CHAP, i.] WEST INDIES. 143 



The loss of Seville was followed by that of Melila, 

 a small village situated above eleven leagues to the 

 eastward, (at the harbour now called Port Maria), and 

 the catastrophe which attended these places is sup- 

 posed to have caused the establishment of the capi- 



and horror, commiseration and sympathy. Emotions of this kind gave 

 rise to the following night scene, (part of an unfinished work, which will 

 probably never be compleated), and its insertion in this place the poetical 

 reader may possibly pardon : 



-Now on high, 



Refulgent Venus and the starry train, 



Spangle the vivid hemisphere. Around 



Myriads of insect-meteors,* living lamps, 



People the glittering air. A faiiy world 



I tread : a land of genii! Airy shapes, 



Oft visible to contemplation's eye, 



Roam in the midnight hour these sacred shades; 



Nor unobserved, while now the starry train 



Burn with diminished lustre j for behold, 



The radiant moon bids meaner glories fade. 



No cloud her course obscures, and high she tow'rs, 



Guiding, in awful majesty thro* Heaven, 



Her silver car, triumphant o'er the dark. 



Sure "'tis illusion and enchantment all! 

 For still fond fancy, thro* the shadowy glade, 

 Sees visionary fleeting forms; still hears 

 Sounds more than human. Once a gentle race 

 Own'd these fair vallies : from the birth of time 

 These groves, these fountains, and these hills were theirs. 

 Perhaps, e'en now, their sp'rits delighted, haunt 

 Their once lov'd mansions. Oft the pensive Mus* 

 Recalls, in tender thought, the mournful scene 

 When the brave Incotel, from yonder rock, 

 His last sad blessing to a weeping train 



* Fire-flies, 



