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WILLIAM BLAKE
MYSTIC
NOTE.
This issue of Young's poem with Blake engravings, is reproduced in reduced facsimile from the original
Edition 15 x 12 published by Edwards,
New
Bond
Street,
London,
in
the
year 1797.
TO
STANLEY
MY BROTHER
WILLIAM BLAKE, MYSTIC

A STUDY
BY
ADELINE M. BUTTERWORTH
TOGETHER WITH
YOUNG'S NIGHT THOUGHTS NIGHTS

:
&
II
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
WILLIAM BLAKE
AND FRONTISPIECE
DEATH'S DOOR, FROM BLAIR'S 'THE GRAVE'
LIVERPOOL
THE LIVERPOOL BOOKSELLERS CO.. LONDON SIMPKIN. MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT &
1911
LTD.
CO.,
LTD.
William Blake, Mystic

A Study
WILLIAM BLAKE,
Yet
him
*
poet, artist
and engraver
how few persons is he known, and how much beloved by the few who do know
to
belongs, to use an old Quaker phrase, world outside,' yet that is the world that cannot understand him, for he speaks to the inner soul, to the world inside,' and it is only the few who can interpret that speech; so that William Blake stands little chance of ever becoming the idol even of the literary world. cultured person may be interested in or attracted by either a poem or a painting of his, but he must possess a kindred spirit he must belong to 'the world inside,' if he would grasp the real meaning of any one of Blake's poems or pictures. It is not sufficient to have an intelligent appreciation of art to understand wherein lies the charm of Blake's airy figures it is not sufficient to know the laws of rhythm to comprehend his poems, for more than mere culture is demanded from Blake's appreciator.
!
He
to the
'
645947
and that more cannot be learned in the schools it must be innate he must know, almost intuitively, that which Blake's soul has grasped and which his mind and hand have put into concrete form. If it is not seized by intuition, its power will never be realised, for no amount of technical knowledge aids in understanding the deep things of the soul. If such an one does not possess that power, let him close the book of poems by William Blake let such an one leave unopened the copy of Young's Night Thoughts or that of Blair's Grave, both illustrated by Blake, as he would in all probability only see some grotesque figures, which in their huge proportions bear perhaps some resemblance to those of Michael Angelo and would fail to find any reason for Blake choosing to engrave the moment soul's departure from the body,' or the of the 're-union of the soul and of the body after death,' for, unless he feel their charm when first he sees them, he will never discover it, though he spend
many hours
insight
*
in studying
them.
No
It
needs the
of the mystic
'
of those belonging to the

to-day, as he
world inside William Blake
to
;
understand the mystic soul of

is
therefore, he
was
more than
by the
the
a century ago, neglected and passed over
literary
and
artistic
world, unless with their
culture they possess a soul capable of responding to
inner
meaning
of
the
moments depicted
in
Blake's pictures, apart from their artistic merit.
Yet
and
to appreciate
him
it is
not enough to possess
the mystical insight unless

intelligence, for
it is allied with culture an uneducated mystic would no more be able to appreciate nor understand his poems or pictures than would the cultured nonmystical person there lies his charm and therein lies the explanation possibly why William Blake is gaining at last some notoriety of the reason why more than a century after he illustrated the 'Blair,' he is receiving recognition as a mystical poet and
;
artist.
Why should he have had to wait so long ? Why should he now be receiving the homage
the few
of
who know and
appreciate his great talent
deep feeling ? Surely because to-day Mysticism stands on a new level. When William Blake lived and wrote his mystical poems and painted his visions, "the world outside " condemned them, for it knew nothing of such things. It was a cultured world the world that condemned him for then, as now, the general public passed him by because he never came within their radius Blake could never be
for depicting the soul's
that which
Tennyson became, the
poetical idol of
the people.
was a cultured world in a conventional period that condemned him, a world that condemned all originality, a world without any understanding of mysticism and as it was obliged to explain these
It
Blake productions which seemed quite incomprehensible to it and as it had no knowledge of the psychical mind nor of things mystical, it disposed of Blake and of his poems and pictures by stigmatising them as the work of a madman. Yet even in that material age there were some who possessed the insight necessary to appreciate Blake and his great genius, as Gilchrist's
original productions of
standard
Life
of
William Blake
records
they
prevented his name from passing into oblivion by keeping the tiny flame of interest burning until the world of culture that had condemned Blake a century ago awoke to the fact that he was, at least, an interesting personality, now realising that personality under any form is worth studying so from that interest in him as a man as an unusual personality as a subject for the psychologists to dissect, and also because the mystical mind is now acknowledged to be a sane mind, therefore its utterances and productions are on the same level as the productions of other normal minds, Blake has been rescued and has at last a chance of winning lasting fame by his appeal to those whose souls are attuned to his, and who can feel with him and see
;
.a world
in a grain of sand.
And
Hold
a heaven in a wild flower,

eternity in
infinity in the
And
palm of your hand. an hour.'
The
of
cultured world of to-day knows the name William Blake, because the term culture now
includes some knowledge of the science of psychology,
and
all who would study that subject gladly avail themselves of so unique a personality, for did he
not repeat during his lifetime,
when accused
visions
all
of
making
real
his figures of so fantastic a character, that

visions.
he only painted his

things to
These
were
Blake, as they are to
mystics,
only in Blake's case the visionary power which he possessed in so remarkable a degree was accompanied
by the
gifts of
a poet and also of those of an

position
artist.
Think what a unique
he therefore holds
among
spirit
the great spirits of the world, for a great
Blake must assuredly be named if we accede to the usually-accepted formula that a man is great in spirit if he possesses the power of discerning the inner truth which underlies all things if he is largesouled enough to respond to its demand. In fact, it seems almost a condition of greatness that it, and it alone, is capable of grasping and understanding Pater speaks in his the truth which lies hidden. Marius of the hiddenness of perfect things,' which perhaps means that the thing in its perfection is hidden from the perception of the meaner spirit and so protected, though nevertheless its hiddenness is no bar to the true spirit of the mystic, who is
in
some inexpressible way 'one' with
its
perfec-
tion.
'
have only to read a few verses of some of Blake's poems to find the mystic spirit running through them to see how underneath the outward form he finds an inner form, which thought he
;
We
clothes as a true mystic ever does in the outer
resemblance.
Notice
in
how he
*
speaks of the 'angels'

'
which he sees
thistle at his feet
the
blossom trees
to
appeared
of
him
'
to
grey'
who
stood in his path

Butts,
his
how
first Mr. which he saw one day when he was
friend,
be he wrote to his vision of light

sitting
how a an 'old man

of
on the
'yellow sands' of the seashore, and notice also the true mystic's delight in his visions when he writes
of
how
they will be
'
Re-engraved time after time Ever in their youthful prime My designs unchanged remain
Time may
For above
rage, but rage in vain

time's troubled fountains
On
In
the great Atlantic Mountains,
my
golden house on high

eternally.'
There they shine
turn to examine his engravings, we find perhaps more clearly still the mystic spirit both
When we
in the choice of subject
and
in its delineation.
Blake
would possibly have preferred exclusively engraving
but, unfortunately, though he might engrave and colour them, he could not find purchasers, so that when he was obliged to earn money to support himself and his wife, he had perforce to paint subjects which suited the taste of his patron, even engraving and colouring portraits. It is difficult to imagine Blake working upon so uncongenial a subject as a portrait of the famous Brighton beauty, Mrs. Q (uentin), yet those who have been fortunate enough to have chanced upon an original copy of that coloured engraving must have noticed the master touch in the softness and wonder of the flesh colour, and felt that the perfectness which he put into a work which must have been distasteful to him proves yet again how great a spirit he
his visions
;
possessed within him.

real
of
But it is in his original designs that we see the Blake those designs which were literal copies his visions. Of course, all great artists have an
inner vision of the subject they propose to paint
they see
it
in their imagination
but few,
if
any,
excepting William Blake, have painted what to them
have been objective mental visions, for few people seem to have, to that extent, the mystic temperament
allied
with the
artistic.
It is
a well-established fact
to-day that these objective mental visions do

to persons of a certain
in the
come
of S.
temperament, as, for instance, recorded historical references to the visions Francis of Assisi and those of Joan of Arc.
such recorded incidents had been vindicated by the study of psychology that
In fact,
it
was not
until
Blake had a chance of coming into his inheritance of fame, for he has consistently affirmed that he only painted that which he perceived as an objective vision he apparently saw its form and colour though perhaps he did not always succeed in recalling
those visions quite accurately

that
yet
it is
told of
him
when
the visions came,
perhaps during the
night time, he would rise from his bed and

diately begin to paint, having, as
in front of
it
imme-
were, the vision
him, and once, on being asked what

the visions failed him, his wife replied,
happened
*
if
We kneel
It
down and
pray.'
can thus easily be seen that his work bears the

of
stamp
originality
and true greatness, for the
objective mental visions are a resultant effect of the

percipient's inner-self which, in Blake's case, reaches
up
to a level of spiritual insight
which
is
only found
in those
who
are pure in heart.
Allied with this visionary power, he possessed a
very vivid imagination, which he draws upon largely illustrations in his illustrations to Blair's Grave depth of feeling, which are full of beauty of form and and which reveal to all who have the power of perceiving it what must have been Blake's innate mystical genius which made it possible for him to design that perfect figure of a youth which he has placed (in his plate named Death's Door,') over the
out of a rock into which a weather-beaten old man, leaning on a crutch, is apparently being
cell
hewn
driven by a strong wind from behind, while above the doorway Blake has placed the figure of the youth
on the rock, with the rays of the sun surrounding him, full of life, hope, and strength. When we gaze upon it, it is not of death which we
half reclining
think
but of
life
eternal love
which
eternal
life,
eternal strength,
are typified by Blake in that
look of glad expectation which he has placed, not

