XCII.

But though I am a temperate Theologian,
And also meek as a Metaphysician,
Impartial between Tyrian and Trojan,

As Eldon on a lunatic commission,

In politics my duty is to show John

Bull something of the lower world's condition. It makes my blood boil like the springs of Hecla,

To see men let these scoundrel Sovereigns break law.

XCIII.

But politics, and policy, and piety,

Are topics which I sometimes introduce,

And now, that we may furnish with some matter all

Tastes, we are going to try the supernatural.

XCIV.

And now I will give up all argument;
And positively henceforth no temptation
Shall" fool me to the top up of my bent;"-
Yes, I'll begin a thorough reformation.
Indeed I never knew what people meant

By deeming that my Muse's conversation
Was dangerous;-I think she is as harmless

As some who labour more and yet may charm less.

XCV.

Grim reader! did you ever see a ghost?

No; but you have heard-I understand-be dumb!

And don't regret the time you may have lost,

For you have got that pleasure still to come:

And do not think I mean to sneer at most

Of these things, or by ridicule benumb
That source of the sublime and the mysterious
For certain reasons, my belief is serious.

XCVI.

Serious? You laugh :-you may; that will I not;

My smiles must be sincere or not at all.

I say I do believe a haunted spot

Exists-and where? That shall I not recal,

Because I'd rather it should be forgot,

66

“ Shadows the soul of Richard”, may appal.

In short, upon that subject I've some qualms very

Like those of the Philosopher of Malmsbury. (7)

XCVII.

The night (I sing by night-sometimes an owl,
And now and then a nightingale)—is dim,
And the loud shriek of sage Minerva's fowl
Rattles around me her discordant hymn:

Old portraits from old walls upon me scowl-
I wish to heaven they would not look so grim;
The dying embers dwindle in the grate-

I think too that I have sate up too late :

XCVIII.

And therefore, though 'tis by no means my way

To rhyme at noon-when I have other things To think of, if I ever think,-I say

I feel some chilly midnight shudderings, And prudently postpone, until mid-day, Treating a topic which alas but brings Shadows;-but you must be in my condition

Before you learn to call this superstition.

XCIX.

Between two worlds life hovers like a star,

"Twixt night and morn, upon the horizon's verge:

How little do we know that which we are!

How less what we may be! The eternal surge

Of time and tide rolls on, and bears afar

Our bubbles; as the old burst, new emerge, Lash'd from the foam of ages; while the graves Of Empires heave but like some passing waves.

END OF THE FIFTEENTH CANTO.

NOTES TO CANTO XV.

Note 1, page 14, stanza xviii.

And thou Diviner still,

Whose lot it is by man to be mistaken.

As it is necessary in these times to avoid ambiguity, I say, that I mean, by " Diviner still," CHRIST. If ever God was Man-or Man God-he was both. I never arraigned his creed, but the use or abuse-made of it. Mr. Canning one day quoted Christianity to sanction Negro Slavery, and Mr. Wilberforce had little to say in reply. And was Christ crucified, that black men might be scourged? If so, he had better been born a Mulatto, to give both colours an equal chance of freedom, or at least salvation.

Note 2, page 22, stanza xxxv.

When Rapp the Harmonist embargoed marriage
In his harmonious settlement.

This extraordinary and flourishing German colony in America does not entirely exclude matrimony, as the "Shakers" do; but lays such restrictions upon it as prevent more than a certain quantum of births within a certain number of years; which births (as Mr. Hulme observes) generally arrive" in a little flock like those of a farmer's lambs, all within the same