Rag'd o'er your plunder'd shrines and altars bare,
With blazing torch and gory scimitar,-

Stunn'd with the cries of death each gentle gale,
And bath'd in blood the verdure of the vale !
Yet could no pangs the immortal spirit tame,
When Brama's children perish'd for his nante;
The martyr smil'd beneath avenging pow'r,
And brav'd the tyrant in his torturing hour!
When Europe sought your subject realms to gain,
And stretch'd her giant sceptre o'er the main,
Taught her proud barks the winding way to shape,
And brav'd the stormy spirit of the Cape; (m)
Children of Brama; then, was mercy nigh,
To wash the stain of blood's eternal dye?
Did Peace descend, to triumph and to save,
When freeborn Britons cross'd the Indian wave?
Ah, no-to more than Rome's ambition true,
The Nurse of Freedom gave it not to you;
She the bold route of Europe's guilt began,
And, in the march of nations, led the van.
Rich in the gems of India's gaudy zone,
And plunder pil'd from kingdoms not their own,
Degenerate trade! thy minions could despise
The heart-born anguish of a thousand cries:
Could lock, with impious hands, their teeming store,
While famish'd nations died along the shore;(n)
Could mock the groans of fellow-men, and bear
The curse of kingdoms peopled with despair;
Could stamp disgrace on man's polluted name,
And barter, with their gold, eternal shame!

But hark! as bow'd to earth the Bramin kneels,
From heav'nly climes propitious thunder peals!
Of India's fate her guardian spirits tell,
Prophetic murmurs breathing on the shell;
And solemn sounds that awe the list'ning mind,
Roll on the azure paths of every wind.

"Foes of mankind! (her guardian spirits say,) Revolving ages bring the bitter day,

When Heav'n's unerring arm shall fall on you,
And blood for blood these Indian plains bedew;

Nine times have Brama's wheels of lightning hurl'd
His awful presence o'er th' alarmed world ;(0)
Nine times hath Guilt, through all his giant frame,
Convulsive trembled, as the Mighty came;

Nine times hath suffering Mercy spar'd in vain--
But Heav'n shall burst her starry gates again!
He comes dread Brama shakes the sunless sky
With murm'ring wrath, and thunders from on highl
Heaven's fiery horse, beneath his warrior form,
Paws the light clouds, and gallops on the storm!
Wide waves his flickering sword; his bright arms glow
Like summer suns, and light the world below;
Earth, and her trembling isles in Ocean's bed,
Are shook; and Nature rocks beneath his tread!
"To pour redress on India's injur'd realm,
Th' oppressor to dethrone, the proud to whelm;
To chase destruction from her plunder'd shore,
With arts and arms that triumph'd once before,
The tenth Avatar comes1 at Heav'n's command
Shall Seriswattee wave her hallow'd wand I
And Camdeo bright, and Ganesa sublime,(p)
Shall bless with joy their own propitious clime!
Come, Heav'nly Powers! primeval peace restore!
Love!-Mercy !-Wisdom !-rule for evermore !"

End of the first Part

THE

PLEASURES OF HOPE

Part II.

ANALYSIS OF PART II.

APOSTROPHE to the power of Love... its intimate connexion with generous and social Sensibility... allusion to that beautiful passage in the beginning of the book of Genesis, which represents the happiness of Paradise itself incomplete, till love was superadded to its other blessings... the dreams of future felicity which a lively imagination is apt to cherish, when Hope is animated by refined attachment...this disposition to combine, in one imaginary scene of residence, all that is pleasing in our estimate of happiness, compared to the skill of the great artist who personified perfect beauty, in the picture of Venus, by an assemblage of the most beautiful features he could find...a summer and winter evening described, as they may be supposed to arise in the mind of one who wishes, with enthusiasm, for the union of friendship and retirement.

Hope and Imagination inseparable agents...even in those contemplative moments when our imagination wanders beyond the boundaries of this world, our minds are not unattended with an impression that we shall some day have a wider and distinct prospect of the universe, instead of the partial glimpse we now enjoy.

The last and most sublime influence of Hope, is the concluding topic of the Poem...the predominance of a belief in a future state over the terrors attendant on dissolution ...the baneful influence of that sceptical philosophy which bars us from such comforts... allusion to the fate of a suicide...episode of Conrad and Ellenore ...conclusion,