He who from out their fountain dwellings raised

Eros and Anteros, at Gadara,

As I do thee;-and with my knowledge grew The thirst of knowledge, and the power and joy Of this most bright intelligence, until

WITCH. Proceed.

MAN. Oh! I but thus prolonged my words,
Boasting these idle attributes, because

As I approach the core of my heart's grief—
But to my task. I have not named to thee
Father or mother, mistress, friend, or being,
With whom I wore the chain of human ties;
If I had such, they seem'd not such to me—
Yet there was one-

WITCH. Spare not thyself-proceed.

MAN. She was like me in lineaments-her eyes,

Her hair, her features, all, to the very tone

Even of her voice, they said were like to mine;

But soften'd all, and temper'd into beauty;
She had the same lone thoughts and wanderings,
The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind
To comprehend the universe: nor these

Alone, but with them gentler powers than mine,
Pity, and smiles, and tears-which I had not;
And tenderness-but that I had for her;

Humility-and that I never had.

Her faults were mine-her virtues were her own

I loved her, and destroy'd her!

WITCH.

With thy hand›

MAN. Not with my hand, but heart-which

broke her heart

It gazed on mine, and withered. I have shed

Blood, but not hers-and yet her blood was shed I saw and could not staunch it.

WITCH.

And for this

A being of the race thou dost despise,

The order which thine own would rise above,
Mingling with us and ours, thou dost forego
The gifts of our great knowledge, and shrink'st back
To recreant mortality-Away!

MAN. Daughter of Air! I tell thee, since that

hour

But words are breath-look on me in my sleep,
Or watch my watchings-Come and sit by me!.
My solitude is solitude no more,

But peopled with the Furies ;-I have gnash'd
My teeth in darkness till returning morn,

Then cursed myself till sunset ;-I have pray'd
For madness as a blessing-'tis denied me."

I have affronted death-but in the war

Of elements the waters shrunk from me,

And fatal things pass'd harmless-the cold hand

Of an all-pitiless demon held me back,

Back by a single hair, which would not break.

VOL. VI.

I

In phantasy, imagination, all

The affluence of my soul-which one day was
A Croesus in creation-I plunged deep,
But, like an ebbing wave, it dash'd me back
Into the gulf of my unfathom'd thought.
I plunged amidst mankind-Forgetfulness
I sought in all, save where 'tis to be found,
And that I have to learn-my sciences,
My long pursued and super-human art,
Is mortal here-I dwell in my despair-

And live-and live for ever.

Must wake the dead, or lay me low with them.

Do so-in any shape-in any hour

With any torture-so it be the last.

WITCH. That is not in my province; but if thou

Wilt swear obedience to my will, and do

My bidding, it may help thee to thy wishes.

MAN. I will not swear-Obey! and whom? the spirits Whose presence I command, and be the slave

Of those who served me-Never!

WITCH.

Is this all?

Hast thou no gentler answer?-Yet bethink thee,

And pause ere thou rejectest.

MAN.

I have said it.

WITCH. Enough!-I may retire then-say!

ΜΑΝ.

Retire!

[The WITCH disappears.

MAN. (alone.) We are the fools of time and terror:

Days

Steal on us and steal from us; yet we live,

Loathing our life, and dreading still to die.
In all the days of this detested yoke-