Poems, 1799 | Page 4

as tho' to form

The grave of all mankind: no eye could reach,
Tho' gifted with the
Eagle's ample ken,
Its distant bounds. There, thron'd in darkness,
dwelt
The unseen POWER OF DEATH.
Here stopt the GOULS,
Reaching the destin'd spot. The Fiend leapt
out,
And from the coffin, as he led the Maid,
Exclaim'd, "Where
never yet stood mortal man,
Thou standest: look around this
boundless vault;
Observe the dole that Nature deals to man,
And
learn to know thy friend."
She not replied,
Observing where the Fates their several tasks
Plied
ceaseless. "Mark how short the longest web
Allowed to man! he cried;
observe how soon,
Twin'd round yon never-resting wheel, they
change
Their snowy hue, darkening thro' many a shade,
Till
Atropos relentless shuts the sheers!"
Too true he spake, for of the countless threads,
Drawn from the heap,
as white as unsunn'd snow,
Or as the lovely lilly of the vale,
Was
never one beyond the little span
Of infancy untainted: few there were

But lightly tinged; more of deep crimson hue,
Or deeper sable [4]
died. Two Genii stood,

Still as the web of Being was drawn forth,


Sprinkling their powerful drops. From ebon urn,
The one unsparing
dash'd the bitter wave
Of woe; and as he dash'd, his dark-brown brow

Relax'd to a hard smile. The milder form
Shed less profusely there
his lesser store;
Sometimes with tears increasing the scant boon,

Mourning the lot of man; and happy he
Who on his thread those
precious drops receives;
If it be happiness to have the pulse
Throb
fast with pity, and in such a world
Of wretchedness, the generous
heart that aches
With anguish at the sight of human woe.
To her the Fiend, well hoping now success,
"This is thy thread!
observe how short the span,
And see how copious yonder Genius
pours
The bitter stream of woe." The Maiden saw
Fearless. "Now
gaze!" the tempter Fiend exclaim'd,
And placed again the poniard in
her hand,
For SUPERSTITION, with sulphureal torch
Stalk'd to the
loom. "This, Damsel, is thy fate!
The hour draws on--now drench the
dagger deep!
Now rush to happier worlds!"
The Maid replied,
"Or to prevent or change the will of Heaven,

Impious I strive not: be that will perform'd!"
[Footnote 1:
May fays of Serapis,
Erudit at placide humanam per somnia mentem,

Nocturnâque quiete docet; nulloque labore
Hic tantum parta est
pretiosa scientia, nullo
Excutitur studio verum. Mortalia corda
Tunc
Deus iste docet, cum sunt minus apta doceri,
Cum nullum obsequium
præstant, meritisque fatentur
Nil sese debere suis; tunc recta scientes

Cum nil scire valent. Non illo tempore sensus
Humanos forsan
dignatur numen inire,
Cum propriis possunt per se discursibus uti,

Ne forte humanâ ratio divina coiret.
'Sup Lucani'.]
[Footnote 2: I have met with a singular tale to illustrate this spiritual
theory of dreams.

Guntram, King of the Franks, was liberal to the poor, and he himself
experienced the wonderful effects of divine liberality. For one day as
he was hunting in a forest he was separated from his companions and
arrived at a little stream of water with only one comrade of tried and
approved fidelity. Here he found himself opprest by drowsiness, and
reclining his head upon the servant's lap went to sleep. The servant
witnessed a wonderful thing, for he saw a little beast ('bestiolam') creep
out of the mouth of his sleeping master, and go immediately to the
streamlet, which it vainly attempted to cross. The servant drew his
sword and laid it across the water, over which the little beast easily past
and crept into a hole of a mountain on the opposite side; from whence it
made its appearance again in an hour, and returned by the same means
into the King's mouth. The King then awakened, and told his
companion that he had dreamt that he was arrived upon the bank of an
immense river, which he had crossed by a bridge of iron, and from
thence came to a mountain in which a great quantity of gold was
concealed. When the King had concluded, the servant related what he
had beheld, and they both went to examine the mountain, where upon
digging they discovered an immense weight of gold.
I stumbled upon this tale in a book entitled SPHINX

'Theologico-Philosophica. Authore Johanne Heidfeldio, Ecclesiaste
Ebersbachiano.' 1621.
The same story is in Matthew of Westminster; it is added that Guntram
applied the treasures thus found to pious uses.
For the truth of this theory there is the evidence of a Monkish miracle.
When Thurcillus was about to follow St. Julian and visit the world of
souls, his guide said to him, "let thy body rest in the bed for thy spirit
only is about to depart with me; and lest the body should appear dead, I
will send into it a vital breath."
The body however by a strange sympathy was affected like the spirit;
for when the foul and fetid smoke that arose from tithes witheld, had
nearly suffocated Thurcillus, and made him cough twice, those who
were near his body said that it coughed twice about the same