only upon the face, but on every part of the body,
for to Blake's mystical soul death
was not the end
but the gateway to eternal
life.
Yet
it
does not follow that only a mystical nature
can see beneath the surface of things, or alone possesses the
power
of catching the intensest
moments
artist
in the lives of his fellow-men,
nor that an
at
its
who
is
able to depict that
moment
highest pitch
must necessarily be a mystic.
Take
cloister of
Giotto, for instance, in almost any of his
fresco work, especially perhaps the fresco in the
Santa Maria Novella, at Florence,
of the
Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate, and notice how he there portrays just the great moment in the lives of Anna and Joachim when
meeting of
they meet after a long separation. Giotto depicts He has seized the inner their joy in that meeting.
spirit of
that meeting,
and yet no man
is
less of
mystic than Giotto, the Florentine painter,
who
perhaps ranks highest of the world's great painters

as a delineator of a passing
moment
at
its
intensest
point
not a mystic, for he never chooses a mystical subject. Whereas Blake, though he too catches the spirit of the moment, searches deeper
;
yet he
is
into the intricacies of the
life
of the spirit, seeing
life which seems to be only apprehended by the mystic, and therefore instead of painting as Giotto the meeting of two beloved persons, Blake
that side of
chooses for his subject the re-union of the soul and of the body. There we see wherein the difference
lies,
and why Blake's great characteristic is not so much that he is a great artist or a great poet, but that he is before all things essentially a mystic
seer of visions.
When we
turn
to
the
Young
illustrations,
which were invented and engraved by him, we see the same characteristics which mark him as a mystic
in his choice of subject.
In Night the First, which treats of
life,
death,
and immortality, we find him, instead
of dwelling on death or the grave, choosing to depict the author and what an effort Blake made to be conventional in doing so lying on the ground asleep, while his
soul soars
'thro' fairy
fields' (lines in
the
poem
'
which seized Blake's fancy), and we have the most

perfect figures representative of the
tastick
soul's
fan-
measures
'
airy figures
of
pure
delight
poised in the
air, as
only Blake could poise them.

lO
Again,
*
in
the last plate of the
same
Nighty
we
find the lines
Oft bursts my song beyond the bounds of life,' claiming Blake out of many other lines containing
words
sorrow but his mystical mind passes them by while he seizes that which is his very own by innate right of comprehension and delineates a marvellous figure mounting upward with outstretched hands, in one of which is a lyre, while the chain which binds him to earth is falling from him, and the soul is rejoicing in its newly-found freedom.
of grief or
;
It
holds us spell-bound.
We note, also, in the Young how Blake they conveys a sense of motion in his figures appear to be coming straight from some ethereal
;
region, only touching earth in passing, as, in the

last
two plates of Night the Second^ we have figures coming to take the soul of the just man at
though there is nothing in the engraving that suggests anything which we usually connect with death, and in the succeeding plate we see the soul carefully being carried upward by attendant angels, while a graceful figure leans down, as from the gold bar of Rossetti's Blessed Damozel heaven,' and with outstretched arm and hand would gently draw him upward. The two plates make a perfect whole with figures almost revolving in a circle, suggesting movement in every line of their bodies and joy in the new life of the soul. It could
the
of death,
*
moment
surely only be the insight of the mystic which caused Blake so consistently to see always the life of the soul as something quite distinct from the life of the
body, which
to the
is
so clearly depicted in his illustrations
of subject, but
to
where he had so varied a choice where we find him choosing so often depict mystical things in preference to any other
Young,
It is interesting to
subject.
designs to Young's
read the comment upon these Night Thoughts, published in
the
**
advertisement " supposed to have been written
by
Fuseli, for the original edition of 1797:

*
Mr. Blake which form not only the ornament Of the merit
of
in
in
those designs
of the page, but,
many
instances, the illustration of the

it
poem, the
editor conceives
to be unnecessary to speak.
it
To
the eyes of the discerning
need not be pointed
out
and while a
taste for the arts of design shall
continue to exist, the original conception and the

bold and masterly execution of this artist cannot
be unnoticed or unadmired.* Blake's mysticism is, of course, only one part of him that he had many other sides to his character is well known, yet I maintain that though he may be praised for his productions as an artist or a poet, or condemned because of much that is incomprehensible in his work, yet running through all is a mystical spirit which can only be known and judged
by a mystical mind, for
it
needs the possession of
12
that
faculty
to
realise
the deep beauty of
the
following words, taken from one of his

*
poems :
He who
bends to himself a joy

;
Does the winged life destroy But he who kisses the joy as
Lives in eternity's sunrise.'
it
flies
And
so Blake stands at last
on the threshold
to
of
fame, because
understand him. It is still but the threshold, for he is only known and loved by a few kindred spirits. Books engraved
men have grown
by him may
still
still
be found in what
booksellers as
*the
named by the two-penny box.' They can

is
be picked up cheaply in out-of-the-way book
becoming more scarce. The collectors of old books, old prints, and coloured engravings do not yet know the name of William Blake, nor do they yet know the value of his productions, though here or there one may be found who has been asked for a Blake but it is an unusual occurrence to find a bookseller who knows anything of his works, even though Blair's Grave and Young's Night Thoughts are becoming very rare, and it is hard to obtain a copy of either book in the original boards, which fact seems to indicate that there is at last some demand
shops, though each year they are
;
for his books.
And what a reward awaits those who discover him What a great treasure awaits the seeking of
!
13
those who, intuitively, will understand his greatness
of spirit
How
their grasp of the deeper side of
widened when they come face to with one of his wonderful productions forms, face which in his delineation, seem to be all spirit. The world has many rare treasures awaiting those who have the opportunity for seeking such
things will be
with purer joy the mind of the mystic than the discovery of an original
things, but
will
fill
none
pening,
engraving by William Blake, or the chance happerhaps, upon some of Blake's shorter
poems, which are indeed masterpieces of mystical

poetry.
September, 1910.
14
Explanation of the Engravings.

FRONTISPIECE
"TJEATH,
to
NIGHT
the
FIRST.
in the character of
an old man, having
swept away with one hand part of the family seen in this print, is presenting with the other
their spirits to immortality.
Page
1.
Sleep, forsaking the couch of care, sheds
his influence,
by the touch
of his
magic wand, on
the shepherd's flock.
Page
4.
The imagery
of dreaming variously de*.
lineated according to the poet's description in the
passage referred to by the
Page 7. Death, from sleep to
tolling
bell,
summons
a person
his
kingdom the grave.
Page 8. The universal empire of Death characterized by his plucking the sun from his sphere.
Page 10. An evil genius holding two phials, from one pours disease into the ear of a shepherd, and from the other scatters a blight among his flock intimating that no condition is exempt from
;
affliction.
E
I
Page
12.
The
frailty
of the blessings of this
life
demonstrated, by a representation in which the happiness of a little family is suddenly destroyed by the accident of the husband's death from the bite of a serpent.
Page
13.
The
insecurity of
life
exemplified by the
figure of
Death menacing with his dart, and doubtful which he shall strike the mother, or
;
the infant at her breast.
Page
15.
The
author,
encircled by thorns,
loss
emhis
lamenting the friend to the midnight hours.

blematical of grief,
of
Page
16. The struggling of the soul for immortality, represented by a figure holding a lyre and spring-
ing into the air, but confined

earth.
by a chain
to the
FRONTISPIECE
Time endeavouring
from two
friends.
to
NIGHT
the
SECOND.
to avert the
arrow of Death
Page
19.
A skeleton discovering the first symptoms A man measuring an infant with his span,
of re-animation on the sounding of the archangeFs
trump.
Page
23.
in allusion to the shortness of life.
E 2
Page
24.
Our
inattention to the progress of
Time
by a figure of that god^ (as he is called by the poet) creeping towards us with stealthy pace, and carefully concealing his wings from our
illustrated
view.
Page
Time having passed us, is seen displaying " broad pinions," and treading nearly on the his summit of the globe, eager "to join anew Eternity
25.
his sire."
Page
The same power destroyer, mowing down

26.
in
his
character of
the
indiscriminately
frail
inhabitants of this world.

27.
;
Page
Conscience represented as a recording
angel
who
is
down
Page
the sin
and in the act of noting of intemperance in a bacchanalian.

veiled,
good man conversing with his past hours, and examining their report. The hours are drawn as aerial and shadowy beings, some of
31.
whom
Page
are bringing their scrolls to the inquirer,
while others are carrying their record to heaven.

