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Line after line, insufferably bright;

The black artillery, in their cloudy might,
Impious defiance lanch'd against the skies.
With tamer sounds did that wild Heathen* vaunt
Amid his thund'rous heavens high Jove to daunt.
Day after day I saw their pomp depart;
Then said the haughty frenzy of my heart,
When o'er this world thy victor wheels are driven,
Wilt thou go vanquish the bright stars of Heaven?

And lo, the rival nations hurrying

To crowd beneath my passing eagle's wing;
Lo, 'mong my captains many a sceptred king.

Now, now the northern skies are all on fire
As with some mighty Empire's funeral pyre!
Why bring they not proud Catherine's trophies home?
I hear the sound of wheels-They come, they come.'

A solitary sound-no pomp of war

One dastard pale accomplice of his flight,

He comes, whom earth, and all earth's sons obey,
The peerless and the paragon of might;
The pinnace of the Persian runaway
Was glory to his lone and hurrying car.

I ask'd for those in fight, in triumph tried,
The partners of his peril and his pride.
He, in a tyrant's mockery of my woe,
Bade me go seek them in the Scythian snow.

Then felt I what a pitiful tame slave

Was I, who vaunted me mankind's sole queen, The satellite of one man's wayward spleenThe remnant of my fair, my young, my brave, Were rent once more to forge the adamant chain Burst by the nations, who with one accord

Shook the bright vengeance of the freeman's
sword-

Another year-and the broad Rhine again
Shrouded the sceptred fugitive's pale train,

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ALEXANDER TUMULUM ACHILLIS INVI-
SENS, POEMA.

CANCELLARII PREMIO DONATUM, ET IN THEATRO
SHELDONIANO RECITATUM DIE JUN. XXXmo. A.D. 1813.
JAM puer Emathius Thebarum nigra favillâ
Monia, Cadmeamque arcem, jam Palladis urbem
Immemorem famæ, pronamque in jussa tyranni
Fregerat; at victas gentes partosque triumphos
Spernit atrox animi, et pacem fastidit inertem.
Europes angusta pati confinia nescit

Mentito soboles Jove non indigna, novumque
Poscit in arma orbem; jam transilit Hellespontum,
Purpureique Asia proceres atque agmina regum,
Sceptrigeri quotquot stipant Babylonia Medi
Atria, Grajugenûm horrescunt nota arma virorum,
Myrmidonumque graves, fatalia tela, sarissas,
Confertos clypeos, inconcussamque phalangen.-
At simul ac Phrygiæ campos, Priameia regna,

Then turn'd a rebel, roll'd her free waves to the main. Conspicit, et Graiæ latè loca conscia famæ

And now the banners of the embattled world
Their folds of vengeance on my vales unfurl'd.
Oh, bloody was the evening of thine ire,
Thou gorgeous comet of disastrous fire!

I wont to see, as from some quiet star,
Deluging slaughter this fair earth o'erwhelm,
On the rich bosom of my sunny realm
Gave quarry to the ravening dogs of war.
But mercy shone upon the merciless!
Strong but to save and valiant but to bless,
No ruthless Cæsars clad in blood and flame,

Royal in virtue the Avengers came.

Those whom I spoil'd, no spoilers came to me,

Gramineosque ducum tumulos, subit undique Achivum
Gloria et adversis bellantia numina in armis,
Et Lacedæmoniâ sævæ pro conjuge clades.
Omne igitur lustrare juvat, quod mente dolores
Iliacos renovet, Danaumque resuscitet iras.
Spumeus hic Xanthus nemorosâ pronus ab Idâ,
Non galeas, non scuta virûm, sed proruta saxa
Arboreosque rapit violento flumine truncos.
Hic, ubi luxuriat flaventi campus aristâ,
Laomedonteum fuit Ilion, undique nullæ
Reliquiæ apparent muri, fractæve columnæ,
Oblita non musco viridanti saxa, Pelasgi
Usque adeo miseras Troja invidere ruinas.
Rhæteasque procul rupes, tumulumque capacem,
Ajacis, vastâ elatum super æquora mole

I said, 'Be slave, O earth!' but they-O France, be Cernere erat-sed nulla quies-sed fervidus Heros free.'

For yon dark chief of woe, and guilt, and strife,
O sceptred judges! punish him with life.
Fear not he seek with the old Roman pride,
That weakness to the noble soul allied,
To die as Cato, and as Brutus died.

Salmoneus.

