s of thunder. What reward
Was mine, or theirs? It matters not; for I
Am but a leaf cast on the whirling tide,
Without a hope or wish, except to die.
But truth, asserted once, must still abide,
Unquenchable, as are those fiery springs
Which day and night gush from the mountain-side,
Perpetual meteors girt with lambent wings,
Which the wild tempest tosses to and fro,
But cannot conquer with the force it brings.
Yet I, who ever felt another's woe
More keenly than my own untold distress;
I, who have battled with the common foe,
And broke for years the bread of bitterness;
Who never yet abandoned or betrayed
The trust vouchsafed me, nor have ceased to bless,
Am left alone to wither in the shade,
A weak old man, deserted by his kind--
Whom none will comfort in his age, nor aid!

Oh! let me not repine! A quiet mind,
Conscious and upright, needs no other stay;
Nor can I grieve for what I leave behind,
In the rich promise of eternal day.
Henceforth to me the world is dead and gone,
Its thorns unfelt, its roses cast away:
And the old pilgrim, weary and alone,
Bowed down with travel, at his Master's gate
Now sits, his task of life-long labour done,
Thankful for rest, although it comes so late,
After sore journey through this world of sin,
In hope, and prayer, and wistfulness to wait,
Until the door shall ope, and let him in.

HERMOTIMUS

Hermotimus, the hero of this ballad, was a philosopher, or rather a
prophet, of Clazomenae, who possessed the faculty, now claimed by the
animal-magnetists, of effecting a voluntary separation between his soul
and body; for the former could wander to any part of the universe, and
even hold intercourse with supernatural beings, whilst the senseless
frame remained at home. Hermotimus, however, was not insensible to the
risk attendant upon this disunion; since, before attempting any of these
aerial flights, he took the precaution to warn his wife, lest, ere the
return of his soul, the body should be rendered an unfit or useless
receptacle. This accident, which he so much dreaded, at length occurred;
for the lady, wearied out by a succession of trances, each of longer
duration than the preceding, one day committed his body to the flames,
and thus effectually put a stop to such unconnubial conduct. He received
divine honours at Clazomenae, but must nevertheless remain as a terrible
example and warning to all husbands who