No More Learning

fond visions of joy!
No more shall you reign in my breast.
No more can the frozen of my Phyllis annoy:
No more can her smile make me blest. . . . . .
Young StrepUon, iesolv'd to shake off the soft chain,
Thus sdwg, the gay shepherds among.
But s^c/t is his triumph : for, see! o'er the plain,
His Phyllis trips lightly along
784
The trees borrow tints'from the blush of young Morn,
As their beainiful bliom they expand to the gale,
Where they sAadow the path, and the cottage adorn .
Of emma, sweet emvna, the pride of the ru/e.
785
Stern Winter has stripp'd of their /honors the frees,
And strew'd blighted Zie<mies in rSin around:
Now the pride of the K'oodland is foss'tZ by the breeze;
And in strong icy chains the still streamlet is bound.
786
1 have seen, as Ipas/d, how the rose, blushing gay,
To the gale of the ? >Jorwing her bosom display d:
I retarn'd: but her 6e<<wties hadyaded away ;
And the pr/t/e of the morn, ere the ev'ning, was dead.
787
The /ooft, that spoke gladness and ae/come, was gone:
Thei/aze, that shone bright In the Aa//,was no more:
A stranger was t/rm', with a Sosom of stowe ;
And co/V/ was his look, as I enter'd his door.
? ? Generated for Christian Pecaut (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:50 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hnjin7 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 144 Key to English Prosody.
788
Between nose and eyes, a strange co/itest arose ;
The spectacles set them unAappiry wrong :
The point in dispute was, as iv'ry one knows,
To which the said spectacles ought to belong
So his /orriship decreed, with a gnk'e solemn tone,
Decisive and clear, without one iv or but,
That, whenever the nose put his spectacles on,
By ^y-light or Ctf<<dle-light, eyes should be shut.
789
How sweet to the heart is the thought of to-wiorrow,
When Hope's fairy pictures bright colors display!
How sweet, when we can from futurity iorrow
A balm, for the. griefs that afflict us to-day!
790
From his oosom that heav'd, the last 'orrent was
streaming;
And pale was his rzsage, deep mark'd with a scar;
And dim was that eye, once expressively learning,
That melted in lore, and that A'Twdled in war.
791
Upon the w ide world I was cast,
A poor little /athcrlcss boy ;
But Fortune, kind Fortune, at last,
Has turnd all my sorrow to joy.
792. -- Diana.
The c/<<zse while shefollows, TaJ/getn? sounds
With the wo? es of the horn, and the cry of the hounds.
793
Throughout" your whole AoKsehold let order presu/c;
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? Key to English Prosody. 145
For order with priidence is ever allied.
794
For moments departed, ah ! ne'er to refwrw--
For scenes of past bliss, un-availing, we mourn;
When ourselves and our little ones, blooming with
Were oijects of envy to /redolent fVeulth; [health,
When innocent sports, at the close of each day,
Could Danish our cares and our sorrows away.
Ah ! when will sweet pastime rerisit the plain,
And joy and content smile around us again?
795 [vale,
When the stroke of the awomau had ceas'd in the
And night's lonely ffi'arbler commenc'd her sweet
A Aeart-broken maiden repeated her tale, [song,
And sigh'd to the stream, as it mwrmur'd along.
Blank Verse -- Iambic.
796
oh! had i but the envied pow'r to choose
My home, no sound of city bell should reach
My ear, nofe'en the cannon's thund'ring roar.
797
Pleasant to see the lab'rer homeward hie
Light-hearted, as he thinks his hastening steps
Will soon be welcom'd by his children's smile.
798 .
ah! who can paint the raptur'd mother's joy,
When first her lovely infant, quiv'iing, leaps
With outstretch'd arms, to meet her fond embrace ?
o
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? 146 Key to English Prosody.
799
Now,from the burning firmament, the sun
Each cloud has driv'n: with universal light
Blazing, the earth repels the dazzled eye.
