Your arms entwine? Fear not-my word is given, Shone with unborrowed light. While the bold boy The reins with firmness hold; 'twill try thy strength. And Aethon with neighing fill the air, And with impatient feet the barriers paw. The bars removed, before them open lies The boundless world. Like arrow from the bow, They onward rush, pierce through th' opposing clouds, And far the East-wind's rapid flight outstrip. As ships unballasted on ocean's surge Are wildly tossed, the sport of wind and wave, The reins relax-the steeds usurp control And from the beaten highway madly plunge. Then, warmed with Southern heat the gelid Bears Their panting bodies in the icy wave Essayed to dip; the serpent dire, which long When from the loftiest height of ether, down A sudden darkness spreads. Would that he were To the Sun's couch in western wave he turns, Which Fate ordained he ne'er should reach, and then Dissatisfied back to the East he looks. He knows not what he does-in stupor deep His senses are enthralled; no power has he To draw or slack the reins, or to recall The horses' names. Meanwhile the heavens around With direful shapes of wo, and monsters grim Are filled. There is one spot most terrible. With threat'ning curving arms, and poisoned tail This monster huge in venom sweltering saw, And saw his deadly sting in wrath uplift, Now helpless, quite from fear, the reins threