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ix

reader: perhaps this is owing to the obtrusiveness, the regular Jews'-harp twing-twang, of what has been foolishly called heroic measure. I do not wish the improvisatore tune;.. but something that denotes the sense of harmony, something like the accent of feeling,..like the tone which every Poet necessarily gives to Poetry.

Cintra, October, 1800.

The First Book.

. Worse and worse, young Orphane, be thy payne,

If **thou due vengeance doe forbeare,
Till guiltie blood her guerdon do obtayne.

FAERY QUEEN, B. 2. Can. 1.

VOL. I.

THALABA THE DESTROYER.

THE FIRST BOOK.

I.

How beautiful is night!

A dewy freshness fills the silent air, No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain,

Breaks the serene of heaven:

In full-orb'd glory yonder Moon divine
Rolls through the dark blue depths.
Beneath her steady ray

The desert-circle spreads,

Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky.

How beautiful is night!

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