33. Belshazzar terrified in the midst of his impious debauch by the hand-writing on the wall. The passage marked out by the asterisk, sufficiently explains the propriety with which the
story
is
alluded to by the poet, and delineated by
the artist.
Page
35.
A parent communicating instruction to his
family.
Page 37. The story of the good Samaritan, introduced by the artist as an illustration of the poet's sentiment, that love alone and kind offices can
purchase love.
Page
Angels attending the death-bed righteous, and administering consolation last moments.
40. 41.
of
the
to his
Page
Angels conveying the
spirit
of the good
man
to heaven.
NIGHT THE
FIRST.
JL
IRED
nature's sweet restorer,
balmy Sleep
pays
:
He,
like the
world, his readj

;
\isit
Where
fortune smiles
the wretched he Forsakes

flies
* SAvifl on his
downy
pinion
from woe.
And lights on lids unsullied with a tear. From short, as usual, and disturb'd repose, hoAV happy they, who wake no more I wake Yet that were xam, if dreams infest the grave.
:
wake, emerging from a sea of dreams

;
Tumultuous
where my wreck' d, desponding From wave to wa\ e of fancied misei^'. At random drove, her helm of reason lost
restored,
!
thought
Though now
/
'tis
only change of pain,

:
bitter
change
severer for severe

for
The day too short Even in the zenith
my
distress
and night.
of her dark domain.
Is sunshine, to the colour of niv fate.
:â^^!iî^^^,.
; :
Niglit, sable
goddess
fioni
her ebon throne.
In rayless majesty,
now
stretches forth
Her
leaden sceptre o'er a siiunb'ring world
Silence,
how dead
and darkness,
how
profound
;
Nor
eje, nor list'ning ear an object finds

'Tis,
Creation sleeps.
as the general pulse
Of life stood still, and nature made a pause An aweful pause prophetick of her end. And let her prophecy be soon fulfill'd
!
Fate
drop the curtain
can lose no more.

!
Silence, and
Darkness
solenui sisters
twms
From
ancient night,
who
nurse the tender thought
To
reason, and on reason build resolve.

in
in
That column of true majesty

Assist
man.
the gra\e
tliis
me
ill
thank
you
:
The
giavc, youi- kingdom

ictim sacied to
there
frame
;
shall fall
your dreary
shrine
But what
Primeval
are
ye
THOU,
when
the
w ho
didst put to flight

stars.
;
silence,
morning
Exulting, shouted o'er the rising ball
O THOU
whose word from

the sun
;
solid
darkness struck
soul
That spark,
strike to
wisdom from my
rest.
My
As
soul,
which
flies
THEE,
her trust, her treasure.
misers to their gold, while others
Through
this
opaque of nature, and of
soul.
This double night, transmit one pitying ray.
To
lighten,
and to cheer
lead
my
life,
mind,
its
mind
it
that fain
would wander from
woe.
;
Lead
through \arious scenes of
and death
And
from each scene, the noblest truths inspire
'
'
Nor
less inspire iny* coiuluct,
than
my
song;
Teach my best reason, reason; my best will Teach rectitude; and fix my firm resolve
Wisdom
Noi"
to
wed, and pay her long arrear
let the phial
of thy vengeance, pour'cl

in vain.
On
this
devoted head, be pour'd

bell strikes
its
The
one
We take no note
it
of time,
But from
I feel the
It
is
loss
to give
then a tongue.
Is wise in man.
As
if
an angol spoke,
If heard aright.
:
solemn sound.
the knell of
mj
?
departed hours
the years
Where
It
is
arc they
With
beyond the
:
flood
the signal that
demands dispatch
!
How
much
IS
to
be done
My
life's
hopes and fears

nari'ow verge
!
Start up alarm d, and o'er
Look down
On what
!
fathomless abyss
dread eteniity
how
surely nnne
And
can eternity belong to me.

the bounties of an hour
?
Poor pensioner on
How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, How complicate, how wonderful man How passing wonder HE, who made him such
is
A\'lio centred in
our make such strange extremes
FiDin
(liflerent
natures marvellously mix'd,

distant
Connexion exquisite of
Distinguish'd link
in
worlds!
being's endle.ss chain'

to the
Midway
beam Though
from nothing
Deity
ethereal, sullied,
sullied
and absorb'd
still
and dishonour'd,
d\\ ine
Dim
miniature of greatness absolute
An
heir of glory
a
!
frail
child of dust
!
Helpless immortal
insect infinite
1
v.'orm
in
God
am
at
tremble
at mjself,
v^
And
And
myself
lost
At home
a stranger.
Thought Avanders up and down,

wond'ring
her
surprised, aghast.
what
a miracle to
own how man is man.

: !
reason reels
Triumphantly distress'd
what
joy,
what dread
!
Alternately transported, and alarm'd
What can preserve my life ? or what destroy ? An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave
Legions of angels
can't confine
:
me
there.
'Tis past conjecture
all
things rise in proof
While
o'er
my
limbs sleep's soft dominion spread
* What, though
my
;
soul fantastick measures trod
O'er fairy
fields
or mourn'd along the gloom

;
Of
pathless
woods
or
down
the
craggy steep
Hurl'd headlong,
swam
with pain the mantled pool
Or scaled the cliff; or danced on hollow winds. With antick shapes wild nati\es of the brain ? Her ceaseless flight, though devious, speaks her Of subtler essence than the trodden clod
x\ctive, aerial, toAv'ring,
nature
unconfined,
fall.
Unfetter'd wuth her gross companion's
Even silent Even silent For human

Dull sleep
night proclaims
my
soul immortal
night proclaims eternal day.
weal.
Heaven husbands
all
events
instructs,
nor sport vain dreams
in vain.
?
Why then their loss deplore that are not lost Why wanders wretched thought their tombs around.
im^
^CBih,-.
^î^--
; :
In infidel distress
Are
angels there
? ?
Slumbers, raked up
in dust,
ethereal fire
life
They
live
they greatly live a

!
on earth
Unkindled, unconceived
and from an eye

fall
Of On
tenderness, let heavenly pity
me, more justly number'd with the dead.

is
This
the desart, this the solitude
How
This
populous,
is
how
vital,
is
the grave
creation's melancholy vault.
The The
All,
vale funereal, the sad cypress
gloom
!
land of apparitions, empty shades

all
on earth
:
is
shadow,
all
beyond
creed
:
Is substance
the reverse
is folly's
How
The
solid
is
all,
where change bud of

yet
shall
be no more
This
the
being, the
dim dawn.
twilight of our day, the vestibule

is
Life's theatre as
shut,
and death.
Strong death alone can heave the massy bar. This gross impediment of clay remove.
And make From real
us,
life,
embryos of
but
little
existence, free.
more remote
Is he, not yet a candidate for light.
The future embryo, slumb'ring in his sire Embryos we must be, till we burst the shell.
Yon
ambient azure
shell,
and sprmg to
!
life.
The life of gods, O transport Yet man, fool man here

!
and of man.
all his
:
buries
thoughts
Inters celestial hopes without one sigh
Pris'ner of earth, and pent beneath the moon.
Here
pinions
all
his
wishes
wing'd by heaven
! !;
To fly at infinite and reach it there. Where seraphs gather immortality On life's fair tree, fast by th^ throne of GOD. What golden jojs ambrosial clust'ring glow
;
In
HIS
full
beam, and ripen for the just

!
Where momentary ages are no more Where time, and pain, and chance, and death And is it in the flight of threescore years. To push eternity from human thought. And smother souls immortal in the dust ?
expire
soul immortal, spending
all
her
fires.
Wasting her
strength in strenuous idleness,
Thrown into tumult, raptured, or alarm'd At aught this scene can threaten, or indulge.
Resembles ocean
into
tempest wrought.
fly.
To
waft a feather, or to drown a
Where falls this censure ? It o'erwhelms myself: How was my heart incrusted by the world O how self-fetter'd was my groveling soul How, like a worm, was I wrapt round and round
In silken thought, which reptile fancy spun
Till darken'd reason lay quite
clouded o'er
With
soft conceit
of endless comfort here.

!
Nor yet
put forth her wings to reach the skies
Night- visions may befriend, as sung above
Our waking dreams
how I dreamt are fatal Of things impossible could sleep do more ? Of joys perpetual in perpetual change Of stable pleasures on the tossing wave
:
Eternal sunshine
in
the storms of
life
:!
How
richly
were
mj
noontide trances
hung
With gorgeous
Joy behind
* Till
at
tapestries of pictured jojs,

!
joj, in endless perspective

toll,
Death's
whose
restless iron
tongue
Calls daily for his millions at a meal.
Starting I 'woke, and found mjself undone.
Where's now my frenzy's pompous furniture The cobweb'd cottage, with its ragged wall Of mould' ring mud, is royalty to me The spider's most attenuated thread,
:
Is cord,
is
cable, to man's tender tie

;
On
earthly bliss
it
breaks
at
every breeze.
ye
blest scenes of
permanent delight
Full, above
measure
lasting,
is bliss.
beyond bound
perpetuity of bliss,
Could you, so
rich in rapture, fear an end.

all
That ghastly thought would drink up
your joy.
"J**
'~"~tj!njr'iy
And
The
quite unparadise the realms of light.
Safe are
baleful influence of
you lodged above these rolling spheres whose giddy dance

all
Sheds sad vicissitude on
beneath.
Here teems
witli revolutions
;
every hour.
And
rarely for the better
or the best.
births of fate
More
mortal than the
common
Each moment has
its sickle,
emulous
each moment plays
Of
His
time's
enormous scythe, whose ample sweep

;
Strikes empires from the root

little
weapon
in the
narrower sphere
Of
sweet domestick comfort, and cuts down

fairest
The
bloom of sublunary
bliss.
!;
::
!;
4,
Bliss
sublunary
bliss
proud words,
!
and vain
Implicit treason to divine decree
A O
*
bold invasion of the rights of heaven
I clasp'd the
phantoms, and
it
found them
air
had I weigh'd
ere
my
fond embrace.
What
darts of agonj had miss'd

!
my
!
heart
thine
Death
great propi'ietor of
all
'tis
To
tread out empire, and to quench the stars
The sun
himself by thy permission shines

shalt pluck
And, one daj, thou
him from
his sphere.
Amidst such
niightj plunder, wliy exhaust
Thj
partial qui\er
on a mark so mean
Whj
Thy And
thj peculiar rancour wreak'd on

!
me
?
Insatiate archer
shaft
could not one suffice
Hew
!
thrice
and thrice
my
peace
fiU'd
was
slain
thrice, ere thrice
jon moon had

?
her honi.
Cynthia
whj
so pale
dost thou lament
Tliy wretched neighbour
grieve to see thy wheel
Of
ceaseless change outwhirfd in
human
lile ?
!
How
wanes
my
borrow'd
!
bliss
from fortune's smile
Precarious courtesj
not virtue's sure,
Self-given, solar ray of sound delight.
In ever)' varied postuiv, place, and hour.
How
widow'd every thought of everj joy

!
Thought, busj thought
too
busy
for
mj
peace.
Through
the dark postern of time long elapsed.
Led Led
softly;
like a
by
the stillness of the night.

it
murderer, and such

!
proves
Strays, wretched rover
o'er the pleasing past

;
In quest of wretchedness perversely strays
#.
'ii:-J^Mfi^'^'^-^^^^
And finds all desert now and meets the Of my departed jojs, a numerous train I rue the riches of my former fate
;
:
ghosts
Sweet comfort's blasted
clusters I lament:
I tremble at the blessings once so dear;
every pleasure pains me to the heart. Yet whj complain ? or why complain for one Hangs out the sun his lustre but for me. The single man ? are angels all beside ? I mourn for millions 'tis the common lot
And
In
this shape,
or in that, has fate entail'd

all
The mother's throes on Not more the children,
of
woman
born.
than sure heirs of pain.

fire.
War,
famine, pest, volcano, storm, and
Intestine broils, oppression, with her heait
Wrapp'd up
in triple brass, besiege
mankind
GOD's
There,
image, disinherited of day.

in
Here, plunged
mines, forgets a sun was
made
beings, deathless as their
haughty
life
lord.
Are hammer'd
to the galling oar for
And
plough the winter's wave, and reap despair

for hard masters
Some,
broken under arms.
In battle lopp'd away, with half their limbs
Beg
bitter
bread through realms their valour saved.
If so the tyrant, or his minions doom.
Want and incurable disease, fell pair On hopeless multitudes remorseless seize
!
At
once
and make a refuge of the grave

!
How
What
groaning hospitals eject their dead
numbers groan
for sad admission there
!:
10
What
To
numbers, once
in fortune's lap
high-fed.
Solicit the cold
hand of charity
shock us more
solicit
it
!
in
vain
Ye silken sons You rue more
of pleasure
since in pains
visit
:
modish
visits,
here.
/^
And
your debauch give, and reduce but so great Surfeit's dominion o'er you Your impudence, you blush at what is right.
breathe from
Happy did sorrow seize on such alone Not prudence can defend, or virtue save
!
* Disease invades the chastest temperance,
And
punishment the guiltless
and alarm.
\V
.)
Through thickest shades pursues the fond of peace. Man's caution often into danger turns. And, his guard falling, crushes him to death. Not happiness itself makes good her name
Our very
wishes give us not our wish
How
From
The
distant oft the thing

that for
we
doat on most,
felicity
its
which we doat,
smoothest course of nature has

tiniest friends,
pains
rest.
And
Without misfortune And what hostilities
what without
of
fail,
through error, wound our

calamities
!
a foe
Nor
But
are foes wanting to the best on earth

endless
is
the
list
human
ills.
And
Is
sighs might sooner

part
than cause to sigh.
how small of the terraqueous the rest a waste tenanted by man

! ;
globe
Rocks,
deserts, frozen seas, and burning sands
Wild
haunts of monsters, poisons, stings, and death
l,r^
--iUji.

::
;: ;
II
Such
is
earth's melancholy
is
More
sad, this earth
map but, far true map of man

!
So bounded
are
its
haughty
;
lord's delights
To
where deep troubles toss. Loud sorrows howl, envenom'd passions bite. Ravenous calamities our vitals seize.
woe's wide empire
And threatening fate wide opens to devour. What then am I, who sorrow for mjself ?
In age,
Is
all
in infancy,
from others
aid
our hope
to teach us to be kind
last
That, nature's
first,
lesson to mankind
it
The
selfish heart
deserves the pain
feels
;
More generous sorrow, while it sinks, exalts And conscious virtue mitigates the pang Nor virtue, more than prudence, bids me give
Swoln thought a second channel
;
wno
divide.
They weaken
Take
then,
too the torrent of their grief
world
is
How
To
sad a sight
thy muchr indebted human happiness

!
tear
those,
whose thought can pierce beyond an hour

art,
thou! whate'er thou
whose heart exults!
Wouldst thou I should congratulate thy fate ? thy pride demands it from me 1 know thou wouldst
;
Let thy pride pardon, what thy nature needs
The salutary censure of a friend. Thou happy wretch by blindness

!
thou art blest
By
dotage dandled to perpetual smiles

smiler, at thy peril art thou pleased
is
Know,
Thy
pleasure
the promise of thy pain
Misfortune, like a creditor severe.
;;: :
But
rises in
demand
for her delay;
She makes
a scourge of past prosperity
To
sting thee more, and double thv disti'ess.
Lorenzo, fortune makes her court
to thee
:
Thj
Dear
I
fond heart dances, while the syren sings

is
thy welfare
think
me
not unkind,
would not damp, but

that fear
is
to secure thy joys
Think not
Is heaven
sacred to the storm

fate.
Stand on thy guard against the smiles of
tremendous
in its fro\\Tis
most sure
And
*
in its
favours formidable too
Its fa\ours
here are
trials,
not rewards
call to duty,
not discharge from care
And should alarm us, full as much as woes Awake us to their cause and consequence And make us tremble, weigh'd with our desert.
Awe
To
nature's tumults, and chastise herjoys.
Lest, while
we
clasp,
we
kill
them
their
nay, in\ert
worse than simple misery
charms
Revolted joys,
like foes in civil
war.
d,
Like bosom friendships to resentment sour

"With rage envenom'd
rise against
our peace.
;
Beware what
earth calls happiness
beware
:
All jovs, but joys that never can expire
"Who builds on less than an immortal base, Fond as he seems, condemns his joys to death. Mine died with thee. Philander thy last
!
sigh
Dissohed
Lost
all
the
charm
the disenchanted earth

glitt'ring
all
her lustre: where her

?
towers?
Her
golden mountains where
darken'd
down
^T'
To
naked waste
a dreaiy vale of
teai's
The
great magician's dead! thou poor pale piece
Of outcast earth From yesterday
in
darkness
what a change
thy darling hope so near,
Long-labour'd prize,
how
ambition flush'd
Thy glowing cheek Of virtuous praise

Smiled
at
ambition, truly great,

death's subtle seed within.
!
Sly, treacherous miner
working
the dark.
thj well-concerted scheme, and beckon'd

to riot on that rose so red,
it fell
The worm
Man's
?s.
Unfaded ere
one moment's prey

conditionally wise
;
foresight
is
LoRzxzo
wisdom
into folly turns

its
is
Oft, the first instant
idea fair
^Mn
To
*
lab'ring thought
born
how dim
our eye
The
present
moment
terminates our sight
Clouds, thick as those on doomsday, drown the next
"We penetrate, we prophesy in vain Time is dealt out by particles and each. Ere mingled with the streaming sands of
:
life.
f')
By
fate's inviolable
oath
is
sworn
be,
Deep
silence,
" where eternity begins."
By
nature's law,
what may
in
may be now
There's no prerogative
human hours
In human hearts what bolder thought can rise. Than man's presumption on to-morrow's dawn ?
Where
is
to-morrow
in
another world
;
For numbers
this is certain
;
the reverse
this
Is sure to none
and yet on
perhaps.
lies.
This peradventure
infamous for
;:
14-
As on a rock of adamant we build Our mountain hopes spin our eternal As we the fatal sisters would outspin,
;
schemes.
And, big with
life's futurities,
expire.
his shroud.
:
Not even Philander had bespoke
Nor
had he cause
a warning
was denied
!
How
many
fall
as
sudden
not as safe
As sudden, though for years admonish'd Of human ills the last extreme beware.
Beware, Lorenzo
!
home.
slow-sudden death
!
How
dreadful that deliberate surprise
Be wise to-day, 'tis madness to defer Next day the fatal precedent will plead Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life
;
Procrastination
is
it
the thief of time

steals,
till all
Year
after
year
are fled leaves
And
The
That
to the mercies of a
moment
vast concerns of an eternal scene
If not so frequent,
'tis
would not
is
this
be strange
still.
so frequent, this
stranger
Of man's miraculous mistakes, this bears The palm, " That all men are about to live" For ever on the brink of being born.
All pay themselves the compliment to think
They one day
shall not drivel
and their pride

praise.
On
At
this
reversion takes up ready
least their
own,
their future selves applauds

life
How
excellent that
they ne'er
Avill
lead
Time lodged
That lodged
in tneir
in fate's,
own hands
to
is folly's
veils
wisdom they consign
;;
; : :
15
The
thing they can't but purpose, they postpone
'Tis not in folly, not to scorn a fool
And
scarce in
is
human wisdom
to
do more
All promise
poor dilatory man.

:
And
In
that
through every stage
when young,
rest,
indeed.
full
content
we sometimes
;
nobly
Unanxious
for ourselves
and only wish.

wise
As duteous sons, our fathers were more At thirty man suspects himself a fool Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan
;
At
In
fifty
chides his infamous delay.

his
Pushes
all
prudent purpose to resolve
the magnanimity of thought

;
Resolves, and re-resolves
then dies the same.
And why ?
All
because he thinks himself immortal

all
men
think
;
Themselves
when some alarming shock of

wounded
men
mortal, but themselves

fate
Strikes through their
hearts the sudden dread
But their hearts wounded, like the wounded air, Soon close where pass'd the shaft no trace is found. As from the wing no scar the sky retains The parted wa\e no furrow from the keel So dies in human hearts the thought of death Even with the tender tear which nature sheds
;
O'er those
we
love,
we
drop
it
in their
grave.
Can
I forget
full
Philander?
!
that
I
were strange:
give
it
O my
And
heart
but should
my
vent,
* The longest night though longer

the lark listen to
far,
would
fail.
midnight song.
: !
! ;
TB
The
I strive,
sprightly lark's shrill matin
wakes
the
mom.
Griefs sharpest thorn hard pressing on
my
breast
with wakeful melody, to cheer
The
sullen gloom,
sweet philomel
;
like thee,
And
call the stars to listen
every star
:
Is deaf to mine, enamour'd of thy lay
Yet be
not vain
there are,
who
:
thine excel.
And charm
through distant ages

!
wrapp'd
in shade,
Pris'ner of darkness
to the silent hours.
How
To
often I repeat their rage divine.
lull
my
griefs,
and
steal
my
heart from
fire
woe
!
I roll their raptures,
but not catch their
Dark, though not

Or, Milton
!
blini, like thee

;
Maeonides
thee
ah,
could
reach your strain
Or
his,
who made Maeonides
our own
I sing
life
;
Man
too he sung
immortal
man
* Oft bursts
my
song beyond the bounds of

?
What
now, but immortality, can please

his
O O
had he press'd
theme, pursued the track.
Which
Soar'd,
opens out of darkness into day

his Aving
had he mounted on
of
fire,
!
where
it
I sink,
and sung immortal man
How
had
bless'd mankind, and rescued
me
i^. l^'J^.r :itt^xrj~,u.
,,t
\i,A-U.r^.
\1
/
\
1
70I/T//r SErrjAB
.
ox
:sl
E,
'
DEATH
A>D
\
///
-'^-.
"^^
FRIENDSHIP.
.^
l.
\
19
NIGHT THE SECOND.
smote by that eye the cock crew, he wept" "Which looks on me, on all that power, who bids
;
When
This midnight centinel, with clarion shrill, * Emblem of that which shall awake the dead.
Rouse
And,
I
souls from slumber into thoughts of heaven
Shall I too
weep
where then
is
fortitude
is
fortitude abandon' d,
where
life is
man ?
light
know
that
the terms on
is
which he sees the

;
He
born,
is
listed
:
war.
it
Eternal war with
Deserves
it
least
let
on
woe
who
bears
best.
other themes
I'll
dwell.
Lorenzo
me
turn
my
thoughts on thee.
profit; profit there,
And
Of
thine,
on themes may
"Where most thy need
themes, too, the genuine growth

:
dear Phil.\xder's dust

still
he,
thus,
?
though dead.
May
befriend.
What themes
time's
wondrous
price,
Death, friendship, and Phil.\xder's
final scene.
20
So could
Thine
touch these themes, as might obtain
ear, nor leave
thy heart quite disengaged.

delight
iris
;
The good deed would
me
half impress
On my
*
I
dark cloud an
-.
Call glorj
and from grief

fate ?
?
dost thou
say'st
it
mourn Phi lander's

:
know thou
is
says thj
life
the same
He
mourns the dead, who
lives as they desire.
Where
that thrift, that avarice of time,

!
O
O
glorious avarice
thought of death inspires.

r
As rumour'd
time
!
robberies endear our gold
than gold
more sacred
;
more
a load
Than
A\''hat
lead, to fools
and
fools
reputed wise
?
!
moment granted man without account

in
What
Our
years are squander'd, wisdom's debt unpaid
wealth
days
all
due
to that discharge. he's at the door.
Haste, haste, he
Insidious death
!
lies in wait,
should his strong hand arrest.

;
No
composition sets the pris'ner IVee
Eternitv's inexorable chain
Fast binds, and vengeance claims the
full
!
arrear.
How
late I
shudder'd on the brink

in
how
!
late
Life call'd for her last refuge

!
despair
That time is mine, O Mead to thee Fain would I pay thee with eternity
I oA\'e
But
ill
my
genius answers
is
my
desire
:
My sickly song
Accept the
will
mortal, past thy cure
that dies not with
my strain.
not
For what calls thy disease, Lorenzo ? For esculapian, but for moral aid Thou think'st it folly to be wise too soon.
:
21
Youth
is
not rich in time

it
it
Part with
as with
in
money
maj
be,
;
poor
sparing
pay
;
No
moment but
its
it
purchase
of
its Avôrth
;
And what
Part with
worth, ask death-beds

life
as Avith
they
big
caji tell
reluctant
"With holy hope of nobler time to come
Time highex aim'd, Of men and angels
still
nearer the great
mark
?
;
virtue
more
divine.
Is this our duty, wisdom, glory, gain
These Heaven benign
in vital
union binds
And
sport Ave like the natives of the bough,

A-ernal
When
And
suns inspire
;
amusement reigns
is
Man's great demand

is it
to trifle
to live
?
then a
trifle
too
to die
Thou
AVhat,
if
say'st I preach,
Lorenzo
'tis
confess'd
?
?
for once I preach thee quite aAvake
Who
Is
it
Avants
amusement
in
the flame of battle
not treason to the soul immortal.

foes in arms, eternity the prize
?
Her
Will toys amuse, Avhen med'cines cannot cure
When
As To
spirits ebb,
Avhen
life's
enchanting scenes
Their lustre
lose,
and lessen
in
our sight.
lands and cities Avith their glitt'ring spires.

the poor shatter'd bark,
off to sea,
?
by sudden storm
;
ThroAvn
Will toys amuse
And earth and skies Redeem Ave time ? What pleads LoRrcJZO
No seem
:
and soon to perish there

thrones
Avill
then be toys,
dust upon the scale.
Its loss Ave dearly
buy
for his high-prized sports

;
He
pleads time's
numerous blanks
he loudly
i)leads
;;
: ;
22
The straw -like
trifles
on
life's
common stream
trifles,
From whom
those blanks and

trifle
but from thee
No
blank, no
nature made, or meant.

still
Virtue, or purposed virtue,
be thine
This cancels thj complaint

In act no
trifle,
at once, this leaves

in
and no blank
fills,
time
all
This greatens,
This, the good
immortalizes
all
This, the blest art of turning

heaz't's
to gold;
prerogative to raise
;
royal tribute from the poorest hours

!
Immense revenue every moment pays. If nothing more than purpose in thy power
Thy
Does
purpose firm,
is-
equal to the deed:
Who
does the best his circumstaiice allows,

well, acts nobly;
act,'
angels could no more.
Our outward
Guard
indeed, admits restraint
'Tis not in things o'er thought to domineer
well thy thought
our thoughts are heard
in
heaven.
On
all-important time, through every age.

the wise have
Though much, and warm,

" I've
lost a
urged
the
man
Is yet unborn, Avho duly weighs an hour.
day"
the prince
who
nobly cried.
Had been Of Rome
an emperor without his

?
crown
race
;
say rather, lord of

if
human
:
He
spoke, as
all
deputed by mankind
;
So should
speak
so reason speaks
in all
From
the soft whispers of that

fly to folly,
God
in
man.
Why
why
!
to frenzy fly.
For rescue from
the blessings
we
possess
;
Time, the supreme
Time
is
etemity

;;
23
Pregnant with
all all
eteniity can give

that
Pregnant with
makes archangels smile
Who
murders
time, he crushes in the birth
A power ethereal,
Ah
!
only not adored.
how
unjust to nature and himself.
Is thoughtless, thankless, inconsistent
man
Like children babbling nonsense in their sports, * censure nature for a span too short
We
That span too

Torture
short,
we
tax as tedious too

tire.
invention,
all
expedients
To And
For
lash the ling' ring
moments
into speed.
!
whirl us, happy riddance

!
from ourselves.
Art, brainless art
our furious charioteer.
nature's voice unstifled
would
recall,
Drives headlong tow'rds the precipice of death

Death, most our dread
;
deatli thus
!
more dreadful made
what a
is
riddle of absurdity
Leisure
pain
take off our chariot-wheels.
How
It
heavily
we
is
drag the load of

;
life
Blest leisure
our curse
;
like that
of Cain,
makes us wander
fly that tyrant,
wander
earth around
To
thought.
As
Atlas groan'd
The world
beneath,
we
groan beneath an hour
We cry for mercy to the next amusement

The
next amusement mortgages our fields
!
Slight inconvenience
prisons hardly frown

;
From
hateful time if prisons set us free
Yet when
Ages
to
death kindly tenders us

;
relief.
We call him cruel

years
:
years to moments shrink.

is
the telescope
turn'd.
; ;
:;
24
To
man's false opticks, from his folly * Time, in advance, behind him hides
false,
his
wings.
:
And
But
seems
to creep decrepit with his age

