Methought, upon the threshold of a cave I sate with Cythna; drooping briony, pearled With dew from the wild streamlet's shattered wave, Hung, where we sate to taste the joys which Nature gave. III. We lived a day as we were wont to live, And the bright air o'er every shape did weave IV. Morn fled, noon came, evening, then night descended, The cavern's secret depths beneath the earth did beat. V. The scene was changed, and away, away, away! 1 Having classed these two irregular lines among those miracles of telling irregularity so frequent in Shelley's maturer works, I was naturally shocked to find Mr. Rossetti had substituted Thorough for Thro', with the apology that the line "limped in every previous edition"! To my thinking both lines bound with marvellous appropriateness to the subject. Of And Cythna in my sheltering bosom lay, And the winds bore me-thro' the darkness spread Legions of foul and ghastly shapes, which hung They plucked at Cythna-soon to me then clung VI. And I lay struggling in the impotence. Of sleep, while outward life had burst its bound, To its dire wanderings to adapt the sound With armed men, whose glittering swords were bare, VII. And ere with rapid lips and gathered brow Till I beheld, where bound, that dearest child did lie. course Thro' must not be slurred, but pronounced with a special stress, its one heavy syllable doing duty for a whole foot. VIII. I started to behold her, for delight And exultation, and a joyance free, Solemn, serene and lofty, filled the light Of the calm smile with which she looked on me : Wrought from that bitter woe, had wildered her Farewell! farewell!" she said, as I drew nigh. "At first my peace was marred by this strange stir, Now I am calm as truth-its chosen minister. IX. "Look not so, Laon-say farewell in hope,2 These bloody men are but the slaves who bear Their mistress to her task-it was my scope The slavery where they drag me now, to share, And among captives willing chains to wear Awhile the rest thou knowest-return, dear friend! Which would ensnare us now, for in the end, In victory or in death our hopes and fears must blend." X. These words had fallen on my unheeding ear, All unaware three of their number slew, And grasped a fourth by the throat, and with loud cry My countrymen invoked to death or liberty! 1 Ecstacy in the original edition. 2 There should, possibly, be a full stop here; but as the present sense is perfectly good,-" Say farewell in hope that these bloody men" &c.,—I do not venture on any change. XI. What followed then, I know not-for a stroke On my raised arm and naked head, came down, Filling my eyes with blood-when I awoke, I felt that they had bound me in my swoon, And up a rock which overhangs the town, By the steep path were bearing me below, The plain was filled with slaughter,-overthrown The vineyards and the harvests, and the glow Of blazing roofs shone far o'er the white Ocean's flow. XII. Upon that rock a mighty column stood, XIII. They bore me to a cavern in the hill 1 Had many a landmark, in Mrs. Shelley's editions. 2 Carv'd in the original edition, 3 In Shelley's edition, torches'. XIV. They raised me to the platform of the pile, That column's dizzy height:-the grate of brass With chains which eat into the flesh, alas! With brazen links, my naked limbs they bound: With horrid clangour fell, and the far sound Of their retiring steps in the dense gloom were1 drowned. XV. The noon was calm and bright:-around that column Spread forth in silentness profound and solemn.2 So that I knew not my own misery: The town among the woods below that lay, And the dark rocks which bound the bright and glassy bay. XVI. It was so calm, that scarce the feathery weed Swayed in the air-so bright, that noon did breed No shadow in the sky beside mine own-- 1 Was in Mrs. Shelley's and Mr. Rossetti's editions; but probably Shelley preferred euphony to grammar here as in many other cases. No stop here in Shelley's edition. 3 This word has hitherto been printed cast; but Miss Blind (Westminster Review) suggests past; and I have no doubt she is right. |