I am the spirit of the place,

Could make the mountain bow
And quiver to his cavern'd base-

And what with me wouldst thou?
3d Spir. In the blue depth of the waters,
Where the wave hath no strife,
Where the wind is a stranger,
And the sea-snake hath life,
Where the mermaid is decking
Her green hair with shells;
Like the storm on the surface
Came the sound of thy spells;
O'er my calm hall of coral

The deep echo roll’d—

To the Spirit of Ocean
Thy wishes unfold!

4th Spir. Where the slumbering earthquake

Lies pillow'd on fire,

And the lakes of bitumen

Rise boilingly higher;

Where the roots of the Andes

Strike deep in the earth,
As their summits to heaven
Shoot soaringly forth;
I have quitted my birth-place
Thy bidding to bide-
Thy spell hath subdued me,
Thy will be my guide!

5th Spir. I am the rider of the wind,
The stirrer of the storm;

The hurricane I left behind

Is yet with lightning warm;

To speed to thee, o'er shore and sea
I swept upon the blast :

The fleet I met sail'd well, and yet

'T will sink ere night be past.

6th Spir. My dwelling is the shadow of the night : Why does thy magic torture me with light?

7th Spir. The star which rules thy destiny
Was ruled, ere earth began, by me :
It was a world as fresh and fair
As e'er revolved round sun in air ;
Its course was free and regular,
Space bosom'd not a lovelier star.
The hour arrived-and it became
A wandering mass of shapeless flame,
A pathless comet, and a curse,
The menace of the universe;

Still rolling on with innate force,
Without a sphere, without a course,
A bright deformity on high,
The monster of the upper sky!

And thou! beneath its influence born-
Thou, worm! whom I obey and scorn-
Forced by a power (which is not thine,
And lent thee but to make thee mine)
For this brief moment to descend,
Where these weak spirits round thee bend,
And parley with a thing like thee-

What wouldst thou, child of clay, with me?

THE SEVEN SPIRITS.

Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star
Are at thy beck and bidding, child of clay !
Before thee, at thy quest, their spirits are-
What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals-say?
Manf. Forgetfulness-

1 Spir.

Of what―of whom—and why?

Manf. Of that which is within me: read it thereYe know it, and I cannot utter it.

Spir. We can but give thee that which we possess ;
Ask of us subjects, sovereignty, the power

O'er earth, the whole, or portion, or a sign
Which shall control the elements, whereof

We are the dominators-each and all,

These shall be thine.

Manf.

Can

ye

Oblivion, self-oblivion

not wring from out the hidden realms

Ye offer so profusely what I ask?

Spir. It is not in our essence, in our skill; But-thou may'st die.

Manf.

Will death bestow it on me?

Spir. We are immortal, and do not forget:

We are eternal, and to us the past

Is, as the future, present. Art thou answer'd?

Manf. Ye mock me-but the power which brought ye here

Hath made you mine. Slaves, scoff not at my will!

The mind, the spirit, the Promethean spark,

The lightning of my being, is as bright,

Pervading, and far-darting as your own,

And shall not yield to yours, though coop'd in clay!
Answer, or I will teach you what I am.

Spir. We answer as we answer'd; our reply
Is even in thine own words.

Spir. If, as thou say'st, thine essence be as ours,

We have replied in telling thee, the thing

Mortals call death hath nought to do with us.

Manf. I then have call'd ye from your realms in vain ; Ye cannot, or ye will not, aid me.

Spir.

Say;

What we possess we offer; it is thine:

Bethink ere thou dismiss us, ask again

Kingdom, and sway, and strength, and length of days

Manf. Accursed! what have I to do with days?

They are too long already.-Hence-begone!

Spir. Yet pause: being here, our will would do thee service;

Bethink thee, is there then no other gift

Which we can make not worthless in thine eyes?

Manf. No, none: yet stay-one moment, ere we part

I would behold ye face to face. I hear

Your voices, sweet and melancholy sounds,
As music on the waters; and I see
The steady aspect of a clear large star;
But nothing more. Approach me as ye are,
Or one, or all, in your accustom'd forms.