;
Behold him, when past by

his
all
what then
is
seen.
?
broad pinions swifter than the winds

mankind,
aghast
in
And
contradiction strong.
Rueful
cry out on his career.
Leave
to thj foes these errors,
and these
ills
To
nature just, their cause and cure explore.

short Heaven's bountj, boundless our expence
;
Not
No
niggard nature
men
are prodigals
;
We
And
waste, not use our time

is
we
breathe, not live

:
Time wasted
existence, used
is life
bare existence, man, to live ordain'd.
Wrings and oppresses with enormous weight And why ? since time was given for use, not waste,
Enjoin'd to fly
;
with tempest,
tide,
and stars
:
To
keep
his speed,
nor ever wait for man

;
Time's use was doom'd a pleasure
waste, a pain
;
That man might
feel his error,
if
unseen
;
And,
feeling,
fly to
labour for his cure
Not, blund'ring,
split
on idleness for ease.

such by Heaven design'd
Life's cares are comforts,
He
that has none,
must make them, or be wretched

;
Cares are employments
and without employ

;
The
soul
is
on the rack
;
the rack of rest.

action
all
To
souls most adverse
their joy.
Here, then, the riddle mark'd above, unfolds
Then time
turns torment,
when man turns
a fool
;
We
rave,
we
wrestle with great natui'e's plan
; :
; :
25
We
Our
thwart the thwart
DEITY
and
'tis
decreed.
Who
his will shall contradict their
own
;
Hence our
unnatural quarrel with oursehes

at
thoughts
enmitj
us,
our bosom-broil and
We
Life
push time from
we
;
wish him back

life
;
Lavish of lustrums, and jet fond of
we
think long, and short

soul,
like peevish
death seek, and shun

wife.
Body and
United
jar,
man and
and jet are loth to part.

!
Oh
the dark dajs of \anitj

!
while here.
!
How
tasteless
!
and
Gone thej ne'er The spirit walks of everj daj deceased

;
how terrible when gone go when past, thej haunt

;
us
still
And Nor And
smiles an angel, or a furj frowns

death, nor
life
delight us
if
time past.
?
time possess'd, both pain us, what can please

the
That which
DEITY
man who
to please ordain'd
Time used
the
consecrates his hours
Bj
A'igorous effort and an honest aim.
At once
he draws the sting of
life
and death
He
walks with nature
and
her paths are peace.

:
Our
error's cause and cure are seen

origin,
see next
Time's nature,
importance, speed
And
tlij
great gain from virging his career.
All-sensual man, because untouch'd, unseen.
He
looks on time as nothing

;
nothing else
a
Is truly man's
'tis
fortune's
Time's
God
?
Hast thou
ne'er heard of time's omnipotence
For, or against, what wonders can he do
And
will
to stand blank neuter he disdains.
^^fe
i"
26
Not on
those terms
was
time, heavien's stranger, sent
On
his
important embassy to man.

!
Lorenzo
no
on the long-destined hour.
From
"When
everlasting ages
growing
ripe.
That memorable hour of wondrous

the
birth,
DREx\D SIRE,
on emanation bent.
And
big with nature, rising in his might,
Call'd forth creation,- for then time
was
born.
By
godhead streaming through a thousand worlds

of hea\'en.
Not on those terms, from the great days From old eternity's mysterious orb, The
"Was time cut off, and cast beneath the skies skies, which Avatch him in his new abode,
;
* Measuring
his
motions by revolving spheres
That horologe machinery divine

Hours, days, and months, and years,
Like numerous wings, around him,
his children play.
;
as he flies
Or
rather, as unequal
plumes they shape
His ample
pinions, swift as darted flame.
To
gain his goal, to reach his ancient rest.

eternity his sire
;
And join anew
In his immutability to nest,
When
To
worlds, that count his circles now, unhinged.
Fate the loud signal sounding, headlong rush

timeless night and chaos,
whence they
rose.
Why
Know'st
spur the speedy
why
with
levities
?
?
New-wing
thy short, short day's too rapid flight
thou, or
what thou
dost, or
what
is
done
Man
flies
from time, and time from man, too soon

;
In sad divorce this double flight must end
'<#' /?
27
And Thy Not Thy

Has
then,
where
ai'e
we
where, Lorexzo, then

grant thee,
in a state
sports
thy pomps
;
? I
unambitious
in the ruffled
shroud.
:
parian tomb's triumphant arch beneath
death his fbpj)eries
then well
may
life
Put on her plume, and in her rainbow shine. Ye well-ai'raj'd ye lihes of our land
!
!
Ye
As As
lilies
male
who
might
neither
;
toil,
sister lilies
nor spin.
if
not so wise
Solomon, more sumptuous to the sight

delicate
!
Ye
The
who
nothing can support.

!
Yourselves most insupportable
for
whom
winter rose must blow, the sun put on
A brighter
And And
beam
in
Leo,
silky-soft
Favonius breathe
still
softer,
or be chid
other worlds send odours, sauce, and song.

robes, and notions framed in foreign looms
!
O ye
One Not For For For
LoRExzos of our age
who deem
moment luiamused, a misery made for feeble man who call aloud every bauble, drivell'd o'er by sense.
;
rattles
and conceits of every

follies
cast.
change of
and relays of joy.
To Of
drag your patience through the tedious length

a short winter's
;
Wit's oracles
say
day dreamers
say
fail ?
sages
say
;
of gay dreams
How
*
will
you weather
an eternal night.
Where
such expedients
treacherous conscience! while she seems to sleep
On
rose and myrtle, luU'd with syren song
28
While she seems, nodding
o'er her charge, to
drop
On headlong And gWe us

Unmark'd
;
appetite the slacken'd rein.
up
to licence,
unrecall'd,
see,
from behind her secret stand,
The And Not
slj informer minutes e\ery fault,
her dread diarj with horror

the gross act alone
fancy's
fills
employs her pen

air^'
She reconnoitres
band,
watchful foe
the Ibrmidable spy,
List'ning, o'erhears the whispers of
our camp
Our dawning purposes
of heart explores,
And steals our embryos of iniquity. As all-rapacious usurers conceal

Their doomsday-book from all-consuming Thus, with indulgence most severe she
heirs.
treats
Us
spendthrifts of inestimable time
Unnoted, notes each moment misapplied
In leaves more durable than leaves of brass.
Writes our whole
history
which death
shall
read
In every pale delinquent's private ear.
And judgment
Than
Such
this
;
publish
publish to
in
more worlds
and endless age
groans resound.
Lorenzo, such
is
that sleeper in thy breast

;
her slumber
and her vengeance such

;
For
slighted counsel
think'st
such thy
lavish
is
future peace
And
thou
still
thou canst be wise too soon
But why on time so
my
song
On To
this
great theme kind nature keeps a school.
teach her sons herself: each night

are born
we
a
die,
life
Each morn
anew
each day
29
And
shall
we
kill
each day
:
If trifling kills.
Sure vice must butcher
what heaps of
!
slain
Cry out
for
vengeance on us
time destroj'd
is
Is suicide,
where more than blood

death urges, knells
:
spilt:
Time
flies,
call,
heaven
all
invites;
Hell threatens
all
exerts
in effort,
!
labours more ? More than creation labours And is there in creation, what, amidst
This tumult universal, wing'd dispatch.
And
ardent energy, supinely

sleeps
yawns
Man
Fate
and man
alarm
alone
and man, whose
fate
irreversible, entire, extreme.
Endless, hair-hung, breeze-shaken, o'er the gulph
moment trembles
is in
drops
;
!
and man, for
whom
All else
man, the sole cause

and yet he sleeps.
Of this As the Throw

Heaven
surrounding storm
storm rock'd to
empires
's
rest.
Throw years away
and be
:
blameless
a
When
The
moment we may wish. bid day stand worlds want wealth to buy
on their wing
:
moments
?
seize
still.
Bid him drive back
his car,
and reimport
period past, regive the given hour.
Lorenzo, more than miracles we want
Lorenzo
Such
O
is
for yesterdays to
come
the language of the for
man awake
?
His ardour such,
what oppresses thee
And
is
his
ardour
vain,
Lorenzo
no,
;
That more than miracle
the gods indulge

;
To-day
is
yesterday return'd
return'd
raise,
Full-power'd to cancel, expiate,
adorn^
;; ;
: ;;
30
And
Let
reinstate us
it
on the rock of peace.

its
not share
predecessor
s fate
Nor,
Shall
like its elder sisters, die a fool

it
evaporate
in
fume
flj off
still ?
Fuliginous, and stain us deeper

Shall
we
be poorer for the plenty pour'd
More wretched for the clemencies of Where shall I find him ? angels
!
heaven
tell
me where?
You know
him
he
is
near
jou
point
him out
Shall I see glories
beaming from
his
brow
Or trace his footsteps hy the rising flowers ? Your golden wings, now hov'ring o'er him,
Protection
;
shed
now, are waving
in
applause
lord of fate
!
To
that blest son of foresight
That aweful independent on to-morrow

;
Whose work is done who triumphs in the past Whose yesterdays look backward with a smile.
Nor,
If not
like the Parthian,
wound him
lot
!
as they fly
That common, but opprobrious
past hours.
by
guilt,
yet wbund us by
their flight.
If folly bounds our prospect
by
the grave.
;
All feeling of futurity benumb'd
All god-like passion for eternals quench'd

