To Xerxes, public confidence and love.
No pale suspicion of th' empoison'd bowl,

Th' assassin's poniard, or provok'd revolt,
Chase from my decent couch the peace deny'd
To his resplendent canopy. Thy king,
Who hath profan'd by proffer'd bribes my ear,
Dares not to meet my arm. Thee, trembling slave

Whose embassy was treason, I despise,
And therefore spare.

THE COMBAT

OF

LEONIDAS AND HYPERANTHES.

[IBID.]

But Hyperanthes from the trembling ranks
Of Asia tow'rs, inflexibly resolv'd
The Persian glory to redeem, or fall.

The Spartan, worn by toil, his languid arm
Uplifts once more. He waits the dauntless prince.
The heroes now stand adverse. Each, awhile
Restrains his valour, each admiring views

His godlike foe. At length their brandish'd points

1

Provoke the contest, fated soon to close
The long continued horrors of the day.
Fix'd in amaze and fear, the Asian throng,
Unmov'd and silent, on their bucklers pause.
Thus on the wastes of India, while the earth
Beneath him groans, the elephant is seen,
His huge proboscis writhing, to defy
The strong rhinoceros, whose pond'rous horn
Is newly whetted on a rock. Anon
Each hideous bulk encounters. Earth her groan
Redoubles. Trembling, from their covert gaze
The savage inmates of surrounding woods
In distant terror. By the varied art
Of either chief the dubious combat long
Its great event retarded. Now his lance
Far through the hostile shield Laconia's king
Impell'd. Aside the Persian swung his arm.
Beneath it pass'd the weapon, which his targe
Encumber'd. Hopes of conquest and renown
Elate his courage. Sudden he directs
His rapid javelin to the Spartan's throat.
But he his wary buckler upward rais'd,

Which o'er his shoulder turn'd the glancing steel;
For one last effort then his scatter'd strength
Collecting, levell'd with resistless force

The massive orb, and dash'd its brazen verge

Full on the Persian's forehead. Down he sunk,
Without a groan expiring, as o'erwhelm'd
Beneath a marble fragment, from its seat

Heav'd by a whirlwind, sweeping o'er the ridge
Of some aspiring mansion. Gen'rous prince!
What could his valour more? His single might
He match'd with great Leonidas, and fell
Before hsi native bands. The Spartan king
Now stands alone. In heaps his slaughter'd friends,
All stretch'd around him, lie. The distant foes
Show'r on his head innumerable darts.
From various sluices gush the vital floods;
They stain his fainting limbs. Nor yet with pain
His brow is clouded; but those beauteous wounds,
The sacred pledges of his own renown,
And Sparta's safety, in serenest joy
His closing eye contemplates. Fame can twine
No brighter laurels round his glorious head;
His virtue more to labour fate forbids,
And lays him now in honourable rest,
To seal his country's liberty by death.

On Hejar's wild rocks from the Persian main,
Thus the moon, rising, lights the wilder'd swain.
O raise thy voice! the sound shall give delight,
Like songs of pilgrims distant heard by night!
I come, I come !'-He spoke, and seiz'd the rein,
And his fleet courser spurn'd the sandy plain.

THE NUN.

AN ELEGY.

[JERNINGHAM.]

WITH each perfection dawning on her mind,
All beauty's treasure op'ning on her cheek,
Each flatt'ring hope subdu'd, each wish resign'd,
Does gay Ophelia this lone mansion seek.

Say, gentle maid, what prompts thee to forsake
The paths thy birth and fortune strew with flow'rs?
Through Nature's kind endearing ties to break,
And waste in cloister'd walls thy pensive hours ?

Let sober thought restrain thine erring zeal,

That guides thy footsteps to the vestal gate, Lest thy soft heart, (this, friendship bids reveal) Like mine unblest, should mourn, like mine, too late.

Does some angelic lonely-whisp'ring voice,
Some sacred impulse, or some dream divine,
Approve the dictates of thy early choice?
Approach with confidence the awful shrine :

There, kneeling at yon altar's marble base,
(While streams of rapture from thine eye-lids steal,
And smiling Heav'n illumes thy soul with grace)
Pronounce the vow thou never canst repeal.

Yet, if misled by false-entitled friends,

Who say That Peace, with all her comely train, 'From starry regions to this clime descends, • Smooths every frown, and softens every pain:

• That vestals tread Contentment's flow'ry lawn, 'Approv'd of Innocence, by Health caress'd; That rob'd in colours bright, by Fancy drawn, Celestial Hope sits smiling at their breast :'

Suspect their syren song and artful style,

Their pleasing sounds some treacherous thought con