800
Amid the nightly prowlers of thy wilds,
Britain, man walks secure; in all their tribes,
None form'd to bid him tremble, none to aim
Talon or fang against their rightful lord.
801
Thus, whe"n his host o'er Alps, oppos'd in vain,
The Carthaginian led, the last ascent,
Lab'ring o'er ice-built rocks, as now they trod,
Gasping for breath, the way-worn vny-\-riads parts d.
802
Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,
Have 5/if-times no connexion. Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men,
Wisdom in minds attendee to their own.
803
Ope vernal eve, as, rapt in lonely thought,
He trae'd his confines,frSm the bord'ring waste
An aged man came forth : his tott'ring steps,
With looks of filial love, a maiden watch'd.
804
Hypocrisy, detest Mr as we may,
May claim this merit still, that she admits
The worth of what she mimics with such care,
And thus gives t>mue indirect applause.
805
But, ere we part, my friend, let us ascend
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? Key to English Prosody. 147
Yon stately mountain, and trace back our course.
Easy th'ascent, and vaa-\-ny a grate-\-ful herb
Has Nature scatter'd round with lavish hand.
806
There are, whom humbler walks delight: their feet
Can visit the close cot, where Poverty
Sits patient, and where industry, retir'd
From daily toil, inhales the poison'd air.
807
Sweet babe! oh! may'st thou ever sleep as sound,
As softly smile, while o'er thy little bed
Thy mother sits, with fascinated gaze
Catching each placid feature's sweet expres-l-sie/*.
808
How fleet the falcon's pinion in pursuit !
Less fleet the linnet's flight. Alas! poor bird!
Weary and weak is now thy flagging wing,
While close and closer draws the eager foe.
809. -- Spring.
YVhen now th' imprison'd leaves and waking flow'rs
Burst from their tombs, the birds, that lurk'd unseen
Amid th' hybernal shade, in busy tribes
Pour their forgotten multitudes, and catch
New life, new rapture, from the smile of Spring.
810
Then may'st thou bear the passing scene in peace,
Secure, beyond the tomb, of nobler life,
Where error, vice, and pain, shall be no more,
But perfect wisdom, &nd untainted bliss,
Fill t/ie vast soul, and crown th' eternal scene. .
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? 148 Key to English Prosody.
811
Now the unsullied stream, from April show'rs
Refin'd, each sparkling pebble shows, that decks
Its botrom, and each scaly habitant
Quick glancing in the shallows, or, in quest
Of plunder, slowly sailing in the deep.
812
How soft the music oflhe village hells
tailing at Intervals upon the ear
In cadence sweet, now dying all away,
Now pealing loud again, and louder still,
Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes ow.
813
High rides the moon amid the fleecy clouds,
That glisren, as they float athwart her disk.
Sweet is the glimpse that,for a moment, plays
Among these mould'ring vinnacles. But, hark
That dismal cry ! it is the wailing owl.
814. -- Young Birds stolen from the Nest.
Meantime the younger victims, one by one,
Drop off, by care destroy'd, and food unfit.
Perhaps one, har-l-d. ier than | the rest, survives.
And, 'tween the wicker bars, with fading weeds
Entwin'd, hung at some lofty window, hops
From stick to stick, his small unvaried round.
815. -- To Fancy.
Friend of my lonely hours ! thou lead&f me
To such calm joys, as Nature wise and good
Proffers in vain to all her wretched sons--
Her wretched sons, who pine with want, amid
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? Key to English Prosody. 149
Th' abundant earth, and blindly bow them down
Before the Moloch shrines of wealth and pow'r.
816
Do summer suns the mead with herbage load,
And tinge the rip'ning year ? With sudden rage
The thunder. storm descends : the river swells,
Impatient leaps the mound ; and, while the waves
Devour the promis'd harvest, calls on thee,
o man! to tremble'for thy daily bread.
817
Come, pensive Melanchtily, thou, who shunn'st
The busy haunts of men : 'tis thee I woo.
Come, calm the tumults of a mind disturb'd.
