Where'er he moves PALEMON still attends,

As if on him his only hope depends;

While RODMOND, fearful of some neighbouring shore, Cries, ever and anon, Look out afore!

Thus o'er the flood four hours she scudding flew, When FALCONERA's rugged Cliffs they view Faintly along the larboard bow descried,

As o'er its mountain tops the lightnings glide;
High o'er its summit, through the gloom of night,
The glimmering Watch Tower cast a mournful light:
In dire amazement rivetted they stand,

And hear the Breakers lash the rugged strand-
But scarce perceived, when past the beam it flies,

Swift as the rapid eagle cleaves the skies:

That danger past reflects a feeble joy,

But soon returning fears their hope destroy:

As in th' Atlantic Ocean, when we find

Some Alp of Ice driv'n southward by the wind,

The sultry air all sickening pants around,

In deluges of torrid ether drown'd;

Till when the floating Isle approaches nigh,

In cooling tides th' aërial billows fly:

Awhile delivered from the scorching heat,

In gentler tides our feverish pulses beat:
Such transient pleasure, as they passed this strand,
A moment bade their throbbing hearts expand;
Th' illusive meteors of a lifeless fire,

Too soon they kindle, and too soon expire.

III. Say MEMORY! thou from whose unerring

tongue

Instructive flows the animated song,

What Regions now the scudding Ship surround? Regions of old through all the World renown'd; That, once the Poet's theme, the Muses' boast, Now lie in ruins, in oblivion lost!

Did they, whose sad distress these lays deplore,
Unskilled in Grecian or in Roman lore,

Unconscious pass along each famous shore?
They did for in this desert, joyless Soil,
No flowers of genial Science deign to smile;
Sad Ocean's Genius, in untimely hour,
Withers the bloom of every springing flower;
For native Tempests here with blasting breath,
Despoil, and doom the vernal buds to death;

Here Fancy droops, while sullen clouds, and Storm,

The generous temper of the Soul deform:
Then, if among the wandering Naval train,
One Stripling, exiled from th' Aonian plain,
Had e'er, entranced in Fancy's soothing dream,
Approached to taste the sweet Castalian Stream;
(Since those salubrious streams, with power divine,
To purer sense the softened soul refine)
Sure he, amid unsocial Mates immured,

To learning lost, severer Grief endured;

In vain might PHOEBUS' ray his mind inspire,
Since Fate with torrents quenched the kindling fire:

If one this pain of living death possest,
It dwelt supreme, ARION! in thy breast;

When, with PALEMON watching in the night
Beneath pale Cynthia's melancholy light,
You oft recounted those surrounding States,
Whose glory Fame with brazen tongue relates.
Immortal ATHENS first, in ruin spread,

Contiguous lies at Port Liono's head;

Great source of Science! whose immortal name

Stands foremost in the glorious roll of Fame;

Here godlike SOCRATES, and PLATO shone,

And firm to truth eternal honour won;

The first in Virtue's cause his life resign'd,

By Heaven pronounced the wisest of mankind;
The last proclaimed the spark of vital fire
The Soul's fine essence never could expire;
Here SOLON dwelt, the philosophic Sage
That fled PISISTRATUS' vindictive rage;
Just ARISTIDES here maintained the Cause,
Whose sacred Precepts shine through Solon's laws:
Of all her towering Structures, now alone

Some Columns stand, with mantling weeds o'ergrown;
The wandering stranger near the Port descries
A milk-white Lion of stupendous size,

Of antique marble; hence the Haven's name,
Unknown to modern Natives whence it came.

Next, in the gulf of Engia, CORINTH lies, Whose gorgeous fabrics seemed to strike the skies; Whom, though by tyrant victors oft subdued, Greece, Egypt, Rome, with admiration viewed: Her name, for architecture long renowned,

Spread like the foliage which her Pillars crowned;

But now, in fatal desolation laid,

Oblivion o'er it draws a dismal shade.

Then further westward, on Morea's land,
Fair MISITRA! thy modern turrets stand:
Ah! who, unmoved with secret woe, can tell
That here great LACEDEMON's glory fell;

Here once she flourished, at whose trumpet's sound
War burst his chains, and Nations shook around;
Here brave LEONIDAS from shore to shore
Through all Achaia bade her thunders roar:
He, when imperial XERXES from afar

Advanced with Persia's sumless hosts to war,
Till Macedonia shrunk beneath his spear,

And Greece all shuddered as the Chief drew near;
He, at Thermopyla's decisive plain,

Their force opposed with SPARTA's glorious train;
Tall Oeta saw the tyrant's conquered bands
In gasping millions bleed on hostile lands:
Thus vanquished, haughty Asia heard thy name,
And Thebes, and Athens, sickened at thy fame;
Thy State, supported by LYCURGUS' laws,
Gained, like thine arms, superlative applause;