All relish of
realities
expired
Renounced
all
correspondence with th6 skies

;
Our freedom
Prone
chain'd
quite wingless our desire

all
In sense dark-prison'd
to the centre
;
that
ought to soar
in
crawling
the dust
Dismounted every great and glorious aim
Embruted every
faculty divine
; !
31
1
Heart-buried
in
the rubbish of the world
The
world, that gulph of souls, immortal souls,

fire
Souls elevate, angelic, wing'd with

I
To On
reach the distant skies, and triumph there

thrones,
^:J
which
shall not
;
mourn
to
their masters changed.

fell.
Though we from
earth
ethereal, they that
Such veneration due,
O
is
man
this
man.
Who
;
venerate themselves, the world despise.

friend,
For what, gaj
escutcheon'd world,
?
Which
hangs out death
in
one etemal night
'
night, that
glooms us
in the
noon-tide raj.
And wraps
Life's
little
our thoiight,
stage
is
at
banquets, in the shroud.
a small eminence.
;
Inch-high the grave above
that
;
home of man.
;
Where
dwells the multitude

;
We read their monuments We sigh, we sink and are

;
we gaze around we sigh and while what we deplored

;
Lamenting, or lamented,
Is death at distance
?
all
our
:
lot
;
no
he has been on thee

final
And
given sure earnest of his
blow.
Those hours, which
lately smiled,
!
where
are they
all
now
Pallid to thought, and ghastly

I
drown'd,
drown'd
;
In that great deep, which nothing disembogues

I
And, dying, they bequeath'd thee small renown
The
I
rest are
on the wing
how
took
's
fleet their flight

fire
;
Already has the

I
fatal train
moment, and the world

is
blown up
to thee
The sun
darkness, and the stars are dust.
* 'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours.
And
ask them, what report they bore to heaven
"*^^-^;*S-;.^ V. -
_?
;;
32
And how
they might have borne more welcome news

call
Their answers form what men experience

If wisdom's friend, her best
;
if not,
worst
foe.
O
"
reconcile
them
kind experience cries,
There
's
nothing here, but what as nothing weighs

the
"
The more our joy,
more we know
it
vain
"
And by success are tutor'd to despair." Nor is it only thus, but must be so
Who
knows
not
this,
though graj,
is still
a child
Loose then from earth the grasp of fond
desire.
Weigh
anchor, and
some happier clime
explore.
Art thou so moor'd thou
canst not disengage,

?
Nor
give thy thoughts a ply to future scenes
Since,
hy
life's
passing breath, blown up from earth.
Light, as the summer's dust,
we
fall
take in air
A moment's
And
sleep
giddj
flight,
and
again
soil.
Join the dull mass, increase the trodden

'till
earth herself shall be no
more
Since then, as emmets, their small world o'erthrown.
We,
sore amazed, fiôm out earth's ruins crawl,
And rise to fate extreme of foul or fair. As man's own choice, controller of the skies As man's despotic will, perhaps one hour
O how
From
omnipotent
is
time
decrees
Should not each warning give a strong alarm-
Warning,
far less than that
of bosom torn
?
bosom, bleeding o'er the sacred dead

dial strike
Should not each
us as
we
pass.
Portentous, as the written wall which struck.
O'er midnight bowls, the proud Assyrian pale.
;;
v-îai
fî
Erewhile high-flush'd
* Like
"
"
tliat,
!
3:i
^\ itli
insolence and wine

;
the dial speaks

loth to
and points to thee,
o o
so
Lorenzo
break thy banquet up.

is
man,
thj-
kingdom
it
departing from thee
And, while
lasts,
is
;
emptier than
my
:
shade."
call
Its silent
language such
nor need'st thou

it
Thj magi, to decypher what Know, like the Median, fate

how ? whence Man's make encloses the
Dost
ask,
?
means
is in
thy walls
Belsha/^zar-like,
amazed
;
sure seeds of death

ingrate
!
Life feeds the murderer
he thrives
On
her o-wn meal, and then his nui"se devours.
But
That
It life
here,
Lorenzo, the delusion

it
lies
solar
shadow, as
:
measures
life.
resembles too
life
speeds away
still
From
Too
point to point, though seeming to stand

fugitive
is
The cunning
subtle
is
swift
by
stealth.
;
the
movement
to be seen
Yet soon man's hour is up, and we are gone. Warnings point out our danger gnomons, time As these are useless when the sun is set So those, but when more glorious reason shines
;
Reason should judge in That sedentary shadow
all
in
reason s eye.
:
travels hard
But such our So prone our
gravitation to the wrong.
hearts to whisper
what
wê wish,
;
'Tis later with the wise, than he's
aware
"Wilmington goes slower than the sun

all
Aiid
mankind mistake
itself:
their time of
day
E\en age
fresh hopes are hourly
sown

;:
;
34
In furrow'd brows
:
so gentle
life's
it is
descent.
We
"We
shut our eyes, and think

take
fair
a plain.
days
in
winter for the spring

:
And
turn our blessings into bane
since oft
Man must He scarce

Thus,
compute
that age he cannot feel.

's
believes he
older for his years
at life's latest eve,
we keep
in
store
One The
disappointment sure, to crown the rest

disappointment of a promised hour.
On this, or similar. Philander! thou. Whose mind was moral, as the preacher's tongue And strong to wield all science, worth the name
How
And
often
we
talk'd
down
by
the summer's sun.

the breezy stream
cool'd our passions
How
By
often thaw'd and shorten'd winter's eve.
conflict kind, that struck out latent truth.

;
Best found, so sought
to the recluse
more coy
;
Thoughts disentangle passing

Clean runs the thread
;
o'er the lip

'tis
if not,
thrown away.
Or
kept to
tie
up nonsense
fruitless
!
for a
song
stains
;
Song, fashionably
such as
The
fancy, and unhallow'd passion fires

saints to Cytherea's fane.
Chiming her
Lorenzo what a friend contains As bees mix'd nectar draw from fragrant flowers. So men from friendship, wisdom and delight Twins tied by nature if they part, they die. Hast thou no friend to set thy mind abroach ?
Know'st
thou,
!
Good sense will stagnate thoughts shut up, want And spoil, like bales imopen'd to the sun.
:
air.
;;
: :
:! !
r
35
Had
thought been
all,
sweet speech had been denied

!
Speech, thought's canal
speech, thought's criterion too

;
Thought
in the
mine may come forth gold or dross
When
'Twill
coin'd in words,
it
we know
its
real
worth
If sterling, store
for thy future use
buy thee benefit, perhaps reno\vn Thought too, deliver'd, is the more possess'd
* Teaching, we learn
;
and giving,
;
The
births of intellect
ventilates
we retain when dumb, forgot.

;
Speech
our
intellectual fire
Speech burnishes our mental magazine

Brightens for ornament, and whets for use.
What
numbers,
sheatli'd in erudition, lie
Plunged
to the hilts in venerable tomes.

;
And rusted who might have boi*ne an edge. And plaj'd a sprightly beam, if born to speech If bom blest heirs to half their mother's tongue
'Tis thought's exchange, which, like th' alternate
push
Of waves conflicting, breaks the learned scum. And defecates the student's standing pool.
In contemplation
'Tis poor as
is
his
proud resource
proud
bj
converse unsustain'd
field
:
Rude
thought runs wild in contemplation's

it
Converse, the menage, breaks
to the bit
Of due
restraint
and emulation's spur

rivals
Gives graceful energy, by
awed
Tis converse qualifies for solitude.
As exercise for salutary rest By that untutor'd, contemplation raves And nature's fool, by wisdom's is outdone.
;
::
36
Wisdom, though
richer than Peruvian mines.
And
sweeter than the sweet ambrosial hive.

?
What is she but the means of happiness That unobtain'd, than folly more a fool
melancholy
fool,
without her
bells.
Friendship, the means of wisdom, richly gives
The
precious end, which makes our

in zeal for
wisdom
wise.
Nature,
human
amitj.
:
Denies, or damps an undivided joj
Joy Joj
is
an import
-joy is
;
an exchange
calls for
!
flies
monopolists
!
it
two
Rich
fruit
heaven-planted
never pluck'd by one.
Needful
auxiliars are
our
friends, to give
To
social
man
true relish of himself.

in
Full on ourselves descending

Pleasure's bright
line.
beam
is
feeble in delight
Delight intense
is
taken by rebound
fire the breast.
Reverberated pleasures
Celestial happiness, whene'er she stoops
To visit earth, one shrine the goddess finds, And one alone, to make her sweet amends
For
absent heaven
the
bosom of
a friend
Where
Each
heart meets heart, reciprocally soft.
other's pillow to repose divine.
Beware
True
I
the counterfeit:
;
in passion's
flame
:
Hearts melt
but melt like

in
ice,
soon harder froze

:
love strikes root
reason, passion's foe

life
Virtue alone entenders us for
wrong her much
entenders us for ever
Of
friendship's fairest fruits, the fruit
most
fair
: ; :
Is virtue kindling at a rival
fire.
And, emulouslj rapid
in
her race.
strife
!
the soft enmity
endearing
This carries friendship to her noon-tide point.
And gives the rivet of eternity. From friendship, which outlives my
former themes.
!
Glorious surviver of old time, and death
From friendship thus, that flower of heavenly The wise extract earth's most hyblean bliss,
Superior wisdom crown'd with smiling joy.
seed.
But for whom blossoms this elysian flower Abroad they find, who cherish it at home.
Lorenzo
pardon what
and
my
love extorts.
An
honest love,
not afraid to frown.
Though choice of None clings more
follies fasten
on the great.
obstinate than fancy fond

is
mm
!
That sacred friendship
their easy prey
Caught by the wafture of
a golden lure.
Or
fascination of a high-born smile.
Their smiles, the great, and the coquet throw out
For
-Ml
other hearts, tenacious of their
And we
no
less of ours,
!
Ye fortune's cofferers You do your rent-rolls most felonious wrong. By taking our attachment to yourselves
Can gold
gain friendship
?
own when such the bait. ye powers of wealth
-^^
impudence of hope
As
well mere
man
an angel might beget

is
;
* Love, and love onh',
the loan lor love.
Lorenzo
pride repress
nor hope to find

in thee.
friend,
but what has found a friend
^î^/fi^j,
: :
!; : ;
38
All like the purchase
few
the price will pay
And this makes friends such miracles below. What if, since daring on so nice a theme,
I
shew
thee friendship delicate as dear.

