\

WILLIAM BLAKE
MYSTIC

NOTE.
This issue of Young's poem with Blake engravings; is reproduced in reduced facsimile from the original
Edition 15 * 12 published by Edwards, New Bond Street, London, in the

year 1797.

TO

STANLEY
MY BROTHER

WILLIAM BLAKE, MYSTIC

A STUDY
BY

ADELINE M. BUTTERWORTH

TOGETHER WITH

YOUNG'S NIGHT THOUGHTS NIGHTS

:

&

II

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

WILLIAM BLAKE
AND FRONTISPIECE

DEATH'S DOOR, FROM BLAIR'S 'THE GRAVE'

LIVERPOOL

THE LIVERPOOL BOOKSELLERS CO.. LONDON SIMPKIN. MARSHALL. HAMILTON. KENT 4

1911

LTD.
(

(,

(^

CO.. LTD.

WILLIAM BLAKE, MYSTIC

A Study
BLAKE, poet, artist and engraver
how few persons Yet WILLIAM
to
!

he known, and how much beloved by the few who do know He belongs, to use an old Quaker phrase, him to the world outside,' yet that is the world that cannot understand him, for he speaks to the inner to the world inside,' and it is only the few soul, who can interpret that speech so that William Blake stands little chance of ever becoming the idol
is
1

'

even of the

literary world.

A
'the

cultured

person

may

be interested

in

or

attracted by either a poem or a painting of his, but he must possess a kindred spirit he must belong to

world inside,' if he would grasp the real meanany one of Blake's poems or pictures. It is not sufficient to have an intelligent appreciation of art to understand wherein lies the charm of Blake's
ing of

airy figures

it is

not sufficient to

know

the laws of

rhythm to comprehend his poems, for more than mere culture is demanded from Blake's appreciator,

and that more cannot be learned in the schools it must be innate he must know, almost intuitively, that which Blake's soul has grasped and which his mind and hand have put into concrete form. If it is not seized by intuition, its power will never be realised, for no amount of technical knowledge aids
understanding the deep things of the soul. If such an one does not possess that power, let him close the book of poems by William Blake let
in

such an one leave unopened the copy of Young's Night Thoughts or that of Blair's Grave, both

by Blake, as he would in all probability only see some grotesque figures, which in their huge proportions bear perhaps some resemblance to those of Michael Angelo and would fail to find any reason for Blake choosing to engrave the moment of the 'soul's departure from the body,' or the 're-union of the soul and of the body after death,' for, unless he feel their charm when first he sees them, he will never discover it, though he spend
illustrated

many hours

in studying

insight of the mystic 'world inside' to understand

;

It needs the them. No of those belonging to the

!

the

William Blake therefore, he is more than a century ago, neglected and passed over by the literary and artistic world, unless with their

mystic soul of to-day, as he was

culture they possess a soul capable of responding to the inner meaning of the moments depicted in

Blake's pictures, apart from their artistic merit.

Yet
and

to appreciate

him

it is it

the mystical insight unless

intelligence, for

not enough to possess is allied with culture

an uneducated mystic would no more be able to appreciate nor understand his poems or pictures than would the cultured nonthere lies his charm and therein mystical person lies the explanation possibly why William Blake is
;

gaining at last some notoriety of the reason why more than a century after he illustrated the 'Blair,'

he

is

receiving recognition as a mystical poet and

artist.

Why should he have had to wait so long ? Why should he now be receiving the homage
the few

of

who know and

for depicting the soul's

appreciate his great talent deep feeling ?

Surely because to-day Mysticism stands on a new level. When William Blake lived and wrote

poems and painted his visions, "the " condemned them, for it knew of such It was a cultured world nothing things. the world that condemned him for then, as now, the general public passed him by because he never came within their radius Blake could never be
his mystical

world

outside

/ ~&*~jtf/P-A.

,..

that which

Tennyson became, the

poetical idol of

the people. It was a cultured world in a conventional period that condemned him, a world that condemned all a world without any understanding of mysticism and as it was obliged to explain these
originality,
B
I
.

original productions of

Blake

productions which

seemed quite incomprehensible to it and as it had no knowledge of the psychical mind nor of things mystical, it disposed of Blake and of his poems and pictures by stigmatising them as the work of a madman. Yet even in that material age there were some who possessed the insight necessary to appreciate Blake and his great genius, as Gilchrist's
standard
Life
his

of

William Blake

records
into

they

passing prevented by keeping the tiny flame of interest burning until the world of culture that had condemned Blake a century ago awoke to the fact that he was, at least, an interesting personality, now realising that personso from that ality under any form is worth studying interest in him as a man as an unusual personality
;

name from

oblivion

as a subject for the psychologists to dissect,

and also

because the mystical mind is now acknowledged to be a sane mind, therefore its utterances and productions are on the same level as the productions of other normal minds, Blake has been rescued

and has at and who

4

his appeal to those

chance of winning lasting fame by whose souls are attuned to his, can feel with him and see
last a

...
And

a world in a grain of sand, a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold

infinity in the palm of And eternity in an hour.'

your hand,

cultured world of to-day knows the name of William Blake, because the term culture now
includes some knowledge of the science of psychology, and all who would study that subject gladly avail

The

themselves of so unique a personality, for did he not repeat during his lifetime, when accused of making his figures of so fantastic a character, that

he only painted his

real
to

visions.

These

visions

were

Blake, as they are to all mystics, things only in Blake's case the visionary power which he possessed in so remarkable a degree was accompanied

by the gifts of a poet and also of those of an artist. Think what a unique position he therefore holds

among
spirit

the great spirits of the world, for a great

Blake must assuredly be named if we accede formula that a man is great in spirit if he possesses the power of discerning the inner truth which underlies all things if he is largesouled enough to respond to its demand. In fact, it seems almost a condition of greatness that it, and it alone, is capable of grasping and understanding the truth which lies hidden. Pater speaks in his Marius of the hiddenness of perfect things,' which perhaps means that the thing in its perfection is hidden from the perception of the meaner spirit and so protected, though nevertheless its hiddenness is no bar to the true spirit of the mystic, who is in some inexpressible way 'one' with its perfecto the usually -accepted
'

tion.

We
Blake's

have only
;

to read a

few verses

of

some

of

poems them through

form he
finds

the mystic spirit running to see how underneath the outward

to find

an inner form, which thought he clothes as a true mystic ever does in the outer resemblance. Notice how he speaks of the 'angels' which he sees in the 'blossom trees' of how a thistle at his feet appeared to him to be an old man grey' who stood in his path how he wrote to his
'

Mr. Butts, of his 'first vision of light' which he saw one day when he was sitting on the
friend,

'yellow sands' of the seashore, and notice also the true mystic's delight in his visions when he writes
of

how

they will be

'

Re-engraved time after time Ever in their youthful prime My designs unchanged remain
;

Time may

rage, but rage in vain For above time's troubled fountains

;

On the great Atlantic Mountains, In my golden house on high

There they shine
eternally.'

turn to examine his engravings, we find perhaps more clearly still the mystic spirit both in the choice of subject and in its delineation. Blake

When we

would possibly have preferred exclusively engraving

his visions

but, unfortunately,

though he might

engrave and colour them, he could not find purchasers, so that when he was obliged to earn money to support himself and his wife, he had perforce to paint subjects which suited the taste of his patron, It is even engraving and colouring portraits. difficult to imagine Blake working upon so uncongenial a subject as a portrait of the famous Brighton beauty, Mrs. Q (uentin), yet those who have been fortunate enough to have chanced upon an original copy of that coloured engraving must have noticed the master touch in the softness and wonder of the flesh colour, and felt that the perfectness which he put into a work which must have been distasteful to him proves yet again how great a spirit he possessed within him. But it is in his original designs that we see the real Blake those designs which were literal copies of his visions. Of course, all great artists have an
inner vision of the subject they propose to paint but few, if any, they see it in their imagination
;
;

excepting William Blake, have painted what to them have been objective mental visions, for few people seem to have, to that extent, the mystic temperament
allied

with the

artistic.

It is

a well-established fact

to-day that these objective mental visions do

to persons of a certain
in the

come

of S.

temperament, recorded historical references to the visions Francis of Assisi and those of Joan of Arc.

as, for instance,

In fact, it was not until such recorded incidents had been vindicated by the study of psychology that

Blake had a chance of coming into his inheritance of fame, for he has consistently affirmed that he only painted that which he perceived as an objective vision he apparently saw its form and colour though perhaps he did not always succeed in recalling
those visions quite accurately yet it is told of him that when the visions came, perhaps during the
;

night time, he would rise from his bed and immediately begin to paint, having, as it were, the vision
in front of

happened
'

if

him, and once, on being asked what the visions failed him, his wife replied,

We

kneel down and pray.'' It can thus easily be seen that his work bears the
of

stamp

originality

and true greatness, for the

objective mental visions are a resultant effect of the' percipient's inner-self which, in Blake's case, reaches
to a level of spiritual insight in those who are pure in heart.

up

which

is

only found

Allied with this visionary power, he possessed a very vivid imagination, which he draws upon largely
in

his illustrations
full of

to

Blair's

Grave

illustrations

which are beauty of form and depth of feeling, and which reveal to all who have the power of perceiving it what must have been Blake's innate mystical genius which made it possible for him to design that perfect figure of a youth which he has
placed
(in his plate

named Death's
'

Door,') over the

cell

hewn out of a rock

into

which a weather-beaten

man, leaning on a crutch, is apparently being driven by a strong wind from behind, while above the doorway Blake has placed the figure of the youth half reclining on the rock, with the rays of the sun surrounding him, full of life, hope, and strength. When we gaze upon it, it is not of death which we
old

think

but of

eternal love

eternal strength, which are typified by Blake in that

life
life,

eternal

look of glad expectation which he has placed, not only upon the face, but on every part of the body,
for to Blake's mystical soul death but the gateway to eternal life.

was not the end

does not follow that only a mystical nature can see beneath the surface of things, or alone posit

Yet

sesses the
in

power

of catching the intensest

moments

the lives of his fellow-men, nor that an artist who is able to depict that moment at its highest pitch

must necessarily be a mystic.

Giotto, for instance, in almost any of his fresco work, especially perhaps the fresco in the
cloister of
of

Take

Santa Maria Novella, at Florence,

of the

Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate, meeting and notice how he there portrays just the great moment in the lives of Anna and Joachim when
they meet after a long separation. Giotto depicts their joy in that meeting. He has seized the inner
spirit of

that meeting, and yet no man is less of a mystic than Giotto, the Florentine painter, who

perhaps ranks highest

;

of the world's great painters

as a delineator of a passing

moment

at

its

intensest

not a mystic, for he never chooses a point mystical subject. Whereas Blake, though he too catches the spirit of the moment, searches deeper
is

yet he

into the intricacies of the

life

of the spirit, seeing

which seems to be only apprehended by the mystic, and therefore instead of painting as Giotto the meeting of two beloved persons, Blake chooses for his subject the re-union of the soul and of the body. There we see wherein the difference lies, and why Blake's great characteristic is not so much that he is a great artist or a great poet, but that he is before all things essentially a mystic a
that side of
life

seer of visions.

When we

turn

to

the

Young

illustrations,

which were invented and engraved by him, we see the same characteristics which mark him as a mystic
in his

choice of subject.

In Night the First, which treats of life, death, and immortality, we find him, instead of dwelling on death or the grave, choosing to depict the author

and what an
in

effort

doing so

Blake made to be conventional lying on the ground asleep, while his

fields' (lines in

soul soars

'thro' fairy

the

poem
'

which seized Blake's fancy), and we have the most

fanperfect figures representative of the soul's tastick measures airy figures of pure delight
'

poised in the

air, as

only Blake could poise them.

IO

Again,
'

in

the last plate of the

same

Night,

we

find the lines

Oft bursts my song beyond the bounds of life,' claiming Blake out of many other lines containing words of grief or sorrow but his mystical mind passes them by while he seizes that which is his very
;

own by innate

right of

comprehension and delineates

a marvellous figure mounting upward with outstretched hands, in one of which is a lyre, while the chain which binds him to earth is falling from him,

and the soul

It

is

rejoicing in

its

newly-found freedom.

holds us spell-bound.

in the note, also, Young how conveys a sense of motion in his figures

We

Blake
;

they

appear
last

to be

coming straight from some ethereal

of

region, only touching earth in passing, as, in the

Night the Second, we have figures coming to take the soul of the just man at the moment of death, though there is nothing in the

two

plates

engraving that suggests anything which we usually connect with death, and in the succeeding plate we see
the soul carefully being carried upward by attendant angels, while a graceful figure leans down, as Rossetti's Blessed Damozel from the gold bar of
'

heaven,' and with outstretched

gently draw him upward.

arm and hand would The two plates make a

perfect whole with figures almost revolving in a circle, suggesting movement in every line of their

bodies and joy in the

D
I

new

life

of the soul.

It

could

II

surely only be the insight of the mystic which caused Blake so consistently to see always the life of the
soul as something quite distinct from the life of the body, which is so clearly depicted in his illustrations
to the

Young, of subject, but

where he had so varied a choice where we find him choosing so often

any other

to depict mystical things in preference to

subject.

read the comment upon these designs to Young's Night Thoughts, published in " advertisement" the supposed to have been written
It is interesting to

by

'

Fuseli, for the original edition of 1797: Of the merit of Mr. Blake in those designs

which form not only the ornament

in

of the page, but, illustration of the poem, the the many instances, To editor conceives it to be unnecessary to speak. the eyes of the discerning it need not be pointed

and while a taste for the arts of design shall continue to exist, the original conception and the bold and masterly execution of this artist cannot
out
;

be unnoticed or unadmired.'

him
is

Blake's mysticism is, of course, only one part of that he had many other sides to his character

maintain that though he may be praised for his productions as an artist or a poet, or condemned because of much that is incomprewell

known, yet

hensible in his work, yet running through

all is

mystical spirit which can only be known and judged by a mystical mind, for it needs the possession of
12

that

faculty

to realise

the deep beauty of

the

following words, taken from one of his

'

poems

He who

bends to himself a joy

;

Does the winged life destroy But he who kisses the joy as
Lives
in eternity's sunrise.'

it

flies

And

so Blake stands at last

on the threshold

of

fame, because men have grown to understand him. It is still but the threshold, for he is only known

and loved by a few kindred spirits. Books engraved by him may still be found in what is named by the booksellers as 'the two-penny box.' They can still be picked up cheaply in out-of-the-way book shops, though each year they are becoming more scarce. The collectors of old books, old prints, and coloured engravings do not yet know the name of William Blake, nor do they yet know the value of his productions, though here or there one may be found who has been asked for a Blake but it is an unusual occurrence to find a bookseller who knows anything of his works, even though Blair's Grave and Young's Night Thoughts are becoming very rare, and it is hard to obtain a copy of either book in the original boards, which fact seems to indicate that there is at last some demand
;

for his books.

And what a reward awaits those who discover him What a great treasure awaits the seeking of
!

of spirit

those who, intuitively, will understand his greatness their grasp of the deeper side of
!

How

things will be widened when they come face to face with one of his wonderful productions forms,

which

in his delineation,

seem

to

be

all spirit.

The world has many rare treasures awaiting those who have the opportunity for seeking such
none will fill with purer joy the mind the mystic than the discovery of an original engraving by William Blake, or the chance hapthings, but
of

pening,

perhaps, upon some of Blake's shorter poems, which are indeed masterpieces of mystical
poetry.

September, 1910.

Explanation of the Engravings.

FRONTISPIECE
J)EATH,
TO

NIGHT

THE

FIRST.

in the character of

an old man, having

seen in this print,

swept away with one hand part of the family is presenting with the other

their spirits to immortality.

Page

Sleep, forsaking the couch of care, sheds his influence, by the touch of his magic wand, on
1.

the shepherd's flock.

Page

variously delineated according to the poet's description in the passage referred to by the *.
4.

The imagery of dreaming

Page 7. Death, from sleep to

tolling a bell,

summons

a person

his

kingdom the grave.

Page 8. The universal empire of Death characterized by his plucking the sun from his sphere.

Page 10. An evil genius holding two phials, from one pours disease into the ear of a shepherd, and from the other scatters a blight among his flock intimating that no condition is exempt from
;

affliction.
E
I

Page

12.

The

frailty

of the blessings of this

life

demonstrated, by a representation in which the happiness of a little family is suddenly destroyed by the accident of the husband's death from the bite of a serpent.

Page

exemplified by the figure of Death menacing with his dart, and doubtful which he shall strike the mother, or
life
;

13.

The

insecurity of

the infant at her breast.

Page

15.

The

author,

blematical of grief, friend to the midnight hours.

encircled by thorns, lamenting the loss of

emhis

Page

16.

The

struggling of the soul for immortality,

represented by a figure holding a lyre and springing into the air, but confined by a chain to the
earth.

FRONTISPIECE
Time endeavouring
from two
friends.

TO

NIGHT

THE

SECOND.

to avert the

arrow of Death

Page

19.

A skeleton discovering the first symptoms A man measuring an infant with his span,
of life.

of re-animation on the sounding of the archangel's trump.

Page

23.

in allusion to the shortness

K 2

Page

24.

Our

illustrated

inattention to the progress of Time by a figure of that god, (as he is called

by the poet) creeping towards us with stealthy pace, and carefully concealing his wings from our
view.

Page

Time having passed us, is seen displaying " his broad pinions," and treading nearly on the summit of the globe, eager "to join anew Eternity
25.
26.
in

his sire."

Page

The same power destroyer, mowing down

27.
;

his

character of
the

frail

indiscriminately inhabitants of this world.

Page

Conscience represented as a recording

angel

down
Page
31.

noting the sin of intemperance in a bacchanalian.

who

is

veiled,

and

in the act of

A good man conversing with his past and hours, examining their report. The hours are drawn as aerial and shadowy beings, some of
whom
are bringing their scrolls to the inquirer, while others are carrying their record to heaven.

Page

Belshazzar terrified in the midst of his debauch impious by the hand-writing on the wall. The passage marked out by the asterisk, sufficiently explains the propriety with which the story is alluded to by the poet, and delineated by
33.

the artist.

Page

35.

A parent communicating instruction to his

family.

Page 37. The story of the good Samaritan, introduced by the artist as an illustration of the poet's sentiment, that love alone and kind offices can
purchase love.

Page

Angels attending the death-bed righteous, and administering consolation last moments.
40.
41.

of to

the
his

Page

man

Angels conveying the to heaven.

spirit

of the good

OX

L
D

K.

E A
A XI)

II

n* >

IMMORTALIT

NIGHT THE

FIRST.

A IRED
He,

nature's sweet restorer,

balmy Sleep

like the

world,

his
;

Where

fortune smiles

the

ready pays wretched he forsakes

flies

visit

* Swift on his

downy

pinion

from woe,

And lights on lids unsullied with a tear. From short, as usual, and disturb' d repose, I wake how happy they, who wake no more
:

Yet
I

that

were

vain,

if

dreams

infest the

grave.

wake, emerging from a sea of dreams Tumultuous where my wreck'd, desponding thought
;

wave of fancied misery, At random drove, her helm of reason lost Though now restored, 'tis only change of pain,
to
:

From wave

bitter

change

severer for severe

for

The day too short Even in the zenith

my

distress

and night,

of her dark domain,

Is sunshine, to the colour of

my

fate.

Night, sable goddess

In

from her ebon throne.

Her

rayless majesty, leaden sceptre o'er a

now

stretc'hes forth

slumb'nng world

Silence,

how dead

and darkness,

how

profound

list'ning ear an object finds ; Creation sleeps. "Tis, as the general pulse Of life stood still, and nature made a pause:

Nor

eye, nor

An

And

aweful pause prophetick of her end. let her prophecy be soon fulfill'd
!

Fate' drop the curtain; I can lose no more. solemn sisters twins Silence, and Darkness
! !

From

ancient night,

who

nurse the tender thought

To

reason, and on reason build resolve,

in

That column of true majesty

Assist

man,
the grave
fall

me

\\ ill

thank

you
:

in

The

grave,

your kingdom

there this frame shall

shrine
:

\ictim sacred to

your dreary

But what are ye r THOU, who didst put Primeval silence, when the morning stars.
Exulting, shouted o'er the rising ball
;

to flight

O THOU

whose word from

strike
to

solid darkness struck

That spark, the sun; My soul, which Hies

wisdom from my

soul

THEE,

her trust, her treasure.

As

misers to their gold, while others rest. Through this opaque of nature, and of soul.

This double night, transmit one pitying ray, To lighten, and to cheer lead my mind,
;

mind
it

that fain

would wander from

its

woe,
;

Lead

And

through various scenes of life, and death from each scene, the noblest truths inspire
:

Nor

less

inspire

my
;

conduct, than

my

song;

Teach my best reason, reason; my best will Teach rectitude and fix my firm resolve

Wisdom to wed, and pay her long arrear Nor let the phial of thy vengeance, pour'd On this devoted head, be pour'd in vain.
The
bell strikes
its

one

We
it

take no note of time,

But from
I feel

loss

to give

then a tongue,

Is wise in man.

As

if

the solemn sound.

the knell of

an angel spoke, If heard aright,

:

It

is

Where
It
is

are they

my departed hours With the years beyond

demands dispatch
! :

the flood

the signal

that

How

much

is

to be done

My
life's

hopes and fears

Start up alarm'd, and o'er

narrow verge
! '

Look down

On what
'

fathomless abyss

A dread eternity how surely mine And can eternity belong to me.
Poor pensioner on

the bounties of an

hour?

How poor, how rich, how abject, how august. How complicate, how wonderful man How passing wonder HE, who made him such! Who centred in our make such strange extremes
is
'

From

different natures marvellously mix'd,

Connexion exquisite of

distant

worlds'

chain' Distinguish'd link in being's endless

Midway from

nothing to the Deity

beam

ethereal, sullied, and absorb'd

sullied

'

Though

and dishonour'd,

still
'

divine

'

Dim

miniature of greatness absolute

An

heir of glory

a
!

frail

child of dust
!

Helpless immortal

insect infinite
1

A
\
"

worm a God And in myself am

!

tremble at myself,
a stranger,

lost

At home

Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast,

*>

And

wond'ring

at

her

O what

a miracle to

own how reason man is man,

:
!

reels

Triumphantly distress'd

what joy, what dread

!

Alternately transported, and alarm' d What can preserve my life ? or what destroy ? An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave

Legions of angels can't confine

'Tis
:

me

there.

While
* ^\

all past conjecture things rise in proof. o'er limbs solt dominion my sleep's spread:

hat,

though

my
;

soul fantastick measures trod

or mourn' d along the gloom Of pathless woods or down the craggy steep Hurl'd headlong, swam with pain the mantled pool
fairy fields;

O'er

Or scaled the chft'; or danced on hollow winds, With antick shapes wild natives of the brain ? Her ceaseless flight, though devious, speaks her Of subtler essence than the trodden clod
;

nature

Active, aerial, tow'ring, unconfined, Unfetter' d with her gross companion's

fall.
;

Even silent Even silent For human

Dull sleep

night proclaims

my

soul immortal

night proclaims eternal day.

weal,

Heaven husbands

all

events

instructs,

nor sport vain dreams

in vain.
?

Why then their loss deplore that are not lost Why wanders wretched thought their tombs around,

Si

In

'infidel

distress ?

Are

Slumbers, raked up
live
!

in dust,

angels there ? ethereal fire

live a life

they greatly They and from an eye Unkindled, unconceived

!

on earth

Of On

tenderness,

let

heavenly pity

fall

me, more justly number'd with

is

the dead.
:

This

the desart, this the solitude

How
This

populous,
is

how

vital,

is

the grave

creation's melancholy vault,

The The
AH,

vale funereal, the sad cypress

gloom
!

land of apparitions, empty shades all on earth is shadow, all beyond

:

Is substance

the reverse

is

folly's

creed

How
The

solid
is

all,

This

the

where change bud of being,

yet
is

shall

be no more

the

dim dawn,
;

our day, the vestibule twilight of

shut,

Life's theatre as

and death,

Strong death alone can heave the massy bar, This gross impediment of clay remove,

And make From real

Is he, not

us,
life,

embryos of existence, but little more remote

for
light,

free.

yet a candidate

The

Embryos

future embryo, slumb'ring in his sire we must be, till we burst the shell,
:

Yon
The

ambient azure
life

shell,

and spring to
!

life,

Yet

and of man. of gods, transport man, fool man here buries all his thoughts
!
:

Inters celestial hopes without one sigh Pns'ner of earth, and pent beneath the moon,

Here

pinions

all

his

wishes

wmg'd by heaven

To fly at infinite and reach it there, Where seraphs gather immortality On life's fair tree, fast by the throne of GOD. What golden joys ambrosial clust'ring glow
;

In

HIS

full

beam, and ripen for the just

!

Where momentary ages are no more Where time, and pain, and chance, and death And is it in the flight of threescore years, To push eternity from human thought, And smother souls immortal in the dust ?

expire

soul immortal, spending

all

her

fires,

Wasting her strength in strenuous idleness, Thrown into tumult, raptured, or alarm'd

At aught

this

scene can threaten, or indulge,

into

Resembles ocean

To

tempest wrought, waft a feather, or to drown a fly.

Where

falls this

censure

How

was

my

heart incrusted

o'erwhelms myself: world by

It

the

how

self-fetter'd

was

my
I

groveling soul

How,

like a

worm, was

wrapt round and round

;

In silken thought, which reptile fancy spun Till darken'd reason lay quite clouded o'er

With

soft conceit

of endless comfort here,

!

wings to reach the skies may befriend, as sung above Our waking dreams are fatal how I dreamt Of things impossible could sleep do more ?
Night- visions
: !

Nor yet

put forth her

Of joys perpetual in perpetual Of stable pleasures on the

Eternal sunshine
in

change
life

tossing

wave
!

the storms of

How
* Till

richly

were
in

my

noontide trances

hung
!

With gorgeous
Joy behind joy,
at

tapestries of pictured joys,

endless perspective

Death's

toll,

whose

restless iron

tongue

Calls daily for his millions at a meal,

Starting

'woke, and found myself undone.

Where's now

my

The cobweb'd The

frenzy's pompous furniture cottage, with its ragged wall

is

Of mould' ring mud,

Is cord,
is

royalty to

me

spider's most attenuated thread,

cable, to man's tender tie
;

On

earthly bliss

it

breaks

at

every breeze.
!

O ye A

blest scenes of

Full, above measure! lasting,

permanent delight beyond bound!

perpetuity of bliss,

is bliss.

Could yon, so rich in rapture, fear an end, That ghastly thought would drink up all your joy,

And
The

quite unparadise the realms of light.

Safe are

baleful influence of

you lodged above these rolling spheres whose giddy dance

vicissitude on
all

Sheds sad

beneath.

with revolutions every hour, And rarely for the better or the best, More mortal than the common births of fate
;

Here teems

Each moment

has

its

sickle,

emulous

Of

enormous scythe, whose ample sweep Strikes empires from the root; each moment plays
time's

Of

weapon in the narrower sphere sweet domestick comfort, and cuts down The fairest bloom of sublunary bliss.
little

His

Bliss! sublunary bliss

proud words, and vain!

!

A
I

to divine decree Implicit treason bold invasion of the rights of heaven

clasp'

d the phantoms, and

found them

air

()

had

weigh d

it

ere

my

fond embrace,
!

darts of agony had miss'd my heart Death! great proprietor of all 'tis thine To tread out empire, and to quench the stars
'
!

What

The sun

himself by thy permission shines

tliou shall pluck him from his sphere. such Amidst mightv plunder, wlyy exhaust Thy partial quiver on a mark so mean ?

And, one dav,

Why

thy peculiar rancour wreak' d on me? ' could not one suffice Insatiate archer
!

Tin- shaft flew thncc

and thrice

my

And

thrice,
'

ere thrice yon moon had

fill'd

peace was slain her horn.

(."vnthia

why

so pale

dost thou lament

Thy wretched neighbour? grieve to see OF ceaseless change outwhirl'd in human

thy wheel
lile ?
!

How

wanes
.is

my

borrow'd bliss from fortune's smile

!

courtesy

not virtue's sure,

Self-given, solar ray of

sound delight.

How

In every varied posture, place, and hour, widow d every thought ot every jay
\

Thought, busy thought! too busy

for

my

peace.

Through the dark postern of time long elapsed, Ltd softly by the stillness of the night,
;

Led

like a

murderer, and such

!

it

proves

Strays, wretched rover

o'er the pleasing past

;

In quest of wretchedness perversely strays

And finds all desert now and meets the Of my departed joys, a numerous train I rue the riches of my former fate
; :

ghosts

Sweet comfort's blasted clusters

I

lament

tremble

at the blessings

once so dear;

every pleasure pains me to the heart. Yet why complain ? or why complain for one Hangs out the sun his lustre but for me, The single man ? are angels all beside ? 'tis the common lot I mourn for millions

And

In this shape, or in that, has fate entail'd The mother's throes on all of woman born,

Not more

the children, than sure heirs of pain.

fire,

famine, pest, volcano, storm, and Intestine broils, oppression, with her heait

War,

Wrapp'd up

GOD's

besiege mankind image, disinherited of day,

in triple brass,

Here, plunged in mines, forgets a sun was made There, beings, deathless as their haughty lord, Are hammer' d to the galling oar for life
;

And
In

plough the winter's wave, and reap despair

for hard masters

Some,

broken under arms,

battle

half their limbs lopp'd away, with

Beg

bitter

bread through realms their valour saved,

If so the tyrant, or his minions doom. Want and incurable disease, fell pair

On
At

seize hopeless multitudes remorseless once and make a refuge of the grave
;

How
What

groaning hospitals eject their

dead

numbers groan

for sad admission there

10

What

numbers, once

in fortune's lap

high-fed,

Solicit the cold

hand of charity
solicit
it

To

shock us more

in vain

Ye silken sons You rue more

And
Surfeit's

of pleasure

since in pains
visit here,
:

modish

visits,

breathe from

your debauch

give, and reduce

dominion o'er you

but so great

Your

Happy

right. impudence, you blush at did sorrow seize on such alone:

is
!

what

Not prudence can

defend, or virtue save * Disease invades the chastest temperance,

:

And

punishment the guiltless

and alarm,
peace.

Through thickest shades pursues the fond of Man's caution often into danger turns,
And, his guard falling, crushes him to death. Not happiness itself makes good her name
;

Our very

How

wishes give us not our wish distant oft the thing we doat on most,
:
!

From that for which we doat, felicity The smoothest course of nature has its pains; And truest friends, through error, wound our
Without misfortune
what calamities
without a foe
to the best
!

rest

And what hostilities Nor are foes wanting

But endless
is

on earth
ills,

the

list

of

human
fail,

And

sighs might sooner

part

than cause to sigh.

A
Wild

Is tenanted

how small of by man the

!

the

rest a

terraqueous globe waste

;

Rocks,

deserts, frozen seas, and burning sands

:

haunts of monsters, and death poisons, stings,

11

Such

is

earth's

melancholy map
is

but, far

More

sad, this earth

a true

map

of

man

So bounded

To

haughty woe's wide empire where deep troubles toss, Loud sorrows howl, envenom'd passions bite,
;

are

its

lord's delights

Ravenous

calamities our vitals seize,

And threatening fate wide opens to devour. What then am I, who sorrow for myself?
In age, in infancy, from others aid Is all our hope to teach us to be kind
That, nature's
first,

last lesson to

mankind
;

The

deserves the pain it feels More generous sorrow, while it sinks, exalts And conscious virtue mitigates the pang
selfish heart
:

Nor

virtue,

more than prudence,

bids

me

give

Swoln thought a second channel; wlio divide, They weaken too the torrent of their grief.

Take

then,

world
is

thy much-indebted tear

How
To

sad a sight

human happiness
! !

those,
!

thou

whose thought can pierce beyond an hour whate'cr thou art, whose heart exults

Wouldst thou I should congratulate thy fate ? 1 know thou wouldst thy pride demands it from me
;

Let thy pride pardon, what thy nature needs

The salutary censure of a friend. Thou happy wretch by blindness

!

thou art blest

:

By dotage dandled to perpetual smiles Know, smiler, at thy peril art thou pleased
Thy
pleasure Misfortune, like a creditor severe,
is

the promise of thy pain

/-r

But

rises in

She makes

demand for her delay J ; a scourge of past prosperity

to thee
:

To

sting thee more, and double thy distress.

LORENZO, fortune makes her court

Thv
I

fond heart dances, while the syren sings Dear is thy welfare think me not unkind,
;

would not damp, but to secure thy joys Think not that fear is sacred to the storm;
Is heayen

Stand on thy guard against the smiles of fate. tremendous in its frowns ? most sure
:

And in its fayours formidable too * Its fayours here are trials, not rewards

call to

duty, not discharge from care

And should alarm us, lull as much as woes Awake us to their cause and consequence And make us tremble, weisi'h'd with our desert.
;
;

Awe
To

nature's tumults, and chastise her joys,

Lest, while

we

clasp,

we

kill

them

nay, invert
:

worse than simple misery their charms Revolted joys, like foes in civil war,

Like bosom -friendships

to resentment sour'd,

^Vith rage envenom d rise against our peace.

Beware what earth calls happiness ; beware All jovs, but joys that never can expire builds on less than an immortal base,
:

Who

Fond as he seems, condemns his joys Mine died with thee, PHILANDER
Dissolved the charm
;

to death.
!

thy last sigh

the disenchanted earth

Lost
-<e*-i.
.-

all

Her
,

i-^:

golden

her lustre: where her glitt'ring towers? mountains where ? all darken'd down

13

To

naked waste

a dreary vale of tears

The

Of From yesterday

dead! thou poor pale piece great magician's in darkness what a change outcast earth
! !

so near, thy darling hope how ambition flush'd d prize, Long-labour' Thy glowing cheek ambition, truly great,

Of

virtuous praise

death's subtle seed within,

!

treacherous miner working in the dark, Sly, beckon'd Smiled at thy well-concerted scheme, and

The worm
Man's

to riot on that rose so red,

it fell

Unfaded ere

foresight

is

one moment's prey wise conditionally

idea fair

LORENZO

wisdom

into folly turns

its

Oft, the first instant

To
*

lab' ring

thought

is

born

how dim

our eye
;

The

present

moment

terminates our sight

drown the next Clouds, thick as those on doomsday,

\Ve penetrate, we prophesy in vain Time is dealt out by particles and each,
:

Ere mingled with

the streaming sands of

is

life,

By

fate's inviolable oath

sworn

Deep

silence,

" where eternity begins.'

By

nature's law,

what may
in

There's no prerogative In human hearts what bolder thought can rise, Than man's presumption on to-morrow's dawn Where is to-morrow ? in another world
!

be, may be now human hours

:

%* Jf

For numbers

this is certain
;

the reverse

and yet on this perhaps, Is sure to none This peradventure infamous for lies,

14

As on a rock of adamant we build Our mountain hopes spin our eternal As we the fatal sisters would outspin,
;

schemes,

And, big with

file's

futurities,

expire.

Not even PHILANDER had bespoke his shroud, Nor had he cause a warning was denied
;
:

How

many

fall

as

sudden

not as safe

As sudden, though for years admomsh'il home. Of human ills the last extreme beware,
lie ware,
I

LORENZO

slow-sudden death
surprise to defer
!

low dreadful

that deliberate
'tis

He wise

to-day,

madness

Next day Thus on,

the fatal precedent will plead

till

wisdom
is
it

Procrastination

push'd out of the thief of time ;

is

life

Year

after to the

year

steals,

till

all

are fled

And The
That

mercies of a

moment

leaves
:

vast concerns of an eternal scene

If not so frequent,
'tis

would not
is

this

be strange
still.

Of
The

stranger man's miraculous mistakes, this bears

"

so frequent, this

palm,

That

all

men

are about to live"

For ever on

the brink of being born.

All pay themselves the compliment to think They one day shall not drivel ; and their pride

On
At

this reversion takes

least their

up ready

praise,

own,

their future selves

life

applauds:
!

How

excellent that
in

Time lodged
That lodged

they ne'er will lead tneir own hands is vrils folly's

to

in fate's,

wisdom they consign

15

The

thing they can't but purpose, they postpone

;

'Tis not in folly, not to scorn a fool

And And
In

scarce in
is

human wisdom

to

do more

All promise
that
full

poor dilatory mail,

:

content

through every stage 'when young, indeed, we sometimes nobly rest,

for ourselves
;

Unanxious

and only wish,

:

As
At At

duteous sons, our fathers were more wise

thirty
it

man
at

suspects himself a fool

Knows

reforms his plan forty, chides his infamous delay, Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve ;
fifty

and

In all the magnanimity of thought Resolves, and re-resolves then dies the same.
;

And why
All

because he thinks himself immortal

all

men

think
;

Themselves

men mortal, but themselves when some alarming shock of

wounded
like the

fate
;

Strikes through their

hearts the sudden dread

But

their hearts

Soon

close

wounded, where pass'd

wounded

air,
is

the shaft no trace

;

found.

As

from the wing no scar the sky retains The parted wave no furrow from the keel

So dies in human hearts the thought of death Even with the tender tear which nature sheds
O'er those

we

love,

we

drop

it

in their

grave.
:

Can
*

forget
full

PHILANDER ?
!

that
I

O my

were strange
give
it

heart

but should

vent,
fail,

The longest night though longer far, would And the lark listen to my midnight
song.

16

The
I strive,

sprightly lark's shrill matin

wakes

the morn,

Griefs sharpest thorn hard pressing on

!

my

breast

with wakeful melody, to cheer The sullen gloom, sweet philomel like thee,

And

call

the stars to listen

Is deaf to mine,

every star enamour'd of thy lay

;
:

Yet be

not vain

there are,

who
:

thine excel,

And charm

through distant ages

!

wrapp'd

in shade,

Pris'ner of darkness

to the silent hours,

How
To

often I repeat their rage divine,

lull

my

griefs,

and

steal

my

heart from
fire

woe
:
!

I roll their

raptures, but not catch their

blind, like thee
;

Dark, though not Or, Milton thee

!

Maeonides

ah,

could

reach

your
: :

strain

Or

his,

who made Maaonides our own

Man

too he sung immortal man I sing * Oft bursts my song beyond the bounds of

life

What

now, but immortality, can please

his

had he press'd

theme, pursued the track,

!

Which

opens out of darkness into day had he mounted on his wing of fire,

Soar'd,

where
it

I sink,

and sung immortal man

How

had

bless'd mankind, and rescued

me

-r

r.

ox

T
1)

E.
,

A T H
A

J
"f
I
'-

~~
TV.

1?

FRIENDSHIP.

NIGHT THE SECOND.

'

WHEN
Emblem
I

the cock crew, he wept"

all
;

smote by that eye

Which
*

looks on me, on
centinel,

that power,
shrill,

who

bids

This midnight

with clarion

of that which shall awake the dead,

:

Rouse
Shall

souls from slumber into thoughts of heaven too ? where then is fortitude ?

weep

And,
I

fortitude abandon'cl,

where

is

man

know
that

the terms on
is

which he sees the

;

light

He

born,

is

listed
:

life is

war,
it

Eternal war with

woe

who

bears

best,

Deserves

it

least

on other themes

I'll

dwell.

let me turn my And thine, on themes may profit profit there, vth Where most thy need themes, too, the genuine grow dead, Of dear PHILANDERS dust: he, thus, though May still befriend. What themes ? time's wondrous price,

LORENZO

thoughts on thee,
;

Death, friendship, and PHILANDERS

final scene.

20
I touch these themes, as might obtain nor leave thy heart quite ear, disengaged, The good deed would delight me ; half impress On my dark cloud an iris and from grief
;

So could

Thine

Call

He

dost thou mourn PHILANDER' s fate ? glory: know thou say st it says thy life the same ? mourns the dead, who lives as they desire.
:

"Where

is

that thrift, that avarice oT time,

!

O
O

glorious avarice

thought of death inspires,

As rumour' d
tune
!

robberies endear our gold ? than gold more sacred more n load
;

Than

lead, to fools;

and

fools

What moment granted man ^\ hat years are squander'd, wisdom's debt unpaid
Our
wealth
in

reputed wise: without account ?

days

all

due

to that discharge. he's at the door,

Haste, haste, he
Insidious death
!

lies in wait,

should his strong hand arrest,

;

No

composition sets the pris'ner free

Eternity's inexorable chain

Fast binds, and vengeance claims the full arroar. How late I shudder'd on the brink how late
!

Life call'd for her last refuge in despair That time is mine, MEAD to thee I

owe

Fain would

But

ill

my

pay thee with eternity genius answers my desire

I
:

My

sickly song Accept the will

is

mortal, past thy cure that dies not with my strain.

:

For what calls thy disease, LORENZO ? For esculapian, but for moral aid Thou think'st it folly to be wise too soon.
:

not

21

Youth

is

not rich in time

it

it

may

be,
;

poor

Part with

as with

money

sparing

pay
;

No

moment
it

but

And what
Part with

its

purchase of its worth worth, ask death-beds they can

in
;

tell

as with

life

reluctant

big
;

With holy hope of Time highev aim'd, Of men and angels

Is this

nobler time to
still

come
divine.

nearer the great

mark
?
;

virtue

more

our duty, wisdom, glory, gain

in vital

These Heaven benign

union binds

And

When
And

sport we like the natives of the bough, vernal suns inspire ? amusement reigns
;

Man's great demand

is it

to trifle

is

to live
?
!

then a
say'st
lor

trifle
I

too

to die

Thou
What,
if

preach,
I

Lonr.v/o

'tis

confess' d
?

Who
Is
it

preach thee quite awake wants amusement in the flame of battle

once

not treason to the soul immortal,

Her

foes in arms, eternity the pn/c ? Will toys amuse, when med'cmes cannot cure

When
Their

spirits ebb,

when

life's

enchanting scenes

lustre lose,

and lessen

in

our sight,

As

lands and cities with their glitt'ring spires,

the poor shatter' cl bark, by sudden storm off to sea, and soon to perish there
?

To

Thrown

Will toys amuse

No

thrones will then be toys,

And earth and skies seem dust upon the scale. Redeem we time ? Its loss we dearly buy

What

He

? pleads LORI uxo for his high-prized sports he loudly pleads blanks time's numerous pleads
;

22

The straw-like trifles on life's common stream From whom those blanks and trifles, but from

thee ?

No

blank, no trifle nature made, or meant.

;

Virtue, or purposed virtue, still be thine This cancels thy complaint at once, this leaves In act no trifle, and no blank in time ;

This greatens,

fills,

immortalizes

all

This, the blest art of fuming all to gold This, the good heart's prerogative to raise
;

royal tribute from the poorest hours

!

Immense revenue every moment If nothing more than purpose in

pays.
;

Thy

Who
Does

purpose firm, does the best

is

thy power equal to the deed:

his
;

circumstance allows,
angels could no more.
:

well, acts nobly

act,

Our outward
Tis not
in

indeed, admits restraint

Guard

things o'er thought to domineer well thy thought; our thoughts are heard
;

in

heaven.

all-important tune, through every age, Though much, and warm, the wise have
Is yet unborn,
" I

On

urged

the

man

who

duly weighs an hour.

the

ve

l< )s t

day"

prince

who
his

Had been Ol Rome

nobly cried,
race

an
?

emperor without
if

crown
;

say rather, lord of

human
:

He

spoke, as
all

deputed by mankind
;

So should

speak

From

so reason speaks in

all

the soft
fly

whispers of that

God
fly,

in

man,

Why

to

folly,

why
!

to

frenzy

For rescue from

the

blessings

we

possess
;

Time, the supreme

Time

is

eternity

23
Pregnant with
Pregnant with
all all

eternity can give

that

makes archangels smile

birth

Who murders time, he crushes in the A power ethereal, only not adored.
Ah
!

how

unjust to nature and himself,

!

Is thoughtless, thankless, inconsistent man Like children nonsense in their sports,

We

babbling censure nature for a span too short

That span too short, we tax as tedious Torture invention, all expedients tire,

too

To

moments into speed, whirl us, happy riddance from ourselves. our furious charioteer, Art, brainless art
lash the ling'ring

And
For

nature's voice unsttfled

would

recall,

Drives headlong tow'rds the precipice of death death thus more dreadful made Death, most our dread
;

what a riddle of absurdity Leisure is pain take off our chariot-wheels,

! ;

How
It

heavily Blest leisure

we drag
is
;

the load of
;

life

our curse

like that of Cain,

makes us wander
fly

wander earth around

To

that

tyrant, thought.

As

Atlas groan'd
:

The world

beneath,

we

groan beneath an hour

;

mercy to the next amusement The next amusement mortgages our fields
for

We ciy

Slight inconvenience

prisons hardly frown

;

From hateful time if prisons set us free Yet when death kindly tenders us relief,

We callhim
Ages
to

cruel
:

years

to

moments
is

shrink,

years

the telescope

turn'd,

24

To
*

man's

false

opticks, from his folly false,

Time, in advance, behind him hides his wings, And seems to creep decrepit with his age Behold him, when past by what then is seen,
: ;

But

his
all

And

broad pinions swifter than the winds mankind, in contradiction strong,

aghast

Rueful

cry out on his career.

Leave

to thy foes these errors,

and these

ills

To

nature just, their cause and cure explore. Not short Heaven's bounty, boundless our expence

No

We
1

men are prodigals niggard nature we breathe, not live waste, not use our time
; :

Time wasted

is

existence, used

is life

And

bare existence, man, to live ordain'd,

:

^
\

Wrings and oppresses with enormous weight And wliy ? since time was given for use, not
t
.

waste,

with tempest, tide, and stars To keep Ins speed, nor ever wait for man Time's use was doom'd a pleasure waste, a pain
Enjoin'd to fly
; :

f
'.

That man might feel his error, And, feeling, fly to labour for
Not, bin nd' ring,
split

if

unseen
cure
;

his

on idleness for ease.

Life's cares are comforts,

such by Heaven design'd

He

that

has none, must make them, or be wretched

Cares are employments; and without employ The soul is on the rack the rack of rest,
;

\!

To

souls most adverse

action

all

their joy.
;

Here, then, the riddle mark'd above, unfolds

Then time

turns

torment, when man turns

a fool
;

We

rave,

we

wrestle with great nature's plan

25

We

thwart the thwart

DEITY

and

'tis

decreed,

Who

his will shall contradict their

own
;
:

Hence our unnatural quarrel with ourselves Our thoughts at enmity our bosom-broil
;

We

from us, and we wish him back; push time of Lavish lustrums, and yet fond of life
;

Life

we

think long, and short

death seek, and shun

Body

United

and soul, like peevish man and wife, are loth to part. jar, and yet Oh the dark davs of vanity while here,
!

How

when gone Gone! they ne'er go when past, they haunt The spirit walks of every dav deceased
tasteless
!

and

how
;

terrible

us

still

And Xor And

death, nor

smiles an angel, or a fury frowns life if time delight us past, time possess'd, both pain us, what can
:

please

That which

the
.

DEITY
man who

to

please ordain' d

Time used

the

consecrates his hours

By

vigorous

effort

and an honest aim,

;

At once

He

walks with nature

Our

he draws the sting of life and death and her paths are peace. error's cause and cure are seen see next
:

Time's nature,

origin,

importance, speed

And

thy great

gam from urging

:

his career.

All-sensual man, because untotich'd, unseen,

He

looks on time as nothing

;

nothing else

Is truly man's

'tis

fortune's

Time's

God
?

Hast thou

ne'er heard of time's omnipotence

For, or against, what wonders can he do

And

will

to stand blank neuter he disdains

26

Not on

those terms

was

time, heaven's stranger, sent

On

important embassy to man. LORENZO no on the long-destined hour,

! :

his

growing ripe, That memorable hour of wondrous birth.

everlasting ages

From

When
And

the

DREAD

SIRE,

on emanation bent.

big with nature, rising in his might, Call'd forth creation,- for then time was born,

By

Not on

godhead streaming through a thousand worlds those terms, from the great days of heaven,
;

From

old eternity's mysterious orb,

;

AVas time cut otlj and cast beneath the skies The skies, which watch linn in his new abode,
Measuring his motions bv revolving spheres That horologe machinery divine
:

Hours, days, and months, and years, his children play Like numerous wings, around him, as he flies
;

Or
'I

unequal plumes they shape His ample pinions, swift as darted flame,
o gain Ins goal, to reach his ancient rest,
join

rather,

as

And

anew

eternity his sire

In his immutability to nest,

worlds, that count his circles now, unhinged. Fate the loud signal sounding, headlong rush To tuneless night and chaos, whence rose.

When

Why
Know'st

spur the speedy

thou, or

why

they with levities

New-wing

thy short, short day's too rapid flight ? what thou dost, or what is done

Man

flies

from time, and time from man, too soon

:

sad divorce this double flight must end

27

And
Thy Not

then,

where are we
thy pomps
;

?
?

where, LORENZO, then

I

sports

grant thee, in a state

unambitious

in

the ruffled shroud,

:

Thy
Has

arch beneath parian tomb's triumphant death his fopperies r then well may life
in
lilies

Put on her plume, and

her rainbow shine.

of our land
!

Ye
Ye

well-array'd

ye
;

lilies

male

who

neither

if As sister lilies might As Solomon, more sumptuous Ye delicate who nothing can
!

nor spin, not so wise

toil,

to the sight

support,
!

The

Yourselves most insupportable for whom winter rose must blow, the sun put on brighter beam in Leo, silky-soft Favonuis breathe still softer, or be chid

And And

other worlds send odours, sauce, and song,

robes, and notions framed in foreign looms
! !

ve LOKENZOS of our age who deem One moment unamused, a misery Not made for feeble man who call aloud
;

For every bauble, drivell'd o'er by sense, For rattles and conceits of every cast, For change of lollies and relays ol joy,

To Of

drag your patience through the tedious length

a short winter's
;

Wit's oracles

How
*

will

day say sages say dreamers of gay dreams weather an eternal night, you
;

say

Where

such expedients fail ? treacherous conscience

while she seems to sleep

;

On

rose and myrtle, lull'd with syren song

sj

28

While she seems, nodding

o'er her charge, to

drop

On headlong appetite the slacken'd rein, And give us up to licence, unrecall'd,

Unmark'd
;

see,

from behind her secret stand,

fault,
fills
:

The And Not

sly

informer minutes every

her dread diary with horror

the gross act alone

employs her pen

She reconnoitres

fancy's airy band,

the formidable spy,

watchful foe

of List'ning, o'erhears the whispers

our camp

Our dawning purposes of heart explores, And steals our embryos of iniquity. As all-rapacious usurers conceal
Their doomsday-book from all-consuming heirs, Thus, with indulgence most severe she treats

Us

spendthrifts

of inestimable tune

Unnoted, notes each moment misapplied

In leaves

more durable than leaves of

history
;

brass,
shall read

Writes our whole

which death

In every pale delinquent's private ear,

And judgment
Than
this
;

LORENZO, Such is her slumber

publish publish and endless age in groans resound. such that sleeper in thy breast
! ;

to

more worlds

For

slighted counsel
think'st

and her vengeance such such thy future peace

?

And

thou

still

thou canst be wise too soon

On To

this

But why on time so lavish is my song great theme kind nature keeps a school,

teach her sons herself: each night Each morn are born anew each'day
:

we

die,
!

a hie

29
shall we kill each day ? If trifling kills, Sure vice must butcher O what heaps of slain Cry out for vengeance on us time destroy' d

And

Is suicide,

where more than blood

is

spilt:

Time

death urges, knells call, heaven invites, Hell threatens all exerts in effort, all
flies,
:

labours more More than creation labours And is there in creation, what, amidst
!

This tumult universal, wing'd dispatch,

And

Man
Fate

ardent energy, supinely yawns ? and man alone and man, whose fate
sleeps
;

irreversible, entire, extreme,

Endless, hair-hung, breeze-shaken, o'er the gulph moment trembles drops and man, for whom

man, the sole cause Of this surrounding storm and yet he sleeps, Throw years away As the storm rock'd to rest. Throw empires and be blameless ? moments seize
All else
is in

alarm

Heaven

When
The

on their wing a moment worlds want wealth to buy

's
: :

we may

wish,
still,

bid day stand

Bid him drive back

his car,

and reimport

the given hour. period past, regive

;

LORENZO, more than miracles we want LORENZO O for yesterdays to come Such is the language of the man awake
!

His ardour such,

for

what oppresses thee

And

is

his

ardour

vain,

LORENZO

no,
;

That more than miracle the gods indulge

To-day

is

yesterday return'd

return'd
raise,

Full-power'd to cancel, expiate,

adorn,

so

And
Let

reinstate us
it

on the rock of peace.

its

not share

predecessor s

fate
:

Nor,
Shall

like its elder sisters, die a fool

off' it fly evaporate in fume stain us deeper still ? Fuliginous, and Shall we be poorer for the plenty pour'd

More

wretched for the clemencies of heaven

I find

Where shall You know him

:

him
near

angels

tell

me where
:

he

is

you

point

him out

Shall

see glories beaming from his

brow ?
x

Or trace his footsteps by the rising flowers ? Your golden wings, now hov'nng o'er him,
Protection
;

shed

now, are waving

in

To

that blest son of foresight

applause lord of fate

!

That aweful independent on to-morrow Whose work is done ; who triumphs in

the past

Whose
Nor,
If not

look backward with a smile, yesterdays

like the Parthian,

wound him
lot
!

as they fly

That common, but opprobrious

past hours,
flight,

by

guilt,

their yet wound us by

If folly bounds our prospect

by

the grave.

All feeling of futurity benumb' d ; All god-like passion for eternals quench'd All relish of realities expired
;

Renounced

all

Our freedom

chain'd

correspondence with the skies our desire quite wingless

;
;

In sense dark-prison'd all that ought to soar; Pron*> to the centre crawling in the dust ;
;

Dismounted every great and glorious aim

Embruted every

faculty divine

31

Heart-buried

in the

rubbish of the world

The

gulph of souls, immortal souls, Souls elevate, angelic, wing'd with fire To reach the distant skies, and triumph there
world, that

On

thrones,

which

shall not
;

mourn
to

their masters changed.

fell.

Though we from
Such

earth

ethereal, they that

veneration due,

man

man.

Who
Which

For what, gay

venerate themselves, the world despise. friend, is this escutcheon' d world,

in

hangs out death

one eternal night

night, that

And wraps
Life's
little

the noon-tide ray, our thought, at banquets, in the shroud. stage is a small eminence,
in
;

glooms us

that home of man, Inch-high the grave above Where dwells the multitude we ga/.e around;
;

We We
i
1

read their

monuments
;

we

sigh

and while
:

and are what we deplored sigh, we sink Lamenting, or lamented, all our lot
!

Is death at distance

no

he has been on thee

And
,

given sure earnest of

his final

blow.

Those hours, which

lately smiled,
!

where

are they
all

now

Pallid to thought, and ghastly

drown'd,

drown'd
;

In that great deep, which nothing disembogues

And, dying, they bequeath'd thee small renown

I

The

rest are on the

wing

how

fleet their flight

;

Already has the fatal tram took fire A moment, and the world 's blown up

to thee

The sun

is

darkness, and the stars are dust.

* 'Tis with our past hours, greatly wise to talk And ask them, what report they bore to heaven
;

aa

they might have borne more welcome news Their answers form what men experience call
;

And how

If wisdom's friend, her best;

if not,

worst

foe.

kind experience cries, " There 's nothing here, but what as nothing weighs " The more our joy, the more we know it vain ; " And success are tutor' cl to despair." by
reconcile
!

them

Nor

only thus, but must be so not this, though gray, is still a child Loose then from earth the grasp of fond desire,
is it
:

Who

knows

Weigh

anchor, and some happier clime explore. Art thou so moor'd thou canst not disengage,

Nor

give thy thoughts a ply to future scenes

Since,

passing breath, blown up from earth, Light, as the summer's dust, we take in air

by

life's

moment's giddy flight, and fall again ; Join the dull mass, increase the trodden soil,

And

sleep

'till

earth herself shall be no

more

Since then, as emmets, their small world o'erthrown, We, sore amazed, from out earth's ruins crawl,

And rise to fate extreme of foul or fair, As man's own choice, controller of the skies As man's despotic will, perhaps one hour

how omnipotent

is

time

decrees

Should not each warning give a strong alarm-

Warning,

far less than that

of bosom torn
?

From

bosom, bleeding o'er the sacred dead Should not each dial strike us as we
pass,

Portentous, as the written wall which struck,

O'er midnight bowls, the proud Assyrian pale,

Erewhile high-flush d vith insolence and wine r * Like and points to thce, that, the dial speaks
;

o o

break thy banquet up. " man, thy kingdom is departing from thee " And, while it lasts, is emptier than my shade."

LOHF.NZO

loth to

Its silent

language such

nor need'st them

:

call

decypher what it means Thy like the Median, fate is in thy walls Know, Dost ask, how ? whence ? Belshazzar-like, amazed
magi, to
:

Man's make encloses the sure seeds

Life feeds the murderer
:
!

<>(

death

On

her

own

ingrate meal, and then his nurse devours.

he thrives

But
That
It life

here,

LORENZO, the delusion

it

lies

solar

shadow, as
:

measures

lite,

resembles too
to point, point

life

speeds away
to stand
still
:

From

though seeming

The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth, Too subtle is the movement to be seen Yet soon man's hour is up, and we are
Warnings
point out
;

gone.
:

As
So

our danger gnomons, time these are useless when the sun is set
;

those, but

when more

Reason should judge in That sedentary shadow But such our So prone our

all

glorious reason shines in reason's eye,

;
:

travels hard

gravitation to the

wrong,

hearts to whisper what we wish, 'Tis later with the wise, than he's aware
;

Wilmington goes slower than the sun And all mankind mistake their time of day
;

Even ace

itself:

fresh hopes are hourly

sown

34
In furrow' d brows

We We
And

so gentle life's descent, shut our eyes, and think it is a plain. take lair days in winter for the spring ;
:

Man must He scarce

Thus,

turn our blessings into bane since oft that he cannot feel, compute age
:

believes he

's

at life's latest eve,

older for his years we keep in store

The

OIK- disappointment sure, to crown the rest disappointment of a promised hour.

On this, or similar, PHILANDER! thou, Whose mind was moral, as the preacher's
And
strong to wield all science,
often

tongue
;

worth the name

How
And

we

talk'd

down

the summer's sun,

!

How
By

cool'd our passions by the breezy stream often thaw'd and shorten'd winter's eve,

conflict kind, that

struck out latent truth,

;

Best found, so sought

to the recluse

more coy
;

Thoughts disentangle passing o'er the lip Clean runs the thread if not, 'tis thrown
;

away,

Or

kept up nonsense for a song Song, fashionably fruitless such as stains

to tie
!

limey, and unhallow'd passion fires Chiming her saints to Cytherea's fane.

The

Know'st

thou,

As

bees mix'd nectar

LORENZO what a friend contains draw from fragrant flowers,

!

So men from Twins

tied

friendship,

wisdom and

delight

by nature ; if they part, they die. Hast thou no friend to set thy mind abroach ? Good sense will stagnate thoughts shut up, want And spoil, like bales unopen'cl to the sun.
:

air,

35

Had

thought been

all,

sweet speech had been denied

!

;
!

criterion too canal speech, thought's Speech, thought's in the mine may come forth gold or dross ; Thought

When

coin'd in words,

we know

its

real

worth

If sterling, store it for thy future use ; 'Twill buy thee benefit, perhaps renown

Thought
*

too, deliver' d,

is

the

more possess'd

Teaching,

we

learn

and giving,
;

we
;

retain

The

births of intellect
ventilates

when dumb,

forgot.

Speech

our

intellectual fire

Speech burnishes our mental magazine whets for use. Brightens for ornament, and
;

What
And And
Tis

numbers, sheath'd in erudition, lie Plunged to the hilts in venerable tomes,

rusted
;

who might have

borne an edge,
!

if born to speech play'd a sprightly beam, If born blest heirs to half their mother's tongue

Of And

like th' alternate push thought's exchange, which, waves conflicting, breaks the learned scum,

defecates the student's standing pool.

is

In contemplation
'Tis poor as
:

his

proud resource

unsustain'd proud by converse in runs wild Rude thought contemplation's field it to the bit breaks the Converse, menage,

Of due

restraint

and emulation's spur

rivals

Gives graceful energy, by

awed:

Tis converse qualifies for solitude,

As

exercise for salutary rest

By

that untutor'd, contemplation raves

And

nature's fool,

by wisdom's

is

outdone.

36

Wisdom, though

richer than Peruvian mines,

she but the means of happiness That unobtain'd, than folly more a fool ;
is

And What

sweeter than the sweet ambrosial hive,

?

melancholy

fool,

without her

bells.

means of wisdom, richly gives The precious end, which makes our wisdom wise.
Friendship, the

Nature,

in zeal for

human

amity,
:

Denies, or damps an undivided joy Joy is an import -joy is an exchange

Joy flies monopolists it calls for two Rich fruit heaven-planted never pluck'd by one. Needful auxiliars are our friends, to give
; :
!

To

social

man

true relish of himself.

in

Full on ourselves descending

Pleasure's bright

line,
:

beam

is

feeble in delight
;

Delight intense

is

taken by rebound
fire

Reverberated pleasures
Celestial happiness,

the breast.

whene'er she stoops

To visit earth, one shrine the goddess finds, And one alone, to make her sweet amends
For
absent heaven
the

bosom of

a friend

Where
Each

heart meets heart, reciprocally soft, other's pillow to repose divine.

Beware
True
I

the counterfeit: in passion's flame

;

Hearts melt

but melt like

ice,

soon harder froze

:

love strikes root in reason, passion's foe Virtue alone entenders us for life

wrong her much

entenders us for ever

Of

fairest fruits, the fruit friendship's

most

fair

Is virtue kindling at a rival

fire,

And, emulously rapid

in

her race.
!

the soft enmity endearing strife This carries friendship to her noon-tide
!

point,

And gives the rivet of eternity. From friendship, which outlives my

former themes,
!

Glorious surviver of old time, and death

From

friendship thus, that flower of heavenly seed,

The wise

extract earth's most hyblean bliss,

Superior wisdom crown'd with smiling joy. But for whom blossoms this elysian flower Abroad they find, who cherish it at home. LORENZO pardon what my love extorts,
!

ffl

An

honest love, and not afraid to frown.

follies fasten

Though choice of None clings more

Caught by

on the great,

obstinate than fancy fond

is

That sacred friendship

their

easy prey

the wafture of a golden lure,

Or fascination of a high-born smile. Their smiles, the great, and the coquet throw out
For
other hearts, tenacious of their

IT

own

And we

no

less of ours,
!

when such

the bait.
!

Ye fortune's cofferers ye powers of wealth You do your rent-rolls most felonious wrong,
By
As
*

Can gold

taking our attachment to yourselves gain friendship ? impudence of hope well mere man an angel might beget
:

^'.

Love, and love only,

!

is
;

the loan for love.

LORENZO

nor hope to find pride repress mt what has found a friend in thee.

38
All like the purchase

And
I

this

makes

few the price pay friends such miracles below.

will

What
shew

if, since daring on so nice a theme, thee friendship delicate as dear,

Of

tender violations apt to die

will

?
:

Reserve

wound
all

it,

and distrust destroy

:

friend things with thy on thick not friends since But every bough, grow

Deliberate on

Nor

every friend unrotten

at the core,

First on thy friend deliberate with thyself; Pause, ponder, silt not eager in the choice,
;

Nor jealous of the chosen, fixing fix Judge before friendship, then confide
Well
for thy friend
;

till

death:
;

but nobler far for thce

for earth's highest prixe

How

gallant
is is

A
"

friend

danger worth all hazard

we

can run

Poor

the friendless master of a world

in

"

world

purchase

lor a friend

is

gain."
!

So sung

he,

angels hear that angel sing

their joy Angels from friendship gather half So sung Piiir.Asnr.n, as his friend went round In the rich ichor, in the generous blood
;

Of

brow

He
His

Bacchus, purple god of joyous wit, solute, and ever-laughing eye drank long health, and virtue to his friend
:

friend,

who

warin'd him more,

life
;

who more

inspired.

Friendship's the wine of

Not such was

his,

is

but friendship new, neither strong nor pure.

for the bright complexion, cordial

warmth,

And

elevating spirit of a friend,

For twenty summers ripening by my side ; All feculence of falsehood long thrown down All social virtues rising in Ins soul

As

rise crystal clear, and smiling as they

Here
Rich

nectar flows
to the taste,

it

sparkles

in

our

.sight

and genuine from the heart on earth how rare bliss lor gods High-flavour'd On earth how lost PIIILANDKK us no more.
.

Think'st thou the theme intoxicates

my

^^ng

And
I

I too

loved

warm ? him much

too
;

but

warm now I

I cannot be

love him more.

Like birds whose beauties languish, half conceal' d, Till, mounted ori the wing, their glossy plumes

Expanded

shine with azure, green

and gold

How
His

blessings brighten as they take their flight

flight

PHILANDER took
1

his

upward

flight,

If ever souJ ascended

had he dropt,

That eagle genius

had he
!

let fall

One

feather as he flew

I then
:

had wrote
;

What

friends might flatter

;

Rivals scarce damn

prudent foes forbear and Zoilus reprieve

:
:

Yet what

can,

must

it

were prolane
the skies,

To

quench a glory lighted

cast in

at

And

shadows

his illustrious rlo.sc.

Strange! the theme most affecting, must sublime, Momentous most to man, should sleep unsung!

And yet

it

Painim or

Christian,

sleeps by genius unawakcd tu the blush of wit.

!

Man's highest triumph

man's profbundest
is

'

fall

The

death-bed of the

just

yet undrawn

4O

By
*

mortal hand

it

merits a divine

Angels should paint it, angels ever there There on a post of honour, and of joy.

Dare

presume then
;

but PHILANDER bids,

:

And glory tempts, and inclination calls Yet am I struck as struck the soul beneath
Aerial groves' impenetrable gloom
;

gazing by pale lamps on high-born dust In vaults ; thin courts of poor unflatter'd kings Or al the midnight altar's hallo\v'c flame
:

Or Or

in

some might;

ruin's

solemn shade

It

is

religion to proceed

pause

And
Is
it

enter, awed, the temple of

his

my

theme
:

death-bed

no

it is

his shrine

Behold him,
Is privileged

there, just rising to a god.

The chamber, where

beyond
life,
!

the

good man meets

his fate,

the

common walk
draw near with awe,

Of

virtuous

quite in the verge of heaven.

if not,

Fly, ye profane

Receive the blessing, and adore the chance That threw in this Bethesda your disease;
If unrestored by this, despairv your cure For here resistless demonstration dwells ;
:

death-bed

's

a detecter of the heart

Here

tired dissimulation

drops her mask.

!

Through life's grimace that mistress ol the scene Here real and apparent are tf" same You see the man you see his hold on heaven
; ;

If sound his virtue, as PHILANDER'S sound.

Heaven waits

not the last

moment

owns her

friends

41

On
To

this side

death

and points them out to men

!

A lecture silent,
Whatever

but of sovereign power

;

vice, confusion

and to virtue, peace. the boastful hero plays, farce

in

Virtue alone has majesty

death

And
" "
"

greater

still,

the more

PHILANDER! he severely

the tyrant frowns frown'd on thee:

!

No

A A " A restless
"

fate warning given unceremonious meridian sudden rush from life's joys wrench from all we love from all we are
!

bed of pain
!

a plunge opaque
!

Beyond conjecture

feeble nature's dread

Strong reason's shudder at a just opening grave sun extinguish'd " And oh the last what ? can words express last
!

"

the dark unknown

!

"
"

Thought reach

the last, last

silence of a friend

'"

Where

are those horrors, that amazement where,

This hideous group of ills, which singly shock ? Demand from man I thought him man till now. Through nature's wreck, through vanquish'd agonies

Like the

stars struggling through this midnight

!

gloom,
!

What
No,

what more than human peace gleams of joy Where, the frail mortal ? the poor abject worm ?
not in death, the mortal to be found.
is

His conduct

a legacy for

all,

Richer than Mammon's

for his single heir:

;

His comforters he comforts

great

in ruin,

With

unreluctant grandeur gives, not yields His soul sublime ; and closes with his fate.

42

How
Whence
His His
final

our hearts burnt within us

this

at

the scene

brave bound o'er limits

fix'd to

man

GOD

sustains

him

in his final
his,

hour

hour brings glory to

GOD

Man's glory

HEAVEN
;

vouchsafes to

call

her own.
!

We

gaze

we weep
strikes

Ama/ement

mix'd tears of grief and joy devotion bursts to flame ;

infidels believe.

Christians adore

and

As some
While
rising

tall

tower, or lofty mountain's

its

brow

Detains the sun, illustrious from

height

vapours and descending shades With damps and darkness drown the spacious vale Undamp'd by doubt, undarken'd by despair

PHILANDER,

thus, augustly rears his

head

At

that black hour,

which general horror sheds

:

On

throng peace, and heavenly hope, and humble joy Divinely beam on his exalted soul,

the

low

level of the inglorious

Sweet

Destruction

gild,

and crown him for ihe skies.

lustre bright.

With incommunicable

BINDING SECT.

MAY

8 1982

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE

CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF

TORONTO LIBRARY

NC

1115 '
B8

Butterworth, Adeline M. William Blake, mystic

1911