Are chang'd to folly, woe, and gloomy thought.
Escap'd from hell once, Discord gnashed her teeth,
And roll'd her glaring eyes: the nations quake,
Affrighted peace the sinful earth foregoes,
And truth is gone: Death recognised the sign,
Smiles grimly, and begins to whet his shafts ;
Then o'er Hiberian floods, with mighty noise,
Self-balanced, through midheaven wings his way,
Eager for war. The affrighted waves subside,
And with retreating hosts invade the earth :
Earth dreads, and shivers from her inmost womb;
Her mountains tremble, and her rough rocks fall
Thundering along the ground; while through the chink
Flames subterraneous flash, smoke wraps the sky,
Domes throw their stately towers to earth; men groan,
Torn in the jaws of death; half-stiffl'd cries
Of suffocated infants, from the embrace
Of cold maternal arms, invade the ear.
Nor are these only foes to hapless man:
Man, man himself is still his greatest foe!
Man first brought death; and man pursues the trade,
And by themselves unhappy mortals die.
War, man destroying, on an iron car,
Death's eldest brother, scours along the world:
Before, Contention brandishes her stings;
Fear, pallid shade! and feet-compelling flight,
Sit on his brow, and cloud-envelop'd Woe,
With heavy steps, pursues the bloody king.
Upborne on Death, and on the pride of kings,
The frightful monster shakes the solid tow'rs
Of state, and nations at one morsel churns.
See, on that field two gloomy hostile bands Frown terribly, in awful silence mute;
While breathing winds sigh through the upright arms,
And in each sigh a whispering sp'rit foretells
The coward's fate 4. But, hark! the clarion sounds.
Ah! see each phalanx gloomily incedes;
They rush together! Gleaming arms afar
Reflect the light; and dying groans, confus'd
With iron clangour, wound the patient heart.
See how they fall! This in his manly breast
Receives the spear, and, groaning, falls in death:
Through Damon's body glides the deathful shaft,
And sinks him lifeless to the spreading arms
Of sighing friends; here, through the parting skull,
The shining blade descends; he, roaring, falls,
Shakes the firm earth, and spreads his trembling limbs.
Blood forms a lake around him; gasping life
Heaves up the corse, and spurts the foaming blood.
Thus, when the fisher hauls the finny prize To land, and throws it gasping on the shore, The dying fish his quivering body heaves,. Dashing the watry relicks of the tide.
See! bright in arms, along the iron field The stately young Philanthes drives the foe;
No thirst of fame, no lion-hearted thought
Prompts on the youth---nought but his country's love.
Hear how they groan! what deaths his conquering arm
Pours down, impetuous, on the fright'ned foe!
But, ah! surrounded in the fierce embrace
Of men, in vain he whirls the shining blade.
Ah, mangled! mangled! See! see how he falls!
How his great soul, her loved associate rears
Reluctant, window'd ; feeble for the weight
Of foul mortality, the spirit flies.
4 While breathing winds sigh through the upright arms,
And in each sigh a whispering sp'rit foretells
The coward's fate.] In Ossian, "A thousand ghosts are on the beam of his steel; the ghosts of those who are to fall." I. p. 11.
Yet wing'd to life, she cries, Save, Heavens save!
Save! save my country, was the last he said.
The young Lysander saw his brother fall,
And sorrow spread a cloud around his eyes.
Save, save Philanthes! save, my brother save!
Relent, O foe! relent, and spare the youth!
But, if soft pity melts not in your breasts,
Turn, turn your shafts; pierce, pierce Lysander! pierce
The unhappy brother! this the boon I crave.
He said; he leap'd, he rushed, he sweeps along
Amidst the embattled throng; there, there he raves
O'er hills of slain, till, overpower'd by fate,
He breathless falls, and grasps Philanthes' corse.
Not death itself could quench fraternal love.
