi. 11, 12. 
 
 ^ See the account of the application made by Moses for 
 leave to conduct the Israelites, after their forty years wander- 
 ing in the desert, across the mountains of Edom, which was 
 the shortest road towards the Land of Promise. Numbers 
 x^. 14—21. 
 
22 
 
 That urge by each endearing claim their prayer ?— 
 
 Thy kindred, Edom,— the redeem'd are there I 
 
 Scan well that brow,~and dost thou mark no line. 
 
 No stamp of feature that resembles thine ? 
 
 Does nought recall an old ancestral tale : — 
 
 Two brothers bred in Hebron's happy vale,— 
 
 Far Mamre's oak— where blazed their altar fires; 
 
 And Mamre s cave— where sleep your common sires ? 
 
 Or if such plea, all cruel as thou art ! 
 
 Can wake no softness in thy rugged heart, 
 
 Yet feel for these— the youthful and the fair. 
 
 The weary mother, and her fainting care! 
 
 Yea, feel for all— the mighty orphan host. 
 
 Which God, in love, hath guided to thy coast ^ : 
 
 Which doth but crave along yon path to roam, 
 
 And win the haven of its promis'd home :— 
 
 And how spake Edom ? Threatening words he said 
 
 To men whom Edom's very rocks had fed : 
 
 f It can scarcely be necessary to suggest in illustration of 
 the preceding verses the history of Isaac's two sons :— Mamre, 
 (or Hebron) the residence of Abraham and Isaac, and the 
 scene of God's visit to the former patriarch ;— the cave of 
 Machpelah, where Abraham and Sarah were buried, and 
 where Esau and Jacob buried their father Isaac:— and the 
 circumstance that all but two of those who entered the Land 
 of Promise had lost their parents in the wilderness. 
 
23 
 
 Of all the past, no image filled his eye, 
 But Jacob s blessing — Esau's bitter cry : — 
 He bard his sword! — On that unnatural day 
 A curse came down when Israel turn'd away. 
 
 Years sped their course: the fierce Chaldean came. 
 And Salem's walls were wrapt in robes of flame: 
 Fair Z ion's height with carnage all o'erspread; 
 Her temple fallen, and its glory fled : 
 And thou wert there! with unrelentino^ brow 
 The first to slay — the first to triumph, thou^! 
 Foremost to hurl the blazing brand ^, and fill 
 The festive cup on Zion's holy hill'! 
 Could none be found but thee ? Could wrath divine 
 Be dealt on Judah by no hand but thine ? 
 
 s For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall 
 
 cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever In the day 
 
 that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners 
 entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou 
 wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on 
 the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; 
 neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah 
 in the day of their destruction ; neither shouldest thou have 
 
 spoken proudly in the day of distress either shouldest 
 
 thou have stood in the cross way, to cut off those of his that did 
 escape," &c. Obadiah v. 10 — 14. 
 
 ^ The Temple which the Edomites burned when Judaea 
 was made desolate by the Chaldees." 1 Esdr. iv. 45. 
 
 * As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee for as 
 
 ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall," cfec. Obadiah 
 V. 15, 16. 
 
24 
 
 " Remember, Lord," — the mom-nful captives cried 
 
 As sad they wept by Babel's willowy sideS — 
 
 " O Lord, remember, in that horn' of woe. 
 
 How taunting Edom prov'd om' deadliest foe!" 
 
 And that sad plaint, to Heav'n's high throne upborne,. 
 
 Tho' all that heard it curl'd the lip with scorn, 
 
 Call'd down the wrath which spake from many a lyre 
 
 In strains that blasted like the breath of fire : 
 
 And the wild winds the accents swept along. 
 
 Till Edom's cliffs reechoed to the song. 
 
