Quotations.ch
  Directory : The French Revolution
GUIDE SUPPORT US BLOG
  • The French Revolution
  • William Blake
  • 1791
  • Exported from Wikisource on 12/19/19
  • For works with similar titles, see French Revolution.
  • This work has been imported with its original pagebreaks intact
  • Please take a moment to help condense the text into simple, readable paragraphs without these [p. 172] remnants. For guidance please refer to proofreading instructions
  • THE
  • FRENCH
  • REVOLUTION.
  • A POEM,
  • IN SEVEN BOOKS.
  • BOOK THE FIRST.
  • LONDON: Printed for J. Johnson, No 72,
  • St Paul's Church-yard. MDCCXCI.
  • {Price One Shilling.}
  • PAGE [iii]
  • ADVERTISEMENT.
  • The remaining Books of this Poem are finished, and will be published in their Order.
  • PAGE [1]
  • THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
  • Book the First.
  • The dead brood over Europe, the cloud and vision descends over chearful France;
  • O cloud well appointed! Sick, sick: the Prince on his couch, wreath'd in dim
  • And appalling mist; his strong hand outstretch'd, from his shoulder down the bone
  • Runs aching cold into the scepter too heavy for mortal grasp. No more
  • To be swayed by visible hand, nor in cruelty bruise the mild flourishing mountains. <5>
  • Sick the mountains, and all their vineyards weep, in the eyes of the kingly mourner;
  • Pale is the morning cloud in his visage. Rise, Necker: the ancient dawn calls us
  • To awake from slumbers of five thousands years. I awake, but my soul is in dreams;
  • From my window I see the old mountains of France, like aged men, fading away.
  • Troubled, leaning on Necker, descends the King, to his chamber of council; shady mountains <10>
  • In fear utter voices of thunder; the woods of France embosom the sound;
  • Clouds of wisdom prophetic reply, and roll over the palace roof heavy,
  • Forty men: each conversing with woes in the infinite shadows of his soul,
  • Like our ancient fathers in regions of twilight, walk, gathering round the King;
  • Again the loud voice of France cries to the morning, the morning prophecies to its clouds. <15>
  • For the Commons convene in the Hall of the Nation. France shakes! And the heavens of France
  • Perplex'd vibrate round each careful countenance! Darkness of old times around them
  • Utters loud despair, shadowing Paris; her grey towers groan, and the Bastile trembles.
  • In its terrible towers the Governor stood, in dark fogs list'ning the horror;
  • A thousand his soldiers, old veterans of France, breathing red clouds of power and dominion, <20>
  • Sudden seiz'd with howlings, despair, and black night, he stalk'd like a lion from tower
  • To tower, his howlings were heard in the Louvre; from court to court restless he dragg'd
  • His strong limbs; from court to court curs'd the fierce torment unquell'd,
  • Howling and giving the dark command; in his soul stood the purple plague,
  • Tugging his iron manacles, and piercing through the seven towers dark and sickly, <25>
  • Panting over the prisoners like a wolf gorg'd; and the den nam'd Horror held a man
  • Chain'd hand and foot, round his neck an iron band, bound to the impregnable wall.
  • In his soul was the serpent coil'd round in his heart, hid from the light, as in a cleft rock;
  • And the man was confin'd for a writing prophetic: in the tower nam'd Darkness, was a man
  • Pinion'd down to the stone floor, his strong bones scarce cover'd with sinews; the iron rings <30>
  • Were forg'd smaller as the flesh decay'd, a mask of iron on his face hid the lineaments
  • PAGE 3
  • Of ancient Kings, and the frown of the eternal lion was hid from the oppressed earth.
  • In the tower named Bloody, a skeleton yellow remained in its chains on its couch
  • Of stone, once a man who refus'd to sign papers of abhorrence; the eternal worm
  • Crept in the skeleton. In the den nam'd Religion, a loathsome sick woman, bound down <35>
  • To a bed of straw; the seven diseases of earth, like birds of prey, stood on the couch,
  • And fed on the body. She refus'd to be whore to the Minister, and with a knife smote him.
