y fell,
Hope withering fled--and Mercy sighed farewell![200]

X.[201]

Slight are the outward signs of evil thought,
Within--within--'twas there the spirit wrought!
Love shows all changes--Hate, Ambition, Guile,
Betray no further than the bitter smile; 230
The lip's least curl, the lightest paleness thrown
Along the governed aspect, speak alone
Of deeper passions; and to judge their mien,
He, who would see, must be himself unseen.
Then--with the hurried tread, the upward eye,
The clenched hand, the pause of agony,
That listens, starting, lest the step too near
Approach intrusive on that mood of fear:
Then--with each feature working from the heart,
With feelings, loosed to strengthen--not depart, 240
That rise--convulse--contend--that freeze or glow,[hp]
Flush in the cheek, or damp upon the brow;
Then--Stranger! if thou canst, and tremblest not,
Behold his soul--the rest that soothes his lot![hq]
Mark how that lone and blighted bosom sears
The scathing thought of execrated years!
Behold--but who hath seen, or e'er shall see,
Man as himself--the secret spirit free?

XI.

Yet was not Conrad thus by Nature sent
To lead the guilty--Guilt's worse instrument-- 250
His soul was changed, before his deeds had driven
Him forth to war with Man and forfeit Heaven.
Warped by the world in Disappointment's school,
In words too wise--in conduct _there_ a fool;
Too firm to yield, and far too proud to stoop,
Doomed by his very virtues for a dupe,
He cursed those virtues as the cause of ill,
And not the traitors who betrayed him still;
Nor deemed that gifts bestowed on better men
Had left him joy, and means to give again. 260
Feared--shunned--belied--ere Youth had lost her force,
He hated Man too much to feel remorse,
And thought the voice of Wrath a sacred call,
To pay the injuries of some on all.
He knew himself a villain--but he deemed
The rest no better than the thing he seemed;
And scorned the best as hypocrites who hid
Those deeds the bolder spirit plainly did.
He knew himself detested, but he knew
The hearts that loathed him, crouched and dreaded too. 270
Lone, wild, and strange, he stood alike