Then some leaped overboard with dreadful yell,
As eager to anticipate their grave;

And the sea yawned around her, like a hell;

And down she sucked with her the whirling wave, Like one who grapples with his enemy,

And strives to strangle him before he die.

At first one universal shriek there rushed,
Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash
Of echoing thunder; and then all was hushed,
Save the wild wind, and the remorseless dash
Of billows. But at intervals there gushed,
Accompanied with a convulsive splash,

A solitary shriek-the bubbling cry
Of some strong swimmer in his agony.

HAIDEE VISITS DON JUAN.

AND down the cliff the island virgin came,

And near the cave her quick light footsteps drew,
While the sun smiled on her with his first flame,
And young Aurora kissed her lips with dew,
Taking her for her sister; just the same

Mistake you would have made on seeing the two,
Although the mortal, quite as fresh and fair,
Had all the advantage, too, of not being air.

And when into the cavern Haidee stepped
All timidly, yet rapidly, she saw
That, like an infant, Juan sweetly slept:

And then she stopped and stood as if in awe

(For sleep is awful), and on tiptoe crept

And wrapt him closer, lest the air, too raw,

Should reach his blood; then o'er him, still as death,
Bent, with hushed lips, that drank his scarce-drawn breath.

And thus, like to an angel o'er the dying

Who die in righteousness, she leaned; and there
All tranquilly the shipwrecked boy was lying,
As o'er him lay the calm and stirless air:
But Zoe the meantime some eggs was frying,

Since, after all, no doubt the youthful pair

Must breakfast, and betimes-lest they should ask it,
She drew out her provision from the basket.

And now, by dint of fingers and of eyes,
And words repeated after her, he took
A lesson in her tongue; but by surmise,
No doubt, less of her language than her look:
As he who studies fervently the skies,

Turns oftener to the stars than to his book:
Thus Juan learned his alpha beta better
From Haidee's glance than any graven letter.

'Tis pleasing to be schooled in a strange tongue
By female lips and eyes-that is, I mean
When both the teacher and the taught are young;

As was the case, at least, where I have been;
They smile so when one's right, and when one's wrong.
They smile still more, and then there intervene
Pressure of hands, perhaps even a chaste kiss;
I learned the little that I know by this.

THE DEATH OF HAIDEE.

AFRIC is all the sun's, and as her earth,
Her human clay is kindled; full of power
For good or evil, burning from its birth,

The Moorish blood partakes the planet's hour,
And, like the soil beneath it, will bring forth:

Beauty and love were Haidee's mother's dower; But her large dark eye showed deep Passion's force, Though sleeping like a lion near a source.

Her daughter, tempered with a milder ray,

Like summer clouds all silvery, smooth, and fair,
Till slowly charged with thunder, they display
Terror to earth and tempest to the air,
Had held till now her soft and milky way;

But, overwrought with passion and despair,
The fire burst forth from her Numidian veins,
Even as the simoon sweeps the blasted plains.

The last sight which he saw was Juan's gore,
And he himself o'ermastered and cut down;
His blood was running on the very floor

Where late he trod, her beautiful, her own;
Thus much she viewed an instant and no more-

Her struggles ceased with one convulsive groan;

On her sire's arm, which until now scarce held
Her writhing, fell she like a cedar felled.

A vein had burst, and her sweet lips' pure dyes
Were dabbled with the deep blood which ran o'er,
And her head drooped as when the lily lies

O'ercharged with rain: her summoned handmaids bore Their lady to her couch with gushing eyes;

Of herbs and cordials they produced their store:

But she defied all means they could employ,
Like one life could not hold nor death destroy.

Days lay she in that state unchanged, though chill-
With nothing livid, still her lips were red;
She had no pulse, but death seemed absent still;
No hideous sign proclaimed her surely dead:
Corruption came not, in each mind to kill

All hope: to look upon her sweet face bred

New thoughts of life, for it seemed full of soul

She had so much, earth could not claim the whole...

Her handmaids tended, but she heeded not;

Her father watched, she turned her eyes away;

She recognized no being, and no spot,

However dear or cherished in their day;

They changed from room to room, but all forgot;
Gentle, but without memory, she lay;

At length those eyes, which they would fain be weaning
Back to old thoughts, waxed full of fearful meaning.

And then a slave bethought her of a harp:

The harper came and tuned his instrument:

At the first notes, irregular and sharp,

On him her flashing eyes a moment bent;

Then to the wall she turned, as if to warp

Her thoughts from sorrow through her heart re-sent; And he began a long low island song

Of ancient days ere tyranny grew strong.

Anon her thin, wan fingers beat the wall

In time to his old tune; he changed the theme,
And sung of Love; the fierce name struck through all
Her recollection; on her flashed the dream

Of what she was, and is, if ye could call

To be so being: in a gushing stream.
The tears rushed forth from her o'erclouded brain,
Like mountain mists at length dissolved in rain.

Twelve days and nights she withered thus; at last,
Without a groan, or sigh, or glance, to show
A parting pang, the spirit from her passed:

And they who watched her nearest could not know
The very instant, till the change that cast

Her sweet face into shadow, dull and slow,
Glazed o'er her eyes-the beautiful, the black-
Oh to possess such lustre, and then lack!

Thus lived-thus died she; never more on her
Shall sorrow light or shame. She was not made
Through years or moons the inner weight to bear,
Which colder hearts endure till they are laid
By age in earth: her days and pleasures were
Brief, but delightful-such as had not stayed
Long with her destiny; but she sleeps well
By the sea-shore whereon she loved to dwell.
That isle is now all desolate and bare,

Its dwellings down, its tenants passed away;
None but her own and father's grave is there,
And nothing outward tells of human clay;
Ye could not know where lies a thing so fair;
No one is there to show, no tongue to say
What was; no dirge except the hollow seas
Mourns o'er the beauty of the Cyclades.

MANFRED.

In this dramatic poem the hero Manfred, though a mortal, has been able to enter the hall of Arimanes, where he is at first assailed by the spirits as an intruder. One of the Destinies, however, protects him and Nemesis asks the reason of his coming.

Nemesis. What doth he here then?
First Destiny. Let him answer that.

Manfred. Ye know what I have known; and without

power

I could not be amongst ye: but there are

Powers deeper still beyond-I come in quest
Of such, to answer unto what I seek.

Nem. What would'st thou?

Man. Thou canst not reply to me.

Call up the dead-my question is for them.

Nem. Great Arimanes, doth thy will avouch The wishes of this mortal?

Arimanes. Yea.

Nem. Whom would'st thou uncharnel?
Man. One without a tomb-call up Astarte.
Nem. Shadow! or Spirit!

Whatever thou art,

Which still doth inherit

The whole or a part
Of the form of thy birth,

Of the mould of thy clay,
Which return'd to the earth,
Re-appear to the day!
Bear what thou borest,

The heart and the form,
And the aspect thou worest

Redeem from the worm.
Appear!-Appear!-Appear!

Who sent thee there requires thee here

[The Phantom of ASTARTE rises and stands

in the midst.

Man. Can this be death? there's bloom upon her cheek; But now I see it is no living hue,

But a strange hectic-like the unnatural red
Which autumn plants upon the perish'd leaf.
It is the same! Oh, God! that I should dread
To look upon the same-Astarte !-No,
I cannot speak to her-but bid her speak-
Forgive me or condemn me.

Nem. By the power which hath broken
The grave which enthrall'd thee,
Speak to him who hath spoken,

Or those who have call'd thee!

Man. She is silent,

And in that silence I am more than answer'd.

Nem. My power extends no further. Prince of air!

It rests with thee alone-command her voice.