A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it.
A feeble government, eluded laws,
A factious populace, luxurious nobles,
And all the maladies of finking states.
When publie villany, too ftrong for juftice,
Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin,
Can brave LEONTIUS call for airy wonders,
Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard?
When fome neglected fabrick nods beneath
The weight of years, and totters to the tempeft,
Muft heaven difpatch the meffengers of light,
Or wake the dead to warn us of its fall?
Well might the weakness of our empire fink
Before fuch foes of more than human force;
Some pow'r invifible, from heav'n or hell,
Conducts their armies and afferts their caufe.
And yet, my friend, what miracles were wrought
Beyond the power of conftancy and courage?
Did unrefifted lightning aid their cannon?
Did roaring whirlwinds fweep us from the ramparts?
"Twas vice that skook our nerves, 'twas vice, Leontius,
That froze our veins, and wither'd all our powers.
Whate'er our crimes, our woes demand compaffion.
Each night, protected by the friendly darkness,
Quitting my close retreat, I range the city,
And weeping, kifs the venerable ruins ;
With filent pangs I view the tow'ring domes,
Sacred to prayer, and wander thro' the streets;
Where commerce lavish'd unexhausted plenty,
And jollity maintain❜d eternal revels.—
How chang'd, alas! - Now gaftly defolation
In triumph fits upon our shatter'd fpires;
Now fuperftition, ignorance and error,
Ufurp our temples, and profane our altars.
From ev'ry palace burst a mingled clamour,
The dreadful diffonance of barb'rous triumph,
Shrieks of affright, and wailings of distress.
Oft when the cries of violated beauty
Arofe to heav'n, and pierc'd my bleeding breast,
I felt thy pains, and trembled for Afpafia.
Afpafia! fpare that lov'd, that mournful name: Dear hapless maid-tempeftuous grief o'erbears My reasoning pow'rs-Dear, haplefs, loft Afpafia!
All thought on her is madness:
Yet let me think. I fee the helplefs maid,
Behold the monsters gaze with favage rapture,
Behold how luft and rapine struggle round her.
Awake, Demetrius, from this difmal dream,
Sink not beneath imaginary forrows:
your courage, and your Think on the various accidents of war;
Think on the mighty pow'r of awful virtue;
Think on that Providence that guards the good.
O Providence! extend thy care to me,
For courage droops unequal to the combat,
And weak philofophy denies her fuccours.
Sure fome kind fabre in the heat of battle,
Ere
yet the foe found leifure to be cruel, Difmifs'd her to the sky.
Perhaps, enamour'd of resembling virtue,
With gentle hand reftrain'd the freams of life,
And fnatch'd her timely from her country's fate.
From thofe bright regions of eternal day,
Where now thou fhin'ft among thy fellow-faints,
Array'd in purer light, look down on me:
In pleafing visions, and affuafive dreams,
O! footh my foul, and teach me how to lose thee.
Enough of unavailing tears, Demetrius
I came obedient to thy friendly fummons,
And hop'd to share thy counfels, not thy forrows
While thus we mourn the fortune of Afpafia,
To what are we referv'd?
But hope, yet hope, to happiness and honour;
If happiness can be without Afpafia.
But whence this new-fprung hope?
The chief, whofe wifdom guides the Turkish counfels,
He, tir'd of flav'ry, tho' the highest flave,
Projects at once our freedom and his own;
And bids us thus difguis'd await him here.
Can he reftore the ftate he could not fave?
In vain, when Turkey's troops affail'd our walls,
His kind intelligence betray'd their measures;
Their arms prevail'd, though Cali was our friend.
When the tenth fun had fet upon our forrows,
At midnight's private hour a voice unknown
Sounds in my fleeping ear, " Awake, Demetrius,
86 Awake, and follow me to better fortunes;"
Surpris'd I ftart, and blefs the happy dream;
Then rouzing know the fiery Chief Abdalla,
Whofe quick impatience feiz'd my doubtful hand,
And led me to the fhore where Cali ftood,
Penfive and lift'ning to the beating furge.
There in foft hints and in ambiguous phrafe,
With all the diffidence of long experience,
That oft' had practis'd fraud, and oft' detected,
The vet'ran courtier half reveal'd his project.
By his command, equip'd for fpeedy flight,
Deep in a winding creek a galley lies,
Mann'd with the braveft of our fellow captives,
Selected by my care, a hardy band,
That long to hail thee Chief.
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