Stare loco nescit, flagratque cupidine pugnæ.
Devenit at tandem, Sigeo ubi littore collis
Eminet apricus, quem suavè olentia circum
Serpylla, et viridi cingunt dumeta coronâ.
Hunc et Abydenus sea mollem navita Leshon,
Pampineamve Chion, Samiæve altaria Divæ
Invisit, radiante orientis lumine solis
Prospicit ardentem, remoque acclinis, Homeri

Suave aliquod carmen secum meditatur, et hæret Ingentem tumulum, et Manes veneratus Achillis.

Qualis Mæonii divino in carmine vatis

Stat torvus vultu, et cœlestibus horret in armis,
Fulmineosque agitat currus sublimis, et unum
Hectora, per trepidas unum petit Hectora turmas:
Haud aliter cæca acides tellure videtur,
Ceu lituo fremituque armorum excitus amato,
Tollere se, juvenique ingens gratarier umbra.
Hunc videt, et viso gaudet, quin totus inani
Figitur in specie, quamque ipse effinxerat umbram
Esse putat veram, mutoque immobilis ore
Stat Macedo; ast Asiæ fines atque ultimus orbis
Sentit Alexandri requiem, tardataque fata.

Tum lecti comites instaurant sacra, et odori
Rite coronatis fumant altaribus ignes.
Fervet opus, latices pars vivo e fonte, Lyæo
Immistos roseo, sinceraque flumina lactis
Auratis libant pateris, pars florea, circum
Serta, et odoriferos dispergunt veris honores.
Quin et gramineam niveus mactatur ad aram
Taurus, et humectat sacratam sanguine arenam.

At procul Idæo spectat de vertice pompam
Turba Phrygum, mistaque irâ et formidine mussat,
Hos novus angit honos et adhuc invisus Achilles.
Atque aliqua in trepida mater stat mæsta catervâ
Andromachen animo reputans, Ithacique cruentâ
Astyanacta manu dejectum manibus altis,
Dilectumque premit pavefacta ad pectora natum.
Stat virgo, mæstosque fovet sub corde timores,
Ne nova materno direpta Polyxena collo
Placet Achilleos infando sanguine Manes.

At Rex Emathius nodosæ innititur hastæ Majestate minax, tacitâ, ceu numine plenus Fatidico vates, e pectore protinus amens Excutit ille Deum, pulcher furor occupat ora, Terror inest oculis, procerior emicat ingens Forma viri, fluitant agitatæ in casside cristæ.

"Me quoque, me," clamat, "belli post mille labores,
Post fractas urbes, post regna hâc proruta dextrâ
Ultima cantabit tellus, gens nulla silebit
Nomen Alexandri, sobolemque fatebitur Hammon.
Te, magne acida, decimus te viderit annus
Iliacas arces et debita Pergama fatis
Oppugnantem armis, me Sol mirabitur ire
Victorem, cursuque suos prævertere currus.
Jam Susa, et præclara auro niveoque elephanto
Ecbatana, et frustra patriorum ope freta Deorum
Persepolis (tristes inhiant ceu nubibus atris
Agricolæ dubii quos fulmine proterat agros
Jupiter) expectant ruiturum in mania Martem;
Servitium quibus una salus, quibus ultima et una est
Gloria Alexandri dextrâ meruisse ruinam.
Adsum ego, jam Babylon æratus pandere portas
Festinat, patiturque superbo flumine pontem
Euphrates, Graiumque minax strepit ungula equorum,
Et Larissens super ardua monia currus;
Quo ferus Hystaspes, quo tramite Cyrus adegit

Quadrijugos, Lydoque equitavit fulgidus auro,
Et non fœmineis animosa Semiramis armis.
Deinde coloratos, qualis Jovis ales, ad Indos,
Et matutinæ rosea incunabula lucis
Deferor, auriferos Macedo bibit impiger amnes.
Atque ubi Pellæis tellus jam deficit armis,
Nec superest nostro gens non indigna triumpho,
Unus Alexander victo dominabitur orbi.

"Jamque procul Martis strepitus, jam pervenit aures
Ferrea vox belli, jam dira ad prælia Medus
Aureus accingit galeam gladiumque coruscat
Impatiens fati, et Graiæ vim provocat ultro
Cuspidis, ardentique superbit barbarus ostro-
Non æquas, Darie, malo petis omine pugnas!
Ibat ovans ferrum Argolicis flammasque carinis
Insanâ virtute ferens Priameius Hector.
Illum ergo Illiacæ rediturum vespere sero
Speravere nurus, Pelide cæde madentem

Atque Agamemnonios agitantem ad Pergama currus.
Speravere diu-crines procul ille venustos
Formosumque caput fœdabat pulvere in atro
Sordidus, Argivisque dabat ludibria nautis.

