Manfred (With Byron's Biography). Lord Byron

throb, that beats with hopes or wishes, Or lurking love of something on the earth. Now to my task.— Mysterious Agency! Ye Spirits of the unbounded Universe!ap Whom I have sought in darkness and in light—30 Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell In subtler essence—ye, to whom the tops Of mountains inaccessible are haunts,aq And Earth's and Ocean's caves familiar things— I call upon ye by the written charm109 Which gives me power upon you—Rise! Appear! A pause. They come not yet.—Now by the voice of him Who is the first among you110—by this sign, Which makes you tremble—by the claims of him Who is undying,—Rise! Appear!—-- Appear!40 A pause. If it be so.—Spirits of Earth and Air, Ye shall not so elude me! By a power, Deeper than all yet urged, a tyrant-spell, Which had its birthplace in a star condemned, The burning wreck of a demolished world, A wandering hell in the eternal Space; By the strong curse which is upon my Soul,111 The thought which is within me and around me, I do compel ye to my will.—Appear!

      A star is seen at the darker end of the gallery: it is stationary; and a voice is heard singing.]

      First Spirit.

      Mortal! to thy bidding bowed,50

       From my mansion in the cloud,

       Which the breath of Twilight builds,

       And the Summer's sunset gilds

       With the azure and vermilion,

Which is mixed for my pavilion;ar Though thy quest may be forbidden, On a star-beam I have ridden, To thine adjuration bowed: Mortal—be thy wish avowed!

      Voice of the Second Spirit.

      Mont Blanc is the Monarch of mountains;60

       They crowned him long ago

       On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds,

       With a Diadem of snow.

       Around his waist are forests braced,

       The Avalanche in his hand;

       But ere it fall, that thundering ball

       Must pause for my command.

       The Glacier's cold and restless mass

       Moves onward day by day;

       But I am he who bids it pass,70

Or with its ice delay.as I am the Spirit of the place, Could make the mountain bow And quiver to his caverned base— And what with me would'st Thou?

      Voice of the Third Spirit.

      In the blue depth of the waters,

       Where the wave hath no strife,

       Where the Wind is a stranger,

       And the Sea-snake hath life,

       Where the Mermaid is decking80

       Her green hair with shells,

       Like the storm on the surface

       Came the sound of thy spells;

       O'er my calm Hall of Coral

       The deep Echo rolled—

       To the Spirit of Ocean

       Thy wishes unfold!

      Fourth Spirit.

      Where the slumbering Earthquake

       Lies pillowed on fire,

       And the lakes of bitumen90

       Rise boilingly higher;

       Where the roots of the Andes

       Strike deep in the earth,

       As their summits to heaven

       Shoot soaringly forth;

       I have quitted my birthplace,

       Thy bidding to bide—

       Thy spell hath subdued me,

       Thy will be my guide!

      Fifth Spirit.

      I am the Rider of the wind,100

       The Stirrer of the storm;

       The hurricane I left behind

       Is yet with lightning warm;

       To speed to thee, o'er shore and sea

       I swept upon the blast:

       The fleet I met sailed well—and yet

       'Twill sink ere night be past.

      Sixth Spirit.

      My dwelling is the shadow of the Night,

       Why doth thy magic torture me with light?

      Seventh Spirit.

      The Star which rules thy destiny no110

       Was ruled, ere earth began, by me:

       It was a World as fresh and fair

       As e'er revolved round Sun in air;

       Its course was free and regular,

       Space bosomed not a lovelier star.

       The Hour arrived—and it became

       A wandering mass of shapeless flame,

       A pathless Comet, and a curse,

       The menace of the Universe;

       Still rolling on with innate force,120

       Without a sphere, without a course,

       A bright deformity on high,

       The monster of the upper sky!

       And Thou! beneath its influence born—

       Thou worm! whom I obey and scorn—

       Forced by a Power (which is not thine,

       And lent thee but to make thee mine)

       For this brief moment to descend,

       Where these weak Spirits round thee bend

       And parley with a thing like thee—130

What would'st thou, Child of Clay! with me?112

      The Seven Spirits.

      Earth—ocean—air—night—mountains—winds—thy Star,

       Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay!

       Before thee at thy quest their Spirits are—

       What would'st thou with us, Son of mortals—say?

      Man. Forgetfulness——

      First Spirit. Of what—of whom—and why?

      Man. Of that which is within me; read it there— Ye know it—and I cannot utter it.

      Spirit. We can but give thee that which we possess: Ask of us subjects, sovereignty, the power140 O'er earth—the whole, or portion—or a sign Which shall control the elements, whereof We are the dominators,—each and all, These shall be thine.

      Man. Oblivion—self-oblivion! Can ye not wring from out the hidden realms Ye offer so profusely—what I ask?

      Spirit. It is not in our essence, in our skill; But—thou may'st die.

      Man. Will Death bestow it on me?

      Spirit. We are immortal, and do not forget; We are eternal;