H \27t 
 
 Hake 
 Troubles of Chaos
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 -^
 
 TROUBLES OF CHAOS 
 
 A POE3I IN THREE PARTS 
 
 B If 
 
 THOMAS GORDON HAKE, M. D. 
 
 ytiithor of " I.a Beatrice Cenci." 
 
 BADEN 
 
 PRINTED BY SCOTZNIOVSKY. 
 MDCCCXXXII.
 
 C^n'Tv (■ ■ . 
 
 r 
 
 o 

 
 MiK, 
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 llie original intention was to affit a series 
 of philosophical notes to this work, on some 
 points which have onlj been obscurely hinted 
 at in the poem; but, as a deeper research 
 and reflection, is necessary to perfect the 
 authors -views on a subject which has occupied 
 his unceasing enquiry and wonder, — the 
 Origin of our Being, — he defers his disqui- 
 sition to a future day. It is an easier, and 
 more satisfactory task. , to give the poetry 
 than the inductions of science; and it is to 
 be hoped that the principles contained in this 
 composition, ma^^nspire the reader with the 
 feeling of '^Q^|^^^)^ more noble it is, and 
 how much t^^WWorthj of the human intel- 
 lect, to fi^f^r its belief on reason, than oa 
 umlisputed authority. 
 
 The orders of poetry are as various as those 
 of nature, but the highest is, decidedly, that 
 which can apply itself to those cravings of 
 the mind which philosophy has hitherto been 
 unable to appease. While the following poem 
 celebrates the obsure workings of nature, it 
 may appear to some as an allegory of this 
 
 i mojs
 
 eventful centurj ■ a dis{)la> of ideas whose 
 tendency is to excite in the minds of men , 
 of whatever nation, a sense of their own na- 
 tural greatness, and a horror of their sul)- 
 missive degradation. Of all our suilcrings, 
 none is so painful as that which arises from 
 giving a moments pang to the mind of a 
 sensitive fellow-creature. But the age has ar- 
 rived in which it is a duty to assert the 
 foundations of nature, as pre-eminent over 
 the sublime doctrines of men of ruling genius; 
 in whici) philosophy is to supplant the various 
 artificial religions which influence the minds 
 of nations. 
 
 However severely he may have criticised 
 certain habits , the writer has never acted 
 tlirough a contempt of popular intelligence; 
 but has used strong expressions, onlv for the 
 purpose of inducing an e^flfctocition into our 
 motives of action; and tl^Kobable result 
 of all that we sanction, assert^^f^ undertake. 
 To the lady, at whose request //LS' Beatrice 
 Cenci'/ was written, the author begsptrmission 
 also to inscribe this poem , in gratitude of 
 the repose which his mind has found, during 
 leisure hours, in the societ} of herself, and 
 of her family. 
 
 Baden, in the Grand-Duchy, June 25, 1832. 
 
 >^jj:i:f
 
 THE TROUBLES OF CHAOS. 
 
 PART. I. 
 
 \J Reason! loveliest of material things* 
 Unfolder of the simple sciences ! 
 The deity, whose revelations stand 
 Writ on the brains of babes! of all mankind 
 The golden anchor, and the onlj hope! 
 I call thee sacred, and make sacrifice, 
 Of offerings, at the muses' holy shrine, — 
 A song on this great world's antiquity. 
 Oft I've descended the deep precipice. 
 And open'd there my b<»ok., to study well 
 The earth's foundations, and have watch'd the 
 
 hours 
 My spirit to enlist in nature's ways : 
 Nor^ ever jet, have found the night too long 
 To ponder o'er the evidence of things, 
 Which thou hast offerM to Humanity !
 
 \ 
 
 ( fi ) 
 
 Time was, when no biiglit worlds al evening 
 came. 
 Returning to each others arms, to show 
 How love produces mental harmony : 
 For, ere intelligence arose, the whole 
 Was gloom, and coldness, and wide solitude! 
 Darkness was space, and space was infinite! 
 Mind, had from all the past, in slumbers, mo vM 
 Among the chaos of the chnicnts, 
 Existing thoughtless, senseless, passionless: 
 When, in the deep, a transitory ray 
 Of some strange orb, was bright, and closing, hid 
 Its beauty in the multitudinous void. 
 In shudder, movM, from the intrusive beam. 
 The crudes of embryon nature; and, the Spirit 
 Of Vision, starting from his sable bed, 
 TracM various colors oVr the airy shapes 
 Which sharM the vast expanse, and then was 
 
 dark! 
 Hills murmur'd that event; and echo stirrd 
 Those sleeping spirits, charmers of the ear, — 
 Those Seven, who hold the powers of harmony. 
 UnlinkM, they charm not now the silent sense, 
 Rut, all in discord moving, from one mass 
 Into another mass, — each other jar! 
 And to express her horrors, of the scene
 
 ( 7 ) 
 Scarce variegated bj it's misery, 
 In their clasli"d union, Cuaos found a tongue! 
 
 In time to such uproar, the elements 
 Arise; their uncouth atoms disarrange. 
 And cause new ruin, and confusion: 
 Whilst Vision, wondring at his being, stares 
 On darkness, and expects a second beam. 
 His eyes unscal'd , and clear experience found 
 Of life; with dismal sights, form'd into dreams. 
 And restless sleep, henceforward is his task 
 To rouse all dormant sensibility. 
 So Essences, excited by the scenes, — 
 Within their dire deformity, perceive 
 A mental chaos, void of sympathy! 
 In darkness mantled each uplifts his soul : 
 And by the working passions, all great space 
 Is peopled; and her farthest oceans, cross'd 
 By pilgrims, searching out a better doona. 
 
 Now are there struggles of all elements! 
 Strange natures interfere, and clashing, cause 
 Signals of insurrection, civil wars 
 With revolutionary hymns and tears, 
 For order, life, and blessed liberty! 
 Sometimes th* instinctive germs associate
 
 ( S ) 
 To plant a stately forest on the rise 
 Of hills; but, from the verdant top, decay 
 Sinks down, and soon is all disorj^ani^'d 
 In need of new support I Whence comes, alas! 
 Scenes piteous, worse than barren! mountains 
 
 lin'd 
 With witherM trees^ no fresh green leaf to hide 
 Their naked forms ! while, from their central 
 
 hold 
 The mountains split in twain , such precipice 
 Present, as from the brink the human mind 
 O'erlooks with dread, tho' death, who habits 
 
 there, 
 Beckons, with tempting witchcraft, to the limbs 
 To spring into the deep sublimity, 
 Which seems to offer wings, and light descent ! 
 Now, winding down a valley, one slight turn 
 Unveils of rocks the wounded surfaces: 
 Mind looks above, and with their torrent, falls 
 From mountain, down to mountain, while the 
 
 depths 
 Of precipice, in expectation lay! 
 The raadden'd floods, descending to support 
 The ocean^s sovreignty against the soil. 
 Crush, with their liquid wheels, the rocky way. 
 Tho' born among such utter miseries, — 
 
 II
 
 ( 9 ) 
 Tenacious still of life, the lierb and tree 
 Such home prefer, to wither out their hour, 
 To absolute decay; and trv to screen 
 The worm within their crevice! Awfully, 
 The giant corpse of some tall pine, ascends 
 The gulph, and is his own companion I 
 In bord'ring parts, th' imperishable wrecks 
 Of hills, produce an aspect which recals 
 The higli wall of some amphitheatre; 
 And o'er th' abyss below, whose valley holds 
 Deep waters, hugest granites are pilM up, 
 Projectile, and descend not; every hour 
 Threatening the timid rivers with their fall. 
 Bevond, a frightful gap it's mouth reveals, 
 Mutt'ring sepulchral hopes , to one day hold 
 A lost creation I and the rocks around , 
 In massive flights ascending, none could climb 
 But the gigantic stature of a god. 
 
 The rivers, shudder by with swift attempt, 
 And , with impeded course, the valleys gain. 
 The vales of sands and waters; either side 
 By mountains narrow'' d. , on whose m\stic base 
 The mists condense; while snowy tops are left. 
 Like lloaling hills, in balance with the air,
 
 ( 10 ) 
 And silver'd, as by art! A cloud, oftimes, 
 Hangs on the mountain's neck.; or, where the 
 
 scenes 
 Are hid in mists, tlie spreading sheets above 
 Appear like snow, droppM on the skies of 
 
 heaven ! 
 That element in virgin whiteness shining , — 
 There, as a sun, illumes the sulkj clime 
 Of scenes made various by chaotic laws 
 To suit the shatter'd mind ; thron'd on those 
 
 h lis 
 Which stamp, where once they fix,, a tyranny 
 O'er the aspiring search of sciences; 
 Then reaching heaven , seem to suspend the 
 
 globe! 
 There grottoes, thro' the solid bor'd, are hung 
 With icicles, whick have for ever been, — 
 But, once which by the lightest finger touch'd, 
 Snap off! and these, to tlie idea, recal 
 Chambers of bayonets , arrayM for war 
 By some great general, whose genius doubts 
 Whether to blast the mountain, and so hurl 
 The ruins in the gulph, or form this pass, 
 Carv'd thro' by nicer art; so well he feels 
 His own omnipotence, tlio' mortal born.
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
 These scenes precede the lakes : the lakes 
 and isles, 
 Which^ most of all the world, are counted fair. 
 For, should one sunny gleam but chance to stray, 
 Fluttering a moment round, it there alights. 
 And bursting into colors of the bow, 
 Soon, in fantastic play, the forms of flow'rs, 
 And shrubs assumes, — even of the richest dye. 
 On these delicious isles, the Vices dwell. 
 Here, Sacred Mc.«ic , dreams her origin 
 To feed the pleasures, and with mystery 
 Tiie mobs enlighten in exchange for gold, 
 While the enthusiastic strain, inspires 
 The dramas of religion, whose first cause 
 Even shadows INature o'er with miracles! 
 And, with a voice which only moves the air 
 In sonorous waves, turns the immutable! 
 
