Now on the bed his weary limbs he throws,
Bath'd in the balmy dew of soft repose:
In dreams he rushes o'er the gloomy field,
He sees new armies fly, new heroes yield:
Warm with the vigorous conflict he appears,
And ev❜n in slumber seems to move the spheres.
But lo! the faithless page, with stealing tread,
Advances to the champion's naked head;

With his sharp dagger wounds his bleeding breast,
And steeps his eyelids in eternal rest :

Then cries, (and waves the steel that drops with gore)
The tyrant dies; oppression is no more.'

Now came an aged sire,* with trembling pace;
Sunk were his eyes, and pale his ghastly face;
A ragged weed of dusky hue he wore,
And on his back a ponderous coffer bore.
The queen with faltering speech he thus addrest:
'O, fill with gold thy true adorer's chest!'

'Behold,' said she, and wav'd her pow'rful hand,
Where yon rich hills in glittering order stand:
There load thy coffer with the golden store;
Then bear it full away, and ask no more.'

* Riches.

With eager steps he took his hasty way,
Where the bright coin in heaps unnumber'd lay;
There, hung enamour'd o'er the gleaming spoil,
Scoop'd the gay dross, and bent beneath the toil.
But bitter was his anguish, to behold

The coffer widen, and its sides unfold:
And, every time he heap'd the darling ore,
His greedy chest grew larger than before;
Till, spent with pain, and falling o'er his hoard,
With his sharp steel his maddening breast he gor❜d:
On the lov'd heap he cast his closing eye,
Contented on a golden couch to die.

A stripling, with the fair adventure pleas'd,
Step'd forward, and the massy coffer seiz'd;
But with surprise he saw the stores decay,
And all the long-sought treasures melt away:
In winding streams the liquid metal roll'd,
And through the palace ran a flood of gold.

Next, to the shrine advanc'd a reverend sage,* Whose beard was hoary with the frost of age; His few gray locks a sable fillet bound,

And his dark mantle flow'd along the ground:

• Knowledge.

Grave was his port, yet shew'd a bold neglect,
And fill'd the young beholder with respect;

Time's envious hand had plough'd his wrinkled face,
Yet on those wrinkles sat superior grace;

Still full of fire appear'd his vivid

eye,

Darted quick beams, and seem'd to pierce the sky: At length, with gentle voice and look serene,

He wav'd his hand, and thus address'd the queen.

Twice forty winters tip my beard with snow, And age's chilling gusts around me blow: In early youth, by contemplation led,

With high pursuits my flatter'd thoughts were fed;
To nature first my labours were confin'd,

And all her charms were open'd to my mind;
Each flower that glisten'd in the morning dew,
And every shrub that in the forest grew :
From earth to heaven I cast my wond'ring eyes,
Saw suns unnumber'd sparkle in the skies,
Mark'd the just progress of each rolling sphere,
Describ❜d the seasons, and reform'd the year.
At length sublimer studies I began,
And fix'd my level'd telescope on man ;
Knew all his powers, and all his passions trac❜d,
What virtue rais'd him, and what vice debas'd:
But when I saw his knowledge so confin'd,
So vain his wishes, and so weak his mind,

His soul, a bright obscurity at best,

And rough with tempests his afflicted breast,
His life a flower, ere evening sure to fade,
His highest joys, the shadow of a shade;
To thy fair court I took my weary way,
Bewail my folly, and heaven's laws obey,
Confess my feeble mind for prayers unfit,
And to my maker's will my soul submit:
Great empress of yon orb that rolls below,
On me the last best gift of heaven bestow.'

He spoke a sudden cloud his senses stole,
And thickening darkness swam o'er all his soul;
His vital spark her earthly cell forsook,
And into air. her fleeting progress took.

Now, from the throng a deafening sound was heard, And all at once their various prayers prefer'd; The goddess, wearied with the noisy crowd, Thrice wav'd her silver wand, and spoke aloud: 'Our ears no more with vain petitions tire, But take unheard whate'er you first desire.'

She said: each wish'd, and what he wish'd obtain'd; And wild confusion in the palace reign'd,

But Maia, now grown senseless with delight, Cast on an emerald ring her roving sight;

And, ere she could survey the rest with care,
Wish'd on her hand the precious gem to wear.

Sudden the palace vanish'd from her sight,
And the gay fabric melted into night;
But, in its place, she view'd with weeping eyes
Huge rocks around her, and sharp cliffs arise:
She sat deserted on the naked shore,

Saw the curl'd waves, and heard the tempest roar ;
Whilst on her finger shone the fatal ring,
A weak defence from hunger's pointed sting,
From sad remorse, from comfortless depair,
And all the painful family of care!

Frantic with grief her rosy cheek she tore,
And rent her locks, her darling charge no more:
But, when the night his raven wing had spread,
And hung with sable every mountain's head,
Her tender limbs were numb'd with biting cold,
And round her feet the curling billows roll'd;
With trembling arms a rifted crag she grasp'd,
And the rough rock with hard embraces clasp'd.

While thus she stood, and made a piercing moan, By chance her emerald touch'd the rugged stone; That moment gleam'd from heaven a golden ray, And taught the gloom to counterfeit the day: