570

From a maid in the pride of her purity;
And the Power on high, that can shield the good
Thus from the tyrant of the wood,
Hath extended its mercy to guard me as well
From the hands of the leaguering Infidel.
I come—and if I come in vain,
Never, oh never, we meet again!
Thou hast done a fearful deed
In falling away from thy fathers' creed :
But dash that turban to earth, and sign
The sign of the cross, and for ever be mine;
Wring the black drop from thy heart,
And to-morrow unites us no more to part.”

580

“And where should our bridal couch be spread?
In the midst of the dying and the dead?
For to-morrow we give to the slaughter and flame
The sons and the shrines of the Christian name.
None, save thou and thine, I've sworn,
Shall be left upon the morn:
But thee will I bear to a lovely spot,
Where our hands shall be joined, and our sorrow forgot.
There thou yet shalt be my bride,
When once again I've quelled the pride

590
Of Venice; and her hated race
Have felt the arm they would debase
Scourge, with a whip of scorpions, those
Whom Vice and Envy made my foes."

Upon his hand she laid her own-
Light was the touch, but it thrilled to the bone,

Before a virgin, fair and good,
Hath pacified his savage mood."

Marmion, Canto II. stanza vii, line 3, seg. (See, too, for Swift's Dream, Tatler (vol. v. No. 5] for Jan. 23-Jan. 27, 1710.)]

And shot a chillness to his heart,"
Which fixed him beyond the power to start.
Though slight was that grasp so mortal cold,
He could not loose him from its hold;

600
But never did clasp of one so dear
Strike on the pulse with such feeling of fear,
As those thin fingers, long and white,
Froze through his blood by their touch that night.
The feverish glow of his brow was gone,
And his heart sank so still that it felt like stone,
As he looked on the face, and beheld its hue,
So deeply changed from what he knew :
Fair but faint-without the ray
Of mind, that made each feature play

610
Like sparkling waves on a sunny day;
And her motionless lips lay still as death,
And her words came forth without her breath,
And there rose not a heave o'er her bosom's swell, a
And there seemed not a pulse in her veins to dwell.
Though her eye shone out, yet the lids were fixed,?
And the glance that it gave was wild and unmixed
With aught of change, as the eyes may seem
Of the restless who walk in a troubled dream;
Like the figures on arras, that gloomily glare, 620

i. She laid her fingers on his hand,

Ils coldness thrilled through every bone.-(MS. G. erasal.] ii. As he looked on her face :-{MS. G.)

iii. - on her bosom's swell.-[MS. G. erased. Copy.] 1. [Compare Shakespeare, Macbeth, act v. sc. I, line 30

“You see, her eyes are open,

Aye, but their sense is shut.” Compare, too, Christabel, Conclusion to Part the First (lines 292, 293) -

“With open eyes (ah, woe is me !)

Asleep, and dreaming fearfully.")

Stirred by the breath of the wintry air
So seen by the dying lamp's fitful light,".
Lifeless, but life-like, and awful to sight;
As they seem, through the dimness, about to come down
From the shadowy wall where their images frown;
Fearfully flitting to and fro,
As the gusts on the tapestry come and go.'

630

“If not for love of me be given
Thus much, then, for the love of Heaven,-
Again I say—that turban tear
From off thy faithless brow, and swear
Thine injured country's sons to spare,
Or thou art lost; and never shalt see-
Not earth-that's past—but Heaven or me.
If this thou dost accord, albeit
A heavy doom 'tis thine to meet,
That doom shall half absolve thy sin,
And Mercy's gate may receive thee within : ?
But pause one moment more, and take
The curse of Him thou didst forsake;
And look once more to Heaven, and see

640

i. Like a picture, that magic had charmed from its frame,

Lifeless but life-like, and ever the same.
or, Like a picture come forth from its canvas and frame. —

[MS. G. erased.] ii. And seen -:-(MS. G.)