 We leave them in disgust, and gain a wa«te 
 Of lesser hill and vale; but M-hose ascent 
 Into diminish'd focus brings the sky. 
 Such hills, the eye may compass, and behold 
 Arrang'd on better soil; a colony 
 Escap'd from their first place, in search of peace. 
 For peace, they stray'd in vain from other clime ! 
 For winds, from many a sea,their heights molest,
 
 ( n ) 
 
 And bring their cold, and savage misery, 
 To howl, in plaintive thunder, a complain. 
 Heights, whence the wide expanse of hills, 
 
 suggests 
 A sliadow of the glorious rise and fall, 
 Of Time's creative hand ! 
 
 Scenes terrible, 
 And dubious of the future! cast astray, 
 To wrestle with the furious elements, 
 They urge creative influence on the birth 
 Of Spirits, to endure their agony! 
 For all combining atoms, organize 
 A sense of tlieir own state. New Spirits rise, 
 To people such wild worlds with sympathy: 
 Fresh terror spreading, from their horrid souls ; 
 And cursing those who plann'd their destiny, 
 Each, from the parent bosom, falls, and wreathes 
 To calm, or change, the nature of the pain I 
 They find no rest, to soothe the suffering 
 Of the raw heart, whose ever during pangs 
 Reduce their minds to imbecility ! 
 And now they lift their idiot eyes, and pray 
 For mercy ; but of mercy none obtain I 
 These troubles tending to assist the laws 
 
 I 
 
 tn
 
 ( 13 ) 
 With freedom , next behold a forest form'd 
 Of pines, which reach the everlasting snow! 
 The hills, so coverM , stand as porcupines , 
 Which, with erected quills, seem to await 
 The threats of revolutionary time. 
 
 While spirits came , each with resembling 
 thoughts, 
 To aid the works of the eventful age; 
 There was an era , dated from the hour 
 Wherein the God of Anger first beheld 
 His outward world. Then, how his wrathful soul 
 Foam'd at the vision , and his ancestry 
 CursM in their listless generations ! 
 At first, he sees on subterraneous fire, 
 A tottering mount, on which with all his might 
 He rushes, tho' its outer magnitude 
 Was such as to astound philosophy. 
 The mountain, backward falling on the plain, 
 Is smash'd with its prostrated cataracts , 
 "Which mingling, as a river still rush on 
 Their habits of descent to reassume. 
 O'er the next fracture ! He, at his own deeds, 
 Almost alarm'd, new courage thro' his limbs 
 Drives forcibly , to crush the venom'd fear ! 
 With vivid features frowning, like the night
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 Wliich holds llic plots of ri])C conspirncy. 
 Then forward stridirii^ thro' the mists of space, 
 He seeks if void, or solid, terminates 
 The awful mysteries of chaotic time. 
 
 Born on the huge descent of avalanciie , 
 Came Danger , as a warning to arrest 
 Less daring gods. He rush'd , without a pause, 
 Under the place where agitation blends 
 The gush of waters, Mith the deep ravine. 
 And rapid as the motion of tiiose floods. 
 His daring fall ! 
 
 With slow, and careful tread, 
 Moves Caution towr'ds the edge of precipice. 
 Safely her limbs transfi\:M above, with head 
 And hands she gazes o'er, till vision drops, 
 In dizziness, into the gulph whose depths 
 Shrink minified! Within her trembling view^ 
 A gentle river, gliding heedb^ssly 
 Runs o'er the other precipice: below. 
 She sees the God of Angek, stretch'd across. 
 Suspending its new course; with either hand 
 Driving the liquid on its swelling spring, 
 And hushing, many a league below, the roar 
 Of waters , till the thirsty lakes are dry.
 
 ( 15 ) 
 Along new paths, the mountain cataract 
 Jets graceful breaths of water, which incline 
 Most slowlv down t!ie perpendicular. 
 Yet certain is the fall ! From sight they pass 
 Away, and re-appear: a simple task 
 Of reason, to infer how niidst the craggs 
 They wander'd, and forgot their guileless way. 
 These streams glide in the torrent which 
 
 runs thro' 
 The fallen rocks, whose masses, anciently 
 Hurl'd to the base by devastating time, 
 There still remain, proud of their ancestry; 
 And as obliterated monuments. 
 Assert the glory of departed years I 
 
 The great entire, which form'd the boundary. 
 As if beneath the inliuence of the pole, 
 Trembled within itself, with strong desire 
 To yield up orbs, which might for ever roll 
 In one magnetic chain. There, in the crude, 
 Silent, and deedless they exist, nor know. 
 Themselves, the wonders of tiieir origin. 
 Within this sphere , is many a desolate sight! 
 Fresh forests now uprooted , in their age 
 Of vigour, and strewn out, as soldiers Ije 
 The battle o'er. A tempest had rush'd thro',
 
 ( 16 ) 
 In hurricane, just as their first born seed 
 Was ripening into sensibility, 
 T'embrace the willinj; surface of the soil : 
 But now, the leaves are scatlerM , like the 
 
 locks 
 Of some lone wanderer, in the ruthless gale ! 
 The spirits who so far had ventur'd , there 
 Might rise above, and in a joyful hour 
 See ihro' the subterranean of an arch, 
 A glorious azure beam, which promise gave 
 Of the success of day ! This was the work 
 Of the volcano, toiling, to disperse 
 The solid, and give place to numerous worlds. 
 There, we behold a fiery mountain, lift 
 It's rolling lightnings , which descend below 
 To torture death; releasing liberty 
 To every atom, liberty to mix 
 In blest concordance! and the lava rests, 
 At last , in masses like the stones of tombs , 
 That represent some deed , which is no 
 
 more. 
 Thus, Causes finding their inherent laws, 
 Mingled, in birth of the pervading soul, 
 Who, in the form of spirits, aids ihe end 
 Of an advancing scene.
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 Mean while, the Spin its 
 Of Sound, hadwander'd far astra), with voice 
 Still pouring forth the fond desire, to meet 
 On hills of concord ! Tow'rds that happy place, 
 The lightest child, on rising melody, 
 Took wing: thereby inspired, the rest ascend 
 Thro' all the ways of concert, or below. 
 In deeper balance sink, to poise midway 
 Th' ecstatic symphony ! The music spreads ; 
 And pouring motion into things, in spheres, 
 The elemental masses dance to song. 
 Spheres over spheres, express themselves, to 
 
 time , 
 Such as Mozart, or Hayden, but in part 
 Have gather'd out of ancient memory. 
 Each, in the anthem joins, and utters prayer. 
 
 "0 save us, save us, greatest King ! the father 
 
 of our woe. 
 We pray to one, who, by the side of death, 
 has set us low- 
 In this unhappy place ! 
 Oh I when shall we this gloom escape, this 
 world of pain, and sorrow? 
 We never feel the light of day , nor see the
 
 ( IS ) 
 Support our fjillinj^ nice I 
 Into ihv presence our spirits upr;iise, 
 That we niav give thee praise!" 
 
 This melancholy bliss of music, charm'd 
 Their minds, and held in rapture, all the seven, 
 "Who ceas'd, to listen if the spheres had drank 
 The gifts of song, inspir'd by melody, 
 So sweet, so new! but on a sudden, rose. 
 Such discord , that the faltering spirits, fell ! 
 A breathless Silence swiftly spreads; it quells 
 The foreign chiirmers of her peace 1 the} see, 
 With fear, how they have spell'd tlie wilderness, 
 And fly with piercing screams ; and, once again, 
 The universal frown of chaos, rules. 
 As from a band , which plays the funeral dirge 
 Of battle, rising thro' the silence, came 
 A thin, attenuated sound, which thrilTd 
 The heart of ruin ; and, in swelling vein, 
 Wasjoin'd, again, by deep wrouglit harmony. 
 
 /'Spirits! who once were fast asleep. 
 Lost in the silence of the deep ! 
 
 That we had being in the air ! 
 Let us assemble ; on the wing ,
 
 ( 19 ) 
 iun sing. 
 
 Ours, is an art to encliant thi's scene, 
 Where we, in dreadful death, have been, — 
 
 Into soft harraonv ! 
 Chaos, her numbers must enroll; 
 Her fragments, mingle with our soul 
 
 Of intellectual melodj ! 
 Chaos, shall vanish from our eyes; 
 Into the void, shall order rise. 
 Then raise the harp , into the wire 
 Strike thought; — dravv out the gentle fire!" 
 
 (As long as soundsprevail, the spheres return, 
 And rise, in revolution, from the deeps. 
 Their surface, peopling, with the shadowy 
 
 forms 
 Of life, while the creative western sun, 
 Tempts vegetation to respire his beam.) 
 
 //Where was our dream, that things so fair, 
 With us, could breathe the vital air! 
 Were they before, or can things receive 
 As we inspire, a soul to live? 
 
 What lovely creatures these worlds pervade! 
 Rejoice, rejoice at the scenes we've made!
 
 ( 20 ) 
 But our vision, alone, scarce illumes the night. 
 Then flash! then flash! a beam of light." 
 