  • In the tower nam'd Order, an old man, whose white beard cover'd the stone floor like weeds
  • On margin of the sea, shrivel'd up by heat of day and cold of night; his den was short
  • And narrow as a grave dug for a child, with spiders webs wove, and with slime <40>
  • Of ancient horrors cover'd, for snakes and scorpions are his companions; harmless they breathe
  • His sorrowful breath: he, by conscience urg'd, in the city of Paris rais'd a pulpit,
  • And taught wonders to darken'd souls. In the den nam'd Destiny a strong man sat,
  • His feet and hands cut off, and his eyes blinded; round his middle a chain and a band
  • Fasten'd into the wall; fancy gave him to see an image of despair in his den, <45>
  • Eternally rushing round, like a man on his hands and knees, day and night without rest.
  • He was friend to the favourite. In the seventh tower, nam'd the tower of God, was a man
  • Mad, with chains loose, which he dragg'd up and down; fed with hopes year by year, he pined
  • For liberty; vain hopes: his reason decay'd, and the world of attraction in his bosom
  • Center'd, and the rushing of chaos overwhelm'd his dark soul. He was confin'd <50>
  • For a letter of advice to a King, and his ravings in winds are heard over Versailles.
  • But the dens shook and trembled, the prisoners look up and assay to shout; they listen,
  • Then laugh in the dismal den, then are silent, and a light walks round the dark towers.
  • PAGE 4
  • For the Commons convene in the Hall of the Nation; like spirits of fire in the beautiful
  • Porches of the Sun, to plant beauty in the desart craving abyss, they gleam <55>
  • On the anxious city; all children new-born first behold them; tears are fled,
  • And they nestle in earth-breathing bosoms. So the city of Paris, their wives and children,
  • Look up to the morning Senate, and visions of sorrow leave pensive streets.
  • But heavy brow'd jealousies lower o'er the Louvre, and terrors of ancient Kings
  • Descend from the gloom and wander thro' the palace, and weep round the King and his Nobles. <60>
  • While loud thunders roll, troubling the dead, Kings are sick throughout all the earth,
  • The voice ceas'd: the Nation sat: And the triple forg'd fetters of times were unloos'd.
  • The voice ceas'd: the Nation sat: but ancient darkness and trembling wander thro' the palace.
  • As in day of havock and routed battle, among thick shades of discontent,
  • On the soul-skirting mountains of sorrow cold waving: the Nobles fold round the King, <65>
  • Each stern visage lock'd up as with strong bands of iron, each strong limb bound down as with marble,
  • In flames of red wrath burning, bound in astonishment a quarter of an hour.
  • Then the King glow'd: his Nobles fold round, like the sun of old time quench'd in clouds;
  • In their darkness the King stood, his heart flam'd, and utter'd a with'ring heat, and these words burst forth:
  • The nerves of five thousand years ancestry tremble, shaking the heavens of France; <70>
  • Throbs of anguish beat on brazen war foreheads, they descend and look into their graves.
  • PAGE 5
  • I see thro' darkness, thro' clouds rolling round me, the spirits of ancient Kings
  • Shivering over their bleached bones; round them their counsellors look up from the dust,
  • Crying: Hide from the living! Our b[a]nds and our prisoners shout in the open field,
  • Hide in the nether earth! Hide in the bones! Sit obscured in the hollow scull. <75>
  • Our flesh is corrupted, and we [wear] away. We are not numbered among the living. Let us hide
  • In stones, among roots of trees. The prisoners have burst their dens,
  • Let us hide; let us hide in the dust; and plague and wrath and tempest shall cease.
  • He ceas'd, silent pond'ring, his brows folded heavy, his forehead was in affliction,
  • Like the central fire: from the window he saw his vast armies spread over the hills, <80>
  • Breathing red fires from man to man, and from horse to horse; then his bosom
  • Expanded like starry heaven, he sat down: his Nobles took their ancient seats.