its fleecy mail.-(MS. G. erased.] 1. (In the summer of 1803, Byron, then turned fifteen, though offered a bed at Annesley, used at first to return every night to Newstead ; alleging that he was afraid of the family pictures of the Chaworths, which he fancied “had taken a grudge to him on account of the duel, and would come down from their frames to haunt him.” Moore thinks this passage may have been suggested by the recollection (Life, p. 27). Compare Lara, Canto I. stanza xi. line 1, seq. (vide ante, p. 331, note 1).] 2. [Compare Southey's Roderick, Canto XXI. (ed. 1838, ix. 195)

“... and till the grave Open, the gate of mercy is not closed."]

1

Its love for ever shut from thee.
There is a light cloud by the moon
'Tis passing, and will pass full soon-
If, by the time its vapoury sail
Hath ceased her shaded orb to veil,
Thy heart within thee is not changed,
Then God and man are both avenged;
Dark will thy doom be, darker still
Thine immortality of ill."

650

Alp looked to heaven, and saw on high
The sign she spake of in the sky;

1. I have been told that the idea expressed in this and the five following lines has been admired by those whose approbation is valuable. I am glad of it; but it is not original-at least not mine ; it may be found much better expressed in pages 182-3-4 of the English version of “Vathek" (i forget the precise page of the French), a work to which I have before referred ; and never recur to, or read, without a renewal of gratification.- [The following is the passage : " Deluded prince !' said the Genius, addressing the Caliph 'This moment is the last, of grace, allowed thee: .. give back Nouronihar to her father, who still retains a few sparks of life: destroy thy tower, with all its abominations : drive Carathis from thy councils : be just to thy subjects: respect the ministers of the Prophet : compensate for thy impieties by an exemplary life; and, instead of squandering thy days in voluptuous indulgence, lament thy crimes on the sepulchres of thy ancestors. Thou be. holdest the clouds that obscure the sun : at the instant he recovers his splendour, if thy heart be not changed, the time of mercy assigned thee will be past for ever.''

"Vathek, depressed with fear, was on the point of prostrating himself at the feet of the shepherd ... but, his pride prevailing ... he said, “Whoever thou art, withhold thy useless admonitions. If what I have done be so criminal . . . there remains not for me a moment of grace. I have traversed a sea of blood to acquire a power which will make thy equals tremble ; deem not that I shall retire when in view of the port; or that I will relinquish her who is dearer to me than either my life or thy mercy. Let the sun appear ! let him illumine my career ! it matters not where it may end !' On uttering these words . Vathek . . . commanded that his horses should be forced back to the road.

“There was no difficulty in obeying these orders; for the attraction had ceased; the sun shone forth in all his glory, and the shepherd vanished with a lamentable scream (ed. 1786, pp. 183-185). ]

But his heart was swollen, and turned aside,
By deep interminable pride.
This first false passion of his breast
Rolled like a torrent o'er the rest.
He sue for mercy! He dismayed
By wild words of a timid maid !
He, wronged by Venice, vow to save
Her sons, devoted to the grave!
No-though that cloud were thunder's worst,
And charged to crush him-let it burst!

660

He looked upon it earnestly,
Without an accent of reply;
He watched it passing; it is flown:
Full on his eye the clear moon shone,
And thus he spake-"Whate'er my fate,
I am no changeling—'tis too late :
The reed in storms may bow and quiver,
Then rise again; the tree must shiver.
What Venice made me, I must be,
Her foe in all, save love to thee:
But thou art safe: oh, fly with me!”
He turned, but she is gone!
Nothing is there but the column stone.
Hath she sunk in the earth, or melted in air?
He saw not—he knew not-but nothing is there.

670

XXII.

The night is past, and shines the sun
As if that morn were a jocund one."
Lightly and brightly breaks away

680

I. By rooted and unhallowed pride.-[MS. G. erased.)

1. (Leave out this couplet.-GIFFORD.)