 (An orb ascends, sweeping the concave arch 
 Of a blue ether ; while the God of Time 
 Hangs to its side, and in his hand, holds forth 
 A wheel. The}' rise, over the heads afar 
 Of wandering spirits, who look up, in awe, 
 And trace the glory to the central spheres. 
 lint soon, the force of airy music, fails: 
 Its harmony too light, to bear the weight 
 Of worlds, suspended in its labyrinth. 
 The transitory fabric disappears. 
 And nature calls for the funereal strain : 
 
 'iO sorrow , born of sorrow ! 
 We mourn tiiis ruin'd day ! 
 The life, the light, midst the horror 
 Of darkness, is hush'd away! 
 
 Chaos, again has sway! 
 Our offspring is dead; the sleep 
 Of the grave, has no voice in the deep; 
 They have lost , and for ever , their way ! '/ 
 
 All spirits, heard the solemn hymn: from 
 gloom,
 
 C 21 ) 
 Sweet Melancholy rose, to meditate 
 The misery of her birth; oor hope of change 
 She cherish'd, but despair , that all the worlds 
 Must rest, for ever, in vacuity! 
 Yet sorrow , more then death , she lov'd , 
 
 and heard * 
 The sounds with grand emotion ; sweeter gloom, 
 Her torpor changM, altho' the voices sang 
 A funeral hymn, and chaos but a tomb! 
 "While the arrested thoughts, of those, who sang 
 Their losses, watch'd her modest sympathy 
 To tears; effectual consolation, came 
 From the mild Spirit of Benevolence ! 
 Over her charms a graceful veil descends 
 Of meekness, and of beauty; and her form. 
 Humble, and delicate, and merciful. 
 Clings to a virgin mantle! With a look 
 Of joy, she smil'd, to soothe their bitter woe! 
 They, pleased, scarce knew such pity; yet 
 
 their lyres 
 Rais'd to their e\es^ to hide the grief, whose 
 
 tears 
 Fell thro', and caus'd the strings a sadden'd 
 
 strain. 
 Discord was charm'd away ; she ne'er before 
 Had wept: but at the smiles of pit; , stones
 
 ( 22 ) 
 Are soflen'd , and the rivers' courses stay'd. 
 Spirits, before unseen, came from afar, 
 To join tlicir centre of society. 
 
 The first, whose simple reveries weremov'd. 
 Was Love, a tender girl, s\mnielrical 
 In stature, thro' the thousand attitudes. 
 Sometimes, as if administ'ring to the sick, 
 She mov'd in lightest pace, and then, she 
 
 press'd 
 Her lips, to soothe the sufferer's pain ! Or seen 
 At happier time, she keeps her lover off 
 From frequent intercourse , and thus maintains 
 Her chastity immortal! When she heard 
 The melody advance, conceal'd she stood, 
 And o'er hertreasur'd Jjosom, plac'd her arm. 
 Of lier light nakedness asham'd, her eyes 
 In modest agony were turn'd aside ! 
 The sculptor, void of perfect beauty here, 
 From Cliaos, to Creation brought her form : 
 Now nam'd , La. Venere de' Medici. 
 When, in enamouring strains, this goddess 
 
 heard 
 The music ; witli bcwilchinjr slight of hand ,
 
 ( 23 ) 
 And lovM the heavenly songi and hop'd to love 
 The authors of the strain I 
 
 Still , on the rocks 
 Was Anger, at liis toils: a savage, loos'd 
 Against the famine, and the wilderness I 
 For now, with tumult in his hand, he burns 
 For empire, and he smiles on tyranny! 
 The rocks, he oftimes to his bosom fits, 
 And rooting, with endeavour, up their hold, 
 Oif the stiff centre, — drops the masses down 
 The gulph , whose depths are not! for mind 
 
 and time 
 By thinking , never trac'd them to an end. 
 Sometimes, he pitch'd volcanoes towr'ds the 
 
 vault , 
 And laugh'd, as he beheld the fragile womb 
 Disburse a spreading fire; or, walk'd abroad 
 To watch the growling earthcjuake, underfoot 
 In time to crush the monster, or escape 
 UninjurM as it rose I At times , he rode 
 The neighing tempests, o'er the wild abyss, 
 To agitate the credulous elements, 
 In fresh i^bellion , and internal war ! 
 And into torrents, when his passions flag. 
 He plunges, as the floods glide o'er the rock,
 
 ( 24 ) 
 With fatal hope his essence to disperse. 
 Thus, CuAOS, in his nature, found a son. 
 As her, his ejes were sable, and in rags 
 His hair, was, by the breezes, comb'd behind. 
 His hand, half clench'd , was ever ready set^ 
 For mischief; when his whim was idleness, 
 He gnash'd his teeth! not proof, his untam'd 
 
 ire , — 
 The swelling harmonies which touclrd his ear, 
 Fell thro' into his soul ! At first, he tried 
 To dash to atoms, those enchanted sounds! 
 But finding how his murderous cfi'orts, serv'd 
 Their sweetness to extend, far over space 
 On the swift winds; a conquest held 
 His arm with gentleness, and won his heart. 
 Himself subdued, the rocl^s , which down- 
 wards sank. 
 Caught sympathy, and stoppM their headlong 
 
 race ; 
 And Ciuos, wonderM what was harmony! 
 Order, approach'd so near, that there arose 
 To life, a Spirit gently feminine, 
 Whose mild demeanour seem'd, and modesty, 
 Half Mother, Virgin half: her sibctity, 
 O'ershadow'd by her cares! Her chief delight, 
 Was o'er a garden, where she planted seeds,
 
 ( 25 ) 
 And watcij'd them, till their leaves surroun- 
 ded flow'rs ; 
 She dreams, meanwhile, that in her panting 
 
 womb 
 A baby weeps, and tow'rds the joyful seat 
 Her iicart inclines, to take away the tear I 
 For mother, when she hears the infants voice, 
 Feels, how its little being rests on her, 
 For raiment, for affection, and for food! 
 And with her naked bosom, longs to clothe 
 Its nakedness , and hush it into sleep ! 
 The way which science tends, or seek the cause, 
 'Tis not the mother's province, to enquire. 
 jNor, did she marvel at the secret works 
 Of Chaos, or desire to know their ways: 
 But oft would wonder, how the infant grows ; 
 The sexes how determin'd ; love the same. 
 And sweet conception ! 
 
 Following in her tract , 
 
 As if desiring to infect her child , — 
 
 Came Superstition the sole power, whose mind 
 
 Is shallow, yet acute at reasoning. 
 
 His second -sight was of the ghostly kind , 
 
 Familiar with the fate of things, which pass'd 
 
 From Chaos into life; and thence the grave.
 
 ( 26 ) 
 The last, which was, still living on, to die! 
 For, in his dreams of faith, and phantasy, — 
 To die, the body seem'd , and to disperse. 
 Limb quitting limb, yet absent sense of pain, 
 And horror, at the thought of vself decay. 
 While from the corpse, the stately spirit 
 
 fled 
 To talce his station in eternity! 
 Of this, the genius had prophetic view: 
 So awful to behold , wrapp'd up in shades 
 Of tombs, that both his eyes dissolved in tears 
 Of terror, and his trembling limbs sank down, 
 Pow'rless, the pallid lip repeating prayer. 
 
 The changes , breath'd alarm to ancient 
 Pride, 
 Who, from the anarchy emerging, wore 
 The frown of armies, to annihilate 
 The spirit of advance, and, cast the works 
 Of beauty, on the darkness of despair! 
 He came to claim his crown, with many a 
 
 smile 
 Of meekness, and self-gratulation, 
 On birth , gifts , and estates ! a common lot 
 Of spirits! but he alone, to pique himself 
 Wasdoom'd, on gifts, estates, or long descent.
 
 ( 27 ) 
 iS'one hoped to question, with success, his 
 
 claim. 
 A noble stature, bas'd on confidence. 
 AVith mind, and the appended countenance, 
 Proof to the blush! nor even susceptible 
 To understand, to hear, to feel, to see! 
 
 So, leaving Pr.ioE to meditate, at large. 
 His inward scene; the glorious Being, came, 
 Of CossciEKCE, deck'd in a supernal light. 
 Around the beauty of her mind , diverg'd 
 The rav , an emblem of divinity! 
 And, to her standard flockM the spirits of life, 
 And hail'd the justice of her royal claim. 
 In her bright presence, was a charm, to turn 
 The mental tide of error, and subdue, 
 Beneath a sense of truth, all living soul! 
 
