SHE spake, and lo! celestial radiance beam'd
Amid the air, such odours wafting now
As erst came blended with the evening gale,
From Eden's bowers of bliss. An angel form
Stood by the Maid; his wings, ethereal white,
Flash'd like the diamond in the noon-tide sun,
Dazzling her mortal eye: all else appear'd
Her Theodore.
Amazed she saw: the fiend
Was fled, and on her ear the well-known voice
Sounded, though now more musically sweet
Than ever yet had thrill'd her soul attuned,
When eloquent affection fondly told
The day-dreams of delight.
Lo! I am with thee, still thy Theodore!
Hearts in the holy bands of love combined,
Death has no power to sever. Thou art mine!
A little while and thou shalt dwell with me,
In scenes where sorrow is not. Cheerily
Tread thou the path that leads thee to the grave,
Rough though it be and painful, for the grave
Is but the threshold of eternity.
"Favour'd of Heaven, to thee is given to view These secret realms. The bottom of the abyss Thou treadest, Maiden. Here the dungeons are Where bad men learn repentance. Souls diseased Must have their remedy; and where disease Is rooted deep, the remedy is long
Thus the spirit spake,
And led the Maid along a narrow path,
Dark gleaming to the light of far-off flames,
More dread than darkness. Soon the distant sound
Of clanking anvils, and the lengthen'd breath
Provoking fire are heard: and now they reach
A wide expanded den where all around.
Tremendous furnaces, with hellish blaze,
Were burning. At the heaving bellows stood
The meagre form of Care, and as he blew
To augment the fire, the fire augmented scorch'd
His wretched limbs; sleepless for ever thus
He toil'd and toil'd, of toil no end to know
But endless toil and never-ending woe.
An aged man went round the infernal vault, Urging his workmen to their ceaseless task; White were his locks, as is the wintry snow
On hoar Plinlimmon's head. A golden staff
His steps supported: powerful talisman,
Which whoso feels shall never feel again
The tear of pity, or the throb of love.
Touch'd but by this, the massy gates give way,
The buttress trembles, and the guarded wall,
Guarded in vain, submits. Him heathens erst
Had deified, and bowed the suppliant knee
To Plutus. Nor are now his votaries few,
Even though our blessed Saviour hath himself
Told us, that easier through the needle's eye
Shall the huge camel pass, than the rich man
Enter the gates of heaven. "Ye cannot serve
Your God, and worship Mammon."
So spake the spirit, "know that these, whose hands
Round each white furnace ply the unceasing toil, C
Were Mammon's slaves on earth. They did not spare
To wring from poverty the hard-earn'd mite,
They robb'd the orphan's pittance, they could see
Want's asking eye unmoved; and therefore these,
Ranged round the furnace, still must persevere 65
In Mammon's service, scorch'd by these fierce fires,
Nor seldom by the overboiling ore
Caught; yet retaining still, to punishment
Converted here, their old besetting sin, :, !!
Often impatiently to quench their thirst,
Unquenchable, large draughts of molten gold
They drink insatiate, still with pain renew'd,
Pain to destroy."
So saying, her he led.
Forth from the dreadful cavern to a cell,
Brilliant with gem-born light. The rugged walls
Part gleam'd with gold, and part with silver ore 76 In milder radiance shone. The carbuncle
There its strong lustre like the flamy sun
Shot forth irradiate; from the earth beneath,
And from the roof there stream'd a diamond light;
Rubies and amethysts their glows commix'd
With the gay topaz, and the softer ray
Shot from the sapphire, and the emerald's hue,
And bright pyropus.
There on golden seats,
A numerous, sullen, melancholy train
Sat silent. "Maiden, these," said Theodore,
"Are they who let the love of wealth absorb
All other passions; in their souls that vice
Struck deeply-rooted, like the poison-tree
That with its shade spreads barrenness around.
"These, Maid! were men by no atrocious crime
Blacken'd, no fraud, nor ruffian violence;
Men of fair dealing, and respectable
On earth, but such as only for themselves
Heap'd up
their treasures, deeming all their wealth
Their own, and given to them, by partial Heaven,
To bless them only: therefore here they sit,
Possess'd of gold enough, and by no pain
Tormented, save the knowledge of the bliss
They lost, and vain repentance. Here they dwell,
Loathing these useless treasures, till the hour 101
Of general restitution."
And now arriv'd at such a gorgeous dome,
As even the pomp of eastern opulence
Could never equal: wandered through its halls 105
A numerous train; some with the red-swoln eye
Of riot, and intemperance-bloated cheek;
Some pale and nerveless, and with feeble step,
And eyes lack-lustre.
"Maiden!" said her guide,
"These are the wretched slaves of Appetite,
Curst with their wish enjoy'd. The epicure
Here pampers his foul frame, till the pall'd sense
Loathes at the banquet; the voluptuous here
Plunge in the tempting torrent of delight,
And sink in misery. All they wish'd on earth 115
Possessing here, whom have they to accuse
But their own folly, for the lot they chose?
Yet, for that these injured themselves alone,
They to the house of Penitence may hie,
And, by a long and painful regimen,
To wearied Nature her exhausted powers
Restore, till they shall learn to form the wish
Of wisdom, and Almighty Goodness grants
That prize to him who seeks it.”
Whilst he spake, The board is spread. With bloated paunch, and eyes Fat-swoln, and legs whose monstrous size disgraced The human form divine, their caterer, Hight Gluttony, set forth the smoaking feast. And by his side came on a brother form,
With fiery cheek of purple hue, and red
And scurfy-white, mix'd motley; his gross bulk,
Like some huge hogshead shapen'd, as applied.
Him had antiquity with mystic rites
Adored; to him the sons of Greece, and thine
Imperial Rome, on many an altar pour'd
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