MANFRED.

АСТ І.

SCENE I.

MANFRED alone-Scene, a Gothic gallery-Time,

Midnight.

MAN. THE lamp must be replenish'd, but even then
It will not burn so long as I must watch:
My slumbers—if I slumber—are not sleep,
But a continuance of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not: in my heart
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within; and yet I live, and bear
The aspect and the form of breathing men.
But grief should be the instructor of the wise;
Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most
Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth,
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs

Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world,

I have essay'd, and in my mind there is

A

power to make these subject to itself—
But they avail not: I have done men good,
And I have met with good even among men―
But this avail'd not: I have had my foes,
And none have baffled, many fallen before me—
But this avail'd not:-Good, or evil, life,
Powers, passions, all I see in other beings,
Have been to me as rain unto the sands,
Since that all-nameless hour. I have no dread,
And feel the curse to have no natural fear,

Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes,
Or lurking love of something on the earth.-

Now to my task.—

Mysterious Agency!

Ye spirits of the unbounded Universe!

Whom I have sought in darkness and in light

Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell

In subtler essence-ye, to whom the tops

Of mountains inaccessible are haunts,

And earth's and ocean's caves familiar things—
I call upon ye by the written charm

-Rise! appear!
[A pause.

They come not yet.-Now by the voice of him

Who is the first among you-by this sign,

Which makes you tremble-by the claims of him
Who is undying,-Rise! appear!-Appear!

If it be so. Spirits of earth and air,

[A pause.

Ye shall not thus elude me: by a power,
Deeper than all yet urged, a tyrant-spell,
Which had its birthplace in a star condemn'd,
The burning wreck of a demolish'd world,
A wandering hell in the eternal space;
By the strong curse which is upon my soul,
The thought which is within me and around me,
I do compel ye to my will.-Appear!

[A star is seen at the darker end of the gallery; it is
stationary; and a voice is heard singing.]

FIRST SPIRIT.

Mortal! to thy bidding bow'd,
From my mansion in the cloud,
Which the breath of twilight builds,
And the summer's sun-set gilds
With the azure and vermilion,
Which is mix'd for my pavilion;
Though thy quest may be forbidden,
On a star-beam I have ridden;
To thine adjuration bow'd,
Mortal-be thy wish avow'd!