Thee will I cherish as a welcome guest,
And free/j^Mi some lone retreat, indulge
The gloom of grief, unnotic'd and unknown.
818
The heart is hard in nature, and unfit
For human fellowship, as being void
Of sympathy, and therefore dead alike'
To love and friendship both, that is not pleas'd
With sight of animals enjoying life,
Nor feels their happtness augment his own.
819
While, with their heads beneath their ruffled plumes.
Conceal'd, the birds, that sported during day,
Rest in those sAe/t'ring bushes, at whose roots
The vivid worm her nightly spark illumes,
And, couchifwg in that brake, the tim'rous dees
Slumbers, forgetf ul of each past alarm^
o3
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? ] 50 Key t6 English Prosody.
The tribes of ev'ning UsyefrSm their cells.
820
And what is human life? a day's short jo ur-\-He"y,
With changes fraught. Now up the wond'rous height
Hope climbs, and wistful views, and views again
The length'ning prospect--calls the prospect fair--
Now, like the blithesome kid, o'er verdant lawn
She springs; then, 'mid the solitary waste,
Sings cheerful, though no voice she hears around.
821. -- Children employed in Manufactories.
See! the poor elves, pa/e-fac'd, in tatter'd garb,
Motley with half-spun threads and cotton flakes,
Trudge, drooping, to the niany-storipd pile,
Where thousand spindles whirling stun the ear,
Confus'd. There, prisan'd close, they wretched moil.
Sweet age! pervert&Zfrtfm its proper end !
When childhood toils, the field should be the scene.
822
Pensive, alone, I walk the desert wilds,
Pacing the earth with slow and sluggish steps,
Avoiding watchfully all human haunts;
Intently \\gtlant with speed to shun
The saucy stare and prying eyes of man;
For, Jong of gay and cheerful thought bereft, -
My form betrays the inward fire that wastes | me".
823
Fresh from bis den, yon hollow trunk, behold
The wild-cat, dead-i-#&i of | the savage tribes
That roam in British forests--wont on high
To seise the rapid squirrel, <Sr by guile
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? Key to English Prosody. 15 1
Pluckfrtim her nest the unsuspecting dove,
fr, to the ground descending, thin the race
That bores the sandy warren. ***
824. -- Home.
ThUre is a magic in that little word :
it is a mystic circle', that surrounds
Comforts and virtues, never known heyond
The hallow'd limit. Often has my heart
ask'dftir that quiet haven : haven'd now,
I think of those, in this world's ai/derness
Who wander on, and find no home of rest.
825
Meanwhile the little songsters, prompt to cheer
Their mates close brooding in the brake below,
Strain their shrill throats; or, Kith parental care,
From twig to twig their timid offspring lead ;
Teach them to seise th' unwary gnat, to poise
Their pinions in short flights, their strength to prove,
And vent'rous trust the bosom of the air.
826
Where shall I turn me ? whifAeV shall 1 bend
My weary way? Thus zcorn with toil and faint,
Bow, through the thorny mazes 5/* th is wood,
Attain my distant dwelling? That deep cry,
That rings along the forest, seems to sound
My parting knell: it is the midnight howl
Of hungry monsters prov/Mngfor their prey.
827. -- Civilised Society.
Blest he,. though und'isUnguish'dfrom the crowd
liy wealth or dignity, who dwells secure
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? 152 Keif to English Prosody.
Where man, by nature fierce, has laid aside
His fierceness, having learn'd, though slow to learn,
The manners and the arts of civil life.
His wants indeed are many: but supply
Is ob-\-vioiis, plac'd | within the easy reach
Of temp'rate wishes and indus-l-friows hands. |
823
o ye, who court the silent calm retreats
Of contemplation, &nd who most prefer
The sotitHry walk -- as suiting^best
Their views, who sigh to pierce the secret haunts
Of Nature, marking her vagaries strange,
And, bold and unrestrain'd as she, to muse
The free, the rapt'rous lay -- still pace along
Your lonely way ; and be your musings sweet.
