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 bornThou worm! whom I obey and scornForced 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? MAN. Forgetfulness——

FIRST SPIRIT. Of what-of whom-and why?

MAN. Of that which is within me; read it there

Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

SPIRIT. 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.

MAN. Oblivion, self-oblivion

Can ye not wring from out the hidden realms
Ye offer so profusely what I ask?

SPIRIT. It is not in our essence, in our skill;

But-thou mayst die.

MAN. Will death bestow it on me?

SPIRIT. We are immortal, and do not forget; We are eternal; and to us the past

Is, as the future, present. Art thou answered?

MAN. 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 ye what I am.

SPIRIT. We answer as we answered; our reply

Is even in thine own words.

VOL. VI.

G

ΜΑΝ.

Why say ye so?

SPIRIT. 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.

MAN. I then have call'd ye from your realms in

vain;

Ye cannot, or ye will not, aid me.

SPIRIT.

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

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

They are too long already.-Hence-begone!

SPIRIT. 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?

MAN. 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.

SPIRIT. We have no forms beyond the elements

Of which we are the mind and principle:

But choose a form-in that we will appear.

MAN. 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.) Behold!

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