Thus bless'd with children, friend, and wife And heaven beheld its deepening stain; Eternal justice I forgot, And mercy sought not to obtain. Come near,-I'll softly speak the rest!- And his who so much truth avow'd, I call'd on vengeance; at the word The blood of his false heart made wet; She pined, she died, she loathed to live ;I saw her dying-see her yet: Fair fallen thing! my rage forgive! Those cherubs still, my life to bless, Were left; could I my fears remove, And would at last have won my will, In youth! health! joy! in beauty's pride! And I was cursed-as I am now- Storms!-not that clouds embattled make, They try us all, if false or true; PHYSICIAN. Peace, peace, my friend; these subjects fly; Collect thy thoughts-go calmly on. PATIENT. And shall I then the fact deny? I was, thou know'st,-I was begone, Like him who fill'd the eastern throne, To whom the watcher cried aloud!* That royal wretch of Babylon, Prophecy of Daniel, chap. iv. 22. And first, before they sent me forth, Through this unpitying world to run, They robb'd Sir Eustace of his worth, Lands, manors, lordships, every one; So was that gracious man undone, Was spurn'd as vile, was scorn'd as poor, Whom every former friend would shun, And menials drove from every door. Then those ill-favour'd Ones, whom none And, with resistless terror, drew. Upon that boundless plain, below, The setting sun's last rays were shed, And gave a mild and sober glow, Where all were still, asleep, or dead; Vast ruins in the midst were spread, Pillars and pediments sublime, Where the gray moss had form'd a bed, And clothed the crumbling spoils of time. There was I fix'd, I know not how, Condemn'd for untold years to stay: The setting sun's sad rays were seen. We ran through bleak and frozen land; They placed me where these streamers play, * Vide Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. So swift, so pure, so cold, so bright, They pierced my frame with icy wounds, And all that half year's polar night, Those dancing streamers wrapp'd me round. Slowly that darkness pass'd away, When down upon the earth I fell,- Nor feet but mine were wanderers there. Their watchmen stare and stand aghast, As on we hurry through the dark; The watch-light blinks as we go past, The watch-dog shrinks and fears to bark; The watch-tower's bell sounds shrill; and, hark! The free wind blows-we've left the townA wide sepulchral ground I mark, And on a tombstone place me down. What monuments of mighty dead! What tombs of various kinds are found! And stones erect their shadows shed On humble graves, with wickers bound; Some risen fresh above the ground, Some level with the native clay, What sleeping millions wait the sound, "Arise, ye dead, and come away!" Alas! they stay not for that call; Spare me this wo! ye demons, spare!— They come the shrouded shadows all,"Tis more than mortal brain can bear; Rustling they rise, they sternly glare At man upheld by vital breath; Who, led by wicked fiends, should dare To join the shadowy troops of death! Yes, I have felt all man can feel, Till he shall pay his nature's debt; Ills that no hope has strength to heal, No mind the comfort to forget: Whatever cares the heart can fret, The spirits wear, the temper gall, Wo, want, dread, anguish, all beset My sinful soul!-together all! Those fiends upon a shaking fen Fix'd me, in dark tempestuous night; There never trod the foot of men, There flock'd the fowl in wintery flight; There danced the moor's deceitful light Above the pool where sedges grow; And when the morning sun shone bright, It shone upon a field of snow. They hung me on a bough so small, The rook could build her nest no higher; They fix'd me on the trembling ball That crowns the steeple's quivering spire; They set me where the seas retire, But drown with their returning tide; And made me flee the mountain's fire, When rolling its burning side. I've hung upon the ridgy steep Of cliffs, and held the rambling brier; I've plunged below the billowy deep, Where air was sent me to respire ; I've been where hungry wolves retire; And (to complete my woes) I've ran Where bedlam's crazy crew conspire Against the life of reasoning man. I've furl'd in storms the flapping sail, And pick'd the dunghill's spoil for bread; And done what they would fear to do. On sand, where ebbs and flows the flood, I sobb'd convulsed, then cast mine eye, And then, my dreams were such as naught Doom'd to dismay, disgrace, despair. Harmless I was; yet hunted down For treasons, to my soul unfit; I've been pursued through many a town, For crimes that petty knaves commit; I've been adjudged t' have lost my wit, Because I preach'd so loud and well; And thrown into the dungeon's pit, For trampling on the pit of hell. Such were the evils, man of sin, That pride, wrong, rage, despair, can make But pity will the vilest seek, If punish'd guilt will not repine,I heard a heavenly Teacher speak, And felt the Sun of mercy shine; I hail'd the light! the birth divine! And then was seal'd among the few; Those angry fiends beheld the sign, And from me in an instant flew. Come, hear how thus the charmers cry To wandering sheep, the strays of sin, While some the wicket-gate pass by, And some will knock and enter in : hus the sainted preacher cries:* n, burden'd with thy sin, nd weep, and watch and wait. =-He knows the sinner's cry: -He loves the mourner's tears: a!