Thus, all in vain exhorted and reproved, She perished; and, as for a wilful crime, By the just Gods whom no weak pity moved, 160 Was doomed to wear out her appointed time, An arch thrown back between luxuria wings Of whitest garniture, like fir-tree bough To which, on some unruffled mornin clings A flaky weight of winter's purest snow Apart from happy Ghosts, that gather -Behold!-as with a gushing impu flowers And ever, when such stature they had gained heaves That downy prow, and softly cleaves Winds the mute Creature without visil Or Rival, save the Queen of night That Ilium's walls were subject to their Where'er he turned, a natural grace [So pure, so bright, so fitted to embrace view, The trees' tall summits withered at the sight; A constant interchange of growth and blight!2 XXXII. DION. [Composed 1816.-Published 1820.] (SEE PLUTARCH.) [ 1. ] haughtiness without pretence, &c. &c. &c. (Edd. 1820, 1827, 1332 I. SERENE, and fitted to embrace, [FAIR is the Swan, whose majesty, pre- Of Plato's genius, from its lofty sphere, vailing O'er breezeless water, on Locarno's lake, 1 For an account of the important changesmaterial as well as formal-introduced from time to time into this stanza, see Editor's note, p. 901.-ED. 2 For the account of these long-lived trees, see Pliny's "Natural History." lib. xvi. cap. 44; and for the features in the character of Protesilaus, see the "Iphigenia in Aulis" of Euripides. Virgil places the Shade of Laodamia in a mournful region, among unhappy Lovers, It comes. His Laodamią Fell round him in the grove of Academ Softening their inbred dignity austereThat he, not too elate With self-sufficing solitude, But with majestic lowliness endued, Might in the universal bosom reign, And from affectionate observance gain Help, under every change of adverse fati II. Five thousand warriors-O the rapturo day! Each crowned with flowers, and arme with spear and shield, Or ruder weapon which their course migh yield, To Syracuse advance in bright array. Who leads them on?—The anxious people | With aught that breathes the ethereal element, 55 Hath stained the robes of civil power with blood, Unjustly shed, though for the public good. Whence doubts that came too late, and wishes vain, 60 Hollow excuses, and triumphant pain; He hears an uncouth sound- 65 Saw, at a long-drawn gallery's dusky mistrust. Him, only him, the shield of Jove fends, Whose means are fair and spotless as h ends." XXXIII. THE PASS OF KIRKSTONE. [Composed 1817.-Published 1820.] I. WITHIN the mind strong fancies work, Where, save the rugged road, we find On which four thousand years hat gazed! II. Ye ploughshares sparkling on the slopes Ye trees, that may to-morrow fall All that the fertile valley shields; So were the hopeless troubles, that in- Wages of folly-baits of crime, Of life's uneasy game the stake, O care! O guilt!-O vales and plains, Then, through this Height's inverted arch, kome's earliest legion passed! -They saw, adventurously impelled, 45 ind older eyes than theirs beheld, his block-and yon, whose church-like lives to this savage Pass its name. [Composed 1820 (?).-Published 1822.] KEEP for the Young the impassioned smile Shed from thy countenance, as I see thee stand 50 High on that chalky cliff of Britain's Isle, 55 ✯ thankful, even though tired and faint, IV. My Soul was grateful for delight The scene that opens now? The greenness tells, man must be there; 65 While traversing this nether sphere, 21 25 When hunter's arrow first defiled -Who comes not hither ne'er shall know And who is she?-Can that be Joy! 35 And, slighting sails and scorning oars, Keep faith with Time on distant shores! ---Within our fearless reach are placed The secrets of the burning Waste; Egyptian tombs unlock their dead, Nile trembles at his fountain head; Thou speak'st-and lo! the polar Seas Unbosom their last mysteries. 40-But oh! what transports, what sublim reward, With infant shout; and often sweep, II. What though this ancient Earth be trod Won from the world of mind, dost tho For philosophic Sage; or high-soule Who, for thy service trained in lonel Mounting from glorious deed to deed 45 Hath fed on pageants floating throug As thou from clime to clime didst lead; With awe, receives the hallowed veil, A soft and tender Heroine Vowed to severer discipline; Inflamed by thee, the blooming Boy the air, Or calentured in depth of limpid floods; night to bear The domination of his glorious themes, III. The aspiring Virgin kneels; and, pale 55 If there be movements in the Patriot's son Makes of the whistling shrouds a toy, 60 And in due season send the mandat And of the ocean's dismal breast 65 A play-ground,- Among the monsters of the Deen; 70 75 Soon to be swallowed by the briny surge Or cast, for lingering death, on unknown strands; 80 Or caught amid a whirl of desert sands |