Obedient to the necromantic sway Of an old sage, to solitude resign'd, With fenny vapours he obscured the day, Launch'd the long lightning, and let loose the wind. He whirl'd the tempest through the howling air, Rattled the dreadful thunderclap on high, And raised a roaring elemental war Betwixt the seagreen waves and azure sky; Then like Heaven's mild ambassador of love To man repentant, bade the tumult cease; Smooth'd the blue bosom of the realms above, And hush'd the rebel elements to peace. Unlike to this, in spirit or in mien, 2 Another form succeeded to my view; A two legg'd brute, which nature made in spleen, Or from the loathing womb unfinish'd drew. Scarce could he syllable the curse he thought, Prone were his eyes to earth, his mind to evil, A carnai fiend to imperfection wrought, The mongrel offspring of a witch and devil. Next bloom'd, upon an ancient forest's bound, The flowery margin3 of a silent stream, O'erarch'd by oaks with ivy mantled round, And gilt by silver Cynthia's maiden beam. On the green carpet of the' unbended grass, A dapper train of female fairies play'd, And eyed their gambols in the watery glass, That smoothly stole along the shadowy glade, 2 Caliban, in the Tempest. 3 Fairy-land, from the Midsummer Night's Dream. Through these the queen, Titania, pass'd adored, Arm'd cap-à-pie, forth march'd the fairy king, Around their chief the elfin host appear'd, The scene then changed from this romantic land Horsed on three staves, they posted to the bourn Deep in a gloomy grot, remote from day, The Witches in Macbeth. " ww. They held damn'd mysteries with infernal state, Aghast the murderer started from his bed; Guilt's trembling breath his heart's red current froze, And horror's dewdrops bathed his frantic head. More had I seen-but now the god of day O'er earth's broad breast his flood of light had spread, When Morpheus call'd his fickle train away, Whose magic will controls the' ideal train, Or lead the madding multitude astray, 3 Ghosts in Macbeth, Richard III. &c. • Me (humbler lot!) let blameless bliss engage, Free from the noble mob's ambitious strife, Free from the muckworm miser's lucrous rage, In calm contentment's cottaged vale of life. 'If frailties there (for who from them is free?) Through error's maze my devious footsteps lead, Let them be frailties of humanity, And my heart plead the pardon of my head. 'Let not my reason impiously require, What Heaven has placed beyond its narrow span; But teach me to subdue each fierce desire, VER-VERT: OR, THE NUNNERY PARROT. An Heroic Poem in Four Cantos. INSCRIBED TO THE ABBESS OF D (TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSIEUR GRESSET.) CANTO I. O YOU, round whom at virtue's shrine With native charms all hearts engage, Of rigid duties, harmless Mirth, Twin-born with Humour at a birth; |