XXXVI. And Tasso is their glory and their shame. The insulted mind he sought to quench, and blend XXXVII. The tears and praises of all time; while thine Of worthless dust, which from thy boasted line From thee! if in another station born, Scarce fit to be the slave of him thou mad'st to mourn: XXXVIII. Thou! form'd to eat, and be despis'd, and die, And Boileau, whose rash envy could allow 18 XXXIX Peace to Torquato's injur'd shade! 'twas his And not the whole combin'd and countless throng Compose a mind like thine? though all in one Condens'd their scatter'd rays, they would not form a sun. XL. Great as thou art, yet parallel'd by those, The southern Scott, the minstrel who call'd forth And, like the Ariosto of the North, Sang ladye-love and war, romance and knightly worth. XLI. The lightning rent from Ariosto's bust 19 For the true laurel - wreath which Glory weaves 20 Know, that the lightning sanctifies below 21 VOL. VII. LXII. Italia! oh Italia! thou who hast 22 The fatal gift of beauty, which became A funeral dower of present woes and past, On thy sweet brow is sorrow plough'd bý shame, And annals graved in characters of flame. Oh God! that thou wert in thy nakedness Less lovely or more powerful, and could'st claim Thy right, and awe the robbers back, who press To shed thy blood, and drink the tears of thy distress; XLIII. Then might'st thou more appal; or, less desired, For thy destructive charms; then, still untired, Victor or vanquish'd, thou the slave of friend or foe. XLIV. Wandering in youth, I traced the path of him, 23 The Roman friend of Rome's least mortal mind, The friend of Tully: as my bark did skim The bright blue waters with a fanning wind, Came Megara before me, and behind Aegina, lay, Piraeus on the right, And Corinth on the left; I lay reclined Along the prow, and saw all these unite In ruin, even as he had seen the desolate sight; XLV. For Time hath not rebuilt them. but uprear'd The moral lesson bears, drawn from such pilgrimage. |