 On cold high hearts at first that warning fell,. 
 For Edom held his wind-rock'd citadel: 
 From Petra's cliff look'd forth in impious pride. 
 And Zion's wrath and Zion s God defied. 
 Then spake a voice — " Altho* thou build thy nest 
 High as the stars;— and on the mountain's breast 
 Sitt'st brooding like the eagle ; — yet My frown 
 Shall hurl thy glory and thy greatness down^: 
 
 ^ By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we 
 wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged oar harps 
 
 upon the willows Kemember, O Lord, the children of 
 
 Edom in the day of Jerusalem ; who said, Ease it, rase it, 
 even to the foundation thereof." Psalm cxxxvii. 1, 2, 7. 
 
 1 See Jerem. xhx. 16. and the quotation from the prophecy 
 of Obadiah prefixed to the poem. 
 
25 
 
 Yea, when all earth rejoiceth, there shall be 
 A desolation and a curse on thee"!" 
 
 Go, mark her well — and lies she not forlorn P 
 The stranger's wonder, and the heathen's scorn I 
 Her royal roofs with nettles all o'ergrown^; — 
 Her many towns a wilderness of stone?; — 
 And save where swims the eagle high in air'^. 
 No sound of life — no pulse of motion there ^^ 
 There springs no verdure in her pathless vales n 
 The river flows not, and the fountain fails ; 
 
 Thus saith the Lord God ; When the whole earth 
 rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate." Ezek. xxxv. 14. 
 
 » For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and 
 despised among men.'^ Jerem. xlix. 15_Not to overload 
 the page with quotations, it may suffice to state that the 
 accounts of modern travellers shew that the prophecies con- 
 cerning Edom have all met with the most extraordinary 
 literal fulfilment. 
 
 o And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and 
 brambles in the fortresses thereof." Is. xxxiv. 13. 
 
 P " He shall stretch out upon it the stones of empti- 
 ness." Is. xxxiv. 11. 
 
 q The owl also and the raven shall dwell in it." Is. xxxiv. 
 11 — Eagles, hawks, and owls are the only living creatures 
 Irby and Mangles found at Petra. 
 
 ^ 1 will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities 
 shall not return." Ezek. xxxv. 9. " From generation to 
 generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for 
 ever and ever." Is. xxxiv. 10. 
 
 s Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, O Mount Seir, I am 
 against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee; 
 
26 
 
 She keeps no feature of her ancient face : 
 There breathes not one of Esau's royal race' : 
 And while yon stars in tuneful circles roll, — 
 While Summer cheers, and Winter chills the pole, — 
 While Night and Day in soft succession shine,— 
 So long shall Edom own her doom divine: 
 Attest His truth, who spake the word of old. 
 And stand, a mark for ages to behold : 
 A wreck thrown up on Time s deserted shore,— 
 A blight — a blank — a curse for evermore 1 
 Daughter of Zion"" — fallen as thou art. 
 Far other strains address thy sorrowing heart ! 
 Tho' bare thy mountains, and thy vales forlorn 
 Unblest by culture, yield thee briar and thorn, — 
 
 and T will make thee most desolate O Mount Seir, and 
 
 all Idumea, even all of it; and they shall know that I am 
 
 the LoRD.'^ Ezek. xxxv. 3 — 15. 
 
 « " There shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau ; 
 
 for the Lord hath spoken it." Obad. v. 18. 
 
 u As the sacred narrative of the fortunes of God's chosen 
 
 people begins by setting before us the hostility of Esau and 
 Jacob; and at intervals, as if incidentally, reminds us of that 
 
 continued and ever-widening breach ; so the prophetic canon, 
 when it is drawing towards a close, constantly brings before 
 us, and sets in awful contrast, the ulterior destiny of Edom and 
 Israel (e. g. Ezek. xxxv. and xxxvi : Joel iii. 19 — 21 : Obad. 
 
 V. 1 16. and v. 17 — 2 i .) The writer judged he could not more 
 
 fitly conclude his verses than by exhibiting this contrast, in 
 terms borrowed from prophecy. 
 
