27. Hath he not chosen well? the Old Man replied; Like this Napoleon in his prosperous day. 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, 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! 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. 4. The Thoughts which I had known in youth return'd, And for the lives which had been given in vain, 5. I sought the thickest woodland's shade profound, When lo a gradual radiance fill'd the wood; And in that form divine the aweful Muse I knew. 6. Hath then that Spirit false perplex'd thy heart, 7. The ploughshare had gone deep, the sower's hand 8. I hoped that Italy should break her chains, And rear a well-built pile of equal laws: 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 No fears nor fiery sufferings could dismay : 12. Strange race of haughty heart and stubborn wil', The inveterate stamp of servitude they bear. 13. But them no foe can force, nor friend persuade; As though of human mould they were not made, 14. Where are those Minas after that career 15. From her Athenian orator of old Greece never listen'd to sublimer strain 16. For this hath England borne so brave a part! 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,.. 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 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. |