But Cadwall, crown'd with splendid wreaths of fame,

And glowing now with passion's genial flame;

Oft for his Paladour to grief resign'd,

Revolv'd his fortunes with distracted mind.

Sudden, Melissa, like the gentle light

That tells the storm subsiding, meets his sight.

'Since the same cares our anxious thoughts divide,

'Behold, I bring thee aid,' the fairy cried,
'Sad Paladour, oppress'd by magic slight,

'Some dreary prison shuts from human sight;
'Where, vex'd by fiends, amid Tartarean gloom

He loaths his life. But would'st thou learn his doom,

• My hand shall lead, where from th' enchanted ground

• Prophetic voices Merlin breathes around.

(Worms have consum'd his corpse; his mighty mind

• Still dictates wisdom, and preserves mankind.)

My tongue shall chant the verse which breaks the sleep Of death, and moves the spirits of the deep. 'Not that terrific sound, with forceful spell,

Which binds the dark malignant pow'rs of hell,

'But such sweet music, such celestial airs,
'As win good angels to assist our pray'rs.'
Cadwall, amaz'd, beheld the heav'nly grace,
With dazzling beauty, beaming from her face,
Her awful pow'r with trembling voice confest,
And bow'd submissive to her high behest.
She smil❜d superior, and with soothing art
Confirm'd his hope, and cheer'd his auxious heart:

And as they past o'er wilds and mountains hoar,
Still charm'd his raptur'd ear with various lore.

Now in a narrow vale they held their way :

Here through the boughs scarce pierc'd the quiv'ring ray,
Which on the streams pellucid surface play'd:

The stream, as if enamour'd of the shade,
Appears to sleep; but soon impetuous flows,
Where bare and jutting rocks his course oppose,
Which rear aloft to heav'n their rugged forms,
And challenge all the fury of the storms.

Lo these,' she cried, the hills of Dynevoure,

See to the right what monstrous piles arise,

'Stones heap'd on stones, which pierce the louring skies.
Each might be deem'd, it fills so vast a space,
'Some mountain hurl'd by that Titanian race.
'Lo, there a fearful chasm, from whence exhale
'Dank steaming mists, and deadly vapours pale.
'Approach, but cautious, lest the damp of death
'Benumb thy senses, and suppress thy breath.

Some daring footstep may have pass'd the bound,
But none, returning from th' abyss profound,

Has ever yet divulg'd to human race

The dreadful secrets of that impious place.
'Incline thine ear, and hark, what tumult grows

'On every side! What still repeated blows
'Strike on the anvil! How the furnace roars!
How from the forge the hissing metal pours!
Shrill yells, and angry shouts, and clamours rise,
'Mix'd with deep groans, and lamentable cries.
'These from o'erlabour'd spirits long of yore,

'Chain'd to the task by Merlin's magic pow'r;

'Proceed. Tis they that with impetuous sway,

'Have heav'd these rocky piles to upper day;

'Torn from the central earth. They strain; they toil;

Heap flames on flames; in massy cauldrons boil

Vast seas of molten brass; or pour around

The metal, beat and shap'd, with thund'ring sound.

Merlin, 'tis said, in his capacious mind,

Some work surpassing human thought design'd;

Some mighty work for sovereign beauty's sake,

'What time he lov'd the Lady of the Lake.

Perhaps to bid, in this his favourite isle,

'With fruits of gold Hesperian gardens smile:
'Some glorious done with matchless art to raise,
To speak in future times his lady's praise:

• With walls of brass to fence the guarded land,

'Or join Ierne to the Cambrian strand.

Vain man! whose folly boasts in wisdom's name!

• Vain man! whose power but works thy grief and shame!

The faithless nymph with many an amorous wile,

With many an honied word, and wreathed smile,

Allur'd the wizard to her secret bow'r,

Surpriz'd, and made him captive to her pow'r.

Ah, sad reward for love! Her cruel doom

There clos'd him living in sepulchral gloom. 'Till his return the fiends to labour bound,

. With hideous ruin groaning earth confound: Excite the elements to monstrous war :

(Heat, moisture, air, in dreadful conflict jar.) 'Restore to vapours their elastic force,

To rend incumbent mountains in their course :

'And hurl vast seas upon the central fire,

Till, rais'd in steam, the watery mass aspire,

'Level the lofty rocks, lift high the plain,

And whelm whole kingdoms in the foaming main.

'Yet deem not that their mighty toils extend

'From age to age, directed to no end.

'Frail are the plans by mortal thought design'd,

' And weak and vain the wisest of mankind!