  • Then the ancientest Peer, Duke of Burgundy, rose from the Monarch's right hand, red as wines
  • From his mountains, an odor of war, like a ripe vineyard, rose from his garments,
  • And the chamber became as a clouded sky; o'er the council he stretch'd his red limbs, <85>
  • Cloth'd in flames of crimson, as a ripe vineyard stretches over sheaves of corn,
  • The fierce Duke hung over the council; around him croud, weeping in his burning robe,
  • A bright cloud of infant souls; his words fall like purple autumn on the sheaves.
  • Shall this marble built heaven become a clay cottage, this earth an oak stool, and these mowers
  • From the Atlantic mountains, mow down all this great starry harvest of six thousand years? <90>
  • And shall Necker, the hind of Geneva, stretch out his crook'd sickle o'er fertile France,
  • PAGE 6 (FIRST PORTION)
  • Till our purple and crimson is faded to russet, and the kingdoms of earth bound in sheaves,
  • And the ancient forests of chivalry hewn, and the joys of the combat burnt for fuel;
  • Till the power and dominion is rent from the pole, sword and scepter from sun and moon,
  • The law and gospel from fire and air, and eternal reason and science <95>
  • From the deep and the solid, and man lay his faded head down on the rock
  • Of eternity, where the eternal lion and eagle remain to devour?
  • This to prevent, urg'd by cries in day, and prophetic dreams hovering in night,
  • To enrich the lean earth that craves, furrow'd with plows; whose seed is departing from her;
  • Thy Nobles have gather'd thy starry hosts round this rebellious city, <100>
  • To rouze up the ancient forests of Europe, with clarions of cloud breathing war;
  • To hear the horse neigh to the drum and trumpet, and the trumpet and war shout reply;
  • Stretch the hand that beckons the eagles of heaven; they cry over Paris, and wait
  • Till Fayette point his finger to Versailles; the eagles of heaven must have their prey.
  • The King lean'd on his mountains, then lifted his head and look'd on his armies, that shone <105>
  • Through heaven, tinging morning with beams of blood, then turning to Burgundy troubled:
  • PAGE 7 (FIRST PORTION)
  • Burgundy, thou wast born a lion! My soul is o'ergrown with distress
  • For the Nobles of France, and dark mists roll round me and blot the writing of God
  • Written in my bosom. Necker rise, leave the kingdom, thy life is surrounded with snares;
  • We have call'd an Assembly, but not to destroy; we have given gifts, not to the weak; <110>
  • I hear rushing of muskets, and bright'ning of swords, and visages redd'ning with war,
  • Frowning and looking up from brooding villages and every dark'ning city;
  • Ancient wonders frown over the kingdom, and cries of women and babes are heard,
  • And tempests of doubt roll around me, and fierce sorrows, because of the Nobles of France;
  • Depart, answer not, for the tempest must fall, as in years that are passed away. <115>
  • PAGE 6 (SECOND PORTION)
  • He ceas'd, and burn'd silent, red clouds roll round Necker, a weeping is heard o'er the palace;
  • Like a dark cloud Necker paus'd, and like thunder on the just man's burial day he paus'd;
  • Silent sit the winds, silent the meadows, while the husbandman and woman of weakness
  • And bright children look after him into the grave, and water his clay with love,
  • Then turn towards pensive fields; so Necker paus'd, and his visage was cover'd with clouds. <120>
  • PAFE 7 (SECOND PORTION)
  • Dropping a tear the old man his place left, and when he was gone out
  • He set his face toward Geneva to flee, and the women and children of the city
  • Kneel'd round him and kissed his garments and wept; he stood a short space in the street,
  • Then fled; and the whole city knew he was fled to Geneva, and the Senate heard it.
  • But the Nobles burn'd wrathful at Necker's departure, and wreath'd their clouds and waters <125>
  • In dismal volumes; as risen from beneath the Archbishop of Paris arose,
  • In the rushing of scales and hissing of flames and rolling of sulphurous smoke.
