English

CANTO FIFTH.

Launch on the gulf, my little Greenland bark!
Bear me through scenes unutterably dark;
Scenes with the mystery of Nature seal'd,
Nor till the day of doom to be reveal'd.
What though the spirits of the arctic gales
Freeze round thy prow, or fight against thy sails,
Safe as Arion, whom the dolphin bore,
Enamour'd of his music, to the shore,
On thee adventuring o'er an unknown main,
I raise to warring elements a strain
Of kindred harmony: — O, lend your breath,

Here while in peace the weary Pilgrims rest,
Turn we our voyage from the new-found west,
Sail up the current of departed time,
And seek along its banks that vanish'd clime,
By ancient scalds in Runic verse renown'd,
Now like old Babylon no longer found.
— " Oft was I weary when I toil'd at thee; "
This, on an oar abandon'd to the sea,
Some hand had graven: — From what founder'd boat
It fell; — how long on ocean's waves afloat;
— Who mark'd it with that melancholy line;
No record tells: — Greenland! such fate was thine;

CANTO THIRD.

How speed the faithful witnesses, who bore
The Bible and its hopes to Greenland's shore?
— Like Noah's ark, alone upon the wave
(Of one lost world the' immeasurable grave),
Yonder the ship, a solitary speck,
Comes bounding from the horizon; while on deck
Again imagination rests her wing,
And smooths her pinions, while the Pilgrims sing
Their vesper oraisons. — The Sun retires,
Not as he wont, with clear and golden fires;
Bewilder'd in a labyrinth of haze,

CANTO SECOND.

What are thine hopes, Humanity! — thy fears?
Poor voyager, upon this flood of years,
Whose tide, unturning, hurries to the sea
Of dark unsearchable eternity,
The fragile skiffs, in which thy children sail
A day, an hour, a moment, with the gale,
Then vanish; — gone like eagles on the wind,
Or fish in waves, that yield and close behind?
Thine Hopes, — lost anchors buried in the deep,
That rust, through storm and calm, in iron sleep;
Whose cables, loose aloft and fix'd below,

CANTO FIRST.

The moon is watching in the sky; the stars
Are swiftly wheeling on their golden cars;
Ocean, outstretcht with infinite expanse,
Serenely slumbers in a glorious trance;
The tide o'er which no troubling spirits breathe,
Reflects a cloudless firmament beneath;
Where, poised as in the centre of a sphere,
A ship above and ship below appear;
A double image, pictured on the deep,
The vessel o'er its shadow seems to sleep;
Yet, like the host of heaven, that never rest,

Unfelt before was the fire the Emperor Honorius had conceived for his promised bride, and he burned, all unexperienced, with passion's first fever, nor knew whence came the heat, what meant the sighs — a tyro and as yet ignorant of love. Hunting, horses, javelins — for none of these he now cares nor yet to fling the spear; Love's wound occupies all his thoughts. How often he groaned from the very heart; how often a blush, mantling to his cheeks, betrayed his secret; how often, unbidden of himself, his hand would write the loved one's name.

Preface

After the subjugation of the Alpine tribes and the salvation of the kingdoms of Italy the heavens welcomed the Emperor Theodosius to the place of honour due to his worth, and so shone the brighter by the addition of another star. Then was the power of Rome entrusted to thy care, Stilicho; in thy hands was placed the governance of the world. The brothers' twin majesty and the armies of either royal court were given into thy charge.

Return, ye Muses, and throw open rescued Helicon; now again may your company gather there. Nowhere now in Italy does the hostile trumpet forbid song with its viler bray. Do thou too, Delian Apollo, now that Delphi is safe and fear has been dispelled, wreath thy avenger's head with flowers. No savage foe sets profane lips to Castalia's spring or those prophetic streams.

Rise ! ye gallant youth of Britain,
Gather to your country's call,
On your hearts her name is written,
Rise to help her, one and all!
Cast away each feud and faction,
Brood not over wrong nor ill —
Rouse your virtues into action,
For we love our country still —
Hail, Britannia! hail, Britannia!
Raise that thrilling shout once more;
Rule, Britannia! Rule, Britannia!