"Tartareas fauces reserabit et horrida claustra
Rex Erebi, utque meam videat coram invidus hastam
Myrmidonumque feros referentia bella parentes,
Ad superas ingentem auras emittit Achillem.
Ille mihi pugnas inter fremitumque, furoremque
Addit se comitem, et curru famulatur ovanti.
Vidi egomet, nisi vana oculos illusit imago,
Spicula crispantem, atque minaci cassida fronte,
Nutantem, quæ luce vagos tremefecit ahenâ
Priamidas, nigrumque auratis Memnona bigis.
Vidi egomet, neque vana fides, atroque sub Orco
Immortalem animam tangit laus sera nepotum,
Famaque Tartareis sonat haud ingrata sub umbris.
Felix Eacida! tacitas inglorius îsses

Ad sedes Erebi, cæcâque oblivia nocte
Invida pressissent nomen, quod barbarus Istri
Potor, et Herculeis gens si qua admota columnis
Novit, et Æthiopes non æquo Sole calentes.
At tibi Mæonides, seu quis Deus, aurea Olympi
Regna procul linquens, cæci senis induit ora,
Et plus quàm mortale melos, bellumque, tumultum
que

Infremuit, divina tuæ præconia laudis,
Æternumque dedit viridem frondescere famam.

'Et nobis quandoque dabunt hæc ultima dona Dii, quibus Emathium decus et mea gloria curæ. Exoriare aliquis, nostrum qui nomen, Homerus, Pellæosque feras ad sæcula sera triumphos, Exoriare, novus plectro non deerit Achilles.”—

Hæc fatus, clypeo fremuit, dirosque dedere
Æra sonos, quassisque armis exercitus omnis
Intonuere, simul nemorosa remugiit Ida.
Quos sonitus, Granice, tuum ad fatale fluentum.
Persarumque acies et pictis Medus in armis
Agnovere procul, solio Darius eburno
Exsiluit, fatique pavens præsagia iniqui
Non audituro fudit vota irrita cœlo.

FORTUNE.

FROM THE ITALIAN OF GUIDI.

A LADY, like to Juno in her state,

Upon the air her golden tresses streaming,
And with celestial eyes of azure beaming,
Enter'd whilere my gate,
Like a Barbaric Queen

On the Euphrates shore,

In purple and fine linen was she pall'd,

Nor flower nor laurel green,

Her tresses for their garland wore

The splendour of the Indian emerald.

But through the rigid pride and pomp unbending
Of beauty and of haughtiness,
Sparkled a flattery sweet and condescending:
And from her inmost bosom sent,
Came accents of most wonderous gentleness,
Officious and intent

To thrall my soul in soft imprisonment.

And "Place," she said, "thy hand within my hair, And all around thou'lt see

Delightful chances fair

On golden feet come dancing unto thee.
Me Jove's daughter shalt thou own,
That with my sister Fate

Sits by his side on state

On the eternal throne.

Great Neptune to my will the ocean gives :

In vain, in well-appointed strength secure, The Indian and the Briton strives

The assaulting billows to endure;

Unless their flying sails I guide
Where over the smooth tide

On my sweet spirit's wings I ride.
I banish to their bound

The storms of dismal sound,

And o'er them take my stand with foot serene;
The Eolian caverns under

The wings of the rude winds I chain,
And with my hand I burst asunder
The fiery chariot wheels of the hurricane :
And in its fount the horrid restless fire

I quench ere it aspire

To Heaven, to colour the red Comet's train.

This is the hand that forged on Ganges' shore

The Indians' empire; by Orontes set

The royal tiar the Assyrian wore;
Hung jewels on the brow of Babylon,

By Tigris wreath'd the Persian's coronet,

And at the Macedonian's foot bow'd every throne.
It was my lavish gift,

The triumph and the song
Around the youth of Pella loud uplift,
When he through Asia swept along,
A torrent swift and strong;
With me, with me the Conqueror ran
To where the Sun his golden course began;
And the high Monarch left on earth

A faith unquestion'd of his heavenly birth;

By valour mingled with the Gods above,

And made a glory of himself to his great father Jove.

44

My royal spirits oft

Their solemn mystic round

On Rome's great birth-day wound:
And I the haughty Eagles sprung aloft
Unto the Star of Mars upborne,

Till, poising on their plumy sails,
They 'gan their native vales
And Sabine palms to scorn:
And I on the seven hills to sway

That Senate House of Kings convened,
On me their guide and stay

Ever the Roman counsels lean'd

In danger's lofty way.

