Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/39

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27

Relax'd to a hard smile. The milder formShed less profusely there his lesser store;Sometimes with tears increasing the scant boon,

    Their infancy are broke: some blackt in sin,Others, the favorites of Heaven, from whenceTheir origin, candid with innocence;Some purpled in afflictions, others dyedIn sanguine pleasures: some in glittering prideSpun to adorn the earth, whilst others wearRags of deformity, but knots of careNo thread was wholly free from. Next to thisFair glorious tower, was placed that black abyssOf dreadful Atropos, the baleful seatOf death and horrour, in each room repleatWith lazy damps, loud groans, and the sad sightOf pale grim Ghosts, those terrours of the night.To this, the last stage that the winding clewOf Life can lead mortality unto,Fear was the dreadful Porter, which let inAll guests sent thither by destructive sin.
    It is possible that I may have written from the recollection of this passage. The conceit is the same, and I willingly attribute it to Chamberlayne, a Poet to whom I am indebted for many hours of delight, and whom I one day hope to rescue from undeserved oblivion.

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