2d Jew. He who can guard 'gainst the low baits of

sense,

Will find Temptation's arrows hurtless strike
Against the brazen shield of Temperance.
For 'tis th' inferior appetites enthrall

The man, and quench th' immortal light within him;
The senses take the soul an easy prey,
And sink th' imprison'd spirit into brute.

Dan. Twice, by the spirit of God, did I expound
The visions of the king; his soul was touch'd,
And twice did he repent, and prostrate fall
Before the God of Daniel: yet again,
Pow'r, flatt'ry, and prosperity, undid him,
When from the lofty ramparts of his palace
He view'd the splendours of the royal city,
That magazine of wealth, which proud Euphrates
Wafts from each distant corner of the earth;
When he beheld the adamantine tow'rs,

The brazen gates, the bulwarks of his strength, The pendant gardens, Art's stupendous work, The wonder of the world! the proud Chaldean, Mad with the intoxicating fumes which rise When uncontroul'd ambition grasps at once Dominion absolute, and boundless wealth, Forgot he was a man, forgot his God! "This mighty Babylon is mine," he cry'd: "My wondrous pow'r, my godlike arm achiev'd it. "I scorn submission; own no Deity

"Above my own." While the blasphemer spoke,

The wrath of Heav'n inflicted instant vengeance:
Stripp'd him of that bright reason he abus'd,

* Daniel, chap. ii. and v.

And drove him from the cheerful haunts of men,
A naked, wretched, helpless, senseless thing;
Companion of the brutes, his equals now.

1st Jew. Nor does his impious grandson, proud Belshazzar,

Fall short of his offences; nay, he wants
The valiant spirit and the active soul
Of his progenitor; for Pleasure's slave,
Though bound in silken chains, and only tied
In flow'ry fetters, seeming light and loose,
Is more subdu'd than the rash casual victim
Of anger or ambition; these, indeed,
Burn with a fiercer but a short-liv'd fire;
While Pleasure with a constant flame consumes.
War slays her thousands, but destructive Pleasure,
More fell, more fatal, her ten thousands slays :
The young luxurious king she fondly woos
In ev'ry shape of am'rous blandishment;
With adulation smooth ensnares his soul;
With love betrays him, and with wine inflames.
She strews her magic poppies o'er his couch,
And with delicious opiates charms him down,
In fatal slumbers bound. Though Babylon
Is now invested by the warlike troops
Of royal Cyrus, Persia's valiant prince;
Who, in conjunction with the Median king,
Darius, fam'd for conquest, now prepares
To storm the city: not th' impending horrors
Which ever wait a siege have pow'r to wake
To thought or sense th' intoxicated king.

Dan. E'en in this night of universal dread,
A mighty army threat'ning at the gates;

This very night, as if in scorn of danger,
The dissolute Belshazzar holds a feast
Magnificently impious, meant to honour
Belus, the fav'rite Babylonish idol.

Lewd parasites compose his wanton court,

Whose impious flatt'ries soothe his monstrous crimes;
They justify his vices, and extol

His boastful phrase, as if he were some god.
Whate'er he says, they say: what he commands,
Implicitly they do; they echo back

His blasphemies with shouts of loud acclaim;
And when he wounds the tortur'd ear of Virtue,
They cry," All hail! Belshazzar, live for ever!"
To-night a thousand nobles fill his hall,

Princes, and all the dames who grace the court:
All but his virtuous mother, sage Nitocris:
Ah! how unlike the impious king, her son!
She never mingles in the midnight fray,

Nor crowns the guilty banquet with her presence.
The royal fair is rich in ev'ry virtue

Which can adorn the queen, or grace the woman.
But for the wisdom of her prudent counsels
This wretched empire had been long undone.
Not fam'd Semiramis, Assyria's pride,
Could boast a brighter mind or firmer soul;
Beneath the gentle reign of Merodach *,
Her royal lord, our nation tasted peace.
Our captive monarch, sad Jehoiachin,
Grown grey in a close prison's horrid gloom,
He freed from bondage; brought the hoary king
To taste once more the long-forgotten sweets

2 Kings, chap. xxXV.

Of liberty and light, sustain'd his age,

Pour'd in his wounds the lenient balm of kindness, And blest his setting hour of life with peace.

[Sound of trumpets is heard at a distance. 1st Jew. That sound proclaims the banquet is begun.

2d Jew. Hark! the licentious uproar grows more

loud,

The vaulted roof resounds with shouts of mirth,

And the firm palace shakes! Retire, my friends!
This madness is not meet for sober ears.

If any of our race were found so near,
'Twould but expose us to the rude attack
Of ribaldry obscene and impious jests
From these mad sons of Belial, more inflam'd
To deeds of riot by the wanton feast.

Dan. Here part we then! but when again to meet, Who knows, save Heav'n? Yet, O my friends! I

feel

An impulse more than human stir my breast,

Rapt in prophetic vision*, I behold

Things hid as yet from mortal sight. I see
The dart of vengeance tremble in the air,
Ere long to pierce the impious king. E'en now
The desolating angel stalks abroad,
And brandishes aloft the two-edg'd sword
Of retribution keen; he soon will strike,
And Babylon shall weep as Sion wept.
Pass but a little while, and you shall see
This queen of cities prostrate on the earth.
This haughty mistress of the kneeling world,

* See the Prophecies of Isaiah, chap. xlvii., and others.

How shall she sit dishonour'd in the dust,
In tarnish'd pomp and solitary woe!

How shall she shroud her glories in the dark,
And in opprobrious silence hide her head!
Lament, O virgin daughter of Chaldea!
For thou shalt fall! imperial queen, shalt fall!
No more Sidonian robes shall grace thy limbs.
To purple garments sackcloth shall succeed;
And sordid dust and ashes shall supply

The od'rous nard and cassia. Thou, who said'st
I AM, and there is none besides me thou,
E'en thou, imperial Babylon, shalt fall!
Thy glory quite eclips'd! The pleasant sound
Of viol and of harp shall charm no more;
Nor song of Syrian damsels shall be heard,
Responsive to the lute's luxurious note:
But the loud bittern's cry, the raven's croak,
The bat's fell scream, the lonely owl's dull plaint,
And ev'ry hideous bird, with ominous shriek
Shall scare affrighted Silence from thy walls:
While Desolation, snatching from the hand
Of Time the scythe of ruin, sits aloft,
Or stalks in dreadful majesty abroad.
I see th' exterminating fiend advance,
E'en now I see her glare with horrid joy,
See tow'rs imperial mould'ring at her touch;
She glances on the broken battlement,
She eyes the crumbling column, and enjoys
The work of ages prostrate in the dust-
Then pointing to the mischiefs she has made,
Exulting cries, This once was Babylon!