?
Of
tender violations apt to die

will
Reserve
wound
all
it,
and distrust destroy

not thick on every bough,
at the core.
Deliberate on
things with thy friend
But
since friends
grow
Nor
every friend unrotten
First on thy friend deliberate with thyself;
Pause, ponder,
sift
not eager in the choice.

fix
till
Nor jealous
Well
of the chosen, fixing
Judge before
friendship, then confide

;
death
for thy friend
but nobler far for thee

for earth's highest prize
!
How
"
gallant
is
is
danger
all
A friend
Poor
"
worth
hazard
we
can run
;
the friendless master of a world

in
world
purchase for a friend
is
gain."
So sung
he, angels hear that angel sing
Angels from friendship gather half
their joy
So sung Philander,
In the rich ichor,
as his friend
went round
in the
generous blood
Of
Bacchus, purple god of joyous wit,
brow
solute,
and ever-laughing eye

health,
He
His
drank long
friend,
and virtue to
more,
;
his friend
who warm'd him

life
who more
inspired.
Friendship's the wine of
but friendship
ne^\',
Not such was
his,
is
neither strong nor pure.
for the bright complexion, cordial
warmth,
And
elevating spirit of a friend.
! ;
For
iwoiiU'
sumnKTs
ri]>cniiig
Uv
my
sale
All fcculeiuc oi ialsehood long tliroAvn tlown All social

\
irtiics rising in his .soul
As
crystal cicur, and smiling as thej rise
Here Rich
nectar fiows
to the
ta.stc,
it
sparkles
in
our sight
and gcniuno iVom the heart
High-flavoiii"'cl bliss for
gods
On
earth
how
lost
Pini-ANDER
too
on earth how
is
rai'e
no more.
?
Think'st thou the theme intoxicates m_y ov^ng
And
too
I loved
warm ? him much
wann
mv;
I cannot be
but
I love
him more.
Like birds whose beauties languish, half conceal'd,

Till,
mounted on the wing, their glossy plumes Expanded shine with azure, green and gold
;
How
His
blessings brighten as they take their flight
flight
Phii.ander took
his
upward
flight,
ir ever soul ascended
had he dropt.
That eagle genius
had he
!
let fail
One
feather as he flew
friends
I then
:
had wrote
What
might
flatter
prudent foes forbear
Rivals scarce damn; and Zoilus reprieve:
Yet what
can, I
must
it
were profane
To
quench a glory lighted

cast in
!
at the skies.
And
shadows
to
his illustrious close.
Sti-ange
the theme most affecting, tnost sublin\e,
Momentous most
man, shouki sleep unsung
And yet
it
sleeps
by genius unawaked
to the blush of wit.
!
Painim or
christian,
Man's highest triumph
man's profoundcst
fail
The
death-bed of the just is yet undrawn
;;
40
By
mortal hand
it
merits a divine
it,
* Angels should paint
angels ever there
There on a post of honour, and of joy. Dare I presume then ? buf Philander
bids.
And
glory tempts, and inclination

I struck
;
calls
Yet am
as struck the soul beneath

;
Aerial groves' impenetrable gloom
Or Or
in
some mighty
ruin's
solemn shade
poor unflatter'd kings
flame
:
gazing by pale lamps on high-born dust

;
In vaults
thin courts
ol"
Or
It
at the
midnight
altar's hallo\v'c
:
is
religion to proceed
enter,
pause
And
Is
it
awed, the temple of

?
my
theme
:
his death-bed
no
it is
his shrine
Behold him,
Is privileged
there, just rising to a god.
The chamber, where

beyond
life,
!
the
the good man meets common walk
his fate.
Of
virtuous
quite in the verge of heaven.

if not,
Fly, ye profane
di-aw near
^\'ith
awe,
Receiê the blessing, and adore the chance
That threw
in this
Bethesda your disease

despaii*your cure
:
If unrestored
by
this,
For
here resistless demonstration dwells

's
death-bed
a detecter of the heart
Here tired dissimulation drops her mask. Through life's grimace that mistress of the scene Here real and apparent are t}"' same You see the man you see his hold on heaven If sound his virtue, as Philanders sound. T 7 .^jg Qt ^g jagt moment; owns her triends
!
JmtUJid ^Jbu4- >7- b JtEA~l<- Ht yitl.'J Sr^
41
On
To
this side
death
and points them out to men

I
A lecture sclent,
Whatever
Virtue alone has
but of sovereign po%vcr

;
vice, confusion
and to virtue, peace.
farce the boastful hero plajs.

n-iajestj in
death
And
*
**
greater
still,
the
more
the tyrant frowns
Philaxdeu! he
No warning given'.incereinonious
life's
severe!)" frown'd
on thee:
fate
!
menc'ian joys A sudden rush frora " A wrench from we are we love from A restless bed of pain a pluncê opaque
!
all
all
*'
Bejond conjecture' feeble nature's dread " Strong reason's shudder at the dark utikjiov, n
'*
I
" "
"
sun extinguish'd
!
a just opening
v.'hat ?
grave
And oh
the last
?

last
ills,
Thought reach
the last, last
can words express

silence of a friend
'
Where
are those horrors, that amazcnient w^herc.

'.vhich singly
lîni
This hideous group of
shock
Demand from man

Through
Like the
I thotigh?
man
till
novv'.
nature's ^v3eck. through ^'anquish'd agonies.
stars strugg1ir>g
jc^'
?
through
this
midnight gloom.
!
What
gleams cf
the
frail
what more than human peace

?
Where, No, not
mortal
the poor abject
worm ?
in death,
is
the mortal to be found.

all.
His conduct
a legacy for
Richer than Mammon's. for
his single heir;

iiiin.
His
H!v
con'dbrters he comforrs; great in

unreuic'iant
With
grandeur gives, not jields

and closes
vZ-^h
y-.-.
ôr\ -'tblime
T-t
" "
-/r? '*/
.:/.-<../^
42
How
Whence
His
our hearts burnt within us

this
at the
scene
bra\c bound o'er
limits fix'd to
man
GOD
gaze
sustains
him
in his final
hour
His final hour brings glory to his, Man's glorj \ouchsafps
GOD
HEAVEN
We
we weep
strikes
;
to call her
own.
mix'd tears of grief and joy

;
Amazement
Christians adore
devotion bursts to flame
and infidels believe.
As some
While
tall
tower, or lofty mountain's brow

its
Detains the sun, illustrious from

rising vapours
height
and descending shades

vale
;
With damps and darkness drown the spacious Undamp'd by doubt, undarken'd by despair
Philander,
thus, augustly rears his head
At
that black hour, whicii general horror sheds
On
the low level of the inglorious throng Sweet peace, and heavenly hope, and humble joy Di%inely beam on his exalted soul,
Destruction
gild,
and rvowii him for ihe skies.
With
inconimunicable lustre bright.
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William Blake, Mystic

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William Blake, Mystic

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WILLIAM BLAKE, MYSTIC

YOUNG'S NIGHT THOUGHTS NIGHTS

DEATH'S DOOR, FROM BLAIR'S 'THE GRAVE'

William Blake, Mystic

of those belonging to the

world inside William Blake

understand the mystic soul of

a century ago, neglected and passed over

world, unless with their

culture they possess a soul capable of responding to

Blake's pictures, apart from their artistic merit.

not enough to possess

the mystical insight unless

who know and

appreciate his great talent

Tennyson became, the

a heaven in a wild flower,

palm of your hand. an hour.'

includes some knowledge of the science of psychology,

not repeat during his lifetime,

his figures of so fantastic a character, that

he only painted his

Blake, as they are to

a poet and also of those of an

Think what a unique

the great spirits of the world, for a great

some inexpressible way 'one' with

clothes as a true mystic ever does in the outer

speaks of the 'angels'

stood in his path

first Mr. which he saw one day when he was

be he wrote to his vision of light

how a an 'old man

rage, but rage in vain

the great Atlantic Mountains,

golden house on high

There they shine

in the choice of subject

would possibly have preferred exclusively engraving

possessed within him.

inner vision of the subject they propose to paint

excepting William Blake, have painted what to them

to-day that these objective mental visions do

those visions quite accurately

the visions came,

perhaps during the

night time, he would rise from his bed and

were, the vision

him, and once, on being asked what

can thus easily be seen that his work bears the

and true greatness, for the

objective mental visions are a resultant effect of the

to a level of spiritual insight

are pure in heart.

Allied with this visionary power, he possessed a

are typified by Blake in that

look of glad expectation which he has placed, not

was not the end

but the gateway to eternal

does not follow that only a mystical nature

can see beneath the surface of things, or alone possesses the

of catching the intensest