 But, sad was still the morrow's prospect! 
 sad , 
 The thoughts which fell ^on every hope ! Behold 
 The iMiSERiEs prostrate, midst their bleeding 
 
 wounds ; 
 Woe, flying from herself, as she pursues 
 Her screams, along the comfortless abjss ! 
 Affection, like a female in distress,
 
 ( 28 ) 
 Pines o'er the solitary hours, no home 
 No friend! or wildly clasps into her arms, 
 Despair for want of a companion! 
 There, the cold hearted Miser, makes his way 
 Among the caves, and secret galleries. 
 And toils for vain possession ! Precious stones. 
 And ores to gain, his industry the mines 
 Has robb'd, and with a knife, has trac'd 
 
 the veins 
 Thro' hill, and valley! Where an ocean ran. 
 He strove to turn its course ; or failing, div'd 
 Beneath the deepest waves, to have access 
 To stones , whose crystal light and luscious 
 
 hue, 
 Made them delicious to his greedy eye ! 
 All that he found, he number'd * and he wrote, 
 By heart, tiielr value in his Mental Book- 
 Alone on him , the music lost her charm. 
 For, at his dismal ear, no melody 
 An answer got, except the tinkling sounds 
 Of metals! Near him sneak'd, the Genius 
 Of Secrecy, who heard the l\r;sls voice. 
 And tow'rds it cross'd , the shortest way, to 
 
 pry ! 
 When erst he rose from Chaos, up he crept. 
 To see what there was else; and what he learu'd,
 
 ( 29 ) 
 He ne^'er told aj^ain. Expertly, moved 
 The listener, without noise, and, now, he 
 
 fain 
 AYould hush the sounds, least any other ear 
 Should hear the curious strain I At such display 
 Of degradation, wept Benevolence, 
 As sfie, with dewy fingers, partly velTd 
 The fountain of the tear I 
 
 Now o'er the world , 
 Roams Satibe, seeking incongruities. 
 On Melancholy, first, the spirit sneer'd 
 And stabbed her morbid spirit! at his glance. 
 Soon, from her misty sight, fled every shape 
 Of d\ing spirits, of shrouds, of monuments 
 CarvM out of dreams , and universal sleep ! 
 And, now, a lively, cautious spirit, she seeks, 
 The scene, whence flows the pensive melody. 
 Satire, a spirit, dreaded worse than pain I 
 His comprehensive tact, at once would strike 
 At secret error ; glorying in revenge 
 On all things inconsistent I While the rest 
 Of spirits, thro*' their living veins, received 
 Warm essence, to renew their faculties; 
 The cold blood of the viper. Satire fed I 
 Whence, he delighted in the mockery
 
 ( 30 ) 
 Of jolemn farce: with sucli .sevcritv. 
 That Piety, and Royal Pomp, shrank back. 
 As if their melted crowns, and mitres, ran 
 Their poison, back on the impostors^ brains. 
 His conscience was his guide, and, in his 
 
 task 
 He never slept, save in deep sorrows hour, — 
 To piHow on the grave ! 
 
 Along the hills. 
 Above the east, on tip-toe, PLEAsunE came 
 In lightest dance, with Airy Fop.:\is, in time 
 To waltz, mazurka, or cotillion! 
 Her lively paces, made the njusic seem. 
 To issue from her feet; her gracefulness 
 InspirM with latent forms, the marble mine! 
 Each quickly breathing smile, to outward woe, 
 ReveaTd the mental source of happiness. 
 Of those, who first arose from gloomy sleep, 
 Hope poises over all: a spirit born 
 On spreading wing, as in the act to scale 
 The highest spaces of the infinite! 
 Her mind so venturous, and so light her form, — 
 Not rocks, or falling oceans, stay'd her course. 
 And where she moved, her thoughts were 
 visible.
 
 ( 31 ) 
 Resembling airy cities, to the view 
 ^Vonderous , but by the slightest touch, 
 decayM ! 
 
 The Goddess of Imagination 
 Sat glancing over meditations page, 
 While vast, and wandering thoughts of Poetry, 
 Which she had gatherM , secretly escapM 
 Her face , and hurried thro' the ascending 
 wav !
 
 IHE TROUBLES OF CHAOS. 
 
 PART. II. 
 
 Oilence, contains the night; and Chaos, Inll'd 
 By the bewitching stillness, falls asleep. 
 The Spirits of young Nature's Drama, lean 
 Their bosoms on the deep; and, in repose 
 Of their wild thoughts, arc sweetly slumbering. 
 Time only, closes not his eyesl he moves 
 Along the seas of darkness, where, no wave 
 Trips neath his measur'd pace; and, in his 
 
 hand 
 He holds the wheel, \shich round his finger 
 
 turns : 
 His right, he keeps to regulate the spheres, 
 
 /'Ah ! when shall I escape this gloomy soil ! 
 A savage, in the folded shades of light. 
 From all the past! till now, incapable 
 To count the hours, or be their centinei. 
 This never was my place ! 1 could ascend 
 Some glorious orb, and looking down on day,
 
 ( 33 ) 
 Teach worlds their revolutions! 1 could pass 
 From orb to orb, along the solar beam, 
 And set around the individual spheres 
 A limit to durations, life to guide. 
 And , bound the seasons by mortality, 
 but this denied, 1, here, unciviliz'd 
 Wander irregular hills, and vales of gloom, 
 Which daylight never feel I but, pine, ahvay. 
 To see my glory, cloth'd in shades, descend 
 And pillow on the western hemisphere." 
 So spake the sole companion of the past. 
 His long career of idleness , was spent 
 As by the pale Somnambulist, whose shade 
 Glides from the haunted couch, at midnight 
 
 hour. 
 To stalk the hush of slumbers; or, to climb, 
 And balance, fearless, o^er a pinnacle. 
 While, but a breath of air, might turn the 
 
 scale. 
 So, midst the ruins of uncastled hills; 
 Of sunless clouds, and herbless vales are found 
 The traces of Timers footstep; without thought 
 
 jN'ow , is there visible a chain of works. 
 Whose causes, yielding up effects, have given
 
 ( 34 ) 
 A nucleus to true t>rder. All things, act 
 Certain and slow: as music, from the sphisli 
 Of wave on wave, their \va}s are beautilull 
 Increasing hourly, all their influence tends, 
 To stimulate the feeling elements, 
 To just appreciation of the laws: 
 The instincts all obcj ; excited on, 
 They feel the wonders, and they organize 
 New mind, as fast as nature's works advance, 
 Whence comes the birth of Reason/ who the 
 
 rank , 
 Immediately assumes, of deity. 
 How grand, hoyv different a scene, is noyv 
 The living universe ! no mind , before , 
 Had genius to appreciate the heights. 
 And depths, of self-revealing mysteries! 
 But Reason, sees, with philosophic glance, 
 A system of original yvorlds , not made, 
 But co-eternal with th' eternal past, — 
 And one anotiur, in their symmetry. 
 This new Intelligence escapes the place 
 Of birth, and reasons, freely, to oppose 
 The age of darkness! too sincere, his love 
 Of truth, to forge, yvith hypocritic zeal, 
 Good out of evil ! or, diffuse abroad 
 Deep doctrines of religion, to delude,
 
 ( 35 ) 
 And frighten into virtue! all he has, 
 He leaves, and wanders o'er the stormy coasts, 
 There, to detect the science, glimmering 
 
 through , 
 The shapeless crude ; and there, establish seats 
 Whereon to urge tif experimental test. 
 And sound the waters of philosophy '. 
 
 For, as between the birth and d\ing rest. 
 Of man, a period runs; so space, endures 
 A conflict of the various passions, met. 
 Devoid of sympathy! tho' , one day, dSom'd 
 As human, o'er the earth to reign! If peace 
 Succeeds to tliis sad war, 'tis but the grave 
 Of hatred and revenge, whose momenl, parts 
 One, from another generation! 
 
 In solitude, the mighty genius, holds 
 Converse with truth; and, as a lover, owns 
 His heart by beauty softeu'd, while at night 
 When all is still, and his days labor o'er. 
 He counts the centuries, which many a sphere 
 Spends round its orbit; and, from all the 
 
 past, 
 Illumes the present hour, with prophecies 
 Of high induction, on events to come.
 
 ( 36 ) 
 Meanwhile, ennobled hy such influence, 
 The spirils of the deep, their heads upraise 
 Above the strata of tlie outer soil, 
 And utter thoughts on theix' creative power. 
 Imagination, visibly' ascends. 
 With eyes, which, as the spirits of a dream, 
 Dictate in every glance , the thoughts of 
 
 worlds 
 Passing into existence, and relapsing 
 Again into the void. Her dulcet voice. 
 Engraves the tablet of the countenance. 
 With great ideas, beautiful visions, bursts 
 Of allegory, and bold metaphor! 
 She proves her genius, as omnipotent 
 O'er the vast combinations of ideas. 
 Whence, independence springs, over the lands 
 Of ruin, or of order. //For to one, 
 Who shuts her outward eyes , to form her 
 
 beam , 
 The darkness, is as vivid as the ligiit ! 
 So whether in these plains of savage life, 
 Where the Sublime has true original ; 
 Or among scenes of more perpetual peace, 
 I will not bind my soul creations slave ! 
 But , planting mountains for my own abode, 
 Shall raise, in their ascent and precipice,
 
 ( 37 ) 
 A Monument to Chaos. There, )ou'll find 
 That, tho' the gloom, and grandeur of mv 
 
 soul , 
 Inseparably mingle with the soil. 
 It will establish woe! where'er I dwell, 
 There, Melancholy mourns, to see my spirit 
 Alone, and happy I 1 remember, well, 
 That Cliaos is original^ whence no art. 
 Can close her in annihilation ! 
 She will ascend the mountain breaks, and 
 
 hurl , 
 Downwards, the fragile hills, whose horrid fall 
 Threatens, to crush the shrinking globe below!, 
 And moves her centre, whose reaction, frees 
 Earthquakes, and their Volcanoes , struggling, 
 
 hard , 
 To find the disinherited domain! 
 "When those continuous heats, which loos'd 
 
 the hills, 
 And made the wombs of nature, prophecy 
 In fire, are pass'd away; the winter cold. 
 Will freeze the vapoury atoms of the air, 
 T'alight, and gather, still, in Avalanche. 
 This, but the echo of a whisper, calls 
 Down tow'rds the valley, bursting in thewav 
 I Ten thousand pines! And, far below my path.
 
