illness broke;
Ocean and air stood listening as he spoke.

"The power who reins the whirlwind's stormy force,
And guides the wheeling planets in their course,
Provoked by crimes, o'er Sweden's guilty land
Stretch'd wide the terrors of his flaming hand:
Her venal priests, her kings in luxury lost,
Her factious nobles, and seditious host,
Call'd down th' unwilling bolt; and many a year
Beheld it blaze, and shrunk beneath its flames severe.
His angry thunder on a blasted shore }
Has wreak'd its vengeance; the collected store }
Of wrath is spent, and the last peal is o'er. }
Now o'er the land, rich with a new-born spring,
Returning Mercy waves her golden wing:
Obedient fate draws back its sable line, }
And bright events in long succession shine: }
Consenting years roll on, and crown the great design. }
Unnumber'd arts, more glorious from decay,
Rise one by one, and gild the land with day.
No more shall Sweden mourn her fetter'd doom,
The sport of despots, and the slave of Rome:
Slanderers of Heaven, betrayers of mankind
By passion bloated, and to reason blind,
Her prelates shall oppress the land no more;
But Liberty, with charms unknown before,
Break forth effulgent; and protecting Peace,
For a long age, bid battle's trumpet cease.
Her guardian genius, from th' empyreal plain }
I come, to bid primeval blessings reign, }
And exiled Science lift her sacred lamp again. }

"Thou, Harfagar, allied to earth no more,
Pursue my flight, and seek our friendly shore.
Thy term of care is past: thy clouded day
Dissolves at length in heaven's eternal ray.
Th' almighty Parent calls thee, from on high,
To fill the seats of immortality.
His eyes the labours of mankind regard,
And suffering virtue claims her late reward.
There may'st thou sit, and far removed from thence
Behold the clouds of passion and of sense:
Smile at the tumults of the world below,
And triumph in the weakness of thy foe.

"And thou, Ernestus--thou, to whom 'tis given
To bear the tidings of benignant Heaven,
Aided by me, pursue the watery road,
And seek Gustavus in his dark abode.
Where swift Dal-Elbe his wandering current leads
Thro' barren mountains and uncultured meads,
Resign'd to cold despair, the hero lies,