P s >^.^^^~ ^^^ "j^^;?-- ^ To note the advent, and, far swooping, oft Returns, and, curious, contemplates the stranger, Who day by day enlarges his domain. And plays the monarch in the wilderness. Thus Patriarchs stood in ancient times and grew In the first Solitudes their giant race. Delightful task, for him who leaves the old. To make a new, world for himself and his — • The wife who follows him for weal or woe, Great spirited woman and American — Delightful task, to hew the cabin sill. To notch the rising corners and to place The sloping rafters and the gables rear. All in a day, — sweet work and quickly done ! To rive firom yielding timber the clean board, Meant, slanting, to receive and turn the tain ; And all together join without a nail ! — Axes resound and mauls, but not a nail Tastes, with its iron fang, the virgin wood. Rude architecture, but enough for man. From the low portal of the humble shed The soul may walk forth in its majesty And find for meditation ample range. Soon the trees grow familiar and the hills : The cabin is a real home ; the fields 31 Blossom with foreign vines ; tlie babbling rill, Familiar, answers now the prattling tongues. And laves the uncovered feet, of boys and girls Native and destined round about to see The city spread its paved avenues, And rear its spires whose golden tongues each morn Silent, afar, proclaim the approaching sun. Thus do new worlds begin, with one great heart To lodge its pulses in the wilderness. VII. But not alone the wilderness invites Heroes adventurous ; the bounding sea Opens her caverns, and the sailor's spirit, Daring, is called to vaster Solitudes. Prone, with his country's banner in his hand, Lo ! glorious Franklin gives his life to gaze On uninhabitable lands, and seas Far frozen in the northern latitudes. Where'er the Ocean reached her liquid arms, Through empires where the tyrant Winter reigns Alone, to crush all human dynasties, His mind aspired to venture ; to his eye Familiar were the icy cliffs that pile Their glassy columns 'gainst the northern sky. Transparent Avorld ! what led the hero there ? Was it some nymph celestial, liquid born. Some princess in those crystal palaces 32 Long captive held — unfortunate Undine ? — Not this ; no fancy-tilting knight was he ; One passion led him : — Gloiy with great eyes Circling the universe ; — his country's pride Touching the pulses of his patriot heart. Are these the waters, these the primal seas That left their native caverns to bestride, With desolating tread, man's wicked realms. When God was wrathful in the ancient day ? Pillars of ice ! are ye the buttresses That earliest based the rainbow's lovely arch ? Thou element impatient, ever shifting — Didst thou uphold the ark when storms were raging ? When animated nature, at the feet Of Noah, crowded in a single ship ? O Solitude, tumultuous and sublime ! When to and fro the raven flew nor found On earth a resting place, and timid back The DOVE returned to her imprisonment. 33 PART III. But not alone the Solitude, I sing, Of desolate islands and serene retreats Where Genius with the Gods may meditate : I sing the Solitude of Mind ; the power To draw the sense from its accustomed use Of natural avenues ; the power to be Still in the uproar, deaf to all the shouts Of angered multitudes ; the power divine To pluck from turbulence the time to think ; To shape the glowing thoughts to themes divine, And meditate perfections infinite. While Fury raves and mobs tumultuous reign, II. The great men of the earth are disciplined In Solitude to grapple with the time. The battle-moment — the emergency — For life is but a battle, and the odds Will ever be upon the side of skill : What orator can seize and sway the minds Of thronging auditors without the power 34 To rise above tumultuous accidents, In grand abstraction witb his theme ? Whose arm, Surrounded by excited senators When Rome was trembling, — whose red arm, upraised High o'er the head of palsied agitation, Eeached Jove's domains, and dragged in fury down Thunder upon the hosts of Catiline ? III. The poet's mind erects its hermitage "Where'er he goes ; preoccupied, it is His privilege in crowds to be alone, Condensing rapturous