And still to love, though preff'd with ill,
In wintry age to feel no chill,
With me is to be lovely still,
But ah! by constant heed I know,
How oft the fadness that I show
Transforms thy fmiles to looks of woe,
My Mary!
And should my future lot be caft
With much resemblance of the past,
Thy worn-out heart will break at last,
My Mary!
MONTES GLACIALES, IN OCEANO GERMANICO NATANTES.
N, quæ prodigia, ex oris allata remotis, Oras adveniunt pavefacta per æquora noftras!
Non equidem prifcæ fæclum rediiffe videtur Pyrrhæ, cum Proteus pecus altos visere montes Et fylvas, egit. Sed tempora vix leviora Adfunt, evulfi quando radicitùs alti
In mare defcendunt montes, fluctufque pererrant. Quid verò hoc monftri eft magis et mirabile vifu? Splendentes video, ceu pulchro ex ære vel auro Conflatos, rutilifque accinctos undique gemmis,
Baccâ cæruleâ, et flammas imitante pyropo.
Ex oriente adfunt, ubi gazas optima tellus
Parturit omnigenas, quibus æva per omnia fumptu
Ingenti finxêre fibi diademata reges?
Vix hoc crediderim. Non fallunt talia acutos
Mercatorum oculos: prius et quàm littora Gangis
Liquiffent, avidis gratiffima præda fuiffent.
Ortos unde putemus? An illos Ves'vius atrox
Protulit, ignivomifve ejecit faucibus Ætna?
Luce micant propriâ, Phœbive, per aëra purum
Nunc ftimulantis equos, argentea tela retorquent?
Phœbi luce micant. Ventis et fluctibus altis
Appulfi, et rapidis fubter currentibus undis,
Tandem non fallunt oculos. Capita alta videre est
Multâ onerata nive et canis confperfa pruinis.
Cætera funt glacies. Procul hinc, ubi Bruma ferè
Contriftat menfes, portenta hæc horrida nobis
Illa ftrui voluit. Quoties de culmine fummo
Clivorum fluerent in littora prona, folutæ
Sole, nives, propero tendentes in mare curfu,
Illa gelu fixit. Paulatim attollere fefe
Mirum cœpit opus; glacieque ab origine rerum
In glaciem aggeftâ fublimes vertice tandem
Æquavit montes, non crefcere nefcia moles.
Sic immenfa diu ftetit, æternumque ftetiffet,
Congeries, hominum neque vi neque
mobilis arte,
Littora ni tandem declivia deferuiffet,
Pondere victa fuo. Dilabitur.
Dilabitur. Omnia circum
Antra et faxa gemunt, fubito concuffa fragore,
Dum ruit in pelagum, tanquam ftudiofa natandi,
Ingens tota ftrues. Sic Delos dicitur olim,
Infula, in Ægæo fluitâffe erratica ponto.
Sed non ex glacie Delos; neque torpida Delum
Bruma inter rupes genuit nudum fterilemque.
Sed veftita herbis erat illa, ornataque nunquam
Deciduâ lauro; et Delum dilexit Apollo.
At vos, errones horrendi, et caligine digni
Cimmeriâ, Deus idem odit. Natalia veftra,
Nubibus involvens frontem, non ille tueri
Suftinuit. Patrium vos ergo requirite cælum !
Ite! Redite! Timete moras; ni lenitèr auftro
Spirante, et nitidas Phœbo jaculante fagittas
Hoftili vobis, pereatis gurgite mifti!
ON THE ICE ISLANDS, SEEN FLOATING IN
THE GERMAN OCEAN.
HAT portents, from what distant region ride,
Unseen till now in ours, the astonish'd
tide?
In ages paft, old Proteus, with his droves
Of fea-calves, fought the mountains and the groves.
But now, defcending whence of late they stood,
Themfelves the mountains feem to rove the flood.
Dire times were they, full-charged with human
And thefe, fcarce lefs calamitous than those.
What view we now? More wondrous ftill!
Like burnish'd brass they shine, or beaten gold;
And all around the pearl's pure fplendour show,
And all around the ruby's fiery glow.
Come they from India, where the burning earth,
All bounteous, gives her richest treasures birth;
And where the costly gems, that beam around
The brows of mightiest potentates, are found?
No. Never fuch a countless dazzling store
Had left unfeen the Ganges' peopled fhore.
Rapacious hands, and ever-watchful eyes,
Should fooner far have mark'd and seized the prize.
Whence fprang they then? Ejected have they come
From Vefuvius', or from Ætna's burning womb?
Thus fhine they felf-illumed, or but difplay
The borrow'd splendours of a cloudless day?
With borrow'd beams they shine. The gales that
breathe
Now landward, and the current's force beneath,
Have borne them nearer: and the nearer fight,
Advantaged more, contemplates them aright.
Their lofty summits crested high they show,
With mingled fleet, and long-incumbent fnow.
The reft is ice. Far hence, where, most severe,
Bleak Winter well nigh faddens all the year,
Their infant growth began. He bade arise
Their uncouth forms, portentous in our eyes.
Oft as diffolved by tranfient funs, the fnow
Left the tall cliff to join the flood below;
He caught, and curdled with a freezing blast
The current, ere it reach'd the boundless waste.
By flow degrees uprose the wondrous pile,
And long fucceffive ages roll'd the while;
Till, ceaseless in its growth, it claim'd to stand, Tall as its rival mountains on the land.
Thus stood, and, unremovable by skill
Or force of man, had ftood the structure ftill,
But that, though firmly fix'd, fupplanted yet
By preffure of its own enormous weight,
It left the shelving beach-and, with a found
That shook the bellowing waves and rocks around,
Self-launch'd, and fwiftly, to the briny wave,
As if instinct with strong desire to lave,
Down went the ponderous mafs. So bards of old
How Delos fwam the Ægean deep have told.
But not of ice was Delos. Delos bore
Herb, fruit, and flower. She, crown'd with laurel,
E'en under wintry skies, a fummer smile;
And Delos was Apollo's favourite isle.
But, horrid wanderers of the deep, to you
He deems Cimmerian darkness only due.
Your hated birth he deign'd not to survey,
But, fcornful, turn'd his glorious eyes away.
Hence! Seek your home, nor longer rafhly dare
The darts of Phoebus, and a fofter air;
ye regret, too late, your native coast, In no congenial gulf for ever loft!
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