Poems from A Sicilian Romance (1790)

 

 

IN THE SICILIAN ROMANCE

2 VOLS. (4TH ED.; LONDON, 1809)

The Sicilian Romance 2 Vols. (4th Ed.; London, 1809), 1:46-47: "When the ball broke up, she retired to her apartment, but not to sleep. Joy is as retless as anxiety or sorrow. She seemed to have entered upon a new state of existence;--those fine springs of affection which had hitherto lain concealed, were now touched, and yielded to her a happiness more exalted than any her imagination ever painted. She reflected on the tranquility of her past life, and comparing it with the emotions of the present hour, exulted in the difference. All her former pleasures now appeared insipid; she wondered that they ever had power to affect her, and that she had endured with content the dull uniformity to which she had been condemned. It was now only that she appeared to live. Absorbed in the single idea of being beloved, her imagination [PAGE 47] soared into the regions of romantic bliss, and bore her high above the possibility of evil. Since she was beloved by Hippolitus, she could only be happy. From this state of entranced delight she was awakened by the sound of music immediately under her window. It was a lute touched by a masterly hand. After a wild and melancholy symphony, a voice of more than magic expression swelled into an air so pathetic and tender, that it seemed to breathe the very soul of love. The chords of the lute were struck in low and sweet accompaniment. Julie listened, and distinguished the following words:
 

SONNET.
 
Still is the night breeze!--not a lonely sound
  Steals through the silence of this dreary hour;
O'er these high battlements Sleep reigns profound,
  And sheds on all his sweet oblivious power.
 
On all but me--I vainly ask his dews
  To steep in short forgetfulness my cares:
Th' affrighted god still flies when Love pursues,
  Still--still denies the wretched lover's prayers."
 



 


The Sicilian Romance 2 Vols. (4th Ed.; London, 1809), 1:86-88: "The interest which these mysterious circumstances excited in the mind of Julia, had withdrawn her attention from a subject more dangerous to its peace. The image of Vereza, notwithstanding, would frequently intrude upon her fancy; and awakening the recollection of happy emotions, would call forth a sigh which all her efforts could not suppress. She loved to indulge the melancholy of her heart in the solitude of the woods. One evening she took her lute to a favorite spot on the sea shore, and resigning herself to a pleasing sadness, touched some sweet and plaintive airs. The purple fluh of evening was diffused over the heavens. The sun, involved in clouds of splendid and innumerable hues, was setting o'er the distant waters, whose clear bosom glowed with rich reflection. The beauty of the scene, the soothing murmur of the high trees, waved by the light air which overshadowed her, [PAGE 87] and the soft shelling of the waves that flowed gently in upon the shores, insensibly sunk her mind into a state of repose. She touched the chords of her lute in sweet and wild melody, and sung the following ode:
 

EVENING.
 
EVENING veil'd in dewy shades,
  Slowly sinks upon the main;
See th' empurpled glory fades,
  Beneath her sober, chasten'd reign.
 
Around her car the pensive Hours,
  In sweet illapses meet the sight,
Crown'd their brows with closing flow'rs,
  Rich with chystal dews of night.
 
Her hands, the dusky hues arrange
  O'er the fine tints of parting day;
Insensibly the colours change,
  And languish into soft decay.
 
Wide o'er the waves her shadowy veil she draws,
  As faint they die along the distant shores;
Through the still air I mark each solemn pause,
  Each rising murmur which the wild wave pours.
 
[PAGE 88]
A browner shadow spreads upon the air,
  And o'er the scene a pensive grandeur throws;
The rocks--the woods a wilder beauty wear,
  And the deep wave in softer music flows.
 
And now the distant view where vision fails
  Twilight and grey obscurity pervade;
Tint following tint each dark'ning object veils,
  Till all the landscape sinks into the shade.
 
Oft from the airy steep of some lone hill,
  While sleeps the scene beneath the purple glow;
And evening lives o'er all serene and still,
  Wrapt let me view the magic world below!
 
And catch the dying gale that swells remote,
  That steals the sweetness from the shepherd's flute;
The distant torrent's melancholy note
  And the soft warblings of the lover's lute.
 
Still through the deep'ning gloom of bow'ry shades
  To Fancy's eye fantastic forms appear;
Low whisp'ring echoes steal along the glades
  And thrill the ear with wildly-pleasing fear.
 