So, when her whelps the furious lioness
Views dying, roaring, 'midst the hunter throng,
She furious rolls her angry eyes; then leaps
Undaunted, tearing; but at length she falls
By strokes redoubl'd, 'midst her gasping young.
What tuneful woe invades my raptured ear,
Borne on the sighing breeze? but when a blast
Hoarse whistling howls, the moving accents die 5.
"Tis fair Miranda for her Anthes sighs.
Anthes! the pride of all Britannia's sons,
T'assert his monarch's sinking rights, is borne
On floating forts, the terror of his foes.
Ye blustering winds and hoarse resounding main,
Ye storms, ye tempests, and death-winged bolts",
Save, save the lovely youth, and pity me!
Ye zephyrs bland, waft Anthes to the shore;
Restore him blooming to my longing arms!
Ah, no! Britannia, with superior charms,
Vol. I. pp. 290, 469.
Id. 464.
Detains the youth. Ah! Glory, Fame, and War,
And hell-descended Discord, perish all,
Sink in Oblivion's womb! and let sweet Love
Triumph, soft tyrant! o'er the pleased world.
Now rosy Shame, call'd up by modesty
And thoughts of worth, supports her tuneful voice,
And paints the cheek with beauty's fairest bloom.
Now on the bosom of the sounding main
Two fleets, with brazen prows, white billows plough;
The bending mast low struggles with the wind,
And quivering billows lash the oaken sides.
They come; the sternly-looking chiefs command:
The battle joins, and cannon from each side
From their wide entrails breath the burning bolts.
Loud thunders roar; men groan; the cordage crack;
The wounded vessels reel from shore to shore ;
Old ocean trembles; and fraternal shades
To frighten'd Neptune seem a kind recess.
Jove calls his thunder, thinking that the sons
Of earth, again rebellious, strove to rise
With rival bolts; again he hears the noise;
Again he calls again Olympus shook ;
Heaven quakes; seas belch; the trembling earth concuss'd
By circumambient ocean, cries of men,
Torn in Death's jaws, incessant wound the air 7.
Now through the breaches pours the briny tide,
And weighs to death the vessels and the men ;
Some rear the head above the watery plain,
And cry for help; but, ah! no help is near;
Then sink in night: another stems the tide
With brawny arms, he seeks the distant shore;
Then wearied, breathless, droops the tardy limbs,
Torn in death's jaws, incessant wound the air.] "Death raises all his
And seeks for rest, e'en in the arms of death!
The young Alethes grasps a broken mast,
And steers, half hoping, to the friendly sand:
All night he steered, and with the dawning morn
The land emerges from a sea of clouds 8.
While sage Iphthima press'd the higher strand,
And looks attentive o'er the rolling flood;
This way and that she cast her longing eyes,
If or a boat, or sea-dividing ship,
Brought news of her Alethes; him she saw,
Half-naked, leaning on a foaming jaw 9.
Ah me! my son, my Alethes, my dear,
Joy of my youth, dear object of my woe!
Come, come, my dear! press, press my son to land!
What fate, what cruel fate, what more than death
Has laid my son incumbent on a wave?
Here, here my hand! Stretch, stretch, my son, thy arm! 350
Thus she, outstretching o'er the foaming tide,
When a rough whirlwind sweeps along the main,
And plunged him headlong in the gulphy deeps:
Thrice he upraised his head; and thrice he sunk
In death, and thrice the circling eddies bell'd:
The fourth up-springing, Mother, mother! dear
Author of life, farewell! A wave supprest
His voice, and sunk him to the mighty dead 1o.
Thus water-fowl upon the sable flood,
Now here, now there, their floating bodies shew,
But then are lost amidst the sounding foam,
And empty billows dash the yellow sand.
O Discord! gnashing fury, rav'nous fiend,
Hell's sharpest torment, nauseous qualm of life!
You bathe the poinard oft in Friendship's breast!
Peace, Virtue, Friendship, Harmony, and Love,
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