-for saving grace is nigh: -till heavenly light appears. it is the Bridegroom's voice; e pilgrim to thy rest; thin the gate rejoice, i seal'd, and bought and bless'd! -from all the lures of vice, -by signs the chosen know, t-by love and life the price, d-the mighty debt to owe. Pilgrim! what for thee y guarded breast shall flee, ugh my day of grace was come, ough elect, I feel it hard se what I possess'd before, om all my wealth debarr'd,Drave Sir Eustace is no more: I wax and passing poor, rugged men my conduct view; hide my wish, they bar my door, ard-I weep-you see I do. ou, my friends, no longer stay? quickly all my pleasures end; remember, when I pray, ind physician and his friend : ose sad hours, you deign to spend me, I shall requite them all; tace for his friends shall send, thank their love at Greyling Hall been suggested to me, that this change from ss to repose, in the mind of Sir Eustace, is a methodistic call; and it is admitted to be ober and rational conversion could not have while the disorder of the brain continued: yet which follow, in a different measure, are not o make any religious persuasion annear ridi And when his earthly visions droop, His views of heavenly kind remain:But whence that meek and humbled strain, That spirit wounded, lost, resign'd? Would not so proud a soul disdain The madness of the poorest mind? PHYSICIAN. No! for the more he swell'd with pride, And bound him to his fiends a slave. Though the wild thoughts had touch'd his brain Then was he free: so, forth he ran, To soothe or threat, alike were vain : He spake of fiends, look'd wild and wan; Year after year, the hurried man Obey'd those fiends from place to place; Till his religious change began To form a frenzied child of grace. VAGRANT. My crime-This sickening child to feed, I seized the food, your witness saw; I knew your laws forbade the deed, But yielded to a stronger law. Know'st thou, to Nature's great command All human laws are frail and weak? Nay! frown not-stay his eager hand, And hear me, or my heart will break. In this, th' adopted babe I hold With anxious fondness to my breast, My heart's sole comfort I behold, More dear than life, when life was bless'd; I saw her pining, fainting, cold, I begg'd-but vain was my request. I saw the tempting food, and seized- But I have griefs of other kind, Troubles and sorrows more severe; Give me to ease my tortured mind, Lend to my woes a patient ear; And let me if I may not find A friend to help-find one to hear. Yet nameless let me plead-my name Would only wake the cry of scorn; A child of sin, conceived in shame, Brought forth in wo, to misery born. My mother dead, my father lost, I wander'd with a vagrant crew; A common care, a common cost, Their sorrows and their sins I knew; With them, by want on error forced, Like them, I base and guilty grew. Few are my years, not so my crimes; And I am old in shame and care. Taught to believe the world a place Where every stranger was a foe, Or live as virtue dictates? No! So through the land I wandering went, A sturdy youth he was and tall, His looks would all his soul declare; His piercing eyes were deep and small, And strongly curl'd his raven hair. Yes, Aaron had each manly charm, All in the May of youthful pride, He scarcely fear'd his father's arm, And every other arm defied. Oft, when they grew in anger warm, His father was our party's chief, And dark and dreadful was his look; His presence fill'd my heart with grief, Although to me he kindly spoke. With Aaron I delighted went, His favour was my bliss and pride; In growing hope our days we spent, Love growing charms in either spied, It saw them, all which Nature lent, It lent them, all which she denied. Could I the father's kindness prize, Or grateful looks on him bestow, Whom I beheld in wrath arise, When Aaron sunk beneath his blow? He drove him down with wicked hand, It was a dreadful sight to see; Then vex'd him, till he left the land And told his cruel love to me ;— The clan were all at his command, Whatever his command might be. The night was dark, the lanes were deep, And one by one they took their way; He bade me lay me down and sleep, I only wept and wish'd for day Accursed be the love he bore, Accursed was the force he used, So let him of his God implore For mercy, and be so refused! You frown again,-to show my wrong, Can I in gentle language speak? My woes are deep, my words are strong,And hear me, or my heart will break. MAGISTRATE. I hear thy words, I feel thy pain: The story of thy life disclose. For, though seduced and led astray, PART II. Quondam ridentes oculi, nunc fonte perenni MAGISTRATE. COME, now again thy woes impart, Tell all thy sorrows, all thy sin; We cannot heal the throbbing heart Till we discern the wounds within. Compunction weeps our guilt away, The sinner's safety is his pain; Such pangs for our offences pay, And these severer griefs are gain. VAGRANT. The son came back-he found us wed, Then dreadful was the oath he swore;His way through Blackburn Forest led,His father we beheld no more. Of all our daring clan not one Would on the doubtful subject dwell; For all esteem'd the injured son, And fear'd the tale which he could tell. But I had mightier cause for fear, For slow and mournful round my bed I saw a dreadful form appear, It came when I and Aaron wed. (Yes! we were wed, I know my crime,— For he not yet had felt the pain That rankles in a wounded breast; He waked to sin, then slept again, Forsook his God, yet took his rest.— But I was forced to feign delight, And joy in mirth and music sought,— When waking on my heaving breast I seem'd-no words can utter how! I trembled at the dismal sounds, But vainly strove a word to say; I brought a lovely daughter forth, I then was young-my husband sold The slave, but not the friend of vice:- The wretch who lent me thus for gain, *The state of mind here described will account for a vision of this nature, without having recourse to any su. pernatural appearance |