All but the sacred few who could not tame Fled back like eagles to their native noon, Or those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems [ Were there of Athens or Jerusalem, Nor those who went before fierce and obscene. Outspeed the chariot, and without repose They, tortured by their agonizing pleasure, Was soothed by mischief since the world begun,- And in their dance round her who dims the sun, Maidens and youths fling their wild arms in air; Kindle invisibly-and as they glow, Till like two clouds into one vale impelled That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle And die in rain-the fiery band which held Their natures, snaps-the shock still may tingle; Yet ere I can say where-the chariot hath Is spent upon the desert shore ;-behind, And follow in the dance, with limbs decayed, But not the less with impotence of will Their part, and in the dust from whence they rose And past in these performs what [ ] in those. Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, I would have added-is all here amiss ? But a voice answered—“ Life!"—I turned, and knew (O Heaven, have mercy on such wretchedness!) That what I thought was an old root which grew And that the grass, which methought hung so wide Were or had been eyes :- "If thou canst, forbear "I will unfold that which to this deep scorn "If thirst of knowledge shall not then abate, Of his own words is staggered, wearily He paused; and, ere he could resume, I cried, 66 66 I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did and died, And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit Had been with purer sentiment supplied, 66 Corruption would not now thus much inherit Of what was once Rousseau,- -nor this disguise Stained that which ought to have disdained to wear it ; "If I have been extinguished, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the spark I bore" "And who are those chained to the car?"-" The wise, "The great, the unforgotten,-they who wore Mitres and helms and crowns, or wreaths of light, Signs of thought's empire over thought their lore 66 Taught them not this, to know themselves; their might Could not repress the mystery within, And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night 66 Caught them ere evening." "Who is he with chin Upon his breast, and hands crost on his chain ?" The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win The world, and lost all that it did contain "Without the opportunity which bore "Fallen, as Napoleon fell."-I felt my cheek Alter to see the shadow pass away, Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak, That every pigmy kicked it as it lay; And much I grieved to think how power and will And why God made irreconcilable Good and the means of good; and for despair With the spent vision of the times that were And scarce have ceased to be." Dost thou behold," VOL. III. "Frederick, and Paul, Catherine, and Leopold, And hoary anarchs, demagogues, and sage— -names which the world thinks always old, "For in the battle life and they did wage, She remained conqueror. I was overcome But my own heart alone, which neither age, "Nor tears, nor infamy, nor now the tomb Could temper to its object.”—“Let them pass," I cried, “the world and its mysterious doom "Is not so much more glorious than it was, That I desire to worship those who drew New figures on its false and fragile glass "As the old faded."- Figures ever new “Our shadows on it as it past away. But mark how chained to the triumphal chair "All that is mortal of great Plato there Expiates the joy and woe his master knew not: The star that ruled his doom was far too fair, “And life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, Conquered that heart by love, which gold, or pain, Or age, or sloth, or slavery, could subdue not. "And near him walk the [ ] twain, The tutor and his pupil, whom Dominion |