Miscellaneous Poems Part 1

Miscellaneous Poems.

by George Crabbe.

"SIR EUSTACE GREY".

Scene: --A MADHOUSE.

Persons: --VISITOR, PHYSICIAN, AND PATIENT.

"Veris miscens falsa."

SENECA.

VISITOR.

I'll know no more;--the heart is torn By views of woe we cannot heal; Long shall I see these things forlorn, And oft again their griefs shall feel, As each upon the mind shall steal; That wan projector's mystic style, That lumpish idiot leering by, That peevish idler's ceaseless wile, And that poor maiden's half-form'd smile, While struggling for the full-drawn sigh! - I'll know no more.

PHYSICIAN.

Yes, turn again; Then speed to happier scenes thy way, When thou hast view'd, what yet remain, The ruins of Sir Eustace Grey, The sport of madness, misery's prey: But he will no historian need, His cares, his crimes, will he display, And show (as one from frenzy freed) The proud lost mind, the rash-done deed.

That cell to him is Greyling Hall: - Approach; he'll bid thee welcome there; Will sometimes for his servant call, And sometimes point the vacant chair: He can, with free and easy air, Appear attentive and polite; Can veil his woes in manners fair, And pity with respect excite.

PATIENT.

Who comes?--Approach!--'tis kindly done: - My learn'd physician, and a friend, Their pleasures quit, to visit one Who cannot to their ease attend, Nor joys bestow, nor comforts lend, As when I lived so blest, so well, And dreamt not I must soon contend With those malignant powers of h.e.l.l.

PHYSICIAN.

"Less warmth, Sir Eustace, or we go."

PATIENT.

See! I am calm as infant love, A very child, but one of woe, Whom you should pity, not reprove: - But men at ease, who never strove With pa.s.sions wild, will calmly show How soon we may their ills remove, And masters of their madness grow.

Some twenty years, I think, are gone, - (Time flies I know not how, away,) The sun upon no happier shone, Nor prouder man, than Eustace Grey.

Ask where you would, and all would say, The man admired and praised of all, By rich and poor, by grave and gay, Was the young lord of Greyling Hall.

Yes! I had youth and rosy health; Was n.o.bly form'd, as man might be; For sickness, then, of all my wealth, I never gave a single fee: The ladies fair, the maidens free, Were all accustom'd then to say, Who would a handsome figure see Should look upon Sir Eustace Grey.

He had a frank and pleasant look, A cheerful eye and accent bland; His very speech and manner spoke The generous heart, the open hand; About him all was gay or grand, He had the praise of great and small; He bought, improved, projected, plann'd, And reign'd a prince at Greyling Hall.

My lady!--she was all we love; All praise (to speak her worth) is faint; Her manners show'd the yielding dove, Her morals, the seraphic saint: She never breath'd nor look'd complaint; No equal upon earth had she - Now, what is this fair thing I paint?

Alas! as all that live shall be.

There was, beside, a gallant youth, And him my bosom's friend I had; - Oh! I was rich in very truth, It made me proud--it made me mad! - Yes, I was lost--but there was cause! - Where stood my tale?--I cannot find - But I had all mankind's applause, And all the smiles of womankind.

There were two cherub-things beside, A gracious girl, a glorious boy; Yet more to swell my full-blown pride, To varnish higher my fading joy, Pleasures were ours without alloy, Nay, Paradise,--till my frail Eve Our bliss was tempted to destroy - Deceived and fated to deceive.

But I deserved;--for all that time, When I was loved, admired, caress'd,.

There was within, each secret crime, Unfelt, uncancell'd, unconfess'd: I never then my G.o.d address'd, In grateful praise or humble prayer; And if His Word was not my jest - (Dread thought!) it never was my care.

I doubted: --fool I was to doubt!

If that all-piercing eye could see, - If He who looks all worlds throughout, Would so minute and careful be As to perceive and punish me: - With man I would be great and high, But with my G.o.d so lost, that He, In His large view should pa.s.s me by.

Thus blest with children, friend, and wife, Blest far beyond the vulgar lot; Of all that gladdens human life, Where was the good that I had not?

But my vile heart had sinful spot, And Heaven beheld its deep'ning stain; Eternal justice I forgot, And mercy sought not to obtain.

Come near,--I'll softly speak the rest! - Alas! 'tis known to all the crowd, Her guilty love was all confess'd; And his, who so much truth avow'd, My faithless friend's.--In pleasure proud I sat, when these cursed tidings came; Their guilt, their flight was told aloud, And Envy smiled to hear my shame!

I call'd on Vengeance; at the word She came: --Can I the deed forget?

I held the sword--the accursed sword The blood of his false heart made wet; And that fair victim paid her debt, She pined, she died, she loath'd to live; - I saw her dying--see her yet: Fair fallen thing! my rage forgive!

Those cherubs still, my life to bless, Were left; could I my fears remove, Sad fears that check'd each fond caress, And poison'd all parental love?

Yet that with jealous feelings strove, And would at last have won my will, Had I not, wretch! been doom'd to prove Th' extremes of mortal good and ill.

In youth! health! joy! in beauty's pride!

They droop'd--as flowers when blighted bow; The dire infection came: --they died, And I was cursed--as I am now; - Nay, frown not, angry friend,--allow That I was deeply, sorely tried; Hear then, and you must wonder how I could such storms and strifes abide.

Storms!--not that clouds embattled make, When they afflict this earthly globe; But such as with their terrors shake Man's breast, and to the bottom probe; They make the hypocrite disrobe, They try us all, if false or true; For this one Devil had power on Job; And I was long the slave of two.

PHYSICIAN.

Peace, peace, my friend; these subjects fly; Collect thy thoughts--go calmly on. -

PATIENT.

And shall I then the fact deny?

I was--thou know'st--I was begone, Like him who fill'd the eastern throne, To whom the Watcher cried aloud; That royal wretch of Babylon, Who was so guilty and so proud.

Like him, with haughty, stubborn mind, I, in my state, my comforts sought; Delight and praise I hoped to find, In what I builded, planted! bought!

Oh! arrogance! by misery taught - Soon came a voice! I felt it come; "Full be his cup, with evil fraught, Demons his guides, and death his doom!"

Then was I cast from out my state; Two fiends of darkness led my way; They waked me early, watch'd me late, My dread by night, my plague by day!

Oh! I was made their sport, their play, Through many a stormy troubled year; And how they used their pa.s.sive prey Is sad to tell: --but you shall hear.

And first before they sent me forth.

Through this unpitying world to run, They robb'd Sir Eustace of his worth, Lands, manors, lords.h.i.+ps, every one; So was that gracious man undone, Was spurn'd as vile, was scorn'd as poor, Whom every former friend would shun, And menials drove from every door.

Then rose ill-favour'd Ones, whom none But my unhappy eyes could view, Led me, with wild emotion, on, And, with resistless terror, drew.

Through lands we fled, o'er seas we flew, And halted on a boundless plain; Where nothing fed, nor breathed, nor grew, But silence ruled the still domain.

Upon that boundless plain, below, The setting sun's last rays were shed, And gave a mild and sober glow, Where all were still, asleep, or dead; Vast ruins in the midst were spread, Pillars and pediments sublime, Where the gray ma.s.s had form'd a bed, And clothed the crumbling spoils of time.

There was I fix'd, I know not how, Condemn'd for untold years to stay: Yet years were not;--one dreadful Now Endured no change of night or day; The same mild evening's sleeping ray Shone softly solemn and serene, And all that time I gazed away, The setting sun's sad rays were seen.