560 ANNUAL R E G I STER, 1813. 



" Veil'd a sad wreck of grandeur and of grace, 



" Limbs worn and wounded, a majestic face, 



" Deep-plough'd by Time, and ghastly pale with woes, 



" That goaded till remorse to madness rose : 



<■ Haunted by phantoms, he had fled his home, 



" With savage beasts in solitude to roam ; 



" Wild as the waves, and wandering as the wind, 



" No art could tame him, and no chains could bind :^ 



•• Already seven disastrous years had shed 



•' Mildew and blast on his unshelter'd head ; 



♦• His brain was smitten by the sun at noon, 



" His heart was wither'd by the cold night moon. 



" 'Twas Cain, the sire of nations :— Jubal knew 

 *' His kindred looks, and tremblingly withdrew ; 

 " He, darting like the blaze of sudden fire, 

 " Leap'd o'er the space between, and grasp'd the lyre : 

 •• Sooner with life the struggling Bard would part, 

 " And ere the fiend could tear it from his heart, 

 « He hurl'd his hand, with one tremendous stroke, 

 <« O'er all the strings ; whence in a whirlwind broke 

 " Such tones of terror, dissonance, despair, 

 " As till that hour had never jarr'd in air. 

 " Astonisli'd into marble at the shock, 

 " Backward stood Cain, unconscious as a rock, 

 " Cold, breathless, motionless thro' all his frame ; 

 " But soon his visage quicken'd into flame, 

 " When Jubal's hand the clashing jargon changed 

 •' To melting harmony, and nimbly ranged 

 '* From chord to chord, ascending sweet and clear, 

 " Then rolling down in thunder on the ear ; 

 " With power the pulse of anguish to restrain, 

 " And charm the evil spirit from the brain. 



" Slowly recovering from that trance profound, 

 *• Bewilder'd, touch'd, transported with the sound, 

 •• Cain view'd himself, the bard, the earth, the sky, 

 " While wonder fiash'd and faded in his eye, 

 *• And reason, by alternate frenzy crost, 

 " Now seem'd restored, and now for ever lost. 

 * *• So shines the moon, by glimpses, thro' her shroud*, 

 " When windy darkness rides upon the clouds, 

 " Till thro' the blue, serene, and silent night, 

 •* She reigns in full tranquillity of light. 

 " Jubal, with eager hope, beheld the chace 

 " Of strange emotions hurrying o'er his face, 

 *' And waked his noblest numbers, to control 

 , " The tide and tempest of the Maniac's soul ; 