27 
 
 Yet shall thy wilderness break forth and sing'; 
 The myrtle smile — the graceful cedar spring ^ ; — 
 Life-giving streams thy barren rock disclose % 
 And all the desert ' blossom like the rose'* ! 
 Thy scatter 'd sons, tho' now they wander wide. 
 Shall yet be gathered to thy longing side^; 
 And all Ezekiel's solemn vision be " 
 A type of faithful love fulfill'd in thee. 
 Yea, tho' rude hands have spoil'd fair Salem's tow'rs; 
 Tho' steps profane have press'd her hallow'd bow'rs ; 
 Tho' ' Siloa's brook* no longer softly flows 
 Fast by the hill where once her glory rose^ ; 
 
 * The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you 
 into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their 
 hands.'^ Is. Iv. 12. 
 
 y " Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and 
 instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree," Is. Iv. 
 
 13. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the 
 
 myrtle ; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, 
 
 and the box tree together." Is. xli. 19. 
 
 ^ " I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the 
 midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of 
 water, and the dry lands springs of water." Is. xli. 18. 
 
 ^ " And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom like the rose." 
 
 Is. XXXV. 1. 
 
 ^ Lift up thine eyes round about, and see : all they gather 
 themselves together, they come to thee : thy sons shall come 
 from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." 
 Is. Ix. 4. 
 
 ^ Ezekiel xxxvii. 1 — 14. 
 
 ^ Isaiah viii. 6. — Dr. Eobinson mentions that there was no 
 water in the reservoir of Siloam, when he visited Jerusalem. 
 
28 
 
 Yet fear not thou ! the voice of Love divine 
 Still cries — " Awaken thee !" Arise, and shine ^" 
 * There is a river' which shall yet make blest 
 Thy heav'nly home, the city of thy rest. 
 That holy City, seen by prophet eyes^ 
 Waits but the sigiial that shall rend the skies, 
 And thou shalt all the glorious sight behold^, — 
 The walls of jasper, and the streets of gold: 
 The twelve bright Saints, impatient to unfurl 
 The twelve broad gates, — and ev'ry gate a pearl ^ ! 
 The Tree of life beside the crystal wave. 
 With ' leaves to heal the nations,' and to save ' : 
 
 e " Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion ; put on 
 thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city." Is. lii. 1. 
 *^ Arise, shine ; for thy li^ ht is come, and the glory of the Lord 
 is risen upon thee.'' Is. Ix. 1. 
 
 ^ " And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 
 down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for 
 her husband.'' Rev. xxi. 2. 
 
 g " And there came unto me one of the seven Angels 
 
 and he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high 
 mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, 
 descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God : 
 and her light was Hke unto a stone most precious." Rev. xxi. 
 9, 10, 11. 
 
 h It " had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and 
 
 at the gates twelve Angels and the building of the wall of 
 
 it was of jasper and the twelve gates were twelve pearls; 
 
 every several gate was of one pearl : and the street of the city 
 was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. . . .And the gates 
 of it shall not be shut at all." Rev. xxi. 12, 18, 21, 25. 
 
 > And he shewed me a pure river of water of hfe, clear as 
 
Arid Him reveal'd whom thou so dhrily knew, — 
 The Lamb, — th}^ Sacrifice and Temple too; 
 Whom Seraphs veil their faces when they sing'', — 
 Thine own Thrice-holy, Prophet, Priest, and King ! 
 And there no sun shall daily need to rise: 
 And there no moon shall nightly sail the skies. 
 What need of sun by day, or moon by night P 
 The Lord thy glory, and the Lamb thy light ^ ! 
 Thy portion there, where Time itself shall be 
 One long long rest — one sabbath-day to thee ! 
 
 crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb 
 .... and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, 
 .... and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the 
 nations.'* Rev. xxii. 1, 2. 
 
 ^ And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty 
 and the Lamb are the temple of it." Kev xxi. 22. ^* I saw 
 
 also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up 
 
 Above it stood the Seraphims : each one had six wings ; with 
 twain he covered his face .... and one cried unto another, 
 and said, Holy, holy, holy." Is. vi. 1—3. 
 
 ^ And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the 
 moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did hghten it, and 
 the Lamb is the light thereof." Rev. xxi. 23. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 AT URBANA-CHAfv^PAIGN