9

CHORUS.

CHORUS

At length, with love and wine at once oppressid, Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,

The vanquish'd victor sunk upon her breast.
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure;

Now strike the golden lyre again :
Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure;

A louder yet, and yet a louder strain.

Break his bands of sleep qsunder, Sweet is pleasure after pain.

And rouse him, like a rattling peal of thunder. Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain;

Hark, bark, the horrid sound Fought all his battles o'er again ; (the slain.

Has rais'd up his head!

As awak'd from the dead,
And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew

And, amaz'd, he stares around.
The master saw the madness rise ;
His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;

Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries,

See the Furies arise :
And, while he Heaven and Earth defied,
Chang'd his hand, and check'd his pride.

See the snakes that they rear,
He chose a mournful Muse,

How they hiss in their hair,

And the sparkles that flash from their eyes! Soft pity to infuse : He sung Darius great and good,

Behold a ghastly band,

Each a torch in his hand !
By too severe a fate,
Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,

Those are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain,

And unburied remain
Fallen from his high estate,
And weltering in his blood;

Inglorious on the plain:
Deserted, at his utmost need,

Give the vengeance due

To the valiant crew.
By those his former bounty fed :
On the bare earth expos'd he lies,

Behold how they loss their torches on high,
With not a friend to close his eyes.

How they point to the Persian abodes,
With downcast looks the joyless victor sate,

And glittering temples of their hostile gods.
Revolving in his alter'd soul

The princes applaud, with a furious joy ;
The various turns of Chance below;

And the king seiz'd a flambeau with zeal to destroy,

Thais led the way,
And, now and then, a sigh he stole ;

To light him to his prey,
And tears began to flow.

And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy
CHORUS.
Revolving in his alter'd soul

The various turns of Chance below; And the king seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy;
And, now and then, a sigh he stole;

Thais led the way,
And tears began to flow.

To light him to his prey,

And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy.
The mighty master smil'd, to see
That love was in the next degree:
"Twas but a kindred sound to move,

Thus, long ago,
For pity melts the mind to love.

Ere heaving bellows learn'd to blow,

While organs yet were mute;
Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,
Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasures.

Timotheus, to his breathing flute,

And sounding lyre,
War, he sung, is toil and trouble ;
Honor but an empty bubble ;

Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.

At last divine Cecilia came,
Never ending, still beginning,

Inventress of the vocal frame;
Fighting still, and still destroying ;
If the world be worth thy winning,

The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store,
Think, O think, it worth enjoying:

Enlarg'd the former narrow bounds,

And added length to solemn sounds,
Lovely Thais sits beside thee,

With Nature's mother-wit, and arts unknown before.
Take the good the gods provide thee.
The many rend the skies with loud applause ;

Let old Timotheus yield the prize,

Or both divide the crown; So Love was crown'd, but Music won the cause.

He rais'd a mortal to the skies ;
The prince, unable to conceal his pain,

She drew an angel down.
Gaz'd on the fair
Who caus'd his care,

GRAND CHORUS.
And sigh'd and look’d, sigh'd and look'd,
Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again :

At last divine Cecilia came,
At length, with love and wine at once oppressid, Inventress of the vocal frame;
The vanquish'd victor sunk upon her breast. The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store,

Enlarg'd the former narrow bounds,
CHORUS.

And added length to solemn sounds,
The prince, unable to conceal his pain, With Nature's mother-wit, and arts unknown before.
Gaz'd on the fair

Let old Timotheus yield the prize,
Who caus'd his care,

Or both divide the crown;
And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look’d,

He rais'd a mortal to the skies ;
Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again :

She drew an angel down.

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22

Let fall some drops of pity on our grief,
PALAMON AND ARCITE: If what we beg be just, and we deserve relief:

For none of us, who now thy grace implore,
OR, THE KNIGHTS TALE.

But held the rank of sovereign queen before ;

Till, thanks to giddy Chance, which never bears BOOK I

That mortal bliss should last for length of years,

She cast us headlong from our high estate,
In days of old, there liv’d, of mighty fame, And here in hope of thy return we wait:
A valiant prince, and Theseus was his name: And long have waited in the temple nigh,
A chief, who more in feats of arms excell’d, Built to the gracious goddess Clemency.
The rising nor the setting Sun beheld.