  • Hearken, Monarch of France, to the terrors of heaven, and let thy soul drink of my counsel;
  • Sleeping at midnight in my golden tower, the repose of the labours of men
  • Wav'd its solemn cloud over my head. I awoke; a cold hand passed over my limbs, and behold <130>
  • An aged form, white as snow, hov'ring in mist, weeping in the uncertain light,
  • PAGE 8
  • Dim the form almost faded, tears fell down the shady cheeks; at his feet many cloth'd
  • In white robes, strewn in air sensers and harps, silent they lay prostrated;
  • Beneath, in the awful void, myriads descending and weeping thro' dismal winds,
  • Endless the shady train shiv'ring descended, from the gloom where the aged form wept. <135>
  • At length, trembling, the vision sighing, in a low voice, like the voice of the grasshopper whisper'd:
  • My groaning is heard in the abbeys, and God, so long worshipp'd, departs as a lamp
  • Without oil; for a curse is heard hoarse thro' the land, from a godless race
  • Descending to beasts; they look downward and labour and forget my holy law;
  • The sound of prayer fails from lips of flesh, and the holy hymn from thicken'd tongues; <140>
  • For the bars of Chaos are burst; her millions prepare their fiery way
  • Thro' the orbed abode of the holy dead, to root up and pull down and remove,
  • And Nobles and Clergy shall fail from before me, and my cloud and vision be no more;
  • The mitre become black, the crown vanish, and the scepter and ivory staff
  • Of the ruler wither among bones of death; thy shall consume from the thistly field, <145>
  • And the sound of the bell, and voice of the sabbath, and singing of the holy choir,
  • Is turn'd into songs of the harlot in day, and cries of the virgin in night.
  • They shall drop at the plow and faint at the harrow, unredeem'd, unconfess'd, unpardon'd;
  • The priest rot in his surplice by the lawless lover, the holy beside the accursed,
  • The King, frowning in purple, beside the grey plowman, and their worms embrace together. <150>
  • The voice ceas'd, a groan shook my chamber; I slept, for the cloud of repose returned,
  • But morning dawn'd heavy upon me. I rose to bring my Prince heaven utter'd counsel.
  • Hear my counsel, O King, and send forth thy Generals, the command of heaven is upon thee;
  • Then do thou command, O King, to shut up this Assembly in their final home;
  • PAGE 9
  • Let thy soldiers possess this city of rebels, that threaten to bathe their feet <155>
  • In the blood of Nobility; trampling the heart and the head; let the Bastile devour
  • These rebellious seditious; seal them up, O Anointed, in everlasting chains.
  • He sat down, a damp cold pervaded the Nobles, and monsters of worlds unknown
  • Swam round them, watching to be delivered; When Aumont, whose chaos-born soul
  • Eternally wand'ring a Comet and swift-failing fire, pale enter'd the chamber; <160>
  • Before the red Council he stood, like a man that returns from hollow graves.
  • Awe surrounded, alone thro' the army a fear ad a with'ring blight blown by the north;
  • The Abbe de Seyes from the Nation's Assembly. O Princes and Generals of France
  • Unquestioned, unhindered, awe-struck are the soldiers; a dark shadowy man in the form
  • Of King Henry the Fourth walks before him in fires, the captains like men bound in chains <165>
  • Stood still as he pass'd, he is come to the Louvre, O King, with a message to thee;
  • The strong soldiers tremble, the horses their manes bow, and the guards of thy palace are fled.
  • Up rose awful in his majestic beams Bourbon's strong Duke; his proud sword from his thigh
  • Drawn, he threw on the Earth! the Duke of Bretagne and the Earl of Borgogne
  • Rose inflam'd, to and fro in the chamber, like thunder-clouds ready to burst. <170>
  • What damp all our fires, O spectre of Henry, said Bourbon; and rend the flames
  • From the head of our King! Rise, Monarch of France; command me, and I will lead
  • This army of superstition at large, that the ardor of noble souls quenchless,
  • May yet burn in France, nor our shoulders be plow'd with the furrows of poverty.