fancies into thoughts That glow with ardor and harmonious flow. His world is peopled with the dead and living ; Shadows to him are substances that come From the dim realms of Chaos to perfect Epics symmetrical and embryo songs. To him alike the woodland walk serene. The thronging streets, and echoing palaces, Bring burning thoughts, or sad foreboding dreams. He meditates sublime on Babel's height. And leaves confusion wild to quell itself. Weary of sylvan sports inhibited, The Bard of Avon flies to busier scenes, And flts himself to merriest occupations Of lowest life. Delightful task, for him The fugitive, to light th' ambitious lamps, 35 In whose red glare tlie mimic king may strut, And sliow his crown, and ape — how easy ape — The ways of tyrants. Active in this office, Cheerful and apt in small buffooneries, He makes an upward stride, and plays the ghost With such perfection as promotion brings. Until he towers himself into a king ; Voluptuous tastes all regal luxuries. And feels the cumbrous weight of tinsel crowns ; Feels Power exultant; traitors learns to know, And how to top the high luxurious growth Of rank Rebellion ; learns to know a friend, A trustful Minister, from one that fawns ; Feels the cold tooth of base ingratitude. Prepares the scaffold and uplifts the axe. Thus Shakespeare, measuring all his power in sports, Perfection brought from dim Delusion's realms ; For strife of perfect mimicry doth school The artist how to whet his instruments. IV. "Well tutored Genius may abstract itself And accurately track its occupation, Unjostled by the sweeping multitude That elbows common people from the path. Lo ! Caesar comes ! Fly not, ye timid throngs — 'Tis but his body — far away his mind. Fighting the Helvii or unpluming Pompey. 36 The centre of an army was to Csesar Tlie thickest Solitude, where mighty aims Condensed great thoughts and quickened resolution ; "With eagle eye he saw — on eagle wings He swoop'd terrific, and majestic soar'd- So mighty Alexander, with his myriads Crowding the heels of Battle, was alone ! Alone — with one grand thought engrossed, that made him A hermit in the midst of multitudes. Whose tread irregular is that ? who comes, His chin concealed beneath the lifted folds Of his long sweeping robe — all ears, no eyes — Or eyes that inward look as if they listened ? The eloquent logic of fixed resolution Banishes meditation, and the mind Over and over sternly acts its part Patiently plotting, while the hilted dagger Grows wet and clammy in the fevered grasp ; — True to the call of shrieking Liberty^ Brutus approaches. VI. Who lingers by the Queen, — grand Isabella ? Who speaks by snatches, as the royal ear, Shaking its jeweled wand of sweet consent 37 "Witli graceful inclination, lifts the shell That echoes hut applause in answering The impatient lispings of a fixed amhition ? Columhus seems delighted, and his eye Scatters its flashing rays upon the Queen's, As if his soul were present ; but his thoughts. His mind's rapt eyes, are far away exploring The azure-bedded islands of strange seas, And the rough edges of the craggy clifl:8 That hedge the Ocean in its westward rolh VII. Immortal Siddons stands upon the stage Blind to the audience, and oblivious Of all things, — save that she is Lady Macbeth. The bodily presence of the tragic muse Graces the boards ; the spirit of the mind, Unearthed and garmented in inspiration. Hid by the battlements of Macbeth' s Castle, Broods ominous and plots with pale-eyed murder- She whispers to the earless walls, declaims In rapturous soliloquy secure ; She sweeps the air with passionate, raving arms, And storms with such rapt attitudes, that Fancy l!