O'er yon bleak defart's unfrequented round-
See'st thou where nature treads the deep'ning gloom,
Sits on yon hoary tow'r with ivy crown'd,

Or wildly wails o'er thy lamented tomb;
Hear'ft thou the folemn mufic wind along?

Or thrills the warbling note in thy mellifluous fong?

I. 2.

Oft while on earth 'twas thine to rove

Where'er the wild-ey'd goddefs lov'd to roam,
To trace ferene the gloomy grove,
Or haunt meek quiet's fimple dome;
Still hovering round the Nine appear,
That pour the foul-transporting ftrain;
Join'd to the loves gay train,

The loofe-rob'd graces crown'd with flow'rs,
The light-wing'd gales that lead the vernal year,
And wake the rofy-featur'd hours.

O'er all bright fancy's beamy radiance shone,
How flam'd thy bofom as her charms reveal!
Her fire-clad eye fublime, her starry zone,
Her treffes loofe that wanton'd on the gale;
On thee the goddess fix'd her ardent look,

Then from her glowing lips these melting accents broke.

"To thee, my favourite fon, belong
"The lays that fteal the liftening hour;

To pour the rapture-darting fong, "To paint gay hope's elyfian bower.

"From nature's hand to fnatch the dart,
"To cleave with pangs the bleeding heart;
"Or lightly sweep the trembling ftring,
"And call the loves with purple wing
"From the blue deep, where they dwell
"With Naiads in the pearly cell,
"Soft on the fea-born goddess gaze *;

Or in the loose robe's floating maze
"Diffolv'd in downy flumbers reft;
"Or flutter o'er her panting breast.
"Or wild to melt the yielding foul,
"Let forrow clad in fable stole
"Slow to thy musing thought appear;

"Or penfive pity pale;

"Or love's desponding tale

Call from th' intender'd heart the fympathetic tear."

II. I.

Say, whence the magic of thy mind?

Why thrills thy mufic on the springs of thought?

Why, at thy pencil's touch refin'd,

Starts into life the glowing draught?
On yonder fairy carpet laid,
Where beauty pours eternal bloom,
And zephyr breathes perfume;
There nightly to the tranced eye

Profufe the radiant goddefs flood difplay'd,

With all her fmiling offspring nigh.

Sudden the mantling cliff, the arching wood,

The broider'd mead, the landskip, and the grove,

* Venus.

Hills, vales, and sky-dipt seas, and torrents rude,
Grots, rills, and fhades, and bowers that breath'd of love,
All burft to fight!—while glancing on the view,
Titania's sporting train brush'd lightly o'er the dew.

II. 2.

The pale-ey'd genius of the fhade

Led thy bold step to Profper's magic bower;
Whose voice the howling winds obey'd,
Whose dark spell chain'd the rapid hour :
Then rofe ferene the fea-girt ifle;

Gay fcenes by fancy's touch refin'd

Glow'd to the musing mind;

Such vifions blefs the hermit's dream,
When hov'ring angels prompt his placid smile,
Or paint fome high ecstatic theme.

Then flam'd Miranda on th' enraptur'd gaze,
Then fail'd bright Ariel on the bat's fleet wing:
Or starts the lift'ning throng in ftill amaze!
The wild note trembling on th' aerial string'!
The form in heav'n's refplendent vesture gay
Floats on the mantling cloud, and pours the melting lay

II. 3.

O lay me near yon limpid ftream,

Whofe murmur fooths the ear of woe!
There in fome fweet poetic dream
Let fancy's bright Elysum glow!

* Ariel: fee the Tempeft.
T 3

Tis

'Tis done :-o'er all the blufhing mead
The dark wood fhakes his cloudy head;
Below, the lily-fringed dale

Breathes its mild fragrance on the gale;
While in paftime all-unfeen,

Titania rob'd in mantle green

Sports on the moffy bank:-her train
Skims light along the gleaming plain;
Or to the flutt'ring breeze unfold
The blue wing ftreak'd with beamy gold;
Its pinions opening to the light:-
Say, burfts the vifion on my fight?
Ah, no! by Shakespear's pencil drawn

The beauteous shapes appear;

While mock-eyed Cynthia near

Illumes with streamy ray the filver-mantled lawn

III. I.

But hark! the tempeft howls afar!

Burfts the loud whirlwind o'er the pathlefs wafte!

What cherub blows the trump of war?

What demon rides the ftormy blast?
Red from the lightning's livid blaze,
The bleak heath rufhes on the fight;
Then wrapt in fudden night.

Diffolves. But ah! what kingly form

-

Roams the lone defart's defolated maze + !
Unaw'd! nor heeds the fweeping ftorm.

* See the Midfummer's Night's Dream.
† Lear.

Ye pale-ey'd lightnings fpare the cheek of age!
Vain wifh ;-though anguish leaves the bursting groan.
Deaf as the flint, the marble ear of rage

Hears not the mourner's unavailing moan:

Heart-pierc'd he bleeds, and ftung with wild despair Bares his time-blasted head, and tears his filver hair.

III. 2.

Lo! on yon long-refounding fhore,

Where the rock totters o'er the headlong deep;

What fantoms bathed in infant gore

Stand muttering on the dizzy fteep!

Their murmur shakes the zephyr's wing;

The form obeys their pow'rful spell;

See, from his gloomy cell

Fierce winter starts! his fcowling eye
Bloats the fair mantle of the breathing spring,
And lowers along the ruffled ky.

To the deep vault the yelling harpies run *,

Its yawning mouth receives th' inferna crew,

Dim thro' the black gloom winks the glimmering fun,

And the pale furnace gleams with brimftone blue.

Hell howls and fiends that join the dire acclaim

:

Dance on the bubbling tide, and point the livid flame.

III. 3.

But ah! on forrow's cyprefs bough

Can beauty breathe her genial bloom?
On death's cold cheek will paffion glow;
Or mufic warble from the tomb?

The witches in Macbeth.

t.

T4

There