(That night the miller's maid Colette Sung, while he supped, her chansonnette) Then when St. Pierre addressed his village-train, To love, and to be loved again. ODE TO SUPERSTITION.* I. 1. HENCE, to the realms of Night, dire Demon, hence! That little world, the human mind, Clot his shaggy mane with gore, With flashing fury bid his eye-balls shine; Thy touch, thy deadening touch has steeled the breast, At thy command he plants the dagger deep, * Written in early youth. I. 2. When, with a frown that froze the peopled earth, Ha! what withering phantoms glare! As blows the blast with many a sudden swell, At each dead pause, what shrill-toned voices yell! The sheeted spectre, rising from the tomb, Points to the murderer's stab, and shudders by; In every grove is felt a heavier gloom, That veils its genius from the vulgar eye: The spirit of the water rides the storm, And, thro' the mist, reveals the terrors of his form. I. 3. O'er solid seas, where Winter reigns, * Lucretius, I. 63. * And, while the panting tigress hies Smit by the scorchings of the noontide beam. Mark who mounts the sacred Blooming in her bridal vest: pyre, She hurls the torch! she fans the fire! She clasps her lord to part no more, And, wrapt in clouds, in tempests tost, Weave the airy web of Fate; While the lone shepherd, near the shipless main, ‡ Sees o'er her hills advance the long-drawn funeral train. II. 1. Thou spak'st, and lo! a new creation glowed. Was clad in horrors not its own, And at its base the trembling nations bowed. Grasped the globe with iron hand. *The funeral rite of the Hindoos. The Fates of the Northern Mythology. See MALLET'S An- tiquities. Circled with seats of bliss, the Lord of Light And braves the efforts of a host of years. Sweet Music breathes her soul into the wind; And bright-eyed Painting stamps the image of the mind. II. 2. Round their rude ark old Egypt's sorcerers rise! And bids the God of Thunders hail; † Scaly monarch of the Nile! ‡ But ah! what myriads claim the bended knee? § Charmed with perennial sweets, and smiling at decay? * En. II. 172, &c. + The bull, Apis. The Crocodile. § According to an ancient proverb, it was less difficult in Egypt to find a god than a man. || The Hieroglyphics. The Catacombs. |