Descend in majesty supreme;

Thy chariot be devouring flame;
That all the elements may die
Beneath the lightning of thine eye.
The vales shall yawn, in terror rending,
The mountains quake at thy descending,
Nay, bow their hoary heads, and heave
Like skiff upon the yielding wave.-

"Stretch but thy finger from the spheres Towards these bloody worshippers,

And lo, the sinners and the spot
Shall quickly be as they were not!

As things of terror no more seen,
Nay, be as they had never been.

"Our eyes are fix'd on thee above,

Our hope in thy redeeming love :

Then, O, in mercy to our race,

Hear in the heavens thy dwelling-place !"

While

yet

the Christian army kneel'd,

Ere brow was raised from rock or shield,

Heaven's golden portals were unbarr'd,
And the Almighty's voice was heard!
It came not forth like thunders loud,
When lightnings through the liquid cloud
Break up the dense and dismal gloom,

With chafe, with chatter, and with boom;
It came with such a mighty sound,

As if the heavens, the depths profound,
And tempests at their utmost noise,
Cried all together in one voice.

Deep call'd to deep, and wave to wave; Stone unto stone, and grave to grave; The yawning cliffs and caverns groan'd; The mountains totter'd as they moan'd; All nature roar'd in one dire steven; Heaven cried to earth, and earth to heaven, Till both the offenders and offended

Knew that the Eternal God descended.

After the voice a whirlwind blew,

Before it every fragment flew

Of movent nature, all in cumber,

And living creatures without number
Were borne aloft with whirling motion:
It lifted ships out of the ocean;

And all, without one falling shiver,
Were borne away, and lost for ever;

But there were cries of death and dread
Heard in the darkness overhead!

After the wind, with rending roll A crash was heard from pole to pole, As if the Almighty's hand had rent The ample yielding firmament;

Or split with jangle and with knell

The adamantine arch of hell;

And, lo! from out the heavens there came

A sea of rolling smouldering flame,
Which o'er the sinners' heads impended,
And slowly, dreadfully descended;

While with their shouts the welkin broke,

"Great Odin comes! our god, our rock !”—

Just while their horrid sacrifice

Still flamed with incense to the skies

;

Just when their hearts were at the proudest,

And their orisons at the loudest,

The liquid sounding flame inclosed them,

And roll'd them in its furnace bosom !

That city fill'd with loathsome crime,

With all its piles of ancient time,
After the fiery column broke,
Scarce gave a crackle or a smoke,
More than a heap of chaff or tinder,
But melted to a trivial cynder!—

Scarce had the eye of trembling hind
Regain'd its sight-with terror blind,
His heart began to beat in time,
Or shudder'd at the heinous crime,
Ere the appalling scene was o'er!
One single moment, and no more,

All glitter'd with a glowing gleen,

Then pass'd as they had never been.

Walls, towers, and sinners, in one sweep,

Were solder'd to a formless heap,

To stand, until that final day

When this fair world shall melt away,

As beacons sacred and sublime

Of judgment sent for human crime.

ADIEU, dear maids of Scotia wide, Your minstrel's solace and his pride— The theme that all his feelings move

Of grief, of pity, and of love;

To you he bows with lowly bend ;

His ancient tale is at an end.

More would he tell, but deems it best

That history's page

should say

the rest.

There thou may'st read, and read with gain,

Of Eiden's long and holy reign;

How Haco and his winsome Wene
Were Scandinavia's king and queen ;
How much he owed her in his sway,
And loved her to his latest day.