Where all lies foundered that was ever dear :
But could I gather from the wave-worn store

Enough for my rude boat, where should I steer?

There woos no home, nor hope, nor life, save what is here.
CVI.

Then let the winds howl on! their harmony
Shall henceforth be my music, and the night
The sound shall temper with the owlet's cry,
As I now hear them, in the fading light
Dim o'er the bird of darkness' native site,
Answering each other on the Palatine,

With their large eyes, all glistening grey and bright,
And sailing pinions.-Upon such a shrine

What are our petty griefs?-let me not number mine.

CVII.

Cypress and ivy, weed and wallflower grown

Matted and mass'd together, hillocks heap'd

On what were chambers, arch crush'd. column strown
In fragments, chok'd up vaults, and frescos steep'd
In subterranean damps, where the owl peep'd,
Deeming it midnight :-Temples, baths, or halls?
Pronounce who can ; for all that Learning reap'd
From her research hath been, that these are walls-
Behold the Imperial Mount! 'tis thus the mighty falls. *

* The Palatine is one mass of ruins, particularly on the side towards the Circus Maximus. The very soil is formed of crumbled brick-work. Nothing has been told, nothing can be told, to satisfy the belief of any but a Roman antiquary.-See-Historical Illustrations, page 206.

CVIII.

There is the moral of all human tales; 48
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past,

First Freedom, and then Glory-when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruptions,-barbarism at last.
And History, with all her volumes vast,
Hath but one page,-'tis better written here,
Where gorgeous Tyranny had thus amass'd
All treasures, all delights, that eye or ear

Heart, soul could seek, tongue ask-Away with words! draw near

CIX.

Admire, exult-despise—laugh, weep,—for here

There is such matter for all feeling ;-Man!
Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear,
Ages and realms are crowded in this span,

This mountain, whose obliterated plan
The pyramid of empires pinnacled,

Of Glory's gewgaws shining in the van

Till the sun's rays with added flame were fill'd?

Where are its golden roofs ? where those who dared to build?

CX..

Tully was not so eloquent as thou,

Thou nameless column with the buried base!

What are the laurels of the Cæsar's brow?
Crown me with ivy from his dwelling-place.
Whose arch or pillar meets me in the face,
Titus or Trajan's? No-'tis that of Time:

Triumph, arch, pillar, all he doth displace
Scoffing; and apostolic statue climb

To crush the imperial urn, whose ashes slept sublime, 49

CXI.

Buried in air, the deep blue sky of Rome,

And looking to the stars: they had contain'd

A spirit which with these would find a home,
The last of those who o'er the whole earth reign'd,
The Roman globe, for after none sustain'd,

But yielded back his conquests :-he was more

Than a mere Alexander, and, unstain'd

With household blood and wine, serenely wore

His sovereign virtues-still we Trajan's name adore. 50
CXII.

Where is the rock of Triumph, the high place

Where Rome embraced her heroes ? where the steep
Tarpeian? fittest goal of Treason's race,

The promontory whence the Traitor's Leap
Cured all ambition. Did the conquerors heap
Their spoils here? Yes; and in yon field below,
A thousand years of silenced factions sleep-

The Forum, where the immortal accents glow,

And still the eloquent air breathes-burns with Cicero !

CXIII.

The field of freedom, faction, fame, and blood:

Here a proud people's passions were exhaled,

4.

From the first hour of empire in the bud
To that when further worlds to conquer fail'd;
But long before had Freedom's face been veil'd,
And Anarchy assumed her attributes;

Till

every lawless soldier who assail'd

Trod on the trembling senate's slavish mutes,
Or raised the venal voice, of baser prostitutes.
CXIV.

Then turn we to her latest tribune's name,
From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee,
Redeemer of dark centuries of shame-

The friend of Petrarch-hope of Italy-
Rienzi! last of Romans! While the tree 51

Of Freedom's withered trunk puts forth a leaf,
Even for thy tomb a garland let it be-

The forum's champion, and the people's chief-
Her new-born-Numa thou-with reign, alas! too brief.
CX V.

Egeria! sweet creation of some heart 52
Which found no mortal resting-place so fair
As thine ideal breast; whate'er thou art
Or wert, a youth Aurora of the air,
The nympholepsy of some fond despair;

Or, it might be, a beauty of the earth,

Who found a more than common votary there

Too much adoring; whatsoe'er thy birth,

Thou wert a beautiful thought, and softly bodied forth.

CXVI.

The mosses of thy fountain still are sprinkled
With thine Elysian water-drops; the face

Of thy cave-guarded spring, with years unwrinkled,
Reflects the meek-eyed genius of the place,

Whose green wild margin, now no more erase
Art's works; nor must the delicate waters sleep,
Prisoned in marble, bubbling from the base

Of the cleft statue, with a gentle leap

The rill runs o'er, and round, fern, flowers, and ivy, creep, CXVIII.

Fantastically tangled, the green hills

Are clothed with early blossoms, through the grass
The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the bills

Of summer-birds sing welcome as ye pass;

Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their class,
Implore the pausing step, and with their dyes
Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;

The sweetness of the violet's deep blue eyes,

Kiss'd by the breath of heaven, seems coloured by its skies.

CXVIII

Here didst thou dwell, in this enchanted cover,

Egeria! thy, all heavenly bosom beating

For the far footsteps of thy mortal lover ;

The purple Midnight veil'd that mystic meeting
With her most starry canopy, and seating

Thyself by thine adorer, what befel?