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Of Pifan palms, than in the field of Fame
Were wont to crown the car's victorious speed:
And hail'd his fcepter'd champion's patriot zeal,
Who mix'd the monarch's with the people's weal;
From civil plans who claim'd applaufe,
And train'd obedient realms to Spartan laws.

And he, fweet mafter of the Doric oat,
Theocritus, forfook awhile.
The graces of his paftoral ifle,
The lowing vale, the bleating cote,
The clusters on the funny steep,
And Pan's own umbrage, dark and deep,
The caverns hung with ivy-twine,

The cliffs that wav'd with oak and pine,
And Etna's hoar romantic pile:
And caught the bold Homeric note,
In ftately founds exalting high
The reign of bounteous Ptolemy:
Like the plenty-teeming tide
Of his own, Nile's redundant flood,
O'er the cheer'd nations, far and wide,
Diffufing opulence, and public good:
While in the richly-warbled lays
Was blended Berenice's name,
Pattern fair of female fame,
Softening with domestic life
Imperial fplendour's dazzling rays,
The queen, the mother, and the wife!

To deck with honour due this feftal day,
O for a train from thefe fublimer bards!
Who free to grant, yet fearless to refufe
Their awful fuffrage, with impartial aim
Invok'd the jealous panegyric Mufe;
Nor, but to genuine worth's feverer claim,
Their proud diftinction deign'd to pay,
Stern arbiters of glory's bright awards!
For peerlefs bards like thefe alone,

The bards of Greece, might best adorn,
With feemly fong, the Monarch's natal morn;
Who, thron'd in the magnificence of peace,
Rivals their richest regal theme:

Who rules a people like their own,
In arms, in polifh'd arts fupreme;

Who bids his Britain vie with Greece.

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An Irregular FRAGMENT, found in a dark Paffage in the Tower.

[From the 2d Volume of Mifs WILLIAMS'S POEMS.]

ISE, winds of night! relentless tempests, rife!
Rufh from the troubled clouds, and o'er me roll;

In this chill paufe a deeper horror lies,

A wilder fear appals my fhudd'ring foul.-
'Twas on this day, this hour accurft,
That nature starting from repofe

Heard the dire fhrieks of murder burst-
From infant innocence they rofe,

And fhook thefe folemn towers!

I fhudd'ring pass that fatal room
For ages wrapt in central gloom ;-
I fhudd'ring pafs that iron door

Which Fate perchance unlocks no more;

Death fmear'd with blood o'er the dark portal lower.
How fearfully my ftep refounds
Along thefe lonely bounds:

Spare, favage blaft! the taper's quiv'ring fires,
Deep in thefe gath'ring fhades its flame expires.
Ye host of heav'n! the door recedes-
It mocks my grafp-what unfeen hands
Have burst its iron bands?

No mortal force this gate unbarr'd
Where dangr lives, which terrors guard-
Dread powers! its fcreaming hinges clofe
On this dire scene of impious deeds-
My feet are fix'd!-Difmay has bound
My step on this polluted ground-
But lo! the pitying moon, a line of light
Athwart the horrid darkness dimly throws,
And from yon grated window chafes night.-
Ye vifions that before me roll,

That freeze my blood, that flake my foul!
Are ye the phantoms of a dream?
Pale spectres! are ye what ye seem ?

They glide more near

Their forms unfold!

Fix'd are their eyes, on me they bend

Their glaring look is cold!

And hark! I hear

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"Mark the native glories fpread
"Around my bleeding brow!

"The crown of Albion wreath'd my head, -
"And Gallia's lilies twin'd below.
"When my father fhook his fpear,
"When his banner fought the kies,
"Her baffled hoft recoil'd with fear,

"Nor turn'd their fhrinking eyes :"Soon as the daring eagle fprings

"To bask in heav'ns empy real light, "The vultures ply their baleful wings,

"A cloud of deep'ning colour marks their flight, "Staining the golden day :

"But fee! amid the rav'nous brood

"A bird of fiercer afpect foar"The fpirits of a rival race,

"Hang on the noxious blaft, and trace,

"With gloomy joy, his deftin'd prey;

"Infame th' ambitious with that thirits for blood, "And plunge his talons deep in kindred gore.

