To the Hall of Arimanes, for to-night

Is our great festival-'tis strange they come not.

A Voice without, singing.

The Captive Usurper,

Hurl'd down from the throne,
Lay buried in torpor,

Forgotten and lone;

I broke through his slumbers,
I shiver'd his chain,

I leagued him with numbers

He's Tyrant again!

With the blood of a million he'll answer my care, With a nation's destruction—his flight and despair.

Second Voice, without.

The ship sail'd on, the ship sail'd fast,
But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast;
There is not a plank of the hull or the deck,

And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his wreck;
Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair,
And he was a subject well worthy my care;
A traitor on land, and a pirate at sea-

But I saved him to wreak further havoc for me!

FIRST DESTINY, answering.

The city lies sleeping;

The morn, to deplore it,
May dawn on it weeping:
Sullenly, slowly,

The black plague flew o'er it

Thousands lie lowly;

Tens of thousands shall perish-
The living shall fly from
The sick they should cherish;
But nothing can vanquish
The touch that they die from.
Sorrow and anguish,
And evil and dread,
Envelope a nation—
The blest are the dead,
Who see not the sight

Of their own desolation-
This work of a night-

This wreck of a realin-this deed of my doing-
For ages I've done, and shall still be renewing!

Enter the SECOND and THIRD DESTINIES.

The Three.

Our hands contain the hearts of men,
Our footsteps are their graves;

We only give to take again

The spirits of our slaves!

First Des. Welcome!-Where's Nemesis?

Second Des.

At some great work;

But what I know not, for my hands were full.

Third Des. Behold she cometh.

First Des.

Enter NEMESIS.

Say, where hast thou been

My sisters and thyself are slow to-night.

Nem. I was detain'd repairing shatter'd thrones,

Marrying fools, restoring dynasties,
Avenging men upon their enemies,
And making them repent their own revenge;
Goading the wise to madness; from the dull
Shaping out oracles to rule the world
Afresh, for they were waxing out of date,
And mortals dared to ponder for themselves,
To weigh kings in the balance, and to speak
Of freedom, the forbidden fruit.-Away!

We have outstaid the hour-mount we our clouds!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The Hall of Arimanes-Arimanes on his Throne, a Globe of Fire, surrounded by the Spirits.

Hymn of the SPIRITS.

Hail to our Master!-Prince of Earth and Air!
Who walks the clouds and waters-in his hand
The sceptre of the elements, which tear

Themselves to chaos at his high command!
He breatheth-and a tempest shakes the sea;
He speaketh-and the clouds reply in thunder;
He gazeth-from his glance the sunbeams flee;
He moveth-earthquakes rend the world asunder.
Beneath his footsteps the volcanos rise;

His shadow is the Pestilence; his path
The comets herald through the crackling skies;
And planets turn to ashes at his wrath.

VOL. III.

D

To him War offers daily sacrifice;

To him Death pays his tribute; Life is his, With all its infinite of agonies

And his the spirit of whatever is!

Enter the DESTINIES and NEMESIS.

First Des. Glory to Arimanes! on the earth
His power increaseth-both my sisters did
His bidding, nor did I neglect my duty!

Second Des. Glory to Arimanes! we who bow
The necks of men, bow down before his throne!
Third Des. Glory to Arimanes! we await
His nod!

Nem. Sovereign of Sovereigns! we are thine,
And all that liveth, more or less, is ours,
And most things wholly so; still to increase
Our power, increasing thine, demands our care,
And we are vigilant-Thy late commands
Have been fulfill'd to the utmost.

A Spirit.

Enter-MANFRED.

What is here?

A mortal!-Thou most rash and fatal wretch,
Bow down and worship!

Second Spirit.

I do know the man

A Magian of great power, and fearful skill!

Third Spirit. Bow down and worship, slave!— What, know'st thou not

Thine and our Sovereign?-Tremble, and obey!

All the Spirits. Prostrate thyself, and thy condemned clay,

d of the Earth! or dread the worst.

Man.

I know it;

And yet ye see I kneel not.

Fourth Spirit.

'Twill be taught thee.

Man. 'Tis taught already;-many a night on the

earth,

On the bare ground, have I bow'd down my face,
And strew'd my head with ashes; I have known
The fulness of humiliation, for

I sunk before my vain despair, and knelt
To my own desolation.

Fifth Spirit.

Dost thou dare

Refuse to Arimanes on his throne

What the whole earth accords, beholding not

The terror of his Glory--Crouch! I say.

Man. Bid him bow down to that which is above him,

The overruling Infinite-the Maker

Who made him not for worship-let him kneel,

And we will kneel together.

The Spirits.

Tear him in pieces!

First Des.

Crush the worm!

Hence! Avaunt!-he's mine.

Prince of the Powers invisible! This man

Is of no common order, as his port

And presence here denote; his sufferings
Have been of an immortal nature, like

Our own; his knowledge and his powers and will,
As far as is compatible with clay,

Which clogs the ethereal essence, have been such
As clay hath seldom borne; his aspirations
Have been beyond the dwellers of the earth,
And they have only taught him what we know—
That knowledge is not happiness, and science