829. -- Parental Authority.
Behold your friend, your best, your truest friend,
A parent, whose authority, in show
When most severe, and must'ring all its force,
is but the graver counfe/iawce of love,
Whose favor, like the clouds of spring, may lour,
And utter now and then an awful voice,
But has a blessing m its darkest frown,
Threafning at once and nourishing the plant.
830. -- Profusion.
It is a hungry vice. It eats up all
That gives society its beauty, strength,
Convenience, and security, and use ;
Makes men mere vermin, wovthy to be trapp'd:
And gibbeted, as fast as catchpole claws
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? Key to English Prosody. ' 153
Can seise the slipp'ry prey ; unties the knot
Of union, and converts the sacred band,
That holds mankind togethe"r, to a scourge.
831. . -- The Owl.
Night-long she mourns, perch'd in some vacant niche,
Or time-rent crevice. Sometimes to the woods
She bends her silent slowly-moving wing,
and on some leafless tree, dead of old age,
Sits watchiiigfor her prey. But, should the foot
Of man intrude into her solemn shades,
^tartlM, he hears the wither'd, breaking branch
Crash as she rises : -- further in the gloom,
To deeper so/iVwrfcs she wings her way. .
832. -- The Swallows.
Long ere the wint'ry gusts, with chilly sweep,
Sigh through the leafless groves, the swallow tribes,
Heav'n-warn'd, in airy bevies congregate,
Or clust'ring sit, as if in deep consult
What time to launch : but, lingmwg, they wait,
Until the (eeble of the latest broods
Have gather'd strength the seaward path to brave.
At last the farewell twitter, spreading, sounds:
Aloft they fly, and melt in distant air.
833. -- Death.
Death! where the. magic in that empty name,
That chills my inmost heart ? Why, at the thought,
Starts the" cold dew of fear on ev'ry limb ?
There &re no terrors to surround the grave,
When the calm mind, collected in itself,
Surveys that Marrow house. The ghastly train,
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? 154 Key to English Prosody.
That haunt the midnight of deli-\-rhus guilt, \
Then vanish. --tn that home of endless rest,
all sorrows cease. *****
834. -- A January Night in Town.
There Vice and Folly run their giddy rounds :
There eager crowds are lmi-\-rying to" | the sight
Of feign'd distress, yet have not time lo hear
The shiv'ring orphan's pray'r. The flaring lamps
Of gilded cha-|-j'lilts, drawn | by pamper'd steeds,
Illume the snowy street: the silent wheels
On heedless passewgtr steal wnperceiv'd,
Bearing the splendid fair to flutter round
Amid the mazy Xatfrinths of the dance.
835. -- A February Night in a Village.
While yet the night is long and drear and chill,
Soon as the slanting sun has sunk from 'view,
The sounding anvil cheerily invites
The weary hind to leave his twinkling fire,
And bask himself before the furnace glare ;
Where, blest with unbought mirth, the rustic ring
(Their faces lintW with the yellow blaze)
Beguile the hours, nor envy rooms of state.
836. -- April.
Light now the western gale sweeps o'er the plain ;
Gently it wave's the rwutefs cascade :
Gently it parts the lock on Beauty's brow,
And lifts the tress&,. from the snowy neck,
And bends the flow'rs, and makes the lily stoop,
As if to kiss its image in the wave,
Or curls with softest breath the glassy pool.
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? Key to English Prosody. 155
Lead where yon fountain sparAVes through the glade,
o'er whtise clear brink the pale narcissus bends,
That loves to trace its beauty in the wave; [leaves,
Where Zephyr, whisp'nng through the trembling
Dtps his tight pinions in the current clear,
And sprinkles freshness o'er the languid flow'rs.
837. -- May. -- Birds' Nests.
Now frtim the wild-flow'r bank the little bird
Picks the soft moss, and to the thicket flies,
And oft returns, and oft the work renews,
'Till all the curious fabric hangs complete;
Alas! but ill conceal'd frpm school-boy's eye,
Who, heed/ess bf the warbler's saddest plaint,
Tears frtim the bush the toil of ma-\-ny an hour. |
838. -- June.