But reverence thou the power whose name it bears,
Of Athens he was lord ; much land he won, Relieve th' oppress’d, and wipe the widow's tears.
And added foreign countries to his crown. I, wretched I, have other fortunes seen,
In Scythia with the warrior queen he strove, The wife of Capaneus, and once a queen:
Whom first by force he conquered, then by love; At Thebes he fell, curst be the fatal day!
He brought in triumph back the beauteous dame, And all the rest thou seest in this array
With whom her sister, fair Emilia, came. To make their moan, their lords in battle lost
With honor to his home let Theseus ride, Before that town, besieg'd by our confederate host:
With Love to friend, and Fortune for his guide, But Creon, old and impious, who commands
And his victorious army at his side.

The Theban city, and usurps the lands,
I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array, Denies the rites of funeral fires to those
Their shouts, their songs, their welcome on the way. Whose breathless bodies yet he calls his foes.
But, were it not too long, I would recite

Unburn'd, unburied, on a heap they lie;
The feats of Amazons, the fatal fight

Such is their fate, and such his tyranny ; Betwixt the hardy queen and hero knight; No friend has leave to bear away the dead, The town besieg'd, and how much blood it cost But with their lifeless limbs his hounds are fed." The female army and th’ Athenian host;

At this she shriek'd aloud ; the mournful train The spousals of Hippolita, the queen;

Echo'd her grief, and, grovelling on the plain, What tilts and tourneys at the feast were seen ; With groans, and hands upheld, to move his mind, The storm at their return, che ladies' fear : Besought his pity to their helpless kind ! But these, and other things, I must forbear.

The prince was touch'd, his tears began to flow, The field is spacious I design to sow,

And, as his tender heart would break in two, With oxen far unfit to draw the plow:

He sigh'd, and could not but their fate deplore, The remnant of my tale is of a length

So wretched now, so fortunate before.
To tire your patience, and to waste my strength ; Then lightly from his lofty steed he flew,
And trivial accidents shall be forborne,

And raising, one by one, the suppliant crew,
That others may have time to take their turn; To comfort each, full solemnly he swore,
As was at first enjoin'd us by mine host, That by the faith which knights to knighthood bore,
That he whose tale is best, and pleases most, And whate'er else to chivalry belongs,
Should win his supper at our common cost. He would not cease, till he reveng'd their wrongs :

And therefore where I left, I will pursue That Greece should see perform'd what he declar'd; This ancient story, whether false or true,

And cruel Creon find his just reward. In hope it may be mended with a new.

He said no more, but, shunning all delay, The prince I mention'd, full of high renown, Rode on; nor enter'd Athens on his way : In this array drew near th' Athenian town; But left his sister and his queen behind, When, in his pomp and utmost of his pride, And wav'd his royal banner in the wind : Marching, he chanc'd to cast his eye aside, Where in an argent field the god of war And saw a choir of mourning dames, who lay Was drawn triumphant on his iron car; By two and two across the common way: Red was his sword, and shield, and whole attire, At his approach they rais'd a rueful cry, And all the godhead seem'd to glow with fire; And beat their breasts, and held their hands on high, Ev'n the ground glitter'd where the standard few Creeping and crying, till they seiz'd at last And the green grass was dyed to sanguine hue. His courser's bridle, and his feet embrac'd. High on his pointed lance his pennon bore “Tell me," said Theseus, " what and whence His Cretan fight, the conquer'd Minotaur :

“ you are,

The soldiers shout around with generous rage. And why this funeral pageant you prepare ? And in that victory their own presage. Is this the welcome of my worthy deeds,

He prais'd their ardor ; inly pleas'd to see To meet my triumph in ill-omend weeds ? His host the flower of Grecian chivalry. Or envy you my praise, and would destroy All day he march'd ; and all th' ensuing night; With grief my pleasures, and pollute my joy? And saw the city with returning light. Or are you injur'd, and demand relief?

The process of the war I need not tell, Name your request, and I will ease your grief." How Theseus conquer'd, and how Creon fell :

The most in years of all the mourning train Or after, how by storm the walls were won, Began (but swooned first away for pain); Or how the victor sack'd and burn'd the town: Then scarce recover'd spoke: “Nor envy we How to the ladies he restor'd again Thy great renown, nor grudge thy victory; The bodies of their lords in battle slain : 'Tis thine, O king, th' afflicted to redress, And with what ancient rites they were interr'di, And Fame has fill'd the world with thy success : All these to fitter times shall be deferr'd : We, wretched women, pue for that alone, I spare the widows' tears, their woful cries, Which of thy goodness is refus'd to none; And howling at their husbands' obsequies ;

:

same.