  • PAGE 10
  • Then Orleans generous as mountains arose, and unfolded his robe, and put forth <175>
  • His benevolent hand, looking on the Archbishop, who changed as pale as lead;
  • Would have risen but could not, his voice issued harsh grating; instead of words harsh hissings
  • Shook the chamber; he ceas'd abash'd. Then Orleans spoke, all was silent,
  • He breath'd on them, and said, O princes of fire, whose flames are for growth not consuming,
  • Fear not dreams, fear not visions, nor be you dismay'd with sorrows which flee at the morning; <180>
  • Can the fires of Nobility ever be quench'd, or the stars by a stormy night?
  • Is the body diseas'd when the members are healthful? can the man be bound in sorrow
  • Whose ev'ry function is fill'd with its fiery desire? can the soul whose brain and heart
  • Cast their rivers in equal tides thro' the great Paradise, languish because the feet
  • Hands, head, bosom, and parts of love, follow their high breathing joy? <185>
  • And can Nobles be bound when the people are free, or God weep when his children are happy?
  • Have you never seen Fayette's forehead, or Mirabeau's eyes, or the shoulders of Target,
  • Or Bailly he strong foot of France, or Clermont the terrible voice, and your robes
  • Still retain their own crimson? mine never yet faded, for fire delights in its form.
  • But go, merciless man! enter into the infinite labyrinth of another's brain <190>
  • Ere thou measure the circle that he shall run. Go, thou cold recluse, into the fires
  • Of another's high flaming rich bosom, and return unconsum'd, and write laws.
  • If thou canst not do this, doubt thy theories, learn to consider all men as thy equals,
  • Thy brethren, and not as thy foot or thy hand, unless thou first fearest to hurt them.
  • The Monarch stood up, the strong Duke his sword to its golden scabbard return'd, <195>
  • The Nobles sat round like clouds on the mountains, when the storm is passing away.
  • PAGE 11
  • Let the Nation's Ambassador come among Nobles, like incense of the valley.
  • Aumont went out and stood in the hollow porch, his ivory wand in his hand;
  • A cold orb of disdain revolv'd round him, and covered his soul with snows eternal.
  • Great Henry's soul shuddered, a whirlwind and fire tore furious from his angry bosom; <200>
  • He indignant departed on horses of heav'n. Then the Abbe de Seyes rais'd his feet
  • On the steps of the Louvre, like a voice of God following a storm, the Abbe follow'd
  • The pale fires of Aumont into the chamber, as a father that bows to his son;
  • Whose rich fields inheriting spread their old glory, so the voice of the people bowed
  • Before the ancient seat of the kingdom and mountains to be renewed. <205>
  • Hear, O Heavens of France, the voice of the people, arising from valley and hill,
  • O'erclouded with power. Hear the voice of vallies, the voice of meek cities,
  • Mourning oppressed on village and field, till the village and field is a waste.