 ( 38 ) 
 Will many a precipice gape wide , whose cup 
 Fill'd up with rolling mist, receives, with hiss, 
 A breathless cataract, and mutters flame: 
 The chaos, of the ruin'd hell of fire!'/ 
 
 Now, o'er the general face of earth, is seen 
 The lovely Spirit of Benevolence, 
 Beaming with love for men. She sees, inscrib'd, 
 On the round surface, tiiat, the Final Doom, 
 Of all the individual tilings, which live 
 In turn, is Death, and Everlasting Sleep! 
 And that the Universe, alone, with life, 
 Survives its inward workings of decajv 
 This matters, but for man : his glorious powers, 
 The prospect ne'er can face, that he must die. 
 But rather, by ambition driven, will raise 
 Some science from the dead, whose arguments 
 Are fancy worlds, and immortality. 
 ]Xo sooner death was whispered , than I saw 
 Thro' the prophetic mirror of the law 
 The lover, at his mistress' grave in tears; 
 The mother, leaning o'er her dying child; 
 And friend, reraemb'ring friend, at intervals, 
 Till he, himself, was scatter'd into sleep! 
 The colors of the light, are cast aside, 
 And on the features, only, melts the day.
 
 ( 39 ) 
 Among the gayest scenes, Puilosophy 
 Despises life, for nothing gained, and lost. 
 And reasons on the chances of the tomb ! 
 While Satire , in the daace, o'erlookiug time 
 V/ilh mortal prophecy, sees corpses glad! 
 The Bard, awoke, bv night's solemnity, 
 From the repose of worldly thoughts, enquires. 
 With lerir, into his mental origin, 
 And, dreads the mystery, of his maker's will! 
 Thus , o'er the mental city , gloom keeps 
 
 walch. 
 T'avoid her all pursuing scowl, behold 
 How some leap into seas, to drink the tides 
 Of an oblivious sand ; or spurn the bread. 
 Of sustenance, for poison of decay! 
 Let man be born, and, his superior mind 
 Gives birth, at once, to Fearful Tragedy! 
 Not scenes of blood, alone; for tragic scenes 
 Are not outlaid with bleeding images, 
 Which only last a moment, and are past; 
 
 which 
 > 
 
 The hour of trouble! For less tragical. 
 Is death, than the survivor's misery! 
 To sec a woman struck, is tragical.
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 There's tragedy, in lovely woman\s ejes , 
 When startled into terror, at a sound, 
 From their mild beam ! in beauty on the 
 
 wane; 
 In the deep melancholy voice, which speaks 
 With half a smile; in tyranny, impos'd 
 On all the weak , and unresisting sorrows 
 Of glory, conquer'd in its native land! 
 In coldness to a woman's broken heart; 
 In sneering, at the solitary hope, 
 Which links a mortal to his happiness; 
 In the last breath of infidelity! 
 In thoughts, driven on by fierce necessity 
 To tear thro' honor's ties! in the decay 
 Of talents, which have made a nation great! 
 In disobedience to a mother's wish; 
 In quarrels of affection, which, have proved 
 The last sad interview, between the grave! 
 In midnight music, when the sleeping mind 
 Awakes to sorrow! in the deep reverse 
 Of poverty, which others love to share! 
 When centuries are o'er, in pondering 
 On wastes of desert time, whose harvests, fail 
 To yield ought noble, save the memory 
 Of soldiers, buried underneath the battle! 
 In crippled graves, without a date, or name!"
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 \(\t , rose tlie voice of cold Necessity. 
 "Let us not dceai that we arc Uqq^ to move 
 These mighty elements, to our own views: 
 For we belong, not to ourselves alone, 
 Fuit act thro' causes, most infallible. 
 Under a civili/"d divinity. 
 It may be the design , to one day pour 
 Our essence in the soil, and leave us there, 
 To act securely thro' accustom'd laws. 
 If, as our creed now tends, we are not part 
 Of matter; difficult to understand, 
 Surrounded by these cumbrous elements. 
 And born in mental night , midst evidence 
 Of shadows only, of a power surpreme. 
 Whence first we came, andwliere our place, 
 
 unknown ! 
 So we must be the laws, the active laws: 
 And, while our creatures live, must occupy 
 Their systems, and exist as all in all. 
 but , least the beings of superior mind , 
 Maintain themselves thro' time ; and, so increase 
 As to possess, at length, the universe; 
 Each shall, for safe continuance, depend 
 On an unceasing factory of life, 
 Whose circulation ceasing, ends his davs. 
 Thus, man will be immortal, in his line.
 
 ( 42 ) 
 Not in himself; aad alwajs tribute paj 
 Of love , for having seen creation^s wajs. 
 But, as a Living Umvekse, is form'd 
 Of working Atoms, which alone can act 
 Thro' an inherent weiglit , or property; 
 Each., having but one place, which cannot err; 
 And not the power of revelation, — 
 A Umverse , cannot investigate 
 The endless secrets, of its inward frame. 
 For the most glorious thought, can never see 
 Those causes which produce it, as thej~ work, 
 Not as its senses , but its origin : 
 Hence, falls the hopes of an omniscience! 
 This, reason will discover unto man: 
 And, that all matter may know equally 
 This truth, — the soil, which only vegetates 
 At first, shall rise to be an animal; 
 Whence, having learn'd, in mental offices, 
 Of all its atoms, the co-sovreignty 
 And power; will scatter, to commence again. 
 How we have slept, from an eternal date, 
 Let us commemorate in miud, as niglit 
 Seems to decline into chaotic time. 
 For all can not be day; nor, to the eye, 
 The outward landscape ever visible: 
 Eternal thought, itself annihilates.
 
 ( 43 ) 
 So, save in seasons when the lights, appear, 
 Of worlds, who do inhabit distances, — 
 All shall, again , be dark as empty space, 
 That man may think of ins eternal rest.'/ 
 
 Thus, o'er the circle of their influence. 
 Their wilder eloquence they breath'd ; when 
 
 rose 
 The SuADF. of ScpERSTiT io>- , urging on 
 A mission of their praxcrs, up to the gates 
 Of the celestial court, to ask for help, 
 And recognition, from the reigning king. 
 /'For, while we seem to rule, with mental swav, 
 This elemental wreck* has God no power, 
 Over this chaos of intelligence?" 
 At first, the gods agreed to his desires; 
 And, deem'd the new hypothesis, of One, 
 A most sublime, and glorious tendency. 
 But, looking round, some saw, the hollow side : 
 For under magic arts, their hopes declined; 
 All incantations fail'd * all mysteries, 
 To' induce the happy revelation. 
 And, all were disinrlin'd, their views to yield. 
 Of their own riglitful glory, in exchange 
 For the debasing t\ranny of Fear; 
 Who, having heard the sophist speak, has 
 faith ,
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 In Nothing, to behold Divinity. 
 
 Great numbers, jjave discussion on tlie theme 
 
 Most dubious of th'occult ; expressM in grace, 
 
 And oralorial art, as rais'd on earth, 
 
 In after time, to places near the gods. 
 
 The Grecian, and the Rojian Orator. 
 
 Their wild ideas now cease; for, \iiidst the 
 
 throng, 
 Comes Reason, full of wisdom and research ; 
 He demonstrates the universe, as known 
 To ancient glory; and the earth alone 
 Is proved , to be the scene of misery. 
 A festival succeeds; tiie spirits act. 
 By the symphonic, all the mysteries 
 Of the creation. Personating spheres, 
 In sacred ballet, females some appear. 
 And others male; and, as our stars, receive 
 New spaces to their bosom, — they advance. 
 Swell in the circuit, or, obliquely dart 
 Into the comets way. While close within 
 Their harps, the seven, imprisoned, sit, 
 
 and pour 
 The classic voice; the rest, in figures creep, 
 And catch, with whispering grace, the dying 
 
 sound. 
 Fair >Aas the dawn of morning, as the east.
 
 ( 45 ) 
 Streak'd with the coming glory of the sun, 
 Saw, many a spirit, gather'd round the world. 
 To witness the effect, on its moist soil. 
 Of burning heat: and, breathless with desire, 
 Thej stay'd, awaiting the results of time. 
 At noon, the earth shot forth with numerous 
 
 Herbs ; 
 These, in tlie course of change, put out their 
 
 buds. 
 And bloom'd 5 and, on the sweetest blossoms, 
 
 grew 
 The Honey-Bee; while from the violet, 
 Rose on its wing, the AzcnE Butterfly. 
 For the harmonious influence of the cause. 
 Ran thro' the off'spring : and together chalnM , 
 Their looks entic'd the Striding Ammal, 
 To come, and feed, on their rich meadow-land. 
 Birds born on boughs, had wings to reach 
 
 the corn. 
 And, Fisij, that found their organs in the seas. 
 Had fins, given by the waters, as they grew. 
 Thus, taws, obeyd their local tendencies. 
 Perfected by long time, thro' many a grade. 
 And, by the wonders of creation, driven 
 To such conception, Man his life obtain'd ; 
 Mov'd by the solar flame, and circumstance
 
 ( 4r, ) 
 
 Such as hut once, in an etcrnitv, 
 Could happen; tho' a greater beiuij still, 
 His chance retains. From simplest elements. 
 Mingling in love, to form an order more. 
 See howth^ ascending grade has risen ! We, now 
 Behold intelligent, and lovelv things. 
 Folding their visible arms, to procreate 
 Their kind ! The spirits, mingled in these works, 
 Feel their success, and hard-won libert}' ! 
 Worthy of freedom, thej , with joy, recal 
 Their labors; and fair prospects of reward 
 Their hearts enlighten, as, thty feel themselves, 
 In full possession, and the standard raise 
 Of Happy Orde?. ! and, they bless the day, 
 Which places on a level with the spheres, 
 Their own peculiar eartli , to form a part 
 Of the Material Divinity! 
 The stars, are but the atoms, which unite 
 To form his great, his living universe! 
 