How Theseus at these funerals did assist, Ev'n wondering Philomel forgot to sing,
And with what gifts the mourning dames dismiss'd. And learn'd from her to welcome in the Spring.

Thus when the victor chief had Creon.slain, The tower, of which before was mention made,
And conquer'd Thebes, he pitch'd upon the plain Within whose keep the captive knights were laid,
His mighty camp, and, when the day return'd, Built of a large extent, and strong witbal,
She country wasted, and the hamlets burn'd, Was one partition of the palace wall :
And left the pillagers, to rapine bred,

The garden was inclos'd within the square, Without control to strip and spoil the dead. Where young Emilia took the morning air. There, in a heap of slain, among the rest

It happen'd Palamon, the prisoner knight, Two youthful knights they found beneath a load Restless for woe, arose before the light, oppress'd

And with his gaoler's leave desir’d to breathe Of slaughter'd foes, whom first to death they sent, An air more wholesome than the damps beneath : The trophies of their strength, a bloody monument. This granted, to the tower he took his way, Both fair, and both of royal blood they seem'd, Cheer'd with the promise of a glorious day : Whom kinsmen to the crown the heralds deem'd; Then cast a languishing regard around, That day in equal arms they fought for fame; And saw with hateful eyes the temples crown'd Their swords, their shields, their surcoats, were the With golden spires, and all the hostile ground.

He sigh’d, and turn'd his eyes, because he knew Close by each other laid, they press'd the ground, 'Twas but a larger gaol he had in view: Theịr manly bosoms pierc'd with many a grisly Then look'd below, and, from the castle's height wound;

Beheld a nearer and more pleasing sight, Nor well alive, nor wholly dead, they were, The garden, which before he had not seen, But some faint signs of feeble life appear: In Spring's new livery clad of white and green, The wandering breath was on the wing to part, Fresh flowers in wide parterres, and shady walks Weak was the pulse, and hardly heav'd the heart.

between. These two were sisters' sons; and Arcite one, This view'd, but not enjoy'd, with arms across Much fam'd in fields, with valiant Palamon. He stood, reflecting on his country's loss ; From these their costly arms the spoilers rent, Himself an object of the public scorn, And softly both convey'd to Theseus' tent: *And often wish'd he never had been born. Whom, known of Creon's line, and cur'd with care, At last, for so his destiny requir’d, He to his city sent as prisoners of the war, With walking giddy, and with thinking tir'd, Hopeless of ransom, and condemn'd to lie He through a little window cast his sight, In durance, doom'd a lingering death to die. Though thick of bars, that gave a scanty light: This done, he march'd away with warlike sound, But ev'n that glimmering serv'd him to descry And to his Athens turn'd with laurels crown'd, Th' inevitable charms of Emily. Where happy long he liv'd, much lov'd, and more Scarce had he seen, but, seiz'd with sudden smart, renown'd.

Stung to the quick, he felt it at his heart; But in a tower, and never to be loos’d,

Struck blind with overpowering light, he stood, The woful captive kinsmen are inclos'd. Then started back amaz'd, and cried aloud.

Thus year by year they pass, and day by day, Young Arcite heard ; and up he ran with haste, Till once, 'twas on the morn of cheerful May, To help his friend, and in his arms embrac'd ; The young Emilia, fairer to be seen

And ask'd him why he look'd so deadly wan, Than the fair lily on the flowery green,

And whence and how his change of cheer began, More fresh than May herself in blossoms new, Or who had done th' offence? “But if,” said he, For with the rosy color strove her hue,

• Your grief alone is hard captivity, Wak'd, as her custom was, before the day, For love of Heaven, with patience undergo To do th'observance due to sprightly May: A cureless ill, since Fate will have it 80 : For sprightly May commands our youth to keep So stood our horoscope in chains to lie, The vigilsof hernight, and breaks theirsluggard sleep; And Saturn in the dungeon of the sky, Each gentle breath with kindly warmth she moves; or other baleful aspect, rul'd our birth, Inspires new flames, revives extinguish'd loves. When all the friendly stars were under Earth : In this remembrance Emily, ere day,

