Of Pifan palms, than in the field of Fame And he, fweet mafter of the Doric oat, The cliffs that wav'd with oak and pine, To deck with honour due this feftal day, The bards of Greece, might best adorn, Who rules a people like their own, Who bids his Britain vie with Greece. An Irregular FRAGMENT, found in a dark Paffage in the Tower. [From the 2d Volume of Mifs WILLIAMS'S POEMS.] ISE, winds of night! relentless tempests, rife! In this chill paufe a deeper horror lies, A wilder fear appals my fhudd'ring foul.- Heard the dire fhrieks of murder burst- And fhook thefe folemn towers! I fhudd'ring pass that fatal room Which Fate perchance unlocks no more; Death fmear'd with blood o'er the dark portal lower. Spare, favage blaft! the taper's quiv'ring fires, No mortal force this gate unbarr'd That freeze my blood, that flake my foul! They glide more near Their forms unfold! Fix'd are their eyes, on me they bend Their glaring look is cold! And hark! I hear "Mark the native glories fpread "The crown of Albion wreath'd my head, - "Nor turn'd their fhrinking eyes :"Soon as the daring eagle fprings "To bask in heav'ns empy real light, "The vultures ply their baleful wings, "A cloud of deep'ning colour marks their flight, "Staining the golden day : "But fee! amid the rav'nous brood "A bird of fiercer afpect foar"The fpirits of a rival race, "Hang on the noxious blaft, and trace, "With gloomy joy, his deftin'd prey; "Infame th' ambitious with that thirits for blood, "And plunge his talons deep in kindred gore. "View the lern form that hovers nigh, "Fierce rolls his dauntless eye "In fcorn of hideous death; "Till starting at a brother's name, "Horror fhrinks his glowing frame, "Locks the half-utter'd grown, "And chills the parting breath :"Aftonifh'd nature heav'd a moan! "When her affrighted eye beheld the hands "She form'd to cherish rend her holy bands. "Look where a royal infant kneels, "Shrieking, and agoniz'd with fear, "He fees the dagger pointed near "A much lov'd brother's breast, "And tells an abfent mother all he feels :"His eager eye he calls around; "Where fhall her guardian form be found, "On which his eager eye would rest! "On her he calls in accents wild, "And wonders why her ftep is flow "To fave her fuff'ring child! "Rob'd in the regal garb, his brother stands "In more majestic woe "And meets the impious ftroke with bofom bare, "Then fearless grafps the murd❜rer's hands, "And asks the minifter of hell to fpare "The child whofe feeble arms fuitain "His bleeding form from cruel Death. "In vain fraternal fondnefs pleads, "For cold is now his livid cheek, "And cold his laft expiring breath: "And now with aspect meek, "The infant lifts his mournful eye, "And asks with trembling voice, to die, "If death will cure his heaving heart of pain"His heaving heart now bleeds— "Foul tyrant! o'er the gilded hour "That beams with all the blaze of power, "Remorfe fhall spread her thickest shroud; "The furies in thy tortur'd ear "Shall howl, with curfes deep, and loud, "And wake distracting fear! "I fee the gheftly fpectre rife, "Whose blood is cold, whofe hollow eyes "With upright hair, and shiv'ring heart, "Dark o'er thy midnight couch he bends, "And clafps thy fhrinking frame, thy impious fpirit rends." His fhape eludes my fearching eye- Than life's expiring pang can give ;— If pity can allay thy woes He comes to catch the parting breath- But whence arofe that folemn call? "For thee I raise this fable pall, "Stretch'd beneath, thy eye fhall trace 03 "A "A thousand funs have roll'd, fince light "Rufh'd on their folid night "See, o'er that tender frame grim famine hangs, And mocks a mother's pangs! "The laft, laft drep which warm'd her veins "That meagre infant drains "Then gnaws her fond fuftaining breast"Stretch'd on her feeble knees, behold "Another victim finks to lafting reft"Another, yet her matron arms would fold Who ftrives to reach her matron arms in vain"Too weak her wafted form to raise, "On him the bends her eager gaze; "She fees the foft imploring eye "That asks her dear embrace, the cure of pain"She fees her child at diftance die "But now her steadfast heart can bear "Unmov'd, the preffure of defpair When first the winds of winter urge their courfe "O'er the pure ftream, whofe current fmoothly glides, "The heaving river fwells its troubled tides; "But when the bitter blast with keener force, "O'er the high wave an icy fetter throws, "The harden'd wave is fix'd in dead repose.""Say who that hoary form? alone he stands, "And meckly lifts his wither'd hands "His white beard streams with blood"I fee him with a fmile, deride "The wounds that pierce his fhrivel'd fide, "That fanguine drop which wakes his woe "Say, fpirit! whence its fource.". "Afk no more its fource to know "Ne'er fhall mortal eye explore "Whence flow'd that drop of human gore, "Till the starting dead fhall rife, "Unchain'd from earth, and mount the skies, "And time fhall end his fated course.". "Now th' unfathom'd depth behold- That fhapelefs phantom finking flow "Deep down the vast abyfs below, "Darts, thro' the mists that shroud his frame, 8 "Mortal, |