Page:The castle of Indolence - an allegorical poem - Written in imitation of Spenser (IA castleofindolenc00thomiala).pdf/24

XXX.

As when a Shepherd of the Hebrid-Isles,^[1]

Plac'd far amid the melancholy Main,
(Whether it be lone Fancy him beguiles;
Or that aerial Beings sometimes deign
To stand, embodied, to our Senses plain)
Sees on the naked Hill, or Valley low,
The whilst in Ocean Phœbus dips his Wain,
A vast Assembly moving to and fro:
Then all at once in Air dissolves the wondrous Show.

XXXI.

Ye Gods of Quiet, and of Sleep profound!

Whose soft Dominion o'er the Castle sways,
And all the widely-silent Places round,
Forgive me, if my trembling Pen displays
What never yet was sung in mortal Lays.
But how shall I attempt such arduous String?
I who have spent my Nights and nightly Days,
In this Soul-deadening Place, loose-loitering?
Ah! how shall I for This uprear my moulted Wing?

XXXII.

1. Those Islands on the western Coast of Scotland called the Hebrides.