Unhappy he, whti, in this season, pent
Within the darksome gloom of city lane,
Pines for the flow'ry paths and woody shades,
Frtim which the love of lucre or of pow'r
Entic'd his youthful steps. In vain he turns
The rich descriptive page of Thomson's Muse,
And strives to fancy th&t the lovely scenes
Are present. So the hand of childhood tries
To grasp the pictur'd bunch of fruit or flow'rs,
But, disappointed, feels the canvas smooth.
839. -- September.
At sultry hour of noon, the reaper band
Rest from their toil. Around their simple fare,
upon the stubble spread, blithestime they form
A circling groupe, while humbly waits behind
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? 156 Key to English Prosody.
The wistful dog, and, with expressive look
And pawing foot, implores his little share.
The short repast, season d with simple mirth,
And not without the song, gives place to sleep.
With sheaf beneath his head, the rustic youth
Enjoys sweet slumbers, while the maid he loves
Steals to his side, and screens him from the sun.
840. -- October.
Hush'd are the faded woods: no bird is heard,
Save where the red-breast mourns the falling leaf.
At close of shorten'd day, the reaper, tir'd,
With sic/c/e on his shoulder, homeward hies, [low,
Night comes with threat'ning storm,first a>A? sp'ring f
Sighing amid the boughs ; then, by degrees,
With violence redoubled at each pause,
Furious it rages, scaring startled sleep.
841. -- December.
Loud blows the blast. While, s\ielter'dfpom its rage,
The social circle feel their joys enhanc'd,
ah! little think they of the lab'ring ship,
Amid the uproar of the winds and waves--
The waves unseen, save by the lightnings glare,
Or cannon's flash, sad signal Hf distress.
The trembling crew each moment think they feel
The shock of sunken rock. At last they strike.
Borne on the blast, their dying voices reach,
Faintly, the sea-girt hamlet. Help is vain.
842
Can fertile mturt to the eye present
A nobler scene, than when the setting sun
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? Key to English Prosody. 157
Gleams oh the fading prospect, and illumes,
With a last stream of light, the spacious view ?
Such h the death of Virtue ; such the glow
8/her last hour, that animates the mind,
WhUn on the te/iSr of a well-spent life
The mental eye reverts, and gazes still,
Till the' dim shades of death o'erwheim the sight,
And lull the sense* m a long repose.
843
england! with all thy faults, I love thee still,
My counfry, and, while yet a nook is left,
Where English minds and manners may be found,
Shall be' constraint to love thee. Though thy clime
Be fickle', and thy year, most pari, deform'd
With dripping rains, or v/ithcr'd by a frost,
I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies
And fields without a flow'r, for warmer France
With all her vines, nor for Ausonia's groves
Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bow'rs.
844. -- Spring.
How swells the raptur'd bosom, while the eye
Wanders, xmsatSd with delight, from shade
To shade, from grove to. thicke\/rowj near gioups
To yon primaeval' woods, with dark'ning sweep
Retiring,. Snd with beauty sees the whole
Kindfe, and glow with renovated life!
For, now, at Spring's re. animating call,
Each native tif the forVst, frUm the trunk
Tow'ring and huge, down (6 the tangled bush,
Its own peculiar character resumes.
r
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? 158 Key to English Prosody.
845
Sec, from bis cave beneath yon bramb\y bank,
The fox glide forth, scenting the feather'd prey
Perch'd at the neighb'ring cottage. --Creeping slow,
The weasel, and in si/enc* through the fern
Steals on the dozing lev'ref. Frtim her seat
She starts, and bears away th' assailant, fix'd
Fast to her neck, and, from the flowing: vein,
Sucking the vital current. Lo ! she falls :--
The puny murd'rer slinks into the brake
From the drain d carcase, sated With the blood.
