CXVIII. Here didst thou dwell, in this enchanted cover, This cave was surely shaped out for the greeting CXIX. And didst thou not, thy breast to his replying, And Love, which dies as it was born, in sighing, And root from out the soul the deadly weed which cloys? CXX. Alas! our young affections run to waste CXXI. Oh Love! no habitant of earth thou art - And to a thought such shape and image given, As haunts the unquench'd soul -- parch'd -- wearied wrung- and riven. sceptical/ idralisn CXXII. Of its own beauty is the mind diseased, where, Where are the forms the sculptor's soul hath seized? Where are the charms and virtues which we dare And Is bitterer still; as charm by charm unwinds The fatal spell, and still it draws us on, Seems ever near the prize wealthiest when most undone. CXXIV. unslaked the thirst, We wither from our youth, we gasp away Love, fame, ambition, avarice - 'tis the same, and none the worst -- Few - CXXV. none find what they love or could have loved, Though accident, blind contact, and the strong Necessity of loving, have removed Whose touch turns Hope to dust, the dust we all have trod. This uneradicable taint of sin, This boundless upas, this all-blasting tree, Whose root is earth, whose leaves and branches be CXXVII. Yet let us ponder boldly — 'tis a base (1) Abandonment of reason to resign Our right of thought-our last and only place Is chain'd and tortured cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, The beam pours in, for time and skill will couch the blind. CXXVIII. Arches on arches! as it were that Rome, Should be the light which streams here, to illume Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume (1) "At all events," says the author of the Academical Questions, "I trust, whatever may be the fate of my own speculations, that philosophy will regain that estimation which it ought to possess. The free and philosophic spirit of our nation has been the theme of admiration to the world. This was the proud distinction of Englishmen, and the luminous source of all their glory. Shall we then forget the manly and dignified sentiments of our ancestors, to prate in the language of the mother or the nurse about our good old prejudices? This is not the way to defend the cause of truth. It was not thus that our fathers maintained it in the brilliant periods of our history. Prejudice may be trusted to guard the outworks for a short space of time, while reason slumbers in the citadel; but if the latter sink into a lethargy, the former will quickly erect a standard for herself. Philosophy, wisdom, and liberty, support each other: he who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot, is a fool; and he who dares not, is a slave." Preface, p. xiv. xv. vol. i. 1805. CXXIX. Hues which have words, and speak to ye of heaven, For which the palace of the present hour Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower. CXXX. Oh Time! the beautifier of the dead, And only healer when the heart hath bled My hands, and eyes, and heart, and crave of thee a gift : CXXXI. Amidst this wreck, where thou hast made a shrine Among thy mightier offerings here are mine, Ruins of years--though few, yet full of fate : Hear me not; but if calmly I have borne Good, and reserved my pride against the hate Which shall not whelm me, let me not have worn This iron in my soul in vain — shall they not mourn? CXXXII. And thou, who never yet of human wrong Had it but been from hands less near than this Dost thou not hear my heart? Awake! thou shalt, and must. (1) See "Historical Notes," at the end of this canto, No. XXVIII. CXXXIII. It is not that I may not have incurr'd The vengeance, which shall yet be sought and found, And if my voice break forth, 'tis not that now And pile on human heads the mountain of my curse! CXXXV. That curse shall be Forgiveness. -Have I not Hear me, my mother Earth! behold it, Heaven! Have I not suffer'd things to be forgiven? Have I not had my brain sear'd, my heart riven, Hopes sapp'd, name blighted, Life's life lied away? Because not altogether of such clay CXXXVI. From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy Have I not seen what human things could do? VOL. III.-N |