  • For the husbandman weeps at blights of the fife, and blasting of trumpets consume
  • The souls of mild France; the pale mother nourishes her child to the deadly slaughter. <210>
  • When the heavens were seal'd with a stone, and the terrible sun clos'd in an orb, and the moon
  • Rent from the nations, and each star appointed for watchers of night,
  • The millions of spirits immortal were bound in the ruins of sulphur heaven
  • To wander inslav'd; black, deprest in dark ignorance, kept in awe with the whip,
  • To worship terrors, bred from the blood of revenge and breath of desire, <215>
  • In beastial forms; or more terrible men, till the dawn of our peaceful morning,
  • Till dawn, till morning, till the breaking of clouds, and swelling of winds, and the universal voice,
  • PAGE 12
  • Till man raise his darken'd limbs out of the caves of night, his eyes and his heart
  • Expand: where is space! where O Sun is thy dwelling! where thy tent, O faint slumb'rous Moon,
  • Then the valleys of France shall cry to the soldier, throw down thy sword and musket, <220>
  • And run and embrace the meek peasant. Her nobles shall hear and shall weep, and put off
  • The red robe of terror, the crown of oppression, the shoes of contempt, and unbuckle
  • The girdle of war from the desolate earth; then the Priest in his thund'rous cloud
  • Shall weep, bending to earth embracing the valleys, and putting his hand to the plow,
  • Shall say, no more I curse thee; but now I will bless thee: No more in deadly black <225>
  • Devour thy labour; nor lift up a cloud in thy heavens, O laborious plow,
  • That the wild raging millions, that wander in forests, and howl in law blasted wastes,
  • Strength madden'd with slavery, honesty, bound in the dens of superstition,
  • May sing in the village, and shout in the harvest, and woo in pleasant gardens,
  • Their once savage loves, now beaming with knowledge, with gentle awe adorned; <230>
  • And the saw, and the hammer, the chisel, the pencil, the pen, and the instruments
  • Of heavenly song sound in the wilds once forbidden, to teach the laborious plowman
  • And shepherd deliver'd from clouds of war, from pestilence, from night-fear, from murder,
  • From falling, from stifling, from hunger, from cold, from slander, discontent and sloth;
  • That walk in beasts and birds of night, driven back by the sandy desart <235>
  • Like pestilent fogs round cities of men: and the happy earth sing in its course,
  • The mild peaceable nations be opened to heav'n, and men walk with their fathers in bliss.
  • Then hear the first voice of the morning: Depart, O clouds of night, and no more
  • Return; be withdrawn cloudy war, troops of warriors depart, nor around our peaceable city
  • Breathe fires, but ten miles from Paris, let all be peace, nor a soldier be seen. <240>
  • PAGE 13
  • He ended; the wind of contention arose and the clouds cast their shadows, the Princes
  • Like the mountains of France, whose aged trees utter an awful voice, and their branches
  • Are shatter'd, till gradual a murmur is heard descending into the valley,
  • Like a voice in the vineyards of Burgundy, when grapes are shaken on grass;
  • Like the low voice of the labouring man, instead of the shout of joy; <245>
  • And the palace appear'd like a cloud driven abroad; blood ran down, the ancient pillars,
  • Thro' the cloud a deep thunder, the Duke of Burgundy, delivers the King's command.
  • Seest thou yonder dark castle, that moated around, keeps this city of Paris in awe.
  • Go command yonder tower, saying, Bastile depart, and take thy shadowy course.
  • Overstep the dark river, thou terrible tower, and get thee up into the country ten miles. <250>
  • And thou black southern prison, move along the dusky road to Versailles; there
  • Frown on the gardens, and if it obey and depart, then the King will disband
  • This war-breathing army; but if it refuse, let the Nation's Assembly thence learn,
  • That this army of terrors, that prison of horrors, are the bands of the murmuring kingdom.
  • Like the morning star arising above the black waves, when a shipwreck'd soul sighs for morning, <255>
  • Thro' the ranks, silent, walk'd the Ambassador back to the Nation's Assembly, and told
  • The unwelcome message; silent they heard; then a thunder roll'd round loud and louder,
  • Like pillars of ancient halls, and ruins of times remote they sat.
  • Like a voice from the dim pillars Mirabeau rose; the thunders subsided away;
  • PAGE 14
  • A rushing of wings around him was heard as he brighten'd, and cried out aloud, <260>
  • Where is the General of the Nation? the walls reecho'd: Where is the General of the Nation?
  • Sudden as the bullet wrapp'd in his fire, when brazen cannons rage in the field,
  • Fayette sprung from his seat saying, Ready! then bowing like clouds, man toward man, the Assembly
  • Like a council of ardors seated in clouds, bending over the cities of men,
  • And over the armies of strife, where their children are marshall'd together to battle; <265>
  • They murmuring divide, while the wind sleeps beneath, and the numbers are counted in silence,
  • While they vote the removal of War, and the pestilence weighs his red wings in the sky.
  • So Fayette stood silent among the Assembly, and the votes were given and the numbers numb'red;
  • And the vote was, that Fayette should order the army to remove ten miles from Paris.
