Some snatch'd, some fought; here roll'd the stream

With gold, and here with blood.

Some in their madness kneeled down,
As seiz'd with horrid thirst,
And fell back in their agony,

As they were things accurst;
And mothers throwing in, forgot

The very babes they nurs'd.
Blood, rapine, slaughter, misery, rage,
Into one ruin burst.

"O gold," quoth I, "no charm hast thou

To thee my heart to trust,
If thus thy blood-stain'd votaries do,
And grovelling lick thy dust.
Begone, thy purchase is the soul,

That thou to hell wouldst thrust."

"Who will not bear his woe, the badge Of love, by love is spurn'd. "New life! new love! oblivion cold!

This Pleasure's boasted goal! Who with the bitter lose the sweetThe blessing with the dole; The breath they breathe it hath no life, The body hath no soul."

Onward I pass'd with quicken'd step,

And passing, in black shade

Hard by, did view the wretched crew,
The bondsmen she had made,
Brutal in form, and grovelling low,
In silly garb array'd;
And ever in a dismal mire
They sottishly did wade.

PART XIII.

Onward I 'pass'd with steady step,
And with a steady eye,
Until that city, gold-accurst,
Did far behind me lie;

Ah me! that through such vile attaint,
Body and soul should die!

I reach'd a grove: alternate shade

And sunshine did it fill;

There birds did make their cheerful wake,
As they with utmost skill
Enticing words right wondrously
Did with their music trill.

"Who dwell herein where pleasure reigns,

Shall do whate'er they will."

I walk'd through gardens rich and fair,
Where silver fountains play'd,
That all around the pleasant ground
With beauty fresh array'd;
And e'en the very air I breath'd

Right pleasant thoughts convey'd ;
And pleasant things all sparkling were
In sunshine and in shade.

Hard by the fountain's margin lay

Queen Pleasure, wondrous fair; The flowers did upwards look, and kiss Her cheek with playful air. And her laughing eye look'd lustrously All through her raven hair.

"Come, come to me," she sang, "and free

Thy silly heart from care.

"Thou bear'st a hopeless love within,
Vexing thy aching heart;
Drink of this sparkling cup-one draught
Oblivion will impart :

Drink; and new life, new love be thine,

Love without pain or smart."

Faith instant gave me strength, and words
To speak, that freely burn'd.
"O base disloyal thought!" quoth I.
And as I spake, I turn'd,

PART XIV.

Then one there came like Bacchus clad, With revel-crew and clan,

That with shout and cry, as they pass'd me by,

Did him with branches fan;
And wine, wine, wine, rivers of wine
After their footsteps ran.

The wine it swell'd, the wine it flow'd,
Purpling all the ground;
And riot, laugh, and revelry,

Did more and more resound.
Ah, then, the after wretchedness
Right plenteously was found!
Whole crowds there lagg'd behind;
though lash'd

With whips, they could not quit The maddening flood, but senseless drank, Nor could they stand nor sit; Some helpless lay as dead, and some Convuls'd in horrid fit,

Whom fiends did come behind and drag Down to a loathsome pit.

PART XV.

"The Tree of Life! the Tree of Life!
Come, mortals, come rejoice;
The Tree of Life, the Tree of Life,
Behold-the better choice."

Such were the sounds that reach'd my ear
From many a cheering voice.

Onward I walk'd-I saw a tree,

Round which were maids that sang, "The Tree of Life! the Tree of Life!"

Till all the garden rang.

And as they pluck'd the leaves therefrom,
Instantly new outsprang.

They scarce withheld th' enticing song,
Though crowds up to it came,
That mostly wither'd were and old,
The blind, the halt, the lame;

To see their wretched carcasses

I loathed them for shame.

For though they ate, yet still I mark'd Their wrinkled age the same.

"O, what is this poor life," said J,

"That it should ever last?
With present trouble, present care-
A sky aye overcast-
To give omnipotence to woe,
And fortune's biting blast!

"Or be my life secure from ill,

From peril, pain, and age, And evil will or it were best

An ending pilgrimage.

Here virtue meets not its reward

Life is her trial-stage.

Death bids the soul forsake her dole,

And opens wide her cage."

I turn'd aside-O wretched sight!
I saw all around me lie,

The loath'd, diseas'd, abhorr'd, who felt

Over the waters came,

I know not by what magic sent,
That boat I erst did name;
And in it stood that liveried page,
I knew him for the same.

The page he made prostration low,
And fell down at my feet;
Silent no more, but master, lord,

He did me lowly greet;

And in his sovereign lady's name,
Did my return entreat.

The boat moved swift across the lake;
And now the silvery blue

Over the opening mountains changed
Unto a golden hue;

And now we sought a cavern'd pass→→→→
And now were gliding through.

I need not say, how swift we went
With a down-flowing tide;
The bark was true-its office knew,
Nor needed oar nor guide.
And now, we reach'd another lake
Before us opening wide.

I knew it well-no sky it had;
No sun above us bright-
But all was an o'er-arching rock,

And spread abroad with light
More than the glory of the sun,

And as the heavens in height. Upon the bosom of the lake,

Like emerald green and dark,
Rich with device and canopy

There floated many a bark;
And Loves flew round on silver wings,
Like doves out of an ark.

In each a beauteous maiden lay;
And as they did approach,
They waved their lily arms above
Out of their pearly coach,
And laughing Cupids flew around,
Yet never did encroach.

One seemed drawn by a team of doves,
One by a silver swan,

And one by dolphins gold-besprent,
That Cupids rode upon,

That, not in need to urge their speed,
In sport did lash them on.

