And still, as if himself had grown
Its like upon a couch of stone
Majestic-shadowy—and alone
The dark Magician sate!

The white rays hush'd around him shining—
His broad brow knit and down-declining;
Fix'd on the wan Earth's mystic breast
His eyes-intent but dreaming-rest;
His mute form bending musingly,
And his hands clasp'd upon his knee.
Calmness sate round him like a robe,

The calmness of the crowned Dead,
The calmness of the solemn Globe

When Night makes Silence dread. The calmness of some God reclin'd

On high—and brooding o'er Earth's doom, Or of some Cloud ere yet the wind

Hath voiced the breathless gloom.

The errand they tell, and the boon they crave.
It is done!-with a glassy eye

The Sorcerer look 'd on the Twins, and gave,
In a chaunting tone, reply.

"Ten years ago, and the Book of Light
"Was oped at the page that is bared to-night,

"And the Moon had buried her mother old,
"And the Dragon was up from his mountain-hold,

F

"And the Spirits who feast on a mortal's woe "Were walking the wide earth to and fro.

66

My blood was young, and my heart was bold,

"And I burn'd for the spell of the conquer'd tomb; "And I sate by the grave they had dug that day, "For a woman whose spirit had passed away "When the babe was in her womb.*

"And the grave was bared-and the rite prepared, "And the dark rhyme slowly said,

"The belief in the agency of evil spirits is universal, and though disclaimed by the religion of Budha, they are more frequently worshipped than the latter. Nor will the darkest periods of German necromancy and pretended divination be found to exceed, in point of the incredible and horrible, what is to be observed among the Siamese of the present day. It is usual to inter women that have died pregnant: the popular belief is, that the necromancers have the power of performing the most extraordinary things, when possessed of the infant which had been thus interred in the womb of the mother: it is customary to watch the grave of such persons, in order to prevent the infant being carried off. The Siamese tell the tale of horror in the most solemn manner. All the hobgoblins, wild and ferocious animals, all the infernal spirits, are said to oppose the unhallowed deed; the perpetrator, well charged with cabalistic terms, which he must recite in a certain fixed order, and with nerves well braced to the daring task, proceeds to the grave, which he lays open. In proportion as he advances in his work, the opposing spirits become more daring; he cuts off the head, hands, and feet of the in. fant, with which he returns home. A body of clay is adapted to these, and this new compound is placed in a sort of temple; the matter is now accomplished, the possessor has become master of the past, present, and future."-Finlayson's Mission to Siam and Cochin China, p. 239.

"And with shriek, and shout, the demon rout

"Came round the' unburied dead.

"Yea! round, and round, with their giant wings
“The monster Bird, and the dragon Snake,
"And the Evil Race from the Ebon springs
"Of the Genii's waveless Lake!

"Yea round, and round, with their stoney glare, "And their gnashing teeth, and their ghastly yell! "And limb, by limb, they had torn me there "Had I miss'd one word of the wizard spell. "But I mastered the fiends with a fearless breast, "And I tore the babe from its darksome rest, "And I severed the hands, and the feet, and the head, "And I looked around-and the fiends were fled"And I was alone with the mangled dead!

"And never from her hall of light

"The moon's hushed glory seem'd so bright
"As then!—the gale its pride had bow'd—
"The tree-the herb-the flower-below;

"And the white star and pausing cloud
"Above me;-seemed to hail, and know

"The new-made Monarch, whom the Hour,

"And the dark daring of the deed

"And the Art minioned to the meed,

"Had diadem'd with power!

"And the lovely Earth is bared to me

"With the wealth of its coffer'd dower ;

"The death, and the life in every tree;-
"And the spirit in every flower:-
"From Clime to Clime unseen I glide

"On the car of my swift desire,
"I rule the steeds of the rushing Tide,
"And the heart of the restless Fire.
"I watch o'er the Past in its mighty sleep,
"I walk in its Chambers dark,
"And over the future's shoreless deep
"I sail in my prophet-bark.

"But I pine from my wisdom's desolate throne, "And my sceptre charms me not;

"And I fly in thought, as I sit alone,

"To my father's tranquil Cot.

"And why, O dupes of the burning dream,

"For a boon that deceiveth, roam? "Will the Sun on a stranger's dwelling beam "More bright that it shines on home? "But I read your brow-and I read your heart, "And I know the seal is set;

"And that spell is above a Magian's art,

"That can hold man from-Regret."

The sorcerer rose, and led the

way

Thro' a rent in the deep wall's massive base, And they stood in a cell where the peering ray,

Crept faint from above thro' the dismal space;

Serving just to shadow dimly,

Their outlines from the denser gloom,

Like the half-worn images sculptured grimly
On the walls in the outer room.

Suddenly forth to the roof, the light

Burst, of a mighty flame!

It shot from the earth to that lofty height—
Like a burning town on a northern night,

And it trampled the gloom with an Angel's might— And it died as it came!

But behold on the spot where it falleth,

A meteor hath risen, and slowly crawleth,—
The child of the fire-fiend creeping

Along;-till at length with an impish mirth

To and fro see it fitfully leaping,

As it courses the jagged earth!

Then they marked that the seer had his raiment thrown
On the ground; and a narrow and knotted zone,
Star-studded, was bound on his loins alone!

They stand within the flame, that curl❜d,
Not in the northern wizard's ring,

But oval-like; and imaging

A mystery in the Antique world.

And the Sorcerer on their heads hath lain
One hand, the other raised on high!
"Worms on life's lotos leaf-whate'er
"Of dread or menace meet the eye