 The worlds areform'd! the ancient prophecies 
 Which liird the councils of the gods, fuimilM! 
 The beauties of the earth, are prospering 
 In the new seasons ; form'd of rich campaigns 
 Of rivers, and wide banks; of hills, and seas 
 Plantations, level plains, — a sun in heaven!
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 ]iehold, the tourist, by the midland sea 
 Advancing, while, along the distant waves. 
 The oib forsakes the day. He traverses 
 A hill, beside the beach, whose side along, 
 Blossoms the myrtle, and the orange flowV. 
 The native peasantry arrest his pace, 
 Andj of their plenteous fruits, witliout reward, 
 IMake offer, — greeting with a pleasant tour! 
 jNow, from the setting globe, the waters face 
 Receives a golden flooring, which, extends 
 Tow'rds land, and, half the purple sea conceals. 
 Whilst numbers, gazing from the shingles, watch 
 A fleet of boats, half on the purple wave, 
 Half on the golden, hung on milk-white sails, 
 And searching after fish! Behind the hill, 
 A steady moon, gives twilight to the sky. 
 And, seems a stranger to the scene below. 
 
 jN'ow on Alpina, at St. Gothards base, 
 I call on Annalena , with a shout 
 Of joy, to follow, and behold the scenes 
 Of new-created landscape! her kind voice, 
 Softly as echo, answers to my soul! 
 Spirits of human beauty! see ye not, 
 How fair , her light blue ejes , among the 
 mists ?
 
 ( 48 ) 
 Her smiles, how cheering to the sunless shades? 
 How sweet , attuned to liveliest thought, 
 
 her voice 
 Among the cannon of the cataracts ! 
 Her figure, how inspiring to these craggs; 
 These caverns and rough paths , together 
 
 niass'd 
 In the deep sufferings of deformity! 
 Behold the beauty of tiie fairest clime, 
 Trampling her path, across a wilderness! 
 The Akkalena I once, m1)o climb'd , alone, 
 Faida's hill! she, only, of her sex 
 From Britain's isle! O hill, remeniber her! 
 For, ere she taught you love, she taught to me, 
 Peace, for the barren precipice of passion! 
 And, ere the ruin'd heart was wreck-'d , she 
 
 threw 
 Her anchor, on the ocean of despair! 
 Such were the scenes , midst whicli , my 
 
 human brain , 
 Perform'd its long necessitated task; 
 And, told the struggles of Chaotic time. 
 And, now I sing, the gloomy wars of mind: 
 For, while a discord of Chaotic Worlds 
 Is charm'd; Spiritual Chaos, in her turn, 
 Wreathes, under fatal war of principle.
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 I took the Ciliarnier's hand, and, led her forth. 
 
 O'er the great mountain , where the alpine 
 lakes 
 
 And valleys are; and, wandering o'er the 
 waves , 
 
 Our kindred souls, made, bj each others light, 
 
 More luminous, gave \va) to a lament 
 
 (^)n the swift ruin of liumanity. 
 
 For, in the earliest periods, the deceit 
 
 Of barren mimls, gain'd o'er the ignorant 
 A civil , and religious influence. 
 Proclaiming, with a solemn face, that he 
 AVho, from a daily labourer, had risen 
 After si^ days, to have the worlds estate, 
 Had sent them, to declare his holy will. 
 And, thus, their wills, became omnipotent! 
 The shameless liars, saw their families^ 
 Enjoy the liberties of all mankind; 
 And, as the sharks increase the seas, they bred. 
 Princes and bishops and nobilities, 
 \Vho, thro' an endless line of ancestors. 
 Possess hereditary privelege, 
 la honor of the pure descent; tho' half, 
 Are bastards, born in wedlock; and no more 
 ili,e representatives of ancient bloody 
 Than Mahomet of the Divinitj !
 
 ( 50 ) 
 In contemplation of these miseries, 
 We rose o'er Rigi's hill, to, theuce, behold 
 A panorama, from whose loveliness, 
 'Twere easy to desire a paradise *, 
 And, from our quiet feelings, as we gaz'd , 
 To wish for blissful immortality ! 
 The wide campaign, and its luxuriance. 
 Swam o'er tiie lakes, in islands; and, the 
 
 hills. 
 Beyond, show'd their brown edges, as if age 
 Had worn away the snow , and, their white 
 
 breast. 
 Gave to the clouds, in sunshine slumbering low 
 Under the azure sky ! An airy mist 
 Arises, and obscures the scenes from view. 
 Then, as a curtain, by a breeze of sun 
 Dispers'd, — brings, every moment, into view 
 The cities , where th' illusion , now enslaves 
 Men, whose great pride, is ancient liberty! 
 
 But some are more awake, and, spend their 
 lives 
 In science, which, by curious processes, 
 Casts back on chaos, the creation; all 
 The laws untangling, without injury. 
 Others, have pleasures in philosophy; 
 
 J
 
 ( 51 ) 
 And fancv, that their vision holds a sun, 
 As luminous, as the original orb. 
 And other noble spirits, feel desire 
 To, gently, search the rough material; 
 And, with creative chisel, underneath 
 The blow, bring into view, the beautiful! 
 Figures, and shapes, which matcii the noblest 
 
 gifts, 
 Of human admiration I see, the effect 
 Produced on artists, as their eyes survey 
 The Wrestlers, by an ancient artist done, 
 Where , strength so twists the vanquished 
 
 hero's arm , 
 That, fancy, fears the marble group may split, 
 Destroy'd by its perfection! Or in times 
 IS'ow present, when we see, the Cuarity 
 Of Bartolini! her, that artist, calls 
 A mother, pious in parental care. 
 And pointing tow'rds the page! with one idea. 
 The patriot, thus instructs the nations mind. 
 And, future generations, tries to raise 
 To his own standard ! Iligii experiments 
 Of labor , and continual diligence. 
 Gave birth to the expressive Theory. 
 One, found the loadstone ; and, his magnet, set 
 In centres, whence, the justling substances 
 
 1
 
 ( o2 ) 
 Took base, and, to each oilier gave support 
 In magical suspension! In his hand, 
 He sometimes balanced, in his scrupulous hand, 
 The atoms; and, with chemic skill, would 
 
 pierce 
 Each centre, with elective energy, 
 And seal the law ; whence divers liquids 
 
 flow'd , 
 And solids grew, and vapours rose in air , 
 Of colours new! Another artist, strikes 
 His beam on prisms; and with analysis, 
 ihe fluent genius of his mind, explains 
 The various hues of landscape, and of sky. 
 And, there was talent, whose great strength, 
 
 upraised 
 The telescope to heaven ; and thro' the night 
 Discovered endless Time , that graceful spirit 
 Whose paces, are the motions of the spheres! 
 Fylfilliiig hopes, of the discovery 
 Of hidden systems, fit to act alone 
 The drama of Creation , far beyond 
 The reach of interfering miracles. ; 
 
 These things, alarm'd the great aristocrats ^ 
 
 Of civil, and religious slavery. I 
 
 Affrighting on their hypocrilic thrones 
 The logical Divines; who, when the means 
 
 i
 
 C 53 ) 
 Of prisons fail'd to crush philosophj , 
 Persuaded courts to patronize, and keep 
 Intelligence at ^\ork, least it should rise. 
 Bearing the emblems of the sciences, 
 And cause a glorious revolution ! 
 But as the Chaos of material things 
 In order found sweet peace ; so must the 
 
 mind. 
 After her numerous struggles, find a home, 
 Or cringe back to annihilation. 
 How many a piercing intellect, has tried 
 'Mid general ignorance, and scorn, to turn 
 Dull error's tide! his private happiness 
 A sacrifice to truth: his boldness deein'd 
 A wonder, and another miracle. 
 At length he dies! tho' not his influence 
 ^yhich forms a portion of the mental world.
 
 THE TROUBLES OF CHAOS. 
 
 PART. III. 
 
 ± hus ages waned, and slow was change: the 
 
 truth 
 Tho' visible, could not admission gain, 
 Into the guarded temple of the law. 
 But to disturb a moral war, there came 
 On earth the God of Satire, in the form 
 Of flesh : not to be spit on , or revilM 
 In meekness; but on sarcasm, to enthrone 
 His genius oVr pretenders, and to crown 
 Their heads with bitter thorns ! ResolvM to 
 
 shed , 
 At every risque, the blood of prejudice, 
 And clear the mind for noble purposes, 
 He came on earth, to crucify mankind I 
 For equal born to all the universe, 
 AVith justice as his guide, he felt his power 
 To trample on the throne, tho' in the rank. 
 Of beggar, which he chose as suited best, 
 To learn the sources of hypocrisy. 
 His will, was to behold the human race 
 All noble; rais'd, by education's gifts, 
 To their hereditary peerages!
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 Then , as the greater numbers of mankind 
 Would bow to highest sense of right, and 
 
 wrong , 
 Kings might make war on kings, to quench their 
 
 thirst 
 Of human blood ; or practise suicide. 
 And prelates , to each other , preach their 
 
 creeds. 
 
