OF TEMPER.
59
When, by the honour'd shade of Virgil led
Thro' all the dreary circles of the dead,
Hell's fiercest demons threaten'd to divide
The living poet from his shadowy guide;
And bade him, friendless, and alone, return,
Thro' the dire horrors of the dark sojourn.
Not long the lovely fair-one's terrors last;
For safely thro' th' impending rock she past;
And slow advancing to the gloomy strand,
The sullen pilot brings her safe to land.
There, fondly hovering on her guardian plumes,
The heavenly Monitor her charge resumes;
And smiling, leads along the rocky road,
Whole windings open into Spleen's abode.
Thou queen of shades! whose spirit-damping speil
Too oft is seen the poet's pride to quell,
May I unpunish'd by thy subtle power,
Dare to display thy subterranean bower,
And to this wond'ring upper world explain
The shadowy horrors of thy secret reign?
Thro' all the dreary circles of the dead,
Hell's fiercest demons threaten'd to divide
The living poet from his shadowy guide;
And bade him, friendless, and alone, return,
Thro' the dire horrors of the dark sojourn.
Not long the lovely fair-one's terrors last;
For safely thro' th' impending rock she past;
And slow advancing to the gloomy strand,
The sullen pilot brings her safe to land.
There, fondly hovering on her guardian plumes,
The heavenly Monitor her charge resumes;
And smiling, leads along the rocky road,
Whole windings open into Spleen's abode.
Thou queen of shades! whose spirit-damping speil
Too oft is seen the poet's pride to quell,
May I unpunish'd by thy subtle power,
Dare to display thy subterranean bower,
And to this wond'ring upper world explain
The shadowy horrors of thy secret reign?
