And rays from God shot down that meteor chain
And hallow'd all the beauty twice again,
Save when, between th' Empyrean and that ring,
Some eager spirit flapp'd his dusky wing.
But on the pillars Seraph eyes have seen
The dimness of this world; that greyish green
That Nature loves the best for Beauty's grave
Lurk'd in each cornice, round each architrave-
And every sculptur'd cherub thereabout
That from his marble dwelling peeréd out,
Seem'd earthly in the shadow of his niche-
Achaian statues in a world so rich?
*Friezes from Tadmor and Persepolis-
From Balbec, and the stilly, clear abyss
+Of beautiful Gomorrah! O, the wave
Is now upon thee-but too late to save!

Sound loves to revel in a summer night:
Witness the murmur of the grey twilight

* Voltaire, in speaking of Persepolis, says, "Je connois bien l'admiration qu'inspirent ces ruines—mais un palais erigé au pied d'une chaine des rochers sterils -peut il être un chef d'œuvre des arts!"

"Oh! the wave"-Ula Deguisi is the Turkish appellation; but, on its own shores, it is called Bahar Loth, or Almotanah. There were undoubtedly more than two cities engulphed in the "dead sea." In the valley of Siddim were five-Adrah, Zeboin, Zoar, Sodom and Gomorrah. Stephen of Byzantium mentions eight, and Strabo thirteen, (engulphed)—but the last is out of all reason.

It is said, [Tacitus, Strabo, Josephus, Daniel of St. Saba, Nau, Maundrell, Troilo, D'Arvieux] that after an excessive drought, the vestiges of columns, walls, &c. are seen above the surface. At any season, such remains may be discovered by looking down into the transparent lake, and at such distances as would argue the existence of many settlements in the space now usurped by the " Asphaltites.'

*That stole upon the ear, in Eyraco,
Of many a wild star-gazer long ago—
That stealeth ever on the ear of him

Who, musing, gazeth on the distance dim,
And sees the darkness coming as a cloud—
†Is not its form-its voice-most palpable and loud?

But what is this ?-it cometh-and it brings
A music with it-'tis the rush of wings-
A pause and then a sweeping, falling strain
And Nesace is in her halls again.

From the wild energy of wanton haste

Her cheeks were flushing, and her lips apart;
And zone that clung around her gentle waist
Had burst beneath the heaving of her heart.
Within the centre of that hall to breathe
She paus'd and panted, Zanthe! all beneath,
The fairy light that kiss'd her golden hair
And long'd to rest, yet could but sparkle there!

Young flowers were whispering in melody
To happy flowers that night—and tree to tree;
Fountains were gushing music as they fell
In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell;
Yet silence came upon material things—
Fair flowers, bright waterfalls and angel wings-
And sound alone that from the spirit sprang
Bore burthen to the charm the maiden

* Eyraco-Chaldea.

sang:

+ I have often thought I could distinctly hear the sound of the darkness as it stole over the horizon.

t Fairies use flowers for their charactery -Merry Wives of Windsor.

"'Neath blue-bell or streamer-
Or tufted wild spray

That keeps, from the dreamer,

*The moonbeam away—
Bright beings! that ponder,
With half closing eyes,

On the stars which your wonder
Hath drawn from the skies,

Till they glance thro' the shade, and

Come down to your brow

Like

-eyes of the maiden

Who calls on you now

Arise! from your dreaming

In violet bowers,

To duty beseeming

These star-litten hours

And shake from your tresses

Encumber'd with dew

The breath of those kisses

That cumber them too-
(O! how, without you, Love!
Could angels be blest?)

Those kisses of true love

That lull'd ye to rest!
Up!-shake from your wing
Each hindering thing:

The dew of the night

It would weigh down your flight;

And true love caresses

O! leave them apart !

* In Scripture is this passage—" The sun shall not harm thee by day, nor the moon by night." It is perhaps not generally known that the moon, in Egypt, has the effect of producing blindness to those who sleep with the face exposed to its rays, to which circumstance the passage evidently alludes

Ligeia! wherever

Thy image may be,
No magic shall sever

Thy music from thee.
Thou hast bound many eyes
In a dreamy sleep-
But the strains still arise

Which thy vigilance keep

The sound of the rain

Which leaps down to the flower,

And dances again

In the rhythm of the shower

†The murmur that springs

From the growing of grass

*The Albatross is said to sleep on the wing.

† I met with this idea in an old English tale, which I am now unable to obtain and quote from memory:-" The verie essence and, as it were, springe

Are the music of things-
But are modell'd, alas !——
Away, then my dearest,
O! hie thee away
To springs that lie clearest

Beneath the moon-ray—
To lone lake that smiles,

In its dream of deep rest,
At the many star-isles

That enjewel its breast-
Where wild flowers, creeping,
Have mingled their shade,
On its margin is sleeping
Full many a maid-

Some have left the cool glade, and
* Have slept with the bee—
Arouse them my maiden,

On moorland and lea

Go! breathe on their slumber,

All softly in ear,

The musical number

They slumber'd to hear

For what can awaken

An angel so soon

heade and origine of all musiche is the verie pleasaunte sounde which the trees of the forest do make when they growe."

*The wild bee will not sleep in the shade if there be moonlight.

The rhyme in this verse, as in one about sixty lines before, has an appearance of affectation. It is, however, imitated from Sir W. Scott, or rather from Claud Halcro-in whose mouth I admired its effect:

O! were there an island,

Tho' ever so wild

Where woman might smile, and

No man be beguil'd, &c.