THE HOSPICE OE ST. BERNARD. 37 



And oft the pilgrim on that Alpine height 

 Has hailed the dog's kind instinct with delight, 

 And in the storm's terrific hour of wrath 

 Has blest the watchful guardian of his path . 



And other legends on St. Bernard's steep 

 Wrapt in the veil of by-gone ages sleep ; 

 Scarce does a cliff uprear its rugged head 

 But frowns a record of the ancient dead ; 

 For here *, tliey say, from Lybia's burning strand, 

 The Punic chieftain led his warrior band : 

 The mountaineer beheld with wild amaze 

 On steeps untrod before his watchfires blaze, 

 And rocks uprooted from their marble bed 

 Leave a free passage for his hosts to tread : 

 From height to height he toiled his conquering way. 

 Till at his feet Hesperia's garden lay : 

 The victor paused — and viewed with rapturous glow 

 Her sunny vales expanding far below ; 

 And thrilled with hope that soon his steps might rove 

 Freely by Tiber's bank and Latium's grove : 

 That their rich vineyards and proud cities' spoils 

 Might crown his conquests, and reward his toils. 



Savage and wild were those rude tribes, who then 

 Dwelt in the caverns of the mountain glen; 

 Or under some tall rock o'erhung with snows 

 Sought their chill shelter, and their brief repose. 

 No Christian shrine was there, no vesper strain 

 Was hymned by pity at her rock-hewn fane, 

 No Alpine horn proclaimed from hill to dell 

 Faith's hallowed prayer, and peaceful love's farewell, 

 Yet e'en in those dark days some hand had placed 

 A lowly temple t in that dreary waste: 

 There had some soul confessed the Eternal's throne, 

 And bowed in reverence to a power unknown : 

 Some heart the present Deity had felt : 

 Some knee in uninstructed homage knelt: 

 Some eye had traced Him in the tempest's ire. 

 And read his record in the path of fire. 

 Prompt dictate of the untutored mind, to seek 

 God in the solitude, and mountain peak; 

 And in the desert regions of the air 

 To breathe the tribute of spontaneous prayer ! 



* It is still asserted by the monks of the Hospice, that Hannibal effected 

 his passage over the Great St. Bernard. There is, however, evidence suffici- 

 ent to prove this nothing more than a legend ; and as such I have introduced it. 



t Alluding to the temple of Jupiter Penninus, on the site of which the 

 Hospice is founded. 



