dest was at length liberated, when worn out with misery-and is supposed, in his joyless liberty, to tell, in this poem, the sad story of his imprisonment.
The annexed verses describe the sympathy of the unhappy brothers, the peculiar loveliness of the youngest, and the bitterness of sorrow with which the survivor deplored the fate of this "blooming Benjamin of the fa mily."
"We could not move a single pace,
We could not see each other's face,
But with that pale and livid light
That made us strangers in our sight;
And thus together-yet apart
Fettered in hand, but pined in heart ;
'Twas still some solace in the dearth
Of the pure elements of earth,
To hearken to each other's speech,
And each turn comforter to each,
With some new hope, or legend old,
Or song heroically bold;
But even these at length grew cold,
Our voices took a dreary tone,
An echo of the dungeon-stone,
A grating sound-not full and free
As they of yore were wont to be:
It might be fancy-but to me
They never sounded like our own.
I was the eldest of the three,
And to uphold and cheer the rest
I ought to do and did my best-
And each did well in his degree.
The youngest, whom my father loved,
Because our mother's brow was given
To him-with eyes as blue as heaven,
For him my soul was sorely moved;
And truly might it be distrest.
To see such bird in such a nest;
He was the favourite and the flower,
Most cherish'd since his natal hour,
His mother's image in fair face,
The infant love of all his race,
His martyred father's dearest thought,
My latest care, for whom I sought
To hoard my life, that his might be
Less wretched now, and one day free;
He, too, who yet had held untired
A spirit natural or inspired-
He, too, was struck, and day by day
Was withered on the stalk away.
Oh God! it is a fearful thing
To see the human soul take wing
In any shape, in any mood:-
I've seen it rushing forth in blood,
I've seen it on the breaking ocean
Strive with a swoln convulsive motion;
I've seen the sick and ghastly bed
Of sin delirious with its dread:
But these were horrors-This was wo
Unmix'd with such-but sure and slow ;
He faded, and so calm and meek,
So softly worn, so sweetly weak,
So tearless, yet so tender-kind,
And grieved for those he left behind;
With all the while a cheek whose bloom
Was as a mockery of the tomb,
Whose tints as gently sunk away
As a departing rainbow's ray-
An eye of most transparent light
That almost made the dungeon bright.
And not a word of murmur-not
A groan o'er his untimely lot.
A little talk of better days,
A little hope my own to raise,
For I was sunk in silence-lost
In this last loss, of all the most;
And then the sighs he would suppress
Of fainting nature's feebleness,
More slowly drawn, grew less and less :
I listened but I could not hear--
I called, for I was wild with fear;
I knew 'twas hopeless, but my dread
Would not be thus admonished;
I called, and thought I heard a sound—
I burst my chain with one strong bound,
And rush'd to him :-I found him not,
I only stirr'd in this black spot,
I only lived I only drew
The accursed breath of dungeon dew."
ye the land where the cypress and myrtle Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime? Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime? Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,
Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine;
Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress'd with perfume,
Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gúl* in her bloom;
Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit,
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute:
Where the tints of the earth, and the hues of the sky,
In colour though varied, in beauty may vie,
And the purple of Ocean is deepest in dye;
Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine,
And all, save the spirit of man, is divine?
'Tis the clime of the east; 'tis the land of the Sun-
Can he smile on such deeds as his children have done?
Oh! wild as the accents of lover's farewell
Are the hearts which they bear, and the tales which they
VISION OF BELSHAZZAR.
The king was on his throne,
The satraps throng'd the hall;
A thousand bright lamps shone
O'er that high festival.
A thousand cups of gold,
In Judah deem'd divine-
Jehovah's vessels hold
The godless heathen's wine!
In that same hour and hall,
The fingers of a hand
Came forth against the wall,
And wrote as if on sand:
The fingers of a man ;—
A solitary hand
Along the letters ran,
And traced them like a wand.
The monarch saw, and shook,
And bade no more rejoice;
All bloodless wax'd his look,
And tremulous his voice.
"Let the men of lore appear,
The wisest of the earth,
And expound the words of fear,
Which mar our royal mirth."
Chaldea's seers are good,
But here they have no skill; And the unknown letters stood Untold and awful still.
And Babel's men of age
Are wise and deep in lore;
But now they were not sage, They saw-but knew no more.
A captive in the land,
A stranger and a youth, He heard the king's command,. He saw that writing's truth, The lamps around were bright, The prophecy in view; He read it on that night,The morrow proved it true.
"Belshazzar's grave is made,
His kingdom pass'd away,
He, in the balance weigh'd,
Is light and worthless clay.
The shroud his robe of state,
His canopy the stone;
The Mede is at his gate!
The Persian on his throne !"
In the fifth chapter of the prophecy of Daniel, the feast of Belshazzar, and the end of the Babylonian empire, which terminated in him, are recorded; but there is a vividness in Lord Byron's imitation of that passage which gives new power to the original scene.
To comprehend the verses which the following facts are designed to illustrate, it is necessary they should be known. The verses relate especially to the memorable battle of Waterloo-a battle which put an end to the military career of Napoleon Bonaparte, and gave peace to Europe. Bonaparte was a native of the island of Corsica, and, in his early life, an officer of engineers in the French service: his military talents at length raised him to the chief command of the French armies.
Bonaparte subjected all the civil affairs of France to military power, caused himself to be declared First Consul, and afterwards Emperor of France, and King of Italy. He did not limit his ambition to the government of France and Italy, but actually conquered Switzerland, Holland, and the greater part of Germany. He united the Netherlands to France, made one of his brothers King of Holland, another of Naples, a third of Westphalia, and bestowed upon princes of Germany the titles of Kings of Bavaria, Saxony, and Wirtemburg. He invited the King of Spain to visit him, made him a pri -soner, and in 1808 placed his brother Joseph on the Throne of Spain.
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