 Labourers, the strongest, and most injur'd 
 part 
 Of nations, starting from a trance, perceive 
 For the first time, their frightful slavery; 
 And, round the beggar, flock, to Jearntheway 
 To the lost station of their ancestors. 
 He, thus, in allegory, pictures forth 
 The Church of England, as their deepest woe : 
 There is a Man in Britain"'s capital 
 Kelov'd for rarest virtues; on his head 
 He wears a Mitre; in his hand displays 
 A Book, and from his mouth Religion flows. 
 He, never has been seen to touch the skin 
 Of woman, or, to eat the flesh of beasts. 
 On days given up to fast ; but breathes the 
 
 Word. 
 The secret entrance of the human heart. 
 He, daily, enters in a bandit's guise. 
 To steal the faults ; then, of thepri:ie, he forms 
 His sermons; lucre, for his purse and soul. 
 To private charities, he yearly gives
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 A portion <»f his spoils, which all men praise: 
 IVor ostentations, even he bribes the poor, 
 To make no mention of his charity.'/ 
 
 (Holding, in either hand, a human skull 
 He, next, dwells on the claims of rojaltji) 
 
 crown 1 
 Mj careful eje surveys them, but, the trace 
 Of honor has pass'd by, and memory 
 Which keeps the wide museum of my mind. 
 Scarce knows the tilings apart! This haggard 
 
 skull. 
 Once held a tyrant; see its meekness now!'/ 
 
 (He drops the rolling bone, and then proceeds.) 
 
 "I once sat in his presence, (for my mind 
 Could never feign an inequality) 
 So, was I sent to prison! But, revenge 
 Comes after, thence surpasses injury!'/ 
 
 (The beggar, shews a chair, made out of 
 bones , 
 And sitting, thus continues his discourse.) 
 
 . )^ 
 
 //These are his bones, on which I daily sit. 
 And here, with thoughts fresh gathered I enjoy 
 To flay alive the virtues, and, set free
 
 ( o7 ) 
 
 The curling serpents, underneath the skin! 
 The grcate-st vice is shame! il masques tlie soul 
 In such disguises, that, even virtue, seeks 
 A splendid prison of hypocrisv ! 
 Here comes a noble: hear our dialogue.'/ 
 
 Beggar. 
 /'I starve on charitv ! Oh! give me food, 
 And take m v thanks I" 
 
 Lord. 
 
 //I never give relief, 
 In private." 
 
 Beggar. 
 />0 roost noble lord! vour dress 
 Is better serv'd, than mj poor tatterM skin !»/ 
 
 (The noble fro\vn\l ; but to appease his wrath 
 The mendicant producM a scroll.) 
 
 //Behold , 
 This mv subscription, which contains the names 
 Of many public men !'/ 
 
 (The noble, casts 
 His eve along tlie page : he writes his names 
 And titles; ending with his charitv.) 
 
 "Adventurous coward ! thus , with Charity, 
 He holds a broil of words, to save his gold!
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 But brib'd by praise, he, for lier Avicked hire, 
 Stabs pity to the heart, and, tells mankind, 
 That he is pity ! While the world applauds, 
 He mounts the marble steps of charity. 
 And weeps these golden tears ! But, now behold 
 That wealthy merchant, who, has paid his priest 
 The price of an indulgence. Hear me beg, 
 In heavens name I — "O rich man ! have 
 
 compassion.'/ 
 Merchant. 
 //Faugh ! begone.'/ 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 // O whither? if to death, 
 I am a sinner: only, give me, that 
 Which gains us absolution; only, save 
 A wither'd soul, from purgatory fire!'/ 
 
 (The merchant stares, but deigns not a reply. 
 Next comes a youth: and, at his arm, a maid 
 As fair as her creator, whose deep charms, 
 Are veil'd in mystery.) 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 //Be merciful! 
 I ask no more than mercy.'/ 
 
 Maid. 
 
 // Poor, old man !'/ 
 
 (She, with neat hand, her purse unloosing, gives.)
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 Beggar. 
 /<T\vo hours ago, I saw that girl alone! 
 She treated me with scorn ! but, with her lover, 
 She smiles, and she bestows ; herself deceives, 
 Into benevolence, she feigns so well 
 When driven bj happy opportunity ! 
 Sad is this hour which hears my voice exclaim, 
 Benevolence! most hard of heart. It comes 
 Of dearly bought experience ! for, I've searchM 
 The populous cities of the globe, and found 
 The statue only, not the living soul! 
 Yes! I have travers'd countries, to procure 
 A share of daily bread, for seventy years! 
 The green tides of the Po, the purple Rhone, 
 Have roird beneath my tears * and , this 
 
 white head 
 Has bow'd , with reverence, 'neath the aged Alps 
 Seven various times, to search their wilderness. 
 For what my native soil, in affluence. 
 Has long denied ! her produce, rcap'd by men 
 Who first subdued, and then oppress'd the poor! 
 But gold, it needs not, to detect the heart! 
 And I, who visit places where the mind 
 Commits her coldest crimes, — how oft Ive 
 
 seen , 
 Thoughts shap'd like daggers, ere they enter in 
 The sheath of pity! Often have these hairs. 
 The greatest honors that a man can wear. 
 Borne their reproach ! and , those whose 
 
 fainting hearts,
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 Shudd'ring beneath an inward weight of crime, 
 Have given me aid, arous'd into revenge, 
 Have told my idle bones, to work for bread. 
 When young, I pardonM all whose years 
 
 were more. 
 But now, lliat time is pass'd, and, my old age. 
 Breeds an abhorrence of the human race. 
 And this I feel all day, till o^er my soul, 
 Close, like a grave, these melancholy eyes, 
 And dreamless is my sleep ! Well, nature knows, 
 I long have struggled to discover good 
 In men ; but, I have found even generous hearts, 
 Void of the virtues of fidelity ! 
 For, as Philosophy, in various ways, 
 Is pleasing, and may tempt the mind, to stray 
 From one, t^another system; so, the heart 
 Is selfish, and must seek variety. 
 To amply gratify its lusts of pity ! 
 Hence, I abhor the boasts sentiment. 
 From every living soul! Behold the fool 
 Is turned, by music, to an ecstacy ! 
 A second , sees the tragedy perform'd ; 
 And, while the actor, full of genius. 
 Renews the writers sense, a phrenzy drives 
 The weak spectator to the tragic muse ! 
 But, how I love self-salire! Oft, I' ve heard 
 The English, sigh their love of Italy, 
 Being banish'd there , by poverty and debt ! 
 Or", that domestic game , adultery !'/
 
 ( 61 ) 
 
 //What noise is this? I kn/)\v : The ganiling 
 rooms 
 Are breaking up: perjjaps , more charity 
 IVIay there be found, than, in a sabbath day." 
 
 (A man, wrappM , closely, in an cloak, 
 descends.) 
 
 //Sir I with respect, my age asks pity!" 
 
 Gambler. 
 
 /'True. 
 1 don't Jielievt^ in pity I and, to throw 
 The hypocrite aside, I hate old age! 
 Take my advice; walk calmly to the sea. 
 And drown your useless soul !" 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 //I trust in Christ !" 
 
 Gambler. 
 "You think, that, preaching can convert 
 the purse !" 
 
 Beggar. 
 //In his disguise, he feels himself unknown: 
 But I could strip him to the naked sin. 
 Terror his consciousness should drive away , 
 And dumbness curse defence! Enlighten'dman, 
 And moral nation! England! how thou artfool'd,
 
 ( 62 ) 
 
 With all thy sense! that man receives of tliee 
 A missionary's pay, o'er foreign lands, 
 To teach improv'd religion! This is he, 
 Who, yester-morning, preach'd to multitudes 
 On faith, on charity, and, hopes of heaven! 
 He mention'd , being humble, for the grave; 
 And merciful , around the poor man's home. 
 He told the rich, to sell their goods; dispose 
 Of all their wealth, and bear the naked cross! 
 To day, this lamb clothed in the skin of 
 
 wolves , 
 Visits the seats of plunder, to commit 
 The murderof his brother's peace of mind. 
 Oh ! I am sick of selfish tyranny ! 
 And, yet, I'll try another heart, before 
 1 my last hope , resign.'/ 
 
 (He looks around , 
 And, hears a lady, at her door, address 
 A person, thus, about her dying child:) 
 
 Lady. 
 /'My child, my only treasure! dearer far 
 Than husband, brother, sister, parent, friend ! 
 Save but my child, and, I will worship thee, 
 The saviour of this heart! O! night and day, 
 I'vewatch'd its little features in their growth, 
 And, ere I watch'd, they were a part of me! 
 I only had the hope, before this child! 
 The virgin dream of hope, was realiz'd.
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 Bereft again, m^ youth, into the age 
 Of sorrow changes; and, the void, l)ecomts 
 A bar before the prison of my chamber, 
 Where tlie sweet spirit of my infant, rests.'/ 
 
 (Enters a house.) 
 
 PERSOJf. 
 
 II A. little, puny wretch I 
 It is no matter, if it lives or dies. 
 Does nature care:* we see the loveliest things. 
 Strangled, in their unlucky pass to light: 
 But minds, with double backs, and cloven feet. 
 Live, and inherit titles and domains." 
 
 Beggar. 
 "Here, lives a lady with a ruin'd heart." 
 
 (He enters; and, the curious scene, ischang'd 
 To tlio rich room, where, on an ottoman, 
 The lady sits, conversing with her maid.) 
 
 Maid. 
 A lady, living near us, has a child 
 As sickly as our own. It soon will die." 
 
 Lady. 
 Unhappy mother I do I know her?" 
 
 Maid. 
 
