MANFRED.

АСТ І.

SCENE I.

MANFRED alone. - Scene, a Gothic Gallery.-Time, Midnight.

Man. THE lamp must be replenish'd, but even then
It will not burn so long as I must watch:

My slumbers if I slumber - are not sleep,
But a continuance of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not in my heart
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within; and yet I live, and bear
The aspect and the form of breathing men.
But grief should be the instructor of the wise;
Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most
Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth,
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs
Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world,
I have essay'd, and in my mind there is
A power to make these subject to itself—
But they avail not: I have done men good,
And I have met with good even among men
But this avail'd not: I have had my foes,
And none have baffled, many fallen before me
But this avail'd not : Good, or evil, life,
Powers, passions, all I see in other beings,
Have been to me as rain unto the sands,

Since that all-nameless hour. I have no dread,

And feel the curse to have no natural fear,

Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes,
Or lurking love of something on the earth. -

Now to my

task.

Mysterious Agency!

Ye spirits of the unbounded Universe!
Whom I have sought in darkness and in light
Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell
In subtler essence-ye, to whom the tops
Of mountains inaccessible are haunts,

And earth's and ocean's caves familiar things-
I call upon ye by the written charm

Which gives me power upon you

They come not yet.

Rise! appear!

[A pause.

Who is the first among you
Which makes you tremble
Who is undying, Rise! appear!

If it be so.

by this sign,

- by the claims of him

Spirits of earth and air,

Ye shall not thus elude me: by a power,
Deeper than all yet urged, a tyrant-spell,
Which had its birthplace in a star condemn'd,
The burning wreck of a demolish'd world,
A wandering hell in the eternal space;
By the strong curse which is upon my soul,
The thought which is within me and around me,
I do compel ye to my will.- Appear!

[A star is seen at the darker end of the gallery; it is
stationary; and a voice is heard singing.

Voice of the SECOND SPIRIT.

Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains;
They crown'd him long ago

On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds,
With a diadem of snow.

Around his waist are forests braced,
The Avalanche in his hand;
But ere it fall, that thundering ball
Must pause for my command.
The Glacier's cold and restless mass
Moves onward day by day;
But I am he who bids it pass,
Or with its ice delay.

I am the spirit of the place,

Could make the mountain bow

And quiver to his cavern'd base
And what with me wouldst Thou?

Voice of the THIRD Spirit.

In the blue depth of the waters,
Where the wave hath no strife,
Where the wind is a stranger,
And the sea-snake hath life,
Where the mermaid is decking
Her green hair with shells;
Like the storm on the surface
Came the sound of thy spells;
O'er my calm Hall of Coral
The deep echo roll'd-
To the Spirit of Ocean

Thy wishes unfold!

FOURTH SPIRIT.

Where the slumbering earthquake

Lies pillow'd on fire,

And the lakes of bitumen

Rise boilingly higher;

Where the roots of the Andes

Strike deep in the earth,
As their sommits to heaven
Shoot soaringly forth;

I have quitted my birthplace,
Thy bidding to bide-
Thy spell hath subdued me,
Thy will be my guide!

FIFTH SPIRIT.

I am the Rider of the wind,
The Stirrer of the storm;
The hurricane I left behind
Is yet with lightning warm;

To speed to thee, o'er shore and sea
I swept upon the blast :

The fleet I met sail'd well, and yet
'T will sink ere night be past.

SIXTH SPIRIT.

My dwelling is the shadow of the night,
Why doth thy magic torture me with light?

SEVENTH SPIRIT.

The star which rules thy destiny
Was ruled, ere earth began, by me :
I was a world as fresh and fair
As e'er revolved round sun in air;
Its course was free and regular,
Space bosom'd not a lovelier star.
The hour arrived - and it became
A wandering mass of shapeless flame,
A pathless comet, and a curse,
The menace of the universe;
Still rolling on with innate force,
Without a sphere, without a course,
A bright deformity on high,
The monster of the upper sky!
And thou! beneath its influence born
Thou worm! whom I obey and scorn
Forced by a power (which is not thine,
And lent thee but to make thee mine)
For this brief moment to descend,
Where these weak spirits round thee bend

And parley with a thing like thee

What wouldst thou, Child of Clay! with me?

The SEVEN SPIRITS.

Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star,
Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay!

Before thee at thy quest their spirits are
What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals

Man. Forgetfulness

First Spirit.

Of what

say?

of whom - and why

Man. Of that which is within me; read it there

Ye know it, and I cannot utter it.

Spirit. We can but give thee that which we possess : Ask of us subjects, sovereignty, the power