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Tinge thy celestial aspect, and make tame
The beauties of the sunbow which bends o'er thee.
Beautiful Spirit! in thy calm clear brow,
Wherein is glass'd serenity of soul,
Which of itself shows immortality,
I read that thou wilt pardon to a Son
Of Earth, whom the abstruser powers permit
At times to commune with them-if that he
Avail him of his spells-to call thee thus,
And gaze on thee a moment.

WITCH.

Son of Earth!

I know thee, and the powers which give thee
I know thee for a man of many thoughts,
And deeds of good and ill, extreme in both,
Fatal and fated in thy sufferings.

power;

I have expected this-what would'st thou with me?

MANFRED.

To look upon thy beauty-nothing further.
The face of the Earth hath madden'd me, and I
Take refuge in her mysteries, and pierce
To the abodes of those who govern her-
But they can nothing aid me. I have sought
From them what they could not bestow, and now
I search no further.

WITCH.

What could be the quest

Which is not in the power of the most powerful,

The rulers of the invisible?

MANFRED.

A boon;

But why should I repeat it? 'twere in vain.

WITCH.

I know not that; let thy lips utter it.

MANFRED.

Well, though it torture me, 'tis but the same;
My pang shall find a voice. From my youth upwards
My spirit walk'd not with the souls of men,
Nor look'd upon the Earth with human eyes;
The thirst of their ambition was not mine;
The aim of their existence was not mine;

My joys, my griefs, my passions, and my powers,
Made me a stranger; though I wore the form,
I had no sympathy with breathing flesh,
Nor midst the creatures of clay that girded me
Was there but one who--but of her anon.
I said, with men, and with the thoughts of men,
I held but slight communion; but instead,
My joy was in the wilderness, to breathe
The difficult air of the iced mountain's top,
Where the birds dare not build, nor insect's wing
Flit o'er the herbless granite; or to plunge
Into the torrent, and to roll along

On the swift whirl of the new breaking wave
Of river-stream, or ocean, in their flow.
In these my early strength exulted; or
To follow through the night the moving moon,
The stars and their developement; or catch
The dazzling lightnings till my eyes grew dim;
Or to look, list'ning, on the scattered leaves,
While Autumn winds were at their evening song.
These were my pastimes, and to be alone;
For if the beings, of whom I was one,—
Hating to be so,-cross'd me in my path,

I felt myself degraded back to them,
And was all clay again. And then I dived,
In my lone wanderings, to the caves of Death,
Searching its cause in its effect; and drew

From wither'd bones, and skulls, and heap'd up dust,
Conclusions most forbidden. Then I pass'd

The nights of years in sciences untaught,
Save in the old-time; and with time and toil,
And terrible ordeal, and such penance

As in itself hath power upon the air,
And spirits that do compass air and earth,
Space, and the peopled infinite, I made
Mine eyes familiar with eternity,

Such as, before me, did the Magi, and

He who from out their fountain dwellings raised
Eros and Anteros, at Gadara,

As I do thee; and with my knowledge grew
The thirst of knowledge, and the power and joy
Of this most bright intelligence, until--

WITCH.

MANFRED.

Oh! I but thus prolonged my words,
Boasting these idle attributes, because

As I approach the core of my heart's grief-
But to my task. I have not named to thee
Father or mother, mistress, friend, or being,
With whom I wore the chain of human ties;
If I had such, they seem'd not such to me—
Yet there was one--

Proceed.

WITCH.

Spare not thyself-proceed.

MANFRED.

;

She was like me in lineaments-her eyes,
Her hair, her features, all, to the very tone
Even of her voice, they said, were like to mine
But soften'd all, and temper'd into beauty;
She had the same lone thoughts and wanderings,
The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind
To comprehend the universe: nor these
Alone, but with them gentler powers than mine,
Pity, and smiles, and tears-which I had not;
And tenderness-but that I had for her;
Humility-aud that I never had.

Her faults were mine-her virtues were her own
I loved her, and destroy'd her!

WITCH.

With thy hand?

MANFRED.

Not with my hand, but heart-which broke her heart-
It gazed on mine, and withered. I have shed

Blood, but not hers—and yet her blood was shed
I saw-and could not staunch it.

WITCH.

And for this

A being of the race thou dost despise,

The order which thine own would rise above,
Mingling with us and ours, thou dost forego
The gifts of our great knowledge, and shrink'st back
To recreant mortality——Away!

MANFRED.

Daughter of Air! I tell thee, since that hour-
But words are breath-look on me in my sleep,

Or watch my watchings-Come and sit by me!
My solitude is solitude no more,

But peopled with the Furies :-I have gnash'd
My teeth in darkness till returning morn,
Then cursed myself till sunset ;-I have pray'd
For madness as blessing-'tis denied me.

I have affronted death-but in the war

Of elements the waters shrunk from me,
And fatal things pass'd harmless-the cold hand
Of an all-pitiless demon held me back,
Back by a single hair, which would not break.
In phantasy, imagination, all

The affluence of my soul-which one day was
A Croesus in creation-I plunged deep,
But, like an ebbing wave, it dash'd me back
Into the gulf of my unfathom'd thought.
I plunged amidst mankind-Forgetfulness
I sought in all, save where 'tis to be found,
And that I have to learn-my sciences,
My long pursued and super-human art,
Is mortal here I dwell in my despair—
And live-and live for ever.

That I can aid thee.

WITCH.

It may be

MANFRED.

To do this thy power

Must wake the dead, or lay me low with them.

Do so in any shape-in any hour

With any torture-so it be the last.

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