"View the lern form that hovers nigh, "Fierce rolls his dauntless eye

"In fcorn of hideous death; "Till starting at a brother's name, "Horror fhrinks his glowing frame, "Locks the half-utter'd grown,

"And chills the parting breath :"Aftonifh'd nature heav'd a moan! "When her affrighted eye beheld the hands "She form'd to cherish rend her holy bands. "Look where a royal infant kneels, "Shrieking, and agoniz'd with fear, "He fees the dagger pointed near

"A much lov'd brother's breast,

"And tells an abfent mother all he feels :"His eager eye he calls around;

"Where fhall her guardian form be found,

"On which his eager eye would rest! "On her he calls in accents wild,

"And wonders why her ftep is flow

"To fave her fuff'ring child!

"Rob'd in the regal garb, his brother stands "In more majestic woe

"And meets the impious ftroke with bofom bare,

"Then fearless grafps the murd❜rer's hands,

"And asks the minifter of hell to fpare

"The child whofe feeble arms fuitain

"His bleeding form from cruel Death.

"In vain fraternal fondnefs pleads, "For cold is now his livid cheek, "And cold his laft expiring breath: "And now with aspect meek, "The infant lifts his mournful eye, "And asks with trembling voice, to die, "If death will cure his heaving heart of pain"His heaving heart now bleeds— "Foul tyrant! o'er the gilded hour "That beams with all the blaze of power, "Remorfe fhall spread her thickest shroud; "The furies in thy tortur'd ear

"Shall howl, with curfes deep, and loud, "And wake distracting fear!

"I fee the gheftly fpectre rife,

"Whose blood is cold, whofe hollow eyes
"Seem from his head to start-

"With upright hair, and shiv'ring heart, "Dark o'er thy midnight couch he bends,

"And clafps thy fhrinking frame, thy impious fpirit rends."
Now his thrilling accents die-

His fhape eludes my fearching eye-
But who is he, convuls'd with pain,
That writhes in every fwelling vein?
Yet in fo deep fo wild a groan,
A harper anguifh feems to live

Than life's expiring pang can give ;—
He dies deferted and alone-

If pity can allay thy woes
Sad fpirit they fhall find repofe-
Thy friend, thy long-lov'd friend is near!
He comes to pour the parting tear,

He comes to catch the parting breath-
Ah heaven! no melting look he wears,
His alter'd eye with vengeance glares;
Each frantic paffion at his foul,
'Tis he has dafh'd that venom'd bowl
With agony, and death.

But whence arofe that folemn call?
Yon bloody phantom waves his hand,
And beckons me to deeper gloom-
Reft, troubled form! I come-
Some unknown power my step impels
To horror's fecret cells-

"For thee I raise this fable pall,
"It fhrouds a ghastly band:

"Stretch'd beneath, thy eye fhall trace
"A mangled regal race:

03

"A

"A thousand funs have roll'd, fince light "Rufh'd on their folid night

"See, o'er that tender frame grim famine hangs, And mocks a mother's pangs!

"The laft, laft drep which warm'd her veins "That meagre infant drains

"Then gnaws her fond fuftaining breast"Stretch'd on her feeble knees, behold "Another victim finks to lafting reft"Another, yet her matron arms would fold Who ftrives to reach her matron arms in vain"Too weak her wafted form to raise, "On him the bends her eager gaze; "She fees the foft imploring eye

"That asks her dear embrace, the cure of pain"She fees her child at diftance die

"But now her steadfast heart can bear "Unmov'd, the preffure of defpair

When first the winds of winter urge their courfe "O'er the pure ftream, whofe current fmoothly glides, "The heaving river fwells its troubled tides; "But when the bitter blast with keener force, "O'er the high wave an icy fetter throws, "The harden'd wave is fix'd in dead repose.""Say who that hoary form? alone he stands, "And meckly lifts his wither'd hands

"His white beard streams with blood"I fee him with a fmile, deride

"The wounds that pierce his fhrivel'd fide,
"Whence flows a purple flood-
"But fudden pangs his bofom tear-
"On one big drop of deeper dye,
"I fee him fix his haggard eye
"In dark, and wild despair!

"That fanguine drop which wakes his woe

"Say, fpirit! whence its fource.".

"Afk no more its fource to know

"Ne'er fhall mortal eye explore

"Whence flow'd that drop of human gore,

"Till the starting dead fhall rife,

"Unchain'd from earth, and mount the skies,

"And time fhall end his fated course.".

"Now th' unfathom'd depth behold-
"Look but once! a fecond glance
"Wraps a heart of human mold
"In death's eternal trance."

That fhapelefs phantom finking flow

"Deep down the vast abyfs below,

"Darts, thro' the mists that shroud his frame,
"A horror, nature hates to name!"-

8

"Mortal,

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