 /-No.
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 Lady. 
 /'Go, take my love, and offer all mv power, 
 Her sorrow to appease*. Unhappy mother'.'/ 
 
 (The maid departs, but soon re-entering:) 
 
 /'A poor man asks to see jou ; and , he speaks 
 Of some sick child.'/ 
 
 Lady. 
 //What child? it must be mine! 
 Desire him to come in.'/ 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 //My La ly , hear ! 
 Then know commiseration. Tlio' I stand 
 An ancient order of the human race, 
 I heg my daily bread! My daughter's babe, 
 Sweet daughter, now is dying of disease. 
 Caused by the famine of our poverty ; 
 And, not the failure of prolific soil! 
 It breathes the hasty spasm of the air. 
 At distant intervals; and every fiour 
 Brings promise of relief, from th'angel, Death.// 
 
 Lady. 
 //And darM you tread this floor? If I iiad mines 
 Of running gold, for this presumptuous act, I J 
 They should not give you work!'/
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 "O Tyranny ! 
 Nut in the despot's budding sceptre, born, 
 More than in those who rise, to overthrow 
 His throne I the peasant and the prince, 
 
 with thee. 
 Insults his subject; and, with thee, the rich 
 Assume divinity, to scourge the poor! 
 Old Age! 1 thee invoke, my only friend! 
 Let not this woman reach thy reverence. '/ 
 
 Maid. 
 ''Is your child very ill ''" 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 ''Yes ! very ill." 
 Maid. 
 "Take this, 'tis all that I have, now." 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 "Indeedl" 
 I don't believe thee, girl! altho' I love thee." 
 
 (The girl, in blushes and in tears, replies:) 
 
 "I'll give you all I have !" 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 "No ! stay, my girl. 
 1 am not poor, for, I possess a mind 
 Superior both to wealth , and poverty.
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 The paupers of a nation, are her mean 
 And niggar<l spirits ^ and the barren mind. 
 But for example, jon had never told 
 A lie; for, you have native innocence." 
 
 (The Bej^gar walking thro' a plain, l)egins 
 To meditate in silence, and alone.) 
 
 /'O Nature, how can thy great strugj^ies end! 
 Yonder, I see the armies, gathering. 
 Of a great People : the last struggle comes 
 Against the proudest Kings, and Codrtieks, 
 
 crown'd 
 Destroyers of mankind. All other sects. 
 Are lost, in this great war! it must decide. 
 To day th' impending fate of Liberty; 
 Must either yield its ashes to the Urn , 
 Or give the Restoration !" 
 
 As he spoke 
 He aaw, whole multitudes of autocrats, 
 Who wore the arms of God, along the plain. 
 In numerous places; and, within their pale 
 All nature work'd disturbance! without cease 
 The winds dislik'd their destined course, and 
 
 howl'd 
 Thro' all the darken'd avenues of day; 
 Clouds, pregnant with the mystic fire, stood still 
 Too weak to burst; and, 'mid the gathering 
 
 storm
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 A brilliant .snn sank, rjpidlj. No stars 
 Witness'd tl>.e agitiilion of the niglit ; 
 
 Spirits, in vain, made eartlicjuakcs of llicir 
 
 graves , 
 In hopes to rise again; and spectres waik'd 
 To seek their corpse, thro' cliainhers where 
 
 they died. 
 Men rose in battle, and each ot'ier slew. 
 To earn their daily bread; and, all were 
 
 know n 
 To glory in a bloody victory! 
 Brothers were heard to quarrel ; cliildrcn felt. 
 Disdain for parents! Even, the bishops, iniss'd 
 Their public prayers, and in their chambei' 
 
 knelt ! 
 The ricli man, talk'd no more, of charity. 
 The mothers, walk'd their daughters thro' 
 
 the streets 
 Of evening masquerades, to get them men! 
 Philosophers, who valued human life. 
 And preach'd against assassination. 
 All paid for their own tombs! the virtuous 
 
 man, 
 Pass'd beggars inthe way, norgave them aid! 
 So changed were things, that royal ministers 
 All merit overlook'd , and, public gifts 
 Bestow'd on home! The pride of nations ceasVi! 
 The little minds of dwarfs, had eminence; 
 \nd genius, without notice, wander'd o'er
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 Her native land, a lonely prisoner! 
 Nature was set aside, and with her power, 
 Ceas'd her religion ! Life were a reward, 
 If inborn mental piety, had stood: 
 But all the nations are raan-worshippers! 
 The christians, rush to church on sabbath 
 
 day , 
 And to the plot, as critics arm'd , attend 
 While priests recite the holy tragedy. 
 O credulous! with such ignoble creeds, 
 A single step above th'idolator. 
 The mind, is baser than the slave, who toils 
 In chains , beneath the lash of cruelty ! 
 Devoted to illusion ! not to w orks , 
 Which render human glory, eminent 
 Above the universe, whose infinite. 
 Itself, is comprehended in the mind! 
 O credulous , O self-enslav'd ! by right 
 The gods, by choice the subjects! your reward 
 Will be to perish ; never to assume 
 The rank of man; but, buried in decay, 
 No hope the corpse surviving, nor, thestrength 
 To whisper to the neighbouring dust, //ahis! 
 My soul has perishM in the tomb!'/ Oman! 
 One effort more, or all is lost ! — Man dies ! 
 For, on the Holy and the Royal side. 
 Is pestilence ; and , thro' our city gate 
 Flows poison with the breeze ! Their ensign lifts 
 The standard of the Plague ! their armies, come, 
 Receiv'dby wideraouth'dfamine,ando'erwhelm 

 
 ( r,o ) 
 
 Our strucjgling numbers ! Ha! the mother lies, 
 Stript of her costly robe, insensible; 
 And, on the famine of her breast-, a babe 
 Cries, to give language to its misery! 
 
 The galley slaves are loosen'd, to assist 
 The dying; and, to cry, thro' all the streets, 
 The death-watch, gath'ring taxes for the 
 
 grave. 
 There is a general truce, to dying mind! 
 Behold this pile of bodies! one, his head 
 Plac'd on his perishM brother, for a couch, 
 And others came, and made their monument! 
 The houses, are turn'd into sepulchres. 
 The vaults are open'd , to afford the sick. 
 A home, by the industrious few , whose doom 
 But struggles with the hours ! Th'immortal 
 
 mind , 
 Who still survives, stricken and impotent. 
 Wanders in ruin, treading, as he goes, 
 O'er heaps of dead emotions; putrid lusts; 
 Smasli'd mitres, and, ambition with lier crown ! 
 The intellectual fortress, once tlie hold 
 Of Reason and her Court, is broken dow^n 
 By phrenzied spirits, a scene of civil war ; 
 And Human iXature, without glory, dies! 
 No otfspring, rises to perpetuate. 
 The wonders of our name. And , yet, 
 
 there seem , 
 Re-organizing efforts; for, I sec 
 Where once the skin was moisten'd , soft , 
 
 and fair ,
 
 ( 70 ) 
 
 Minutest insects move, o'er every spot! 
 The organs, once which changM the aliment, 
 And fed the vital sluices, now, the rat 
 Tears with his cautious moutli , and back- 
 ward tugs ! 
 And, from the human soil, the mushroom 
 
 grows. 
 Now, while the dying continents, proclaim 
 Their pardon to Ambition, and implore 
 Mercy of heaven; suddenly, descends 
 Over the troubled universe of things, 
 A sable drop, and, all again is dark! 
 But, indistinctly, from behind, arc heard 
 'Mid prayers, and groans, and lamentations, — 
 Portions of revolutionary hymns , 
 As if arising from a struggling world! 
 And screams, and noises, such as only rise 
 From forc'd destruction, ruin premature , — 
 Send terror thro' the ghastly face of night. 
 Whilst silence pregnant with events, draws 
 
 breath 
 From time's unfathom'd. schemes, the ear is 
 
 sliock'd 
 By the deep knell of some grand funeral , 
 Which leaves, an awful murmur! now is heard, 
 A choir of chanting voices, rising shrill 
 And sinking, as did once the burial hymn. 
 By vestals sang. Again is heard the knell ! 
 Slow music, walks to weeping paces; thoughts 
 Are humble, looking down into the i2;rave. 
 
 L
 
 ( 71 ) 
 
 And, pondering over mortal Vanity I 
 
 jN'ow all is still, and Nature takes her rest. 
 
 The siiadows of ihe past, still, haunt the 
 ni<,'ht. 
 Spiritual cities, crowded with the souls 
 Of happy men, a moment, stand on air 
 And vanish; or the Ocean, with his fleets, 
 Is seen, and merchant vessels, all becaltuM ! 
 The blushing virgin, to the altar led. 
 Sinks in her lover arms, then disappears ! 
 The slave, snaps off his chains, and, o'er 
 
 his head 
 He holds them, as from view he melts away J 
 Now opens, to the void, a senate-house 
 Of reverend heads, in serious debate, 
 On human welfare! — As this glides along, 
 The armies, lean in regimental line 
 AVith bayonets ; and cannon light as air : 
 And , while the vision of their tyrant comes. 
 Each soldier wears a smile, and, his rev.ard 
 Is peace I Unto the nations of the earth, 
 A slow, and transitory flash of light. 
 Reveals a judgment-seat in the obscure. 
 And thereon sits, a grinning skeleton ! 
 And, last, the bard, and the philosopher. 
 With instrument and book, in mist, arise 
 To seek their promis'd immortality; 
 And , once more , wane into oblivion !
 
 dale stamped below. 
 
 yi 
 
 10M-1 1-50 2555)470 
 
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