Parent of shades!--of silence!--dewy airs!
  Of solemn musing, and of vision wild!
To thee my soul her pensive tribute bears,
  And hails thy gradual step, thy influence mild."
 



 


The Sicilian Romance 2 Vols. (4th Ed.; London, 1809), 1:175-6: "As they proceeded with silent caution, they perceived a light break from among the rocks at some distance. The Duke hesitated whether to approach, since it might probably proceed from a party of the banditti with which these mountains were said to be infested. While he hesitated, it disappeared; but he had not advance many steps when it returned. He now perceived it to issue from the mouth of a cavern, and cast a bright reflection upon the overhanging rocks and shrubs. He dismounted, and followed by two of his people, leaving the rest at some distance, moved with slow and silent steps towards the cave. As he drew near, he heard the sound of many voices, in high carousal. Suddenly the uproar ceased, and the [PAGE 175] following words were sung by a clear and manly voice:
 

SONG.
 
Pur the rich libation high;
  The sparkling cup to Bacchus fill;
His joys shall dance in ev'ry eye,
  And chase the forms of future ill!
 
Quick the magic raptures steal
  O'er the fancy kindling brain,
Warm the heart with social zeal,
  And song and laughter reign.
 
Then visions of pleasure shall float on our sight,
  While light bounding our spirits shall flow;
And the god shall impart a fine sense of delight,
  Which in vain sober mortals would know."
 
 



 


The Sicilian Romance 2 Vols. (4th Ed.; London, 1809), 2:27-9: "At the abbey, solitude and stillness conspired with the solemn aspect of the pile, to impress the mind with religious awe. The dim glass of the high arched windows, stained with the colouring of monkish fictions, and shaded by the thick trees that environed the edifice, spread around a sacred gloom, which inspired the beholder with congenial feelings. As Julie mused through the walks, and surveyed this vast monument of barbarous superstition, it brought to her recollection an ode which she often repeated with melancholy pleasure, as the composition of Hippolitus.
 

[PAGE 28]
 
SUPERSTITION.  AN ODE.
 
HIGH mid Alverna's awful steeps,
  Eternal shades, and silence dwell,
Save, when the gale resounding sweeps,
  Sad straings are faintly heard to swell:
 
Enthron'd amid the wild impending rocks,
  Involv'd in clouds, and brooding future woe,
The demon Superstition Nature shocks,
  And waves her Sceptre o'er the world below.
 
Around her throne, amid the mingling glooms,
  Wild--hideous forms are slowly seen to glide;
She bids them fly to shade earth's brightest blooms,
  And spread the blast of Desolation wide.
 
See! in the darkened air their fiery course!
  The sweeping ruin settles o'er the land,
Terror leads on their steps with madd'ning force,
  And Death and Vengeance close the ghastly band!
 
Mark the purple streams that flow!
Mark the deep empassioned woe!
Frantic Fury's dying groan!
Virtue's sigh, and Sorrow's moan!
 
[PAGE 29]
Wide--wide the phantoms swell the loaded air
With shrieks of anguish--madness and despair!
  Cease your ruin! spectrs dire!
    Cease your wild terrific sway!
  Turn your steps--and check your ire,
    Yield to peace and mourning day!"
 
 



 


The Sicilian Romance 2 Vols. (4th Ed.; London, 1809), 2:97-8: "The tempest came on, and the captain vainly sounded for anchorage: it was deep sea, and the vessel drove furiously before the wind. The darkness was interrupted only at intervals by the broad expanse of vivid lightnings, which quivered upon the waters, and disclosing the horrible gaspings of the waves, served to render the succeeding darkness more awful. The thunder which burst in tremendous crashes above, the loud roar of the waves below, the noise of the sailors, and the sudden cracks and groanings of the vessel, conspired to heighten the tremendous sublimity of the scene.
 

[PAGE 98]
 
Far on the rocky shores the surges sound,
The lashing whirlwinds cleave the vast profound;
While high in air, amid the rising storm,
Driving the blast, sits Danger's black'ning form.

Julie lay fainting with terror and sickness in the cabin, and Ferdinand, though almost hopeless himself, was endeavouring to support her, when a loud and dreadful crash was heard from above. It seemed as if the whole vessel had parted. The voices of the sailors now rose together, and all was confusion and uproar. Ferdinand ran up to the deck, and learned the part of the main mast, borne away by the wind, had fallen upon the deck, whence it had rolled overboard."


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