Spir. We have no forms beyond the elements
Of which we are the mind and principle:
But choose a form-in that we will appear.

Manf. I have no choice; there is no form on earth
Hideous or beautiful to me.
Let him,

Who is most powerful of ye, take such aspect

As unto him may seem most fitting-Come!

SEVENTH SPIRIT,

appearing in the shape of a beautiful female figure.

Manf. Oh God! if it be thus, and thou

Art not a madness and a mockery,

Behold!

I yet might be most happy.-I will clasp thee,

And we again will be

[The figure vanishes.

My heart is crush'd!

(MANFRED falls senseless.)

(A voice is heard in the incantation which follows.)

When the moon is on the wave,

Shall

my

With a power and with a sign.

Though thy slumber may be deep,
Yet thy spirit shall not sleep;

There are shades which will not vanish,

There are thoughts thou canst not banish; By a power to thee unknown,

Thou canst never be alone;

Thou art wrapt as with a shroud,

Thou art gather'd in a cloud;

And for ever shalt thou dwell
In the spirit of this spell.

Though thou seest me not pass by,
Thou shalt feel me with thine eye
As a thing that, though unseen,
Must be near thee, and hath been;
And when in that secret dread
Thou hast turn'd around thy head,
Thou shalt marvel I am not
As thy shadow on the spot;
And the power which thou dost feel
Shall be what thou must conceal.

And a magic voice and verse
Hath baptised thee with a curse;
And a spirit of the air

Hath begirt thee with a snare ;
In the wind there is a voice
Shall forbid thee to rejoice;
And to thee shall Night deny

All the quiet of her sky ;

And the day shall have a sun,

Which shall make thee wish it done.

From thy false tears I did distil

An essence which has strength to kill,
From thy own heart I then did wring
The black blood in its blackest spring;
From thy own smile I snatch'd the snake,
For there it coil'd as in a brake;
From thy own lip I drew the charm
Which gave all these their chiefest harm;
In proving every poison known,

I found the strongest was thine own.

By thy cold breast and serpent smile,
By thy unfathom'd gulfs of guile,
By that most seeming virtuous eye,
By thy shut soul's hypocrisy ;

By the perfection of thine art,

Which pass'd for human thine own heart;
By thy delight in others' pain,
And by thy brotherhood of Cain,
I call upon thee! and compel
Thyself to be thy proper hell!

And on thy head I pour the vial
Which does devote thee to this trial;
Nor to slumber, nor to die,
Shall be in thy destiny;

Though thy death shall still seem near

To thy wish, but as a fear;

Lo! the spell now works around thee,
And the clankless chain hath bound thee,

O'er thy heart and brain together

Hath the word been pass'd-now wither!

SCENE II.-THE MOUNTAIN OF THE JUNGFRAU.-TIME,

MORNING.

MANFRED alone upon the cliffs.

The spirits I have raised abandon me-
The spells which I have studied baffle me—
The remedy I reck'd of tortured me ;

I lean no more on super-human aid,

It hath no power upon the past, and for

The future, till the past be gulf'd in darkness,

It is not of my search.-My mother earth!

And thou, fresh breaking day, and you, ye mountains,

Why are ye beautiful? I cannot love

ye.

heart.

And thou, the bright eye of the universe,
That openest over all, and unto all
Art a delight-thou shinest not on my
And you, ye crags, upon whose extreme edge
I stand, and on the torrent's brink beneath
Behold the tall pines dwindled as to shrubs
In dizziness of distance; when a leap,
A stir, a motion, even a breath, would bring
My breast upon its rocky bosom's bed
To rest for ever-wherefore do I pause?
I feel the impulse-yet I do not plunge;
I see the peril-yet do not recede;
And
foot is firm:
brain reels-and yet my
There is a power upon me which withholds
And makes it my fatality to live;

my

If it be life to wear within myself
This barrenness of spirit, and to be
My own soul's sepulchre, for I have ceased