846
Thus, when her standard civilising art
Plants on some barb'rous shore, to mountains bleak,
And craggy fastnesses his warrior sons
The angry Genius tif the waste withdraws;
There bids them,from the influence abhorr'd
Of science free, their sangj/<<wory rites,
Their manners rude, and savage laws uphold ;
Till fate shall once more pour thlm from their caves,
Impatient e'er their long-lost plains again
To spread the veil of ignorance and night. ,
847. -- Botany Bay. . ?
Why, stem Remembrance, must thy iron hand
Harrow my soul. ' why calls thy cruel pow'r
The fields of 'England to my exil'd eyes--
The joys which once were mine ? e'en now I see
The lowly, lovely dwelling: even now
Behold the woodbine clasping tls white walls, *
And hear the fearless Red-breasts chirp around,
? ? Generated for Christian Pecaut (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:50 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hnjin7 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Key to English Prosody. 15! )
To ask their morning meal: for i was wont,
With friendly hand, to give their morning meal,
Was wont to love their song, when ling'ring mom
Streak'd tfer the chilly landscape the dim light.
848 *'
Behold yon pool, by un-exhausted springs
Still wiirtur'd, draw the multitudes that graze
The plain adjarf/ff. --on the bank worn bare,
And printed with ten f/iiwsand steps, the colts
In shifting groups combine; tir, to the brink
Descending, dip their pasteV/is in the wave.
Bolder, the horned tribes, or less of heat
And teasing insects patient, far from shore
Immerge their chests; and, while the hungry swarm
Now soars aloft, now resolute descends,
Lash their tormented sides; and, stamping quick
And oft, the muddy fluid scatter round.
849
The glow of eve is faded. Scarce the West
Retains a pale rnenio-|-rja7 of | the beams
That fir'd it, when the horizontal clouds,
With purple dies and fissures edged with gold,
Streak'd till calm ather; while, through sparkling haze,
The faint hills gltmmev'd, fainter, as their chain
Approach'd the fount of brightness, fainter still
As sunk the parting orb, and with the sky
In uhdistingM/sAable splendor join'd
Milder, still milder, the subsiding glow
Spar'd the pain'd eye-ball, and, with sober rays
Quench'd in the gath'ring dusk, refresh'd the sight.
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? 160 Key to English Prosody.
850. -- The Finding of Moses.
Slow glides the Nile: amid the margin flags,
Clos'd in a bulrush ark, the babe is kft,
Left by a mother's hand. His sister waits
Far off; and, pale, 'tween hope and fear, beholds .
The royal maid, surrounds? by her train,
Approach the river bank, approach the spot
Where sleeps the iunocHnt. She sees them stoop
To view the ark. The rushy lid is op'd,
And wakes the infant, smiling in his tears ;
As when, along a little mountain lake^
The summer south-wind breathes with gentle sigh,
And parts the reeds, unveilifwg, as they bend,
A water lily floating on the wave.
851
What prodigie"s can pow'r divine perform
More grand than it produces year by year,
And all in sight of inattentive man ?
Fami/tar with th' effect, we slight the cause,
and, in the constancy of nature's course,
The regular return of genial months,
And renovariow of a faded world,
See nought to wonder at. Should God agaiu,
As once in Q\-\-be$n, ? >>-|-terrupt the race
VfthV unde-|-i>j4fi<<g | and punc-|-rwa/ sm, \
How would the world admire ! But speaks it less
An nggncy divine, to make him know
His moment when to sink and when to rise.
age a/ter age, than to arrest his course :
all a? behold is mirfcli: but, seen
? ? Generated for Christian Pecaut (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:50 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hnjin7 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? Key to English Prosody. , 16 i
So duly, all is miracle in vain.
i 852. -- Cruel Punishment of a Negro Slave.
Inhuman sons of Europe ! not content
With dooms of death, your victim high you hung
Encag'd, to scorch beneath the torrid ray,
And feed, alive, the hungry fowls of heav'n.
Around the bars already, see, they cling !
The vulture's head . looks through: she strives in vain
To force her way.