BEAR witness, Erin! when thine injured | He drew on a boot to hide his hoof, isle He drew on a glove to hide his claw, And flitted round Castlereagh, When they snatched the Patriot's heart, that his grasp A Priest, at whose elbow the Devil Had torn from its widow's maniac clasp, during prayer, And fled at the dawn of day. How vast his stock of calf! when plenty Oh! why is the Father of Hell in such Had filled his empty head and heart, Enough to satiate foplings twenty, Could make his pantaloon seams start. XVII The Devil, (who sometimes is called nature,) For men of power provides thus well, Whilst every change and every feature, Their great original can tell. XVIII Satan saw a lawyer, a viper slay, That crawled up the leg of his table, It reminded him most marvellously, Of the story of Cain and Abel. XIX The wealthy yeoman, as he wanders, His fertile fields among, And on his thriving cattle ponders, Counts his sure gains, and hums a song; Thus did the Devil, thro' earth walking, Hum low a hellish song. glee, As he grins from ear to ear? Why does he doff his clothes joyfully, As he skips, and prances, and flaps his wing, As he sidles, leers, and twirls his sting, And dares, as he is, to appear? XXIV A statesman pass'd-alone to him, cover, To show each feature, every limb, Secure of an unchanging lover. XXV At this known sign, a welcome sight, And every fiend of the Stygian night, XXVI Pale Loyalty, his guilt-steeled brow, With wreaths of gory laurel crowned: UGOLINO APPENDIX From Dante's Inferno, Canto xxxiii. 11. 22-75. Translated by Medwin, with aid from Shelley. Shelley's contributions are printed in Roman type, Medwin's portion in italics. Now had the loophole of that dungeon still Which bears the name of Famine's Tower from me, And where 'tis fit that many another will Be doomed to linger in captivity, Shown through its narrow opening in my cell, Moon after moon slow waning, when a sleep That of the future burst the veil, in dream, Visited me. It was a slumber deep And evil; for I saw-or I did seem To see-that tyrant lord his revels keep, The leader of the cruel hunt to them, Chasing the wolf and wolf-cubs up the steep Ascent that from the Pisan is the screen Of Lucca. With him Gualandi came, Sismondi, and Lanfranchi, bloodhounds lean, Trained to the sport and eager for the game, Wide ranging in his front. But soon were seen, Though by so short a course, with spirits tame The father and his whelps to flag at once. When I Heard locked beneath me of that horrible tower The outlet, then into their eyes alone But, when to shine Upon the world, not us, came forth the light Of the new sun, and, thwart my prison thrown, Gleamed through its narrow chink, a doleful sight, Three faces, each the reflex of my own, Were imaged by its faint and ghastly ray. "Father, our woes so great were yet the less Would you but eat of us: 'twas you who clad Our bodies in these weeds of wretchedness, Despoil them!"-Not to make their hearts more sad, I hushed myself. Between the fifth and sixth day, ere 'twas dawn, I found myself blind-groping o'er the three. |