  • The aged sun rises appall'd from dark mountains, and gleams a dusky beam <270>
  • On Fayette, but on the whole army a shadow, for a cloud on the eastern hills
  • Hover'd, and stretch'd across the city and across the army, and across the Louvre,
  • Like a flame of fire he stood before dark ranks, and before expecting captains
  • On pestilent vapours around him flow frequent spectres of religious men weeping
  • In winds driven out of the abbeys, their naked souls shiver in keen open air, <275>
  • Driven out by the fiery cloud of Voltaire, and thund'rous rocks of Rousseau,
  • They dash like foam against the ridges of the army, uttering a faint feeble cry.
  • PAGE 15
  • Gleams of fire streak the heavens, and of sulpur the earth, from Fayette as he lifted his hand;
  • But silent he stood, till all the officers rush round him like waves
  • Round the shore of France, in day of the British flag, when heavy cannons <280>
  • Affright the coasts, and the peasant looks over the sea and wipes a tear;
  • Over his head the soul of Voltaire shone fiery, and over the army Rousseau his white cloud
  • Unfolded, on souls of war-living terrors silent list'ning toward Fayette,
  • His voice loud inspir'd by liberty, and by spirits of the dead, thus thunder'd.
  • The Nation's Assembly command, that the Army remove ten miles from Paris; <285>
  • Nor a soldier be seen in road or in field, till the Nation command return.
  • Rushing along iron ranks glittering the officers each to his station
  • Depart, and the stern captain strokes his proud steed, and in front of his solid ranks
  • Waits the sound of trumpet; captains of foot stand each by his cloudy drum;
  • Then the drum beats, and the steely ranks move, and trumpets rejoice in the sky. <290>
  • Dark cavalry like clouds fraught with thunder ascend on the hills, and bright infantry, rank
  • Behind rank, to the soul shaking drum and shrill fife along the roads glitter like fire.
  • The noise of trampling, the wind of trumpets, smote the palace walls with a blast.
  • Pale and cold sat the king in midst of his peers, and his noble heart stink, and his pulses
  • Suspended their motion, a darkness crept over his eye-lids, and chill cold sweat <295>
  • Sat round his brows faded in faint death, his peers pale like mountains of the dead,
  • Cover'd with dews of night, groaning, shaking forests and floods. The cold newt
  • PAGE 16
  • And snake, and damp toad, on the kingly foot crawl, or croak on the awful knee,
  • Shedding their slime, in folds of the robe the crown'd adder builds and hisses
  • From stony brows; shaken the forests of France, sick the kings of the nations, <300>
  • And the bottoms of the world were open'd, and the graves of arch-angels unseal'd;
  • The enormous dead, lift up their pale fires and look over the rocky cliffs.
  • A faint heat from their fires reviv'd the cold Louvre; the frozen blood reflow'd.
  • Awful up rose the king, him the peers follow'd, they saw the courts of the Palace
  • Forsaken, and Paris without a soldier, silent, for the noise was gone up <305>
  • And follow'd the army, and the Senate in peace, sat beneath morning's beam.
  • END OF THE FIRST BOOK.
  • [No further books are extant.]
  • 1791
  • * * *
  • About this digital edition
  • This e-book comes from the online library Wikisource[1]. This multilingual digital library, built by volunteers, is committed to developing a free accessible collection of publications of every kind: novels, poems, magazines, letters...
  • We distribute our books for free, starting from works not copyrighted or published under a free license. You are free to use our e-books for any purpose (including commercial exploitation), under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported[2] license or, at your choice, those of the GNU FDL[3].
  • Wikisource is constantly looking for new members. During the realization of this book, it's possible that we made some errors. You can report them at this page[4].
  • The following users contributed to this book:
  • Dmitrismirnov
  • Ottava Rima
  • AdamBMorgan
  • Ingram
  • Simon Peter Hughes
  • * * *
  • ↑ http://wikisource.org
  • ↑ http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
  • ↑ http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
  • ↑ http://wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:Scriptorium