Poems, 1799 | Page 6

could see
Want's asking eye unmoved; and therefore these,
Ranged
round the furnace, still must persevere
In Mammon's service;
scorched by these fierce fires,
And frequent deluged by the
o'erboiling ore:

Yet still so framed, that oft to quench their thirst

Unquenchable, large draughts of molten [2] gold
They drink insatiate,
still with pain renewed,
Pain to destroy."

So saying, her he led
Forth from the dreadful cavern to a cell,

Brilliant with gem-born light. The rugged walls
Part gleam'd with
gold, and part with silver ore
A milder radiance shone. The Carbuncle

There its strong lustre like the flamy sun
Shot forth irradiate; from
the earth beneath,
And from the roof a diamond light emits;
Rubies
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;