The green lake mirror'd the maidens' feet
Under the gliding bow,

While pennons gay floated away,
Both from the stern and prow.
And stately trees from verdant banks
Shook music from each bough.
Where'er I went the music went,

And by turns it floated round,
As if both voice and listening were
In water and on ground-
As if the water, rocks, and trees,

Did all enjoy the sound.

The marble steps were full in sight,

And the solemn lions seen, And the lamps between their stony paws Flared in the watery green; My heart did beat with sudden heat To see my stately Queen.

Upon the marble steps she stood;

One longing look I cast

The boat it touch'd the marble stair,
Over the bow I pass'd-

One look-one smile-and in my arms
I held, I lock'd her fast.

O perfect, perfect, was the bliss,

As in each other's face
Awhile we gazed with fondest look,
Then did again embrace,
And stood like statues of true love,
Fix'd in a holy place!

But pass we by the tale of love,

Perchance it may but tire;
Awaken'd envy brings mistrust,
When forced to admire;
And few can feel the sanctity
But of their own pure fire.

PART XVII.

Fifty-and-two of manly form,

Each one a noble knight, Whom I by conquest had released From thrall and fell despight,

"NOTWITHSTANDING the general expedience," says Adam Smith, "of a free trade, there are two cases in which it will generally be advantageous to lay some burden upon foreign, for the encouragement of domestic industry.

"The first is, when some particular sort of industry is necessary for the defence of the country. The defence of Great Britain, for example, depends very much upon the number of its sailors and shipping. The Act of Navigation, therefore, very properly endeavours to give the sailors and shipping of Great Britain the monopoly of the trade of their own country, in some cases by absolute prohibitions, and in others by heavy burdens upon the shipping of foreign countries. The following are the principal dispositions of this Act:

"First. All ships, of which the owners, masters, and three-fourths of the mariners, are not British subjects, are prohibited, upon pain of forfeiting the ship and cargo, from trading to the British settlements and plantations, or from being employed in the coasting trade of Great Bri

tain.

'Secondly. A great variety of the most bulky articles of importation can be brought into Great Britain only either in such ships as are above described, or in ships of the country where those goods are produced, and of which the owners, masters, and three-fourths of the mariners, are of that particular country; and when imported even in ships of this latter kind, they are subject to double alien duty. If imported in the ships of any other country, the penalty is forfeiture of the ship and goods. When this Act was made, the Dutch were, as they still are, the great carriers of Europe, and by this regulation they are entirely excluded from being the carriers to Great

Fourthly. Salt fish of all kinds, whale fins, whalebone, oil, and blubber, not caught by and cured on board of British vessels, when imported into Great Britain, are subjected to double alien duty. The Dutch, as they are still the principal, were then the only fishers in Europe that attempted to supply foreign nations with fish. By this regulation a very heavy burden was laid upon their supplying Great Britain.

"When the Act of Navigation was made, though England and Holland were not actually at war, the most violent animosity subsisted between the two nations. It had begun during the government of the Long Parliament, which first framed this Act, and it broke out soon after in the Dutch wars during that of the Protector, and of Charles II. It is not impossible, therefore, that some of the regulations of this famous Act may have proceeded from national animosity. They are as wise, however, as if they had all been dictated by the most deliberate wisdom. National animosity, at that particular time, aimed at the very object which the most deliberate wisdom could have recommended, the diminution of the naval power of Holland, the only naval power which could endanger the security of England."*

Such are the reasons on which the Navigation Act was founded, and such the judgment passed on their wisdom by the great father of poli

tical economy. Though the strongest advocate, in the general case, for the freedom of trade, and the fountain from whence most of the pernicious doctrines on this subject have flowed, he felt and acknowledged that there were occasions on which they were not applicable; that there are principles of government of higher moment, and more sacred obligation, than the mere increase of national wealth; and that when either the national defence, or the public security, are at stake, the measures adapted for the growth of industry must receive a modification. What admirable wisdom, in an author so strongly imbued, in the general case, with the nature and causes of the wealth of nations; and how different from the rash and unbending application of the same principles by the statesmen of succeeding times, professing themselves. the disciples of his doctrines, but any thing rather than the inheritors of his wisdom!

The experience of succeeding times has amply demonstrated the wisdom of the principles on which the Act of Navigation was founded, and which have been so well illus trated by Adam Smith. To demonstrate this, it is not necessary to go back to the subsequent long and unexampled history of British naval power; it is not required to refer to the period when Blake stormed the harbour of Cadiz, and carried the terrors of the Republican arms to the farthest extremities of Spain and the Indies; or when De Ruyter and Van Tromp yielded, after a desperate and honourable struggle, to the rising ascendant of English power; or, when the ambition of Louis XIV.

was stranded on the shores of La Hogue, or the foundations were laid, by the genius of Chatham, of our splendid colonial empire in every part of the globe; we need not extract from the page of history the splendid exploits of Hawke and Rodney, or exhibit the fleets of a single island bravely making head, under Nelson, against a world in arms: it is sufficient to refer to a less animating, but more authentic record; to exhibit the progressive growth of British navigation and commerce within the forty years that immediately preceded the disastrous period of 1823, when the reciprocity system was introduced, and the principles of the Navigation Act, supported by a hundred and seventy years' unbroken experience, and the authority of Adam Smith, were abandoned.

From this extraordinary but authentic document it appears, that the shipping of Great Britain had gone on steadily and rapidly increasing for the half century immediately preceding the change; that this increase had been steady through all the changes of peace and war, the extended commercial intercourse of the latter period compensating the exclusive advantages and practical monopoly of the former; and that so extraordinary had been the growth of our navigation during that period, that our vessels had increased from fourteen thousand to twenty-five thousand,-our tonnage from one million three hundred thousand, to two million five hundred thousand,our seamen from little more than a hundred to little short of two hundred thousand.*

There is not to be found, in the