Of old dishonor proud; it glows around, Taught by the ROYAL HAND, that rous'd the whole,

One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade :

35

And Moderation fair, wore the red marks
Of superstition's scourge; why licens'd Pain,
That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd foe,
Imbittered all our bliss. Ye good distress'd!

forc'd,

More potent still his great example shew'd.

NO. 143. THE SEASONS OF LIFE.

TIS done! dread WINTER spreads his latest

glooms,

Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while; And what your bounded view, which only

saw

A little part, deem'd evil, is no more,
The storms of WINTRY TIME will quickly

pass,

Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength,

Thy sober Autumn fading into age, And pale concluding Winter comes at last, And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are 10 Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes

fled

Of happiness! those longings after fame? Those restless cares? those busy bustling days?

Those gay-spent festive nights? those veering thoughts,

Lost between good and ill, that shar'd thy life? 15

All now are vanish'd! VIRTUE sole survives, Immortal, never failing friend of man,

His guide to happiness on high. And see! 'Tis come, the glorious morn! the second birth

Of heaven and earth! awakening Nature hears 20

The new-creating word, and starts to life, In every heightened form, from pain death

and

45

Shoots full perfection thro' the swelling year; And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder speaks; And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales.

THY bounty shines in Autumn, unconfin'd, 14 And spreads a common feast for all that lives. In Winter, awful Tnou with clouds and Around THEE thrown, tempest o'er tempest roll'd,

storms

Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind's wing, Riding sublime, THOU bid'st the world adore, And humblest nature with thy northern blast. MYSTERIOUS round! what skill, what force divine, 21

Deep felt in these appear! a simple train,
Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art,
Such beauty and beneficence combin'd;
24
Shade, unperceiv'd, so softening into shade;
And all, so forming an harmonious whole;
That, as they still succeed, they ravish still.
But wand'ring oft, with brute unconscious
gaze,

Man marks not Thee, marks not the mighty
Hand

That, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres; 30 Works in the secret deeps; shoots, steaming, thence

The fair profusion that o'erspreads the Spring; Flings from the sun direct the flaming day; Feeds every creature; hurls the tempest forth; And, as on earth this grateful change revolves,

35

With transport touches all the springs of life.
Nature, attend! join every living soul,
Beneath the spacious temple of the sky,
In adoration join; and, ardent, raise
One general song! To Him, ye vocal gales, 40
Breathe soft, whose Spirit in your freshness
breathes.

Oh talk of HIM in solitary glooms!
Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving
pine

Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar, 45 Who shake th' astonish'd world, lift high to Heaven

Th' impetuous song, and say, from whom you rage.

His praise, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills;

And let me catch it, as I muse along.
Ye headlong torrents, rapid and profound; 50
Ye softer floods, that lead the humid maze
Along the vale; and thou, majestic main,
A secret world of wonders in thyself,
Sound his stupendous praise; whose greater

voice

Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall. 55 Soft roll your incense, herbs and fruits and flowers,

In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts, Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.

Ye forests, bend, ye harvests, wave to Him;
Breathe your still song into the reaper's heart.
As home he goes beneath the joyous moon.
Ye that keep watch in heaven, as earth
asleep

Unconscious lies, effuse your mildest beams,
Ye constellations, while your angels strike,
Amid the spangled sky, the silver lyre. 6
Great source of day! best image here below
Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide,
From world to world, the vital ocean round.
On nature write with every beam, His praise.
The thunder rolls; be hush'd the prostrate
world;

70

At once the head, the heart and tongue of all, Crown the great hymn! In swarming cities

vast,

84

90

Assembled men, to the deep organ, join
The long-resounding voice, oft breaking clear,
At solemn pauses, through the swelling bass;
And as each mingling flame increases each,
In one united ardor, rise to heaven.
Or if you rather choose the rural shade,
And find a fane in every sacred grove;
There let the shepherd's flute, the virgin's lay,
The prompting seraph and the poet's lyre,
Still sing the GOD OF SEASONS, as they roll.
For me, when I forget the darling theme, 94
Whether the blossom blows, the summer-ray
Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleams;
Or Winter rise in the blackening east;
Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more,
And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat!
Should fate command me to the farthest

NO. 145. DARKNESS. BY BYRON. HAD a dream, which was not all a dream.

hymn.

Bleat out afresh, ye hills; ye mossy rocks, Retain the sound; the broad responsive low, Ye valleys raise; for the GREAT SHEPHERD reigns

And his unsuffering kingdom yet will come.75 Ye woodlands all, awake; a boundless song Burst from the groves; and when the restless day,

stars

Did wander, darkling in the eternal space, Rayless and pathless; and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;

5 Morn came, and went-and came, and brought no day;

Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep, Sweetest of birds! sweet Philomela, charm The list'ning shades, and teach the night His praise.

The palaces of crowned kings-the huts,

10

The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd
And men were gather'd round their blazing
homes,

To look once more into each other's face; 15
Happy were those, who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch :
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire-but hour by hour 19
They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash-and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light,
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them. Some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did
20
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and
smil'd;

rest

30

And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd; the wild
birds shriek'd,

And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame, and tremulous ; and vipers,
crawl'd

35 And twin'd themselves among the multitude, Hissing, but stingless-they were slain for food;

And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again ;—a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart 40
Gorging himself in gloom. No love was left;
All earth was but one thought—and that was
death,

Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails-men
Di'd, and their bones were tombless as their
flesh;

45

The meagre by the meagre were devour'd ;
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no
food,

50

56

But with a piteous and perpetual moan
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer'd not with a caress-he died.
The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies; they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place,
Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they raked up, 60
And shivering scrap'd with their cold, skeleton
hands

The populous and the powerful was a lump,70
Seasonless, her bless, treeless, manless, lifeless,
A lump of death-a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
75
And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they
dropp'd

They slept on the abyss without a surge
The waves were dead; the tides were in their
graves.

The moon their mistress had expired before ;79 The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air, And the clouds perish'd Darkness had no need Of aid from them-She was the universe.

NO. 146. DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIANS. BY BYRON.

TH

H' Assyrian came down, like the wolf on the fold; [gold; And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, [Gallilee. When the blue waves roll nightly on deep Like the leaves of the forest, when summer is green, [seen; 5 That host with their banners at sunset were Like the leaves of the forest, when autumn hath blown, [strown. That host on the morrow, lay wither'd and For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, [pass'd; 10 And breath'd on the face of the foe, as he And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill, [grew still. And their hearts but once heav'd, and for ever And there lay the steed, with his nostril all wide; [his pride; But through it there roll'd not the breath of And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

15

And cold, as the spray of the rock-beating surf. And there lay the rider, distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail?

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone, The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown. 20 And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal