That the wall tottered, and had well nigh fallen
Right on their heads. My Lord was sorely frightened;
A fever seized him, and he made confession

Of all the heretical and lawless talk

Which brought this judgment. So the youth was seized
And cast into that hole. My husband's father
Sobbed like a child-it almost broke his heart;
And once, as he was working in the cellar,
He hear'd a voice distinctly; 'twas the youth's,
Who sung a doleful song about green fields,
How sweet it were on lake or wild savannah
To hunt for food, and be a naked man,
And wander up and down at liberty.
He always doted on the youth, and now
His love grew desperate; and defying death,
He made that cunning entrance I described;
And the young man escaped.

MARIA.

"Tis a sweet tale:

Such as would lull a listening child to sleep,
His rosy face besoiled with unwiped tears.-
And what became of him?

FOSTER-MOTHER.

He went on ship-board,

With those bold voyagers who made discovery
Of golden lands. Leoni's youngest brother
Went likewise; and when he returned to Spain,
He told Leoni, that the poor mad youth,
Soon after they arrived in that new world,
In spite of his dissuasion, seized a boat,
And, all alone, set sail by silent moonlight
Up a great river, great as any sea,

And ne'er was heard of more; but 'tis supposed,
He lived and died among the savage men.

POEMS

OCCASIONED BY POLITICAL EVENTS

OR

FEELINGS CONNECTED WITH THEM.

When I have borne in memory what has tamed Great nations, how ennobling thoughts depart When men change swords for ledgers, and desert The student's bower for gold, some fears unnamed I had, my country! Am I to be blamed?

But, when I think of Thee, and what Thou art,
Verily, in the bottom of my heart,

Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed.

But dearly must we prize thee; we who find
In thee a bulwark of the cause of men;
And I by my affection was beguiled.
What wonder if a poet, now and then,
Among the many movements of his mind,
Felt for thee as a Lover or a Child.

WORDSWORTH.

ODE

ΤΟ

THE DEPARTING YEAR.

Ιού, τού, ὢ ὢ κακά.

Ὑπ ̓ αὖ με δεινὸς ὀρθομαντείας πόνος
Στροβεί, ταράσσων φροιμίοις ἐφημίοις,

Τὸ μέλλον ἥξει.

Καὶ σύ μην ταχει παρών

Αγαν γ' ἀληθόμαντιν μ' ἐρεῖς.

ÆSCHYL. Agam. 1225.

ARGUMENT.

The Ode commences with an Address to the Divine Providence, that regulates into one vast harmony all the events of time, however calamitous some of them may appear to mortals. The second Strophe calls on men to suspend their private joys and sorrows, and devote them for a while to the cause of human nature in general. The first Epode speaks of the Empress of Russia, who died of an apoplexy on the 17th of November 1796; having just concluded a subsidiary treaty with the Kings combined against France. The first and second Antistrophe describe the Image of the Departing Year, &c. as in a vision. The second Epode prophecies, in anguish of spirit, the downfall of this country.