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The Shade of Byron.

CANTO THE SIXTH.

"He

With the proud front and piercing glance,

Who seem'd, when viewing Heaven's expanse,

As though his far sent eye could see

On, on, into th' immensity

Behind the veils of that blue sky,]

Where Alla's grandest secrets lie.'

Moore's "Loves of the Angels."

"Spirit! who hast div'd so deep,

Spirit who hast soar'd so high;

Thou the fearless, and the free,

Accept the boon thy trust hath earn'd,

Ascend the heav'ns with me."

"Queen Mab." Sec. 1.

I.

DEAR MUSE! Thou'st been too negligent of me.

What dost thou say ?-I've "been a truant child !" Something of both it

very

like may

may be;

Why then, didst not reclaim me, if too wild ?Nurse me, and bring me flowers that th' honey-bee Had not yet woo'd, nor of their sweets beguil'd. Why didst thou let that jade, Miss Fortune, rend Thy posies from the hand thou would'st befriend?

II.

Thou knowest I have slipshod gone by thee
Unheeded, through a dreary lapse of time,

Till manhood's strength drew nigh, and set me free
To wander 'midst the wonders of each clime,

Where'er th' enamour'd fancy lov'd to be

At liberty, to gaze on nature's prime,
Whose beauteous self, unveiled, can so well
Enchant the rapt sense, with her pow'rful spell!

III.

But come-make now amends for past ill treatment; Lead me "where angels" might not "fear to tread," Far from dark superstition's paths aberrant,

Where thorn and thistle make poor fancy bleed. Her weary feet require a kind abluent,

From the bemiring cross-roads of misdeed. Conduct then, to some purer source of pleasure, Some intellectual mine of unknown treasure!

IV.

That which thou dost contemplate;-yet, sweet Muse, Ere we depart on that projected tour,

We fain would ask one little boon of thee

A brief excursion-a more humble flight

Preparatory-just to try our wing,

And show, what yet remains on this our world,
Unknown to us-a vast incognito;

Which, our right worthy savants wish to know,
But know not how to get the knowledge of.
Thy prescience may direct us, if thou wilt;
And we, thy humble votaries, will thank
Thy kind concession to our great desire.

V.

With a most gracious nod, the Muse consents
To wing her way with us—a glorious height!
And view the region where men seek to pass
The icy barriers, that ne'er yet unseal'd
A portal to that wild mysterious realm,
Where human foot ne'er trod; unless it be

That the position of the world hath chang'd,
And the cold north was once a tropic clime,
(As fossil records seem to say it was),
Entombing trees and animals, that now
Live but on Ind' or Afric's torrid zone.
What mind shall read this history aright,
Where all is hid so deeply in the past,
That we may strive in vain to fathom it ?

VI.

Leave then the past, and take the present view
O'er all this northern world; disclose the way
To reach the long-desir'd point, whose star
Dwells ever in the zenith. Men dispute,
Which of their crude proposals may be best ?-
Whether the open sea, from Spitzbergen-
Lapland's North-cape-Novaia Zemlia's coast;
Or from the far North-west, through icy bays,
And the more tedious sledge, o'er snowy tracts,
By treach'rous ravines cleft; danger and toil
Combining to defeat the arduous task!

VII.

The Muse doth prophecy—“ None, singly, may
Solve the dark problem, until all combine,

And from each point of 'vantage, 'bide their time,'

Under the shelter of Paxtonian manse,

Well stor❜d with food and fuel-pow'rful steam,

And all appliances that may preserve

The life, and health, of patient watchers there,
Furnish'd with ev'ry means of pow'r, to seize
The first, fair, golden opportunity.”

VIII.

So, this yet unknown region may be won,
Which, from our present spirit-vision, shows

A busy scene-well peopled-teeming still
With active life-innumerable tribes-
White bear and fox, walrus and seal abound-
Sea-fowl, and swarming fish, find sustenance
In this imagin'd desert, where, but one
Long day and night, fill up the barren year.

IX.

But not so barren, bitter cold, nor dark,
This clime may be, as by the million deem'd,
When nearer to the Pole,-for, see-due north,
Within a point, from Bergen's rocky spires,1
The land appears, eastward of Greenland's ice,
A gently sloping shore, bounding the shallows,
Where shoals of smaller fish do congregate,
Securely from the ravenous, and large.

X.

Further inland the swelling hills arise,
Cover'd with verdure, shrubs, and hardy pines,
In whose dark coverts rein-deer find a home,
Browsing, most quietly, their mossy food;
(For man hath not yet come to thin their tribes,)
E'en flowers are profuse, of sev'ral kinds,
Such as, with us, are the first-born of spring-
The modest snowdrop, crocus, and primrose;
With many more indigenous, unknown
Thrive here, and make the polar summer gay.

XI.

The Muse, with penetrating, "far-sent eye,”
Transcends the soaring eagle's piercing glance,

And shows an easy road to all this realm

Of northern wonders, that, in future time,

1 "Spitzbergen" (pointed mountains); so named from the numerous peaks observed on the coast.

Will be accessible to Britain's rule.

Was not the central Afric long describ'd
As uninhabitable, burning sand?
Till modern enterprise inspir'd a mind
Unprejudic'd, and with courageous zeal,
To penetrate the dreadful, unknown tract;
Dreadful, because unknown, but when explor'd,
The "desert" was an elevated land,1
Well-water'd, populous, and beautiful !
Comparatively temperate, and stor❜d
With cattle and rich fruit abundantly.

XII.

As none reflected that a simple fact,
Well known t' exist within the tropic lines,
Might render Afric's scorching clime more cool;
May it not be, that, in the frozen north,
Another cause might temper sea and land
For human life, e'en to the last degree?

XIII.

Our volant Muse shows us a wide extent
Of country, water'd by the winding streams
That have their source in many boiling founts;2
Some, rivalling the Iceland Geysers flow,
Sending forth tepid brooklets through the land,
And hot springs from the bottom of the sea.

1 The elevated eastern and western "ridges" of Africa south of the Equator are 5000 feet above the sea. The great central plateau between them is elevated from 2500 to 4500 feet. See "Dr. Livingstone's Researches in South Africa," chap. xviii. p. 569.

2 It scarcely need be noted that warm and hot springs occur in many parts of the world; in England those of Bath and Buxton are examples. At the former place, the temperature of the hot bath is 117° of Fahrt. The author once had the curiosity to plunge into it, and was nearly suffocated with steam. got out he fancied his limbs were half cooked!

When he