Poems, 1799 | Page 6

Robert Southey
and amethysts their glows commix'd?With the gay topaz, and the softer ray?Shot from the sapphire, and the emerald's hue,?And bright pyropus.
There on golden seats,?A numerous, sullen, melancholy train?Sat silent. "Maiden, these," said Theodore,?Are they who let the love of wealth absorb?All other passions; in their souls that vice?Struck deeply-rooted, like the poison-tree?That with its shade spreads barrenness around.?These, Maid! were men by no atrocious crime?Blacken'd, no fraud, nor ruffian violence:?Men of fair dealing, and respectable?On earth, but such as only for themselves?Heap'd up their treasures, deeming all their wealth?Their own, and given to them, by partial Heaven,?To bless them only: therefore here they sit,?Possessed of gold enough, and by no pain?Tormented, save the knowledge of the bliss?They lost, and vain repentance. Here they dwell,?Loathing these useless treasures, till the hour?Of general restitution."
Thence they past,?And now arrived at such a gorgeous dome,?As even the pomp of Eastern opulence?Could never equal: wandered thro' its halls?A numerous train; some with the red-swoln eye?Of riot, and intemperance-bloated cheek;?Some pale and nerveless, and with feeble step,?And eyes lack-lustre.
Maiden? said her guide,?These are the wretched slaves of Appetite,?Curst with their wish enjoyed. The epicure?Here pampers his foul frame, till the pall'd sense?Loaths at the banquet; the voluptuous here?Plunge in the tempting torrent of delight,?And sink in misery. All they wish'd on earth,?Possessing here, whom have they to accuse,?But their own folly, for the lot they chose??Yet, for that these injured themselves alone,?They to the house of PENITENCE may hie,?And, by a long and painful regimen,?To wearied Nature her exhausted powers?Restore, till they shall learn to form the wish?Of wisdom, and ALMIGHTY GOODNESS grants?That prize to him who seeks it."
Whilst he spake,?The board is spread. With bloated paunch, and eye?Fat swoln, and legs whose monstrous size disgraced?The human form divine, their caterer,?Hight GLUTTONY, set forth the smoaking feast.?And by his side came on a brother form,?With fiery cheek of purple hue, and red?And scurfy-white, mix'd motley; his gross bulk,?Like some huge hogshead shapen'd, as applied.?Him had antiquity with mystic rites?Ador'd, to him the sons of Greece, and thine?Imperial Rome, on many an altar pour'd?The victim blood, with godlike titles graced,?BACCHUS, or DIONUSUS; son of JOVE,?Deem'd falsely, for from FOLLY'S ideot form?He sprung, what time MADNESS, with furious hand,?Seiz'd on the laughing female. At one birth?She brought the brethren, menial here, above?Reigning with sway supreme, and oft they hold?High revels: mid the Monastery's gloom,?The sacrifice is spread, when the grave voice?Episcopal, proclaims approaching day?Of visitation, or Churchwardens meet?To save the wretched many from the gripe?Of eager Poverty, or mid thy halls?Of London, mighty Mayor! rich Aldermen,?Of coming feast hold converse.
Otherwhere,?For tho' allied in nature as in blood,?They hold divided sway, his brother lifts?His spungy sceptre. In the noble domes?Of Princes, and state-wearied Ministers,?Maddening he reigns; and when the affrighted mind?Casts o'er a long career of guilt and blood?Its eye reluctant, then his aid is sought?To lull the worm of Conscience to repose.?He too the halls of country Squires frequents,?But chiefly loves the learned gloom that shades?Thy offspring Rhedycina! and thy walls,?Granta! nightly libations there to him?Profuse are pour'd, till from the dizzy brain?Triangles, Circles, Parallelograms,?Moods, Tenses, Dialects, and Demigods,?And Logic and Theology are swept?By the red deluge.
Unmolested there?He reigns; till comes at length the general feast,?Septennial sacrifice; then when the sons?Of England meet, with watchful care to chuse?Their delegates, wise, independent men,?Unbribing and unbrib'd, and cull'd to guard?Their rights and charters from the encroaching grasp?Of greedy Power: then all the joyful land?Join in his sacrifices, so inspir'd?To make the important choice.
The observing Maid?Address'd her guide, "These Theodore, thou sayest?Are men, who pampering their foul appetites,?Injured themselves alone. But where are they,?The worst of villains, viper-like, who coil?Around the guileless female, so to sting?The heart that loves them?"
"Them," the spirit replied,?A long and dreadful punishment awaits.?For when the prey of want and infamy,?Lower and lower still the victim sinks,?Even to the depth of shame, not one lewd word,?One impious imprecation from her lips?Escapes, nay not a thought of evil lurks?In the polluted mind, that does not plead?Before the throne of Justice, thunder-tongued?Against the foul Seducer."
Now they reach'd?The house of PENITENCE. CREDULITY?Stood at the gate, stretching her eager head?As tho' to listen; on her vacant face,?A smile that promis'd premature assent;?Tho' her REGRET behind, a meagre Fiend,?Disciplin'd sorely.
Here they entered in,?And now arrived where, as in study tranced,?She sat, the Mistress of the Dome. Her face?Spake that composed severity, that knows?No angry impulse, no weak tenderness,?Resolved and calm. Before her lay that Book?That hath the words of Life; and as she read,?Sometimes a tear would trickle down her cheek,?Tho' heavenly joy beam'd in her eye the while.
Leaving her undisturb'd, to the first ward?Of this great Lazar-house, the Angel led?The favour'd Maid of Orleans. Kneeling down?On the hard stone that their bare knees had worn,?In sackcloth robed, a numerous train appear'd:?Hard-featured
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