«[ot daring to confi'ont reality, Drops her illusive glass and vanishes. Whence comes this power divine ? from Discipline,- Oft marshaling the faculties in secret, 38 Logic perfecting, teaching self-control, — 'Tis Discipline that gives the towering mind The graceful attributes that God himself Intended should inhabit the fair form Of man, his chosen image, — man who wears Commanding attitudes, and moves, inspired, In the rapt circle of intelligence, "With longings that uplift him to the skies. VIII. Two youths I knew, each lofty in his aims, Each gifted beyond mortals of his type "With some peculiar excellence ; each bent In his fond dreams on Immortality. The one, dark-browed to Solitude inclined, Stern and repelling all frivolities, Much given to quiet brooding, with eyes raised, "Whether in reverence to the Deity, Or an upreaching merely to the clouds For golden thoughts and images that plume The wings of Fancy in her early flights. He knew not, — none could penetrate his mind ■ That realm of inclinations, hopes and fears. Whether he worship'd God or Fame as first, He took no time to question, but his thoughts Ran into adamantine resolutions To make himself a centre and a star. To which the eyes of men in after days, 39 Througli the long telescope of centuries, Should gaze at with increase of wonderment. The other, open-browed with eyes of fire Quick blazing at the touch of cheerfulness ; Gentle as Summer ; wayward as the sky That curtains April in her hoyden couch ; First in the ring of pleasure ; in the race Of frolic, foremost ever ; apt of wit ; Rapid and smooth-tongued, even eloquent ; "Well fashioned and of shape majestical, For all the graceful actions that persuade In him assumed such attitudes as prompt Earnest responses and enthusiasm. This was his fatal gift. Ah ! hapless youth, To whom applause is born, and not achieved : — He deems mankind his vassals, and demands Spontaneous adulation as his due. And yet these two, so different, were fond friends, And often met in lonely glens to scan Each other's thoughts, ambitions, hopes and fears. IX. One morn, along the dew-lit lawn, these two Linked arm in arm, beside the river's marge Moved languidly, when sudden thus began The cheerful youth : " what a night we had ! You did not come, yet all the world was there. 40 The wit and fashion of the city came ; And beauty, sparkling, as in gems arrayed, Brought many queens to join the festival. The music was so rich that every form Was touched with gentlest graces ; awkwardness. Caught in the swing of harmony, did seem As if its cloven feet were used to slippers. Moving celestial, — such is music's power : — Fair maids enchanting came, those merry moons That sway the surface of life's rosy sea. Each in pursuit of her Endymion. And ! the wine ! it was so brimmed with sparks. Those laughing eyes of merriment that give Delightful promise to the gleeful spirit. " I stood apart awhile and thought to act The scholar — to be one that could not dance — Demure, abstracted — but my veins took fire, So many torches touchecf them, and my heart, Eager with mirth, embraced the giddy hour And lost itself in whirls of ecstacies." The graver youth, not inattentive, heard His giddy friend ; and thus responsive spoke : " I held a festival myself, last night ; In my own closet, with my books alone. My little chamber thronged with visitors. Some were the spirits of antiquity, 41 Those demi-gods that walk the dusky reahns Of dim Tradition ; mystic forms that grace The niches of the old world's Pantheon ; — And others of a giant race who came Grateful to greet their masters ; Poets came, Fresh from Olympian sports, with bays yet green And flowers unwilted by the century suns; Came warriors storming from the battle fields, "With dinted shields and foreheads darkly gashed, O these were glorious guests ; Milton was there, And seemed that he would let me touch his robe ! "And not without fair Beauty was my throng: Eve came with swollen cheeks, but timid fled As if the flaming sword was driving her ; Came Helen, from the thundering wall of Troy, Searching the Grecian host with misty eyes To catch the towering form of Menelaus ; Apelles heralded the bright Aspasia, To whose sweet voice the ear of Socrates Leaned listening as if charmed with harmony ; "Wild Sappho stood a moment in my presence, But glided into clouds as doth a rim Of beauty from the rainbow, nor returned ; Esther the queen, in Summer smiles arrayed, And Ruth the widow, in her weeds, were there ; And desolate Hagar from the wilderness, "With wreath of moss upon her shaded brows ; And Jeptha's daughter, in her long white robes. Passed through with troops of virgins following ; 6 42 A wild, enchanting creature, timidly