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27.

Hath he not chosen well? the Old Man replied;
Bravely he aim'd at universal sway;
And never earthly Chief was glorified

Like this Napoleon in his prosperous day.
All-ruling Fate itself hath not the power

To alter what has been: and he has had his hour!

28.

Take him, I answer'd, at his fortune's flood;

Russia his friend, the Austrian wars surceased, When Kings, his creatures some, and some subdued, Like vassals waited at his marriage feast;

And Europe like a map before him lay,
Of which he gave at will, or took away.

29.

Call then to mind Navarre's heroic chief,

35.

Serene the Old Man replied, and smiled with scorn, Behold the effect of error! thus to wear

The days of miserable life forlorn,

Struggling with evil and consum'd with care; .. Poor fools, whom vain and empty hopes mislead! They reap their sufferings for their only meed.

36.

O false one! I exclaim'd, whom canst thou fool With such gross sophisms, but the wicked heart? The pupils of thine own unhappy school

Are they who chuse the vain and empty part; How oft in age, in sickness, and in woe, Have they complain'd that all was vanity below!

37.

Wandering by night and day through wood and Look at that mighty Gaznevide, Mahmood,

glen,

His country's sufferings like a private grief

Wringing his heart: would Mina even then Those perils and that sorrow have foregone To be that Tyrant on his prosperous throne?

30.

But wherefore name I him whose arm was free? A living hope his noble heart sustain'd,

A faith which bade him through all dangers see The triumph his enduring country gain'd. See Hofer with no earthly hope to aid,..

When pining in his Palace of Delight, He bade the gather'd spoils of realms subdued Be spread before him to regale his sight, Whate'er the Orient boasts of rich and rare,.. And then he wept to think what toys they were!

38.

Look at the Russian minion when he play'd

With pearls and jewels which surpass'd all price; And now apart their various hues array'd, Blended their colours now in union nice, Then weary of the baubles, with a sigh,

His country lost, himself to chains and death betray'd! Swept them aside, and thought that all was vanity!

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1 Sir Thomas Brown writes upon this subject with his many months of their days, or parted with life when it was usual feeling:

"We applaud not," says he," the judgement of Machiavel, that Christianity makes men cowards, or that, with the confidence of but half dying, the despised virtues of patience and humility have abased the spirits of men, which Pagan principles exalted; but rather regulated the wildness of audacities in the attempts, grounds, and eternal sequels of death, wherein men of the boldest spirit are often prodigiously temerarious. Nor can we extenuate the valour of ancient martyrs, who contemned death in the uncomfortable scene of their lives, and in their decrepit martyrdoms did probably lose not

scarce worth living. For (beside that long time past holds no consideration unto a slender time to come) they had no small disadvantage from the constitution of old age, which naturally makes men fearful, and complexionally superannuated from the bold and courageous thoughts of youth and fervent years. But the contempt of death from corporal animosity promoteth not our felicity. They may sit in the Orchestra and noblest seats of Heaven who have held up shaking hands in the fire, and humanly contended for glory." - Hydriotaphia, 17.

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4.

The Thoughts which I had known in youth return'd,
But, oh, how changed! a sad and spectral train:
And while for all the miseries past I mourn'd,

And for the lives which had been given in vain,
In sorrow and in fear I turn'd mine eye
From the dark aspects of futurity.

5.

I sought the thickest woodland's shade profound,
As suited best my melancholy mood,
And cast myself upon the gloomy ground.

When lo a gradual radiance fill'd the wood;
A heavenly presence rose upon my view,

And in that form divine the aweful Muse I knew.

6.

Hath then that Spirit false perplex'd thy heart,
O thou of little faith! severe she cried.
Bear with me, Goddess, heavenly as thou art,
Bear with my earthly nature! I replied,
And let me pour into thine ear my grief:
Thou canst enlighten, thou canst give relief.

7.

The ploughshare had gone deep, the sower's hand
Had scatter'd in the open soil the grain;
The harrow too had well prepared the land;
I look'd to see the fruit of all this pain!..
Alas! the thorns and old inveterate weed
Have sprung again, and stifled the good seed.

8.

I hoped that Italy should break her chains,
Foreign and papal, with the world's applause,
Knit in firm union her divided reigns,

And rear a well-built pile of equal laws:
Then might the wrongs of Venice be forgiven,
And joy should reach Petrarca's soul in Heaven.

9.

I hoped that that abhorr'd Idolatry

Had in the strife received its mortal wound : The Souls which from beneath the Altar cry,

At length, I thought, had their just vengeance found; ..

In purple and in scarlet clad, behold

The Harlot sits, adorn'd with gems and gold ! 1

10.

The golden cup she bears full to the brim

Of her abominations as of yore!

Her eyeballs with inebriate triumph swim;

11.

Woe for that people too who by their path
For these late triumphs first made plain the way;
Whom in the Valley of the Shade of Death

No fears nor fiery sufferings could dismay :
Art could not tempt, nor violence enthrall
Their firm devotion, faithful found through all.

12.

Strange race of haughty heart and stubborn wil',
Slavery they love and chains with pride they wear;
Inflexible alike in good or ill,

The inveterate stamp of servitude they bear.
Oh fate perverse, to see all change withstood,
There only where all change must needs be good!

13.

But them no foe can force, nor friend persuade;
Impassive souls in iron forms inclosed,

As though of human mould they were not made,
But of some sterner elements composed,
Against offending nations to be sent,
The ruthless ministers of punishment.

14.

Where are those Minas after that career
Wherewith all Europe rang from side to side?
In exile wandering! Where the Mountaineer,..
Late, like Pelayo, the Asturian's pride?
Had Ferdinand no mercy for that life,
Exposed so long for him in daily,.. hourly strife!

15.

From her Athenian orator of old

Greece never listen'd to sublimer strain
Than that with which, for truth and freedom bold,
Quintana moved the inmost soul of Spain.
What meed is his let Ferdinand declare...
Chains, and the silent dungeon, and despair!

16.

For this hath England borne so brave a part!
Spent with endurance, or in battle slain,

Is it for this so many an English heart

Lies mingled with the insensate soil of Spain !

Is this the issue, this the happy birth

In those long throes and that strong agony brought forth!

17.

And oh if England's fatal hour draw nigh,..
If that most glorious edifice should fall

Though drunk with righteous blood she thirsts for By the wild hands of bestial Anarchy,..

more,

Eager to reassert her influence fell,

And once again let loose the Dogs of Hell.

Then might it seem that He who ordereth all
Doth take for sublunary things no care: ..
The burthen of that thought is more than I can bear.

The homely but scriptural appellation by which our fathers were wont to designate the Church of Rome has been delicately softened down by latter writers. I have seen her somewhere called the Scarlet Woman, . . and Helen Maria Williams names her the Dissolute of Babylon.

not probable, or rather can any person doubt, that the écrasez infame, upon which so horrible a charge against him has been raised, refers to the Church of Rome, under this wellknown designation? No man can hold the principles of Vol- | taire in stronger abhorrence than I do,..but it is an act of Let me here offer a suggestion in defence of Voltaire. Is it justice to exculpate him from this monstrous accusation.

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