I guerdon'd the wise delay

Of Fabius with the laurel crown,
And hot Marcellus' fiercer battle tone;
And I on the Tarpeian did deliver

Afric a captive, and through me Nile flow'd
Under the laws of the great Latin river;
And of his bow and quiver

The Parthian rear'd a trophy high and broad:
The Dacian's fierce inroad

Against the gates of iron broke,

Taurus and Caucasus endured my yoke:

Then my vassal and my slave

Did every native land of every wind become, And when I had o'ercome

All earth beneath my feet, I gave

The vanquish'd world in one great gift to Rome.

"I know that in thine high imagination,

Other daughters of Great Jove Have taken their Imperial station,

And queen-like thy submissive passions move; From them thou hopest a high and godlike fate, From them thy haughty verse presages An everlasting sway o'er distant ages, And with their glorious rages

Thy mind intoxicate,

Deems 't is in triumphal motion,
On courser fleet, or winged bark,
Over earth and over ocean;

While in shepherd hamlet dark

Thou livest, with want within, and raiment coarse

without;

And none upon thy state hath thrown

Gentle regard; I, I alone

To new and lofty venture call thee out;

Then follow, thus besought,
Waste not thy soul in thought;
Brooks nor sloth nor lingering
The great moment on the wing."

"A blissful lady and immortal, born From the eternal mind of Deity

(I answer'd bold and free),
My soul hath in her queenly care;

She mine imagination doth upbear,

And steeps it in the light of her rich morn, That overshades and sicklies all thy shining; And though my lowly hair

Presume not to bright crowns of thy entwining, Yet in my mind I bear

Gifts nobler and more rare

Than the kingdoms thou canst lavish,

Gifts thou canst nor give nor ravish:

And though my spirit may not comprehend
Thy chances bright and fair,

Yet neither doth her sight offend

The aspect pale of miserable care:
Horror to her is not

Of this coarse raiment, and this humble cot;
She with the golden Muses doth abide,
And oh the darling children of thy pride
Shall then be truly glorified,
When they may merit to be wrapt around
With my Poesy's eternal sound."

She kindled at my words and flamed, as when
A cruel star hath wide dispread
Its locks of bloody red,
She burst in wrathful menace then:
"Me fears the Dacian, the band

Of wandering Scythians fears,

Me the rough mothers of Barbaric kings;
In woe and dread amid the rings

Of their encircling spears
The purple tyrants stand;
And a shepherd here forlorn

Treats my proffer'd boons with scorn.
And fears he not my wrath?

And knows he not my works of scathe;
Nor how with angry foot I went,
Of every province in the Orient,

Branding the bosom with deep tracks of death?
From three Empresses I rent

The tresses and imperial wreath,

And bared them to the pitiless element. Well I remember when his armed grasp

From Asia stretch'd, rash Xerxes took his stand Upon the formidable bridge to clasp

And manacle sad Europe's trembling hand:

In the great day of battle there was I,

Busy with myriads of the Persian slaughter, The Salaminian sea's fair face to dye,

That yet admires its dark and bloody water; Full vengeance wreak'd I for the affront Done Neptune at the fetter'd Hellespont.

"To the Nile then did I go,

The fatal collar wound

The fair neck of the Egyptian Queen around;
And I the merciless poison made to flow
Into her breast of snow.

Ere that within the mined cave,

I forced dark Afric's valour stoop

Confounded, and its dauntless spirit droop.

When to the Carthaginian brave,

With mine own hand, the hemlock draught I gave.

"And Rome through me the ravenous flame

In the heart of her great rival, Carthage, cast, That went through Libya wandering, a scorn'd shade, Till, sunk to equal shame,

Her mighty enemy at last

A shape of mockery was made:
Then miserably pleased,

Her fierce and ancient vengeance she appeased;
And even drew a sigh

Over the ruins vast

Of the deep-hated Latin majesty.

I will not call to mind the horrid sword
Upon the Memphian shore,

Steep'd treasonously in great Pompey's gore, Nor that for rigid Cato's death abhorr'd;

Nor that which in the hand of Brutus wore The first deep colouring of a Cæsar's blood. Nor will I honour thee with thy high mood Of wrath, that kingdoms doth exterminate; Incapable art thou of my great hate,

As my great glories. Therefore shall be thine
Of my revenge a slighter sign;
Yet will I make its fearful sound
Hoarse and slow rebound,

Till seem the gentle pipings low

To equal the fierce trumpet's brazen glow."

Then sprang she on her flight,

Furious, and at her call,

Upon my cottage did the storms alight, Did hurricanes and thunders fall.

