Mix'd with the yells of terror and dismay, Are wafted through the concave arch of night To that imperial mansion, where the king Lies revelling with his minions. Nitocris
First heard, and started. In that spacious room, On whose rich sides was painted many a chase, With all the warlike acts of Ninus old, And great Semiramis, she sat, and wove Her variegated web. Her slaves around
With sprightly converse cheer'd the midnight hour; When sudden, chill'd with horror, in their arms
She sinks, a breathless corse.
Invades Belshazzar's ear. A messenger,
And still another messenger arrives,
To tell him, all is lost. On the adverse wall Instant his eye is fix'd; the characters,
Which yet remain, grow blacker, and increase In magnitude tenfold: "Where, where," exclaims The affrighted prince, " O where is Daniel? where Is that interpreter of heaven's decrees,
Whose curse prophetic on mine ear still sounds More horrible, than these alarming peals, Which, as I speak, nearer and nearer roll, The harbingers of slaughter. Haste, arise! Tell him, I spare the tribes; tell him, I bow To his Jehovah." Thus Belshazzar spake, When sudden, with impetuous uproar, Through the wide portals rush'd an armed band, Persians and Medes. Gobryas, and Gadatas, Breathing fierce vengeance, and inveterate hate,
Conduct the bloody troop. Where, monarch, where Is now thy cruel wrath, thy pride, thy power? Sunk on his knees behold Belshazzar bows Before his rebel exiles!" Spare, O spare
My life," the coward tyrant, trembling, cries; "Let Cyrus wear my crown. To barren sands,
To regions, never trod by human foot, Banish me, where I ne'er again may know Sweet social intercourse, but think, O think, How fearful 'tis to die." Thus while he spake, With sword uplifted, o'er their bending king The victors stood. And now perhaps his prayers, And eyes, which upward rolling, long'd for life Though miserable, had stopp'd the fatal blow, Had not his murder'd son forbad the rage Of Gobryas to subside. On his arch'd neck The ponderous falchion falls, and at one stroke Smites from its spouting trunk the sever'd head Of Babylonia's monarch, Ever thus
Perish fell cruelty, and lawless power!
After the Capture of Babylon, the Jews having been permitted by Cyrus to rebuild their Temple, they reach JerusalemRenew the Feasts-Lay the Foundation of the Temple-The old Men weep.
Now dawns the morn, and on mount Olivet The boar-frost melts before the rising sun,
Which summons to their daily toil the world Of beasts, of men; and all that wings the air, And all that swims the level of the lake, Or creeps the ground, bid universal hail
To day's bright regent. But the tribes were rous'd, Impatient even of rest, ere yet the stars
Withdrew their feeble light. Through every street They bend their way: some Ananiah leads, Some Phanuel, or what elders else were driven In early youth from Sion. Not a spot Remains unvisited; each stone, each beam, Seems sacred. As in legendary tale,
Led by magician's hand some hero treads Enchanted ground, and hears, or thinks he hears, Aerial voices, or with secret dread
Sees unembodied shades, by fancy form'd,
Flit through the gloom; so rescued Judah walk'd, Amid the majesty of Salem's dust,
With reverential awe. Howbeit they soon Remove the mouldering ruins; soon they clear The obstructed paths, and every mansion raise, By force, or time, impair'd. Then Jeshua rose With all his priests; nor thou, Zorobabel, Soul of the tribes, wast absent. To the God Of Jacob, oft as morn and eve returns, A new-built altar smokes. Nor do they not Observe the feast, memorial of that age When Israel dwelt in tents; the Sabbath too, New moons, and every ritual ordinance,
First fruits, and paschal lamb, and rams, and goats,
Offerings of sin, and peace. Nor yet was laid
The temple's new foundation. Corn, and wine, Sweet balm, and oil, they mete with liberal hand To Tyrian, and Sidonian. To the sea
Of Joppa down they heave their stately trees From Syrian Lebanon. And now they square Huge blocks of marble, and with ancient rites. Anoint the corner stone. Around the priests, The Levites, and the sons of Asaph stand With trumpets, and with cymbals. Jeshua first, Adorn'd in robes pontifical, conducts
The sacred ceremony. An ephod rich
Purple, and blue, comes mantling o'er his arms, Clasp'd with smooth studs, round whose meand'ring hem
A girdle twines its folds: to this by chains Of gold is link'd a breastplate: costly gems, Jasper, and diamond, sapphire, amethyst, Unite their hues; twelve stones, memorial apt Of Judah's ancient tribes. A mitre decks His head, and on the top a golden crown Graven, like a signet, by no vulgar hand, Proclaims him priest of God. Symphonious hymns Are mix'd with instrumental melody,
And Judah's joyful shouts. But down thy cheeks, O Ananiah, from thine aged eye,
O Phanuel, drops a tear; for ye have seen The house of Solomon in all its pride,
And ill can brook this change. Nor ye alone,
But every ancient wept. Loud shrieks of grief,
Mix'd with the voice of joy, are heard beyond The hills of Salem. Even from Gibeon's walls The astonish'd peasant turns a listening ear, And Jordan's shepherds catch the distant sound.
SIR WILLIAM JONES. BORN 1746.-DIED 1794.
SIR WILLIAM JONES is not a great poet; but his name recals such associations of worth, intellect, and accomplishments, that if these sketches were not necessarily and designedly only miniatures of biography, I should feel it a sort of sacrilege to consign to scanty and inadequate bounds the life of a scholar, who, in feeding the lamp of knowledge, may be truly said to have prematurely exhausted the lamp of life.
He was born in London. His father, who it is said could trace his descent from the ancient princes of North Wales, and who, like his son, was no discredit to his lineage, was so eminent a mathematician as to be distinguished by the esteem of Newton and Halley. His first employment had been that of a schoolmaster, on board a man of war; and in that situation he attracted the notice and friendship of Lord Anson. An anecdote is told of him, that at the siege of Vigo, he was one of a party who had the
« PredošláPokračovať » |