When, from the blind mist issuing, I beheld Glory - beyond all glory ever seen,
Confusion infinite of heaven and earth,
Dazzling the soul. Meanwhile, prophetic harps In every grove were ringing, 'War shall cease; Did ye not hear that conquest is abjured?
Bring garlands, bring forth choicest flowers, to deck The Tree of Liberty!' My heart rebounded; My melancholy voice the chorus joined! -'Be joyful all ye Nations, in all Lands, Ye that are capable of Joy, be glad! Henceforth, whate'er is wanting to yourselves, In others ye shall promptly find; — and all, Enriched by mutual and reflected wealth, Shall with one heart honor their common kind
"Thus was I reconverted to the world;
Society became my glittering Bride,
And airy hopes my Children! From the dep.ns Of natural passion seemingly escaped,
My soul diffused herself in wide embrace Of institutions, and the forms of things,
As they exist, in mutable array,
Upon life's surface. What, though in my veins There flowed no Gallic blood, nor had I breathed The air of France, not less than Gallic zeal Kindled and burnt among the sapless twigs Of my exhausted heart. If busy Men In sober conclave met, to weave a web Of amity, whose living threads should stretch Beyond the seas, and to the farthest pole, There did I sit, assisting. If, with noise And acclamation, crowds in open air
Expressed the tumult of their minds, my voice
There mingled, heard or not. The powers of song
I left not uninvoked; and, in still groves, Where mild enthusiasts tuned a pensive lay Of thanks and expectation, in accord With their belief, I sang Saturnian Rule Returned a progeny of golden years Permitted to descend, and bless mankind.
With promises the Hebrew Scriptures em: I felt the invitation; and resumed
A long-suspended office in the House Of public worship, where, the glowing phrase Of ancient Inspiration serving me,
I promised also with undaunted trust Foretold, and added prayer to prophecy; The admiration winning of the crowd; The help desiring of the pure devout.
"Scorn and contempt forbid me to proceed! But History, Time's slavish Scribe, will tell How rapidly the Zealots of the cause Disbanded or in hostile ranks appeared; Some, tired of honest service; these, outdone, Disgusted, therefore, or appalled, by aims Of fiercer Zealots so Confusion reigned, And the more faithful were compelled to exclaim, As Brutus did to Virtue, 'Liberty,
I worshipped Thee, and find thee but a Shade!'
"Such recantation had for me no charm,
Nor would I bend to it; who should have grieved At aught, however fair, that bore the mien
Of a conclusion, or catastrophe.
Why then conceal, that, when the simply good In timid selfishness withdrew, I sought Other support, not scrupulous whence it came, And, by what compromise it stood, not nice
Enough if notions seemed to be high-pitched, And qualities determined. Among men
So charactered did I maintain a strife
Hopeless, and still more hopeless every hour; But, in the process, I began to feel That, if the emancipation of the world Were missed, I should at least secure my own, And be in part compensated. For rights, Widely inveterately usurped upon,
I spake with vehemence; and promptly seized Whate'er Abstraction furnished for my needs Or purposes; nor scrupled to proclaim, And propagate, by liberty of life,
Those new persuasions. Not that I rejoiced, Or even found pleasure, in such vagrant course, For its own sake; but farthest from the walk Which I had trod, in happiness and peace, Was most inviting to a troubled mind, That, in a struggling and distempered world, Saw a seductive image of herself.
Yet, mark the contradictions of which Man Is still the sport! Here Nature was my guide, The Nature of the dissolute; but Thee, O fostering Nature! I rejected - smiled
At others' tears in pity; and in scorn
At those, which thy soft influence sometimes arew From my unguarded heart. The tranquil shores Of Britain circumscribed me; else, perhaps, I might have been entangled among deeds, Which, now, as infamous, I should abhor- Despise, as senseless: for my spirit relished Strangely the exasperation of that Land, Which turned an angry beak against the down Of her own breast; confounded into hope Of disencumbering thus her frotful wings.
But all was quieted by iron bonds Of military sway. The shifting aims, The moral interests, the creative might, The varied functions and high attributes Of civil Action, yielded to a Power Formal, and odious, and contemptible.
- In Britain, ruled a panic dread of change; The weak were praised, rewarded, and advanced; And, from the impulse of a just disdain, Once more did I retire into myself. There feeling no contentment, I resolved
To fly, for safeguard, to some foreign shore, Remote from Europe; from her blasted hopes, Her fields of carnage, and polluted air.
Fresh blew the wind, when o'er the Atlantic Main The Ship went gliding with her thoughtless crew; And who among them but an Exile, freed From discontent, indifferent, pleased to sit Among the busily-employed, not more
With obligation charged, with service taxed, Than the loose pendant, to the idle wind Upon the tall mast streaming;— but, ye Powers Of soul and sense mysteriously allied,
O, never let the Wretched, if a choice Be left him, trust the freight of his distress
To a long voyage on the silent deep!
For, like a Plague, will Memory break out; And, in the blank and solitude of things,
Upon his Spirit, with a fever's strength,
Will Conscience prey. Feebly must they have felt Who, in old time, attired with snakes and whips
The vengeful Furies. Beautiful regards
Were turned on me -the face of her I loved
The Wife and Mother, pitifully fixing
Tender reproaches, insupportable!
Where now that boasted liberty? No welcome From unknown Objects I received; and those, Known and familiar, which the vaulted sky Did, in the placid clearness of the night, Disclose, had accusations to prefer Against my peace. Within the cabin stood That Volume ―as a compass for the soul Revered among the Nations. I implored Its guidance; but the infallible support Of faith was wanting. Tell me, why refused To one by storms annoyed and adverse winds ; Perplexed with currents; of his weakness sick; Of vain endeavors tired; and by his own, And by his Nature's, ignorance, dismayed?
"Long-wished-for sight, the Western World appeared And, when the Ship was moored, I leaped ashore Indignantly — resolved to be a Man,.
Who, having o'er the past no power, would live No longer in subjection to the past,
With abject mind from a tyrannic Lord
Inviting penance, fruitlessly endured.
So, like a Fugitive, whose feet have cleared
Some boundary, which his Followers may not cross In prosecution of their deadly chase,
Respiring I looked round. How bright the Sun! How promising the Breeze! Can aught produced. In the old World compare, thought I, for power, And majesty with this gigantic Stream, Sprung from the Desert? And behold a City Fresh, youthful, and aspiring! What are these To me, or I to them? As much at least As He desires that they should be, whom winds And waves have wafted to this distant shore,
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