O'er his pale forehead grew;

XVII

And he shuddered to sleep with the And her lank hand lay on his shudder

dead.

And her skeleton form the dead Nun reared

Which dripped with the chill dew of hell.

In her half-eaten eyeballs two pale flames appeared,

And triumphant their gleam on the dark Monk glared,

'Ah! why do dark'ning shades conceal

The hour, when man must cease to be?
Why may not human minds unveil
90
The dim mists of futurity?
IV. St. Irvyne's Tower: Song, 1810.

As he stood within the cell.

20

The spirit, that faded away with the Oh! dark lowered the clouds on that

AH! faint are her limbs, and her foot- But, fear not, parting spirit; thy good

V. Bereavement: Song, 1811.

VI. The Drowned Lover: Song, 1811; The Lake-Storm, Rossetti, 1870.

851

POSTHUMOUS FRAGMENTS OF MARGARET NICHOLSON Being Poems found amongst the Papers of that noted Female who attempted the life of the King in 1786. Edited by John Fitzvictor. [The Posthumous Fragments, published at Oxford by Shelley, appeared in November, 1810. See Bibliographical List.]

ADVERTISEMENT

Has swept these myriads from life's crowded stage:

Hark to that groan, an anguished hero

dies,

THE energy and native genius of these Fragments must be the only apology which the Editor can make for thus intruding them on the public notice. The first I found with no title, and have left it so. It is intimately Yet does his parting breath essay to

connected with the dearest interests of universal happiness; and much as we may deplore the fatal and enthusiastic tendency which the ideas of this poor female had acquired, we cannot fail to pay the tribute of unequivocal regret to the departed memory of genius, which, had it been rightly organized, would have made that intellect, which has since become the victim of frenzy and despair, a most brilliant ornament to Society.

In case the sale of these Fragments evinces that the public have any curiosity to be presented with a more copious collection of my unfortunate Aunt's poems, I have other papers in my possession which shall, in that case, be subjected to their notice. It may be supposed they require much arrangement; but I send the following to the press in the same state in which they came into my possession.

WAR

J. F.

AMBITION, power, and avarice, now have hurled

Death, fate, and ruin, on a bleeding world.

See! on yon heath what countless victims lie,

Hark! what loud shrieksascend through yonder sky;

He shudders in death's latest agonies; Yet does a fleeting hectic flush his cheek,

For

speak

ΙΟ

'Oh God! my wife, my children— Monarch thou

whose support this fainting frame lies low;

For whose support in distant lands I

bleed,

Let his friends' welfare be the warrior's meed.

He hears me not-ah! no-kings cannot hear,

15

For
To thee, then, mighty God, I lift my

passion's voice has dulled their
listless ear.

Tell then the cause, 'tis sure the In avenger's rage

5

silent anguish, on her husband's bier!

War: the title is Woodberry's, 1893; no title, 1810.

'Is it then Thine, Almighty Power,' | What then are Kings?-I see the she cries, trembling crowd, 55 'Whence tears of endless sorrow dim I hear their fulsome clamours echoed these eyes?