The sceptre of the elements, which tear

Themselves to chaos at his high command! He breatheth-and a tempest shakes the sea; He speaketh-and the clouds reply in thunder; He gazeth-from his glance the sunbeams flee; He moveth-earthquakes rend the world asunder. Beneath his footsteps the volcanos rise;

His shadow is the Pestilence; his path

The comets herald through the crackling skies;
And planets turn to ashes at his wrath.

To him War offers daily sacrifice;

To him Death pays his tribute; Life is his,

With all its infinite of agonies

And his the spirit of whatever is!

Enter the DESTINIES and NEMESIS.

FIRST DES. Glory to Arimanes! on the earth

His power increaseth-both my sisters did
His bidding, nor did I neglect my duty!

SECOND DES. Glory to Arimanes! we who bow The necks of men, bow down before his throne !

THIRD DES. Glory to Arimanes !—we await His nod!

NEM. Sovereign of Sovereigns! we are thine, And all that liveth, more or less, is ours,

And most things wholly so; still to increase Our power, increasing thine, demands our care, And we are vigilant-Thy late commands

Have been fulfilled to the utmost.

A SPIRIT.

Enter MANFRED.

What is here ?

A mortal!-Thou most rash and fatal wretch,

Bow down and worship!

SECOND SPIRIT.

I do know the man

A Magian of great power, and fearful skill!

THIRD SPIRIT. Bow down and worship, slave!—

What, know'st thou not

Thine and our Sovereign ?—Tremble, and obey!

ALL THE SPIRITS. Prostrate thyself, and thy con

demned clay,

Child of the Earth! or dread the worst.

ΜΑΝ.

I know it;

'Twill be taught thee.

And yet ye see I kneel not.

FOURTH SPIRIT.

MAN. "Tis taught already ;-many a night on the

earth,

On the bare ground, have I bow'd down my face,
And strew'd my head with ashes; I have known
The fulness of humiliation, for

I sunk before my vain despair, and knelt
To my own desolation.

FIFTH SPIRIT.

Dost thou dare

Refuse to Arimanes on his throne

What the whole earth accords, beholding not

The terror of his Glory-Crouch! I say.

MAN. Bid him bow down to that which is above

him,

The overruling Infinite-the Maker

Who made him not for worship-let him kneel,

And we will kneel together.

Is of no common order, as his port

And presence here denote; his sufferings

Have been of an immortal nature, like

Our own; his knowledge and his powers and will, As far as is compatible with clay,

Which clogs the etherial essence, have been such

As clay hath seldom borne; his aspirations

Have been beyond the dwellers of the earth,
And they have only taught him what we know—
That knowledge is not happiness, and science

But an exchange of ignorance for that

Which is another kind of ignorance.

This is not all-the passions, attributes

Of earth and heaven, from which no power, nor being,
Nor breath from the worm upwards is exempt,
Have pierced his heart; and in their consequence
Made him a thing, which I, who pity not,
Yet pardon those who pity. He is mine,

And thine, it may be—be it so, or not,
No other Spirit in this region hath

A soul like his-or power upon his soul.

NEM. What doth he here then?

FIRST DES.

Let him answer that.

MAN. Ye know what I have known; and without

power