But I, with brow serene,

Beheld the angry hail

And lightning flashing pale,
Devour the promise green
Of my poor native vale.

THE MERRY HEART.

I WOULD not from the wise require
The lumber of their learned lore;
Nor would I from the rich desire
A single counter of their store.

For I have ease, and I have health,
And I have spirits, light as air;

And more than wisdom, more than wealth,-
A merry heart, that laughs at care.

At once, 't is true, two 'witching eyes
Surprised me in a luckless season,
Turn'd all my mirth to lonely sighs,
And quite subdued my better reason.
Yet 't was but love could make me grieve.
And love you know 's a reason fair,

And much improved, as I believe,
The merry heart, that laugh'd at care.

So now from idle wishes clear

I make the good I may not find; Adown the stream I gently steer, And shift my sail with every wind. And half by nature, half by reason, Can still with pliant heart prepare The mind, attuned to every season, The merry heart, that laughs at care.

Yet, wrap me in your sweetest dream,
Ye social feelings of the mind,

Give, sometimes give, your sunny gleam,
And let the rest good-humour find.
Yes, let me hail and welcome give
To every joy my lot may share,
And pleased and pleasing let me live
With merry heart, that laughs at care.

THE TAKING OF TROY.

CHORUS FROM THE TROADES OF EURIPIDES.

A SAD, unwonted song,
O'er Ilion, Muse! prolong,
Mingled with tears of woe,
The funeral descant slow.

I too, with shriek and frantic cry,
Take up the dismal melody;

How, lost through that strange four-wheel'd car,
Stern Argo's captive chains we wear,
What time the Greek, or ere he fled
Left at our gate the armed steed,
Menacing the heavens with giant height,
And all with golden housings bright.

Shouted all the people loud,

On the rock-built height that stood,-
"Come," they sang, and on they prest,-
"Come, from all our toils released,
Lead the blest image to the shrine

Of her, the Jove-born Trojan maid divine!"

Linger'd then what timorous maid?
Her age his tardy steps delay'd;-
With gladsome shout, and jocund song,
They drew their treacherous fate along!
And all the Phrygian rout
Through every gate rush'd out.
On the dangerous gift they lead,
The beauty of th' unyoked, immortal steed,
With its ambush'd warrior freight,
Argos' pride and Ilion's fate.
Round the stately horse, and round
Cord and cable soon they wound;
And drag it on, like pinnace dark
Of some tall and stately bark,
To the temple's marble floor,
Soon to swim with Trojan gore.
O'er the toil, the triumph, spread
Silent night her curtain'd shade;
But Libyan pipes still sweetly rang,
And many a Phrygian air they sang;
And maidens danced with airy feet,
To the jocund measures sweet.
And every house was blazing bright,
As the glowing festival light

Its rich and purple splendour stream'd,
Where the mantling wine-cup gleam'd.

But I, the while, the palace-courts around,
Hymning the mountain queen, Jove's virgin daughter,

Went with blithe dance, and music's sprightly sound,

When, all at once, the frantic cry of slaughter
All through the wide and startled city ran!
The shudd'ring infants on their mothers' breasts
Clung with their hands, and cower'd within their vests.
Forth stalk'd the mighty Mars, and the fell work
began,

The work of Pallas in her ire!

Then round each waning altar-fire,

Wild Slaughter, drunk with Phrygian blood,
And murtherous Desolation strew'd;
Where, on her couch of slumber laid,
Was wont to rest the tender maid,

To warrior Greece the crown of triumph gave,
The last full anguish to the Phrygian slave!

THE SLAVE SHIP.

[Founded on the following fact :-"The case of the Rodeur, mentioned by Lord Lansdowne. A dreadful ophthalmia prevailed among the slaves on board this ship, which was communicated to the crew, so that there was but a single man who could see to guide the vessel into port."--Quart. Rev. vol. 26, p. 71.]

OLD, sightless man, unwont art thou,
As blind men use, at noon

To sit and sun thy tranquil brow,
And hear the birds' sweet tune.

There's something heavy at thy heart,
Thou dost not join the pray'r;
Even at God's word thou 'It writhe and start,
"Oh! man of God, beware!"

"If thou didst hear what I could say,

"Twould make thee doubt of grace, And drive me from God's house away,

Lest I infect the place."

"Say on; there's nought of human sin,
Christ's blood may not atone:"
"Thou canst not read what load's within
This desperate heart."-"Say on."

"The skies were bright, the seas were calm, We ran before the wind,

That, bending Afric's groves of palm,

Came fragrant from behind.

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