Whate'er betides, by Destiny 'tis done ; Arose, and dress'd herself in rich array;

And better bear like men, than vainly seek to shun." Fresh as the month, and as the morning fair; “ Nor of my bonds," said Palamon again, Adown her shoulders fell her length of hair: "Nor of unhappy planets I complain ; A ribband did the braided tresses bind,

But when my mortal anguish caus'd me cry, The rest was loose, and wanton'd in the wind. That moment I was hurt through either eye ; Aurora had but newly chas'd the night,

Pierc'd with a random shaft, I faint away,
And purpled o'er the sky with blushing light, And perish with insensible decay :
When to the garden walk she took her way, A glance of some new goddess gave the wound,
To sport and trip along in cool of day,

Whom, like Acteon, unaware I found.
And offer maiden vows in honor of the May. Look how she walks along yon shady space,
At every turn, she made a little stand,

Not Juno moves with more majestic grace ;
And thrust among the thorns her lily hand And all the Cyprian queen is in her face.
To draw the rose ; and every rose she drew, If thou art Venus (for thy charms confess
She shook the stalk, and brush'd away the dew: That face was form'd in Heaven, nor art thou less ;
Then party-color'd flowers of white and red Disguis'd in habit, undisguis’d in shape)
She wove, to make a garland for her head : O help us captives from our chains t'escape ;
This done, she sung and carollid out so clear, But if our doom be past, in bonds to lie
That men and angels might rejoice to hear : For life, and in a lothesome dungeon die,

Then be thy wrath appeas'd with our disgrace, If then the laws of friendship I transgress,
And show compassion to the Theban race, I keep the greater, while I break the less ;
Oppress'd by tyrant power!" While yet he spoke, And both are mad alike, since neither can possoss.
Arcite on Emily had fix'd his look ;

Both hopeless to be ransom'd, never more
The fatal dart a ready passage found,

To see the Sun, but as he passes o'er." And deep within his heart infix'd the wound : Like Æsop's hounds contending for the bone, So that if Palamon were wounded sore,

Each pleaded right, and would be lord alone : Arcite was hurt as much as he, or more :

The fruitless fight continued all the day: Then from his inmost soul he sigh'd, and said, A cur came by, and snatch'd the prize away. "The beauty I behold has struck me dead : “ As courtiers therefore justle for a grant, Unknowingly she strikes, and kills by chance; And, when they break their friendship, plead their Poison is in her eyes, and death in every glance.

want, O, I must ask, nor ask alone, but move

So, thou, if Fortune will thy suit advance, Her mind to mercy, or must die for love." Love on, nor envy me my equal chance :

Thus Arcite : and thus Palamon replies, For I must love, and am resolv'd to try (Eager his tone, and ardent were his eyes :) My fate, or failing in th' adventure, die." • Speak'st thou in earnest, or in jesting vein ?" Great was their strife, which hourly was renew'd, " Jesting," said Arcite, “suits but ill with pain." Till each with mortal hate his rival view'd . " It suits far worse" (said Palamon again, Now friends no more, nor walking hand in hand; And bent his brows) “ with men who honor weigh, But when they met, they made a surly stand; Their faith to break, their friendship to betray; And glar'd like angry lions as they passid, But worst with thee, of noble lineage born, And wish'd that every look might be their last. My kinsman, and in arins my brother sworn. It chanc'd at length, Pirithous came t'attend Have we not plighted each our holy oath, This worthy Theseus, his familiar friend ; That one should be the common good of both; Their love in early infancy began, One soul should both inspire, and neither prove And rose as childhood ripen'd into man: His fellow's hindrance in pursuit of love? Companions of the war, and lov'd so well, To this before the Gods we gave our hands, That when one died, as ancient stories tell, And nothing but our death can break the bands. His fellow to redeem him went to Hell. This binds thee, then, to further my design; But to pursue my tale: to welcome home As I am bound by vow to further thine : His warlike brother is Pirithous come: Nor canst, nor dar’st thou, traitor, on the plain Arcite of Thebes was known in arms long since, Appeach my honor, or thine own maintain, And honor'd by this young Thessalian prince. Since thou art of my cfuncil, and the friend Theseus, to gratify his friend and guest, Whose faith I trust, and on whose care depend : Who made our Arcite's freedom his request, And wouldst thou court my lady's love, which I Restor'd to liberty the captive knight, Much rather than release would choose to die? But on these hard conditions I recite: But thou, false Arcite, never shalt obtain That if hereafter Arcite should be found Thy bad pretence; I told thee first my pain : Within the compass of Athenian ground, For first my love began ere thine was born; By day or night, or on whate'er pretence, Thou, as my council, and my brother sworn, His head should pay the forfeit of th' offence. Art bound i'assist my eldership of right, To this Pirithous for his friend agreed, Or justly to be deem'd a perjur'd knight." And on his promise was the prisoner freed. Thus Palamon: but Arcite, with disdain,