Standing in brooding hesitation, came To see these ancient dames ; her virgin form, Thin covered by a pm^ple robe loose flowing. Was zoneless, while her marble arms impulsive. Reaching through glossy curls, did brush aside The ringlet veil that covered her brown eyes — "Wells bottom-paved and lucid with rare gems ; - On me she turned their full orbed radiance. Then looked around, amazed, and fled away ! Impatient fled, expectant of pursuit ! My heart ran rapturous — " This broke the spell ; All my dream company had taken leave ; And open wide the Iliad lay before me !" XI. These two in after years I knew, and noted The advance of each along the road to fame. Our gifted youth was foremost in the race ; Wreaths flowered spontaneous on his brow and shed Fragrance around him ; and the voice of praise Made his rapt ear its own re-echoing shell. He needed but the stimulant of shouts To rouse his genius ; and the thronging crowd Choked up the temple when he deigned to speak. He needed not to labor ; why retire To dreary chambers in the dead of night. 43 To plan the great oration ? it would come Impetuous from liis tongue upon occasion,—' Impetuous as the furious tread of soldiers Brinking tlie edge of battle, — it would come. To rouse the daring and inspire the timid : So the world hailed a young Demosthenes ; And so he deemed himself Demosthenes ; And thought that he had done enough for fame. Hence the whole story of his life made up That worthless eulogy : "jETe left great signs Of Genius" — but he labored not and died. The world was busy with his memory, As savans are, discussing meteors. That with excessive light fire their own temples, And perish in the self-created flame. XII. That other whom we saw amid his books,-— Companioned with the demi-gods of old, — Remote and patient, plodded slow his way, And seemed to take but little note of time. Shunning for Learning's sake a life of pleasure, He dreamed along the bustling streets and stumbled Over the brickbat pavement as he walked. So that men wondered if he was insane. Yet his career was upward, to the hill Where the young Ages meet and live together^ Devoted to the single task of weaving 44 Garlands immortal for the sons of Fame : — For in the night-time, when the giddy Dance Its devotees commanded to Mirth's Halls, He patient delved the golden mine of learning ; Turned up rich jewels at every heave, and sat Eager contemplating, while nations slept, The prizes that lay sparkling at his feet, And careful saved for future exhibition. So Humboldt labored ; so brave Audubon ; So Milton toiled 'til he achieved the heio^ht Where the infernals challenged Grod to battle. SIII. Aspiring minds have patterns in the past : The stormy youth may copy Marius Or C?esar if he will — or Hannibal ; The patriot may take Hampden for his guide, Epaminondas of the British Isle ; Or Washington, the pillar that upholds Our grand colossal Fane of Liberty ; The graceless may unbend himself before The mirror that so fashioned Cicero ; The patient may find Michael Angelo, Painting the unfading panels of a chapel, And Heaven condensing on its humble dome ; And even the gentlest softly may recline, Prone on the meadow, near the grassy cell Melodious of the charming nightingale — 45 That feathered hermit, — and thus tuned his thoughts By notes of harmony, as did of old Pindar when he invaded Pan's domain, To plagiarize immortal melodies For mortal ears. There is one Solitude that all must reach, And go alone ! must edge a precipice — Edge it alone — for on its crumbling brink The nearest friend withdraws the kindred grasp, And drops, impatiently — reluctant, drops The icy form into the yawning gulf Whose shadowy waves no beaches find to lave. ERRATA. On pages 9 and 41, for A^elles read Ferides. On page 45, top line, for tuned read tune. Kir i'~-«^ .^*' ■ IP. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 016 225 801 1 fp5».^.3>' - ^'i^' ^ ^^^^^B ^::^3> £J> ^^ ■*:>2> '^^ :it>-3>:3^ ^ ■->3^-3>.';.3y ___^-^^ ,^:^^J>^^^. vsJ^'.. -^v::'^ . ,-=s! '^~^ 4-^ ' ■ / '^ ^ ^^ -^- -^ 7^- ^'*- ^^^r. '-iS^- .^7 ^2>^-Sir3r, ,,-.?w|^ "-^^ '^ ^j3jt; » >>~^ ^ ?^^ » :^^i^ ■::^«^ !^'^ '>^^ 2ir -' ^^^. ^3^ ^^S ^ ^Sb«« -?*'^3 3^^^ ^^^J" ^^