Whatever makes this mortal spirit feel May my fears, My filial fears, be vain! and may the vaunts Pass like the gust, that roared and died away But now the gentle dew-fall sends abroad The fruit-like perfume of the golden furze; The light has left the summit of the hill, Though still a sunny gleam lies beautiful, Aslant the ivied beacon. Now farewell, Farewell, awhile, O soft and silent spot! On the green sheep-track, up the heathy hill, Homeward I wind my way; and lo! recalled From bodings that have well nigh wearied me I find myself upon the brow, and pause Startled! And after lonely sojourning In such a quiet and surrounded nook, This burst of prospect, here the shadowy main, Dim tinted, there the mighty majesty Of that huge amphitheatre of rich And elmy fields, seems like society Conversing with the mind, and giving it A livelier impulse and a dance of thought And now, beloved Stowey! I behold Thy church-tower, and, methinks, the four huge elms Clustering, which mark the mansion of my friend; Is softened, and made worthy to indulge FIRE, FAMINE, AND SLAUGHTER. A WAR ECLOGUE. WITH AN APOLOGETIC PREFACE.* The Scene a desolated Tract in La Vendée. FAMINE is discovered lying on the ground; to her enter FIRE and SLAUGHTER. Famine. SISTERS! sisters! who sent you here? Spirits hear what spirits tell: Myself I named him once below, Clapped their hands and danced for glee. They no longer heeded me; *Printed at the end of the volume, But laughed to hear Hell's burning rafters No! no! no! Spirits hear what spirits tell: Fam. Whisper it, sister! so and so! In a dark hint, soft and slow. Slau. Letters four do form his nameAnd who sent you? Both. The same! the same! Slau. He came by stealth, and unlocked my den, And I have drunk the blood since then Of thrice three hundred thousand men. Slau. Letters four do form his name. The same! the same! He let me loose, and cried Halloo! To him alone the praise is due. Fam. Thanks, sister, thanks! the men have bled, Their wives and their children faint for bread. I stood in a swampy field of battle; With bones and skulls I made a rattle, To frighten the wolf and carrion-crow And the homeless dog-but they would not go. Both. Whisper it, sister! in our ear. Fam. A baby beat it's dying mother: I had starved the one and was starving the other! Both. Who bade you do't? Fam. The same! the same! Letters four do form his name. Fire. Sisters! I from Ireland came! I flung back my head and I held my sides, To see the sweltered cattle run With uncouth gallop through the night, The house-stream met the flame and hissed, On some of those old bed-rid nurses, The same; the same! Letters four do form his name. To him alone the praise is due. All. He let us loose, and cried Halloo ! How shall we yield him honor due? I'll Fam. Wisdom comes with lack of food. gnaw, I'll gnaw the multitude, Till the cup of rage o'erbrim : They shall seize him and his brood Slau. They shall tear him limb from limb! Fire. O thankless beldames and untrue! And is this all that you can do For him who did so much for you? Ninety months he, by my troth! An eight years' work?-Away! away! Cling to him everlastingly. 1796. II. LOVE POEMS. Quas humilis tenero stylus olim effudit in ævo, Frons alia est, moresque alii, nova mentis imago, Pectore nunc gelido calidos miseremur amantes, LOVE. PETRARCH. ALL thoughts, all passions, all delights, Whatever stirs this mortal frame, All are but ministers of Love, And feed his sacred flame. Oft in my waking dreams do I The moonshine stealing o'er the scene, |