Unpleas'd and pensive hence he takes his way, In haughty language, thus replied again :

At his own peril; for his life must pay. Forsworn thyself: the traitor's odious name Who now but Arcite mourns his bitter fate, I first return, and then disprove thy claim. Finds his dear purchase, and repents too late! If love be passion, and that passion nurst

“What have I gain'd," he said, " in prison pent, With strong desires, I lov'd the lady first.

If I but change my bonds for banishment ? Canst thou pretend desire, whom zeal inflam'd And banish'd from her sight, I suffer more To worship, and a power celestial nam'd ?

In freedom, than I felt in bonds before : Thine was devotion to the blest above,

Forc'd from her presence, and condemn'd to live : I saw the woman, and desir'd her love;

Unwelcome freedom, and unthank'd reprieve: First own'd my passion, and to thee commend Heaven is not, but where Emily abides ; Th'important secret, as my chosen friend. And where she's absent, all is Hell besides, Suppose (which yet I grant not) thy desire Next to my day of birth, was that accurst, A moment elder than my rival fire ;

Which bound my friendship to Pirithous first: Can chance of seeing first thy title prove ? Had I not known that prince, I still had been And know'st thou not, no law is made for love ? In bondage, and had still Emilia seen: Law is to things, which to free choice relate; For, though I never can her grace deserve, Love is not in our choice, but in our fate; "Tis recompense enough to see and serve. Laws are but positive ; love's power, we see, O Palamon, my kinsman and my friend, Is Nature's sanction, and her first decree. How much more happy fates thy love attend ! Each day we break the bond of human laws Thine is th' adventure; thine the victory : For love, and vindicate the common cause. Well has thy fortune turn'd the dice for thee : Laws for defence of civil rights are plac'd, Thou on that angel's face may'st feed thine eyes. Love throws the fences down, and makes a general In prison, no; but blissful Paradise ! waste :

Thou daily seest that sun of beauty shine, Maids, widows, wives, without distinction fall; And lov'st at least in love's extremest line. The sweeping deluge, love, comes on, and covers all. I mourn in absence, love's eternal night;

And who can tell but since thou hast her sight, He with the rest is liable to pain,
And art a comely, young, and valiant knight, And like the sheep, his brother-beast, is slain.
Fortune (a various power) may cease to frown, Cold, hunger, prisons, ills without a cure,
And by some ways unknown thy wishes crown? All these he must, and, guiltless, oft endure ;
But I, the most forlorn of human-kind,

Or does your justice, power, or prescience fail, Nor help can hope, nor remedy can find;

When the good suffer, and the bad prevail ? But, doom'd to drag my lothesome life in care, What worse to wretched Virtue could befall, For my reward, must end it in despair.

If Fate or giddy Fortune govern’d all ? Fire, water, air, and earth, and force of fates Nay, worse than other beasts is our estate ; That governs all, and Heaven that all creates, Them, to pursue their pleasures, you create ; Nor art, nor Nature's hand can ease my grief; We, bound by harder laws, must curb our will, Nothing but death, the wretch's last relief: And your commands, not our desires, fulfil ; Then farewell youth, and all the joys that dwell, Then when the creature is unjustly slain, With youth and life, and life itself farewell. Yet after death at least he feels no pain ;

But why, alas! do mortal men in vain But man, in life surcharg'd with woe before, Of Fortune, Fate, or Providence complain ? Not freed when dead, is doom'd to suffer more. God gives us what he knows our wants require, A serpent shoots his sting at unaware ; And better things than those which we desire : An ambush'd thief forelays a traveller: Some pray for riches; riches they obtain ; The man lies murder'd, while the thief and snake But, watch'd by robbers, for their wealth are slain ; One gains the thickets, and one thrids the brake. Some pray from prison to be freed ; and come, This let divines decide; but well I know, When guilty of their vows, to fall at home; Just or unjust, I have my share of woe, Murder'd by those they trusted with their life, Through Saturn seated in a luckless place, A favor'd servant, or a bosom wife.

And Juno's wrath, that persecutes my race; Such dear-bought blessings happen every day,

Or Mars and Venus, in a quartile, move Because we know not for what things to pray. My pangs of jealousy for Arcite's love." Like drunken sots about the street we roam :

Let Palamon, oppress'd in bondage, mourn,
Well knows the sot he has a certain home; While to his exil'd rival we return.
Yet knows not how to find th'uncertain place, By this, the Sun, declining from his height,
And blunders on, and staggers every pace.

The day had shorten'd, to prolong the night:
Thus all seek happiness ; but few can find, The lengthened night gave length of misery
For far the greater part of men are blind. Both to the captive lover and the free;
This is my case, who thought our utmost good For Palamon in endless prison mourns,
Was in one word of freedom understood :

And Arcite forfeits life if he returns :
The fatal blessing came: from prison free, The banish'd never hopes his love to see,
I starve abroad, and lose the sight of Emily." Nor hopes the captive lord his liberty :

Thus Arcile : but if Arcite thus deplore 'Tis hard to say who suffers greater paing :
His sufferings, Palamon yet suffers more.

One sees his love, but cannot break his chains :
For when he knew his rival freed and gone, One free, and all his motions uncontrollid,
He swells with wrath; he makes outrageous moan: Beholds whate'er he would, but what he would be-
He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground;

bold.
The hollow tower with clamors rings around : Judge as you please, for I will haste to tell
With briny tears he bath'd his fetler'd feet, What fortune to the banish'd knight befell.
And dropt all o'er with agony of sweat.

When Arcite was to Thebes return'd again,
* Alas!" he cried, “I wretch in prison pine, The loss of her he lov'd renew'd his pain;
Too happy rival, while the fruit is thine : What could be worse, than never more to see
Thou liv'st at large, thou draw'st thy native air, His life, his soul, his charming Emily?
Pleas'd with thy freedom, proud of my despair : He rav'd with all the madness of despair,
Thou mayst, since thou hast youth and courage join'd, He roar’d, he beat his breast, he tore his hair.
A sweet behavior, and a solid mind,

Dry sorrow in his stupid eyes appears, Assemble ours, and all the Theban race, For, wanting nourishment, he wanted tears : To vindicate on Athens thy disgrace ;

His eyeballs in their hollow sockets sink : And after, by some treaty made, possess

Bereft of sleep, he lothes his meat and drink: Fair Emily, the pledge of lasting pence.

He withers at his heart, and looks as wan So thine shall be the beauteous prize, while I As the pale spectre of a murder'd man: Must languish in despair, in prison die.

That pale turns yellow, and his face receives Thus all th'advantage of the strife is thine, The faded hue of sapless boxen leaves : Thy portion double joys, and double sorrows mine." In solitary groves he makes his moan,

The rage of jealousy then fir'd his soul, Walks early out, and ever is alone : And his face kindled like a burning coal:

Nor, mix'd in mirth, in youthful pleasures shares, Now cold Despair, succeeding in her stead, But sighs when songs and instruments he hears : To livid paleness turns the glowing red.

His spirits are so low, his voice is drown'd,
His blood, scarce liquid, creeps within his veins, He hears as from afar, or in a swoon,
Like water which the freezing wind constrains. Like the deaf murmurs of a distant sound :
Then thus he said : “ Eternal deities,

Uncomb'd his locks, and squalid his attire,
Who rule the world with absolute decrees, Unlike the trim of Love and gay Desire :
And write whatever time shall bring to pase, But full of museful mopings, which presage
With pens of adamant, on plates of brass ; The loss of reason, and conclude in rage.
What, is the race of human-kind your care, This when he had endur'd a year and more,
Beyond what all his fellow-creatures are ? Now wholly chang'd from what he was before.

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