4.

The Thoughts which I had known in youth return'd,
But, oh, how changed! a sad and spectral train:
And while for all the miseries past I mourn'd,

And for the lives which had been given in vain,
In sorrow and in fear I turn'd mine eye
From the dark aspects of futurity.

5.

I sought the thickest woodland's shade profound,
As suited best my melancholy mood,
And cast myself upon the gloomy ground.

When lo! a gradual radiance fill'd the wood;
A heavenly presence rose upon my view,
And in that form divine the aweful Muse I knew.

6.

Hath then that Spirit false perplex'd thy heart,
O thou of little faith! severe she cried.
Bear with me, Goddess, heavenly as thou art,
Bear with my earthly nature! I replied,
And let me pour into thine ear my grief:
Thou canst enlighten, thou canst give relief.

7.

The ploughshare had gone deep, the sower's hand
Had scatter'd in the open soil the grain;
The harrow too had well prepared the land;
I look'd to see the fruit of all this pain!..
Alas! the thorns and old inveterate weed
Have sprung again, and stifled the good seed.

8.

I hoped that Italy should break her chains,
Foreign and papal, with the world's applause,
Knit in firm union her divided reigns,

And rear a well-built pile of equal laws :
Then might the wrongs of Venice be forgiven,
And joy should reach Petrarca's soul in Heaven.

9.

I hoped that that abhorr'd Idolatry

Had in the strife received its mortal wound : The Souls which from beneath the Altar cry,

At length, I thought, had their just vengeance found; ..

In purple and in scarlet clad, behold

The Harlot sits, adorn'd with gems and gold! 1

10.

The golden cup she bears full to the brim

Of her abominations as of yore!

Her eyeballs with inebriate triumph swim;

Though drunk with righteous blood she thirsts for By the wild hands of bestial Anarchy,..

more,

Eager to reassert her influence fell,

And once again let loose the Dogs of Hell.

The homely but scriptural appellation by which our fathers were wont to designate the Church of Rome has been delicately softened down by latter writers. I have seen her somewhere called the Scarlet Woman, . . and Helen Maria Williams names her the Dissolute of Babylon.

Then might it seem that He who ordereth all
Doth take for sublunary things no care: ..
The burthen of that thought is more than I can bear.

not probable, or rather can any person doubt, that the écrasez rinfame, upon which so horrible a charge against him has been raised, refers to the Church of Rome, under this wellknown designation? No man can hold the principles of Voltaire in stronger abhorrence than I do,.. but it is an act of Let me here offer a suggestion in defence of Voltaire. Is it justice to exculpate him from this monstrous accusation.

Have touch'd those strings of joy which make us weep. Drink, and this mortal stound will pass away.

The Angel Death stood there in the open Gate of The obstructed path to give it free career. Heaven.