Page images
PDF
EPUB

And, as he gazed, his homestall through his tears
Fondly imagined; when a Christian ship

Of war appearing in her bravery,

A voice in anger cried,' Use all your strength!'

But when, ah when, do they that can, forbear

To crush the unresisting?

Strange, that men,

Creatures so frail, so soon, alas, to die,

Should have the power, the will to make this world

A dismal prison-house, and life itself,

Life in its prime, a burden and a curse

To him who never wronged them? Who that breathes Would not, when first he heard it, turn away

As from a tale monstrous, incredible?

Surely a sense of our mortality,

A consciousness how soon we shall be gone,
Or, if we linger-but a few short years—
How sure to look upon our brother's grave,
Should of itself incline to pity and love,
And prompt us rather to assist, relieve,
Than aggravate the evils each is heir to.

At length the day departed, and the moon
Rose like another sun, illumining

Waters and woods and cloud-capt promontories,
Glades for a hermit's cell, a lady's bower,

Scenes of Elysium, such as Night alone
Reveals below, nor often-scenes that fled
As at the waving of a wizard's wand,
And left behind them, as their parting gift,
A thousand nameless odours. All was still;
And now the nightingale her song poured forth
In such a torrent of heart-felt delight,
So fast it flowed, her tongue so voluble,
As if she thought her hearers would be
Ere half was told.

gone

'Twas where in the north-west,

Still unassailed and unassailable,

Thy pharos, GENOA, first displayed itself,
Burning in stillness on its craggy seat;
That guiding star so oft the only one,

When those now glowing in the azure vault
Are dark and silent. 'Twas where o'er the sea,

(For we were now within a cable's length,)
Delicious gardens hung; green galleries,
And marble terraces in many a flight,
And fairy-arches flung from cliff to cliff,
Wildering, enchanting; and, above them all,
A Palace, such as somewhere in the East,
In Zenastan or Araby the blest,

Among its golden groves and fruits of gold,

And fountains scattering rainbows in the sky,
Rose, when ALADDIN rubbed the wondrous lamp;

Such, if not fairer; and, when we shot by,
A scene of revelry, in long array

As with the radiance of a setting sun,

The windows blazing. But we now approached A City far-renowned; and wonder ceased.

[graphic]

GENOA.

THIS house was ANDREA DORIA's. Here he lived;
And here at eve relaxing, when ashore,

Held many a pleasant, many a grave discourse
With them that sought him, walking to and fro
As on his deck. 'Tis less in length and breadth
Than many a cabin in a ship of war;
But 'tis of marble and at once inspires

The reverence due to ancient dignity.

He left it for a better; and 'tis now

* The Piazza Doria, or, as it is now called, the Piazza di San Matteo, insignificant as it may be thought, is to me the most interesting place in Genoa. It was there that Doria assembled the people, when he gave them their liberty (Sigonii Vita Doria); and on one side of it is the church he lies buried in, on the other a house, originally of very small dimensions, with this inscription: S. C. Andreæ de Auria Patriæ Liberatori Munus Publicum.

The streets of old Genoa, like those of Venice, were constructed only for foot-passengers.

A house of trade,* the meanest merchandise
Cumbering its floors. Yet, fallen as it is,
'Tis still the noblest dwelling-even in GENOA!
And hadst thou, ANDREA, lived there to the last,
Thou hadst done well; for there is that without,
That in the wall, which monarchs could not give,
Nor thou take with thee, that which says aloud,
It was thy Country's gift to her Deliverer.

'Tis in the heart of GENOA (he who comes,
Must come on foot) and in a place of stir;
Men on their daily business, early and late,
Thronging thy very threshold. But, when there,
Thou wert among thy fellow-citizens,

Thy children, for they hailed thee as their sire;
And on a spot thou must have loved, for there,
Calling them round, thou gav'st them more than life,
Giving what, lost, makes life not worth the keeping.
There thou didst do indeed an act divine;

Nor couldst thou leave thy door or enter in,
Without a blessing on thee.

Thou art now

Again among them. Thy brave mariners,

* When I saw it in 1822, a basket-maker lived on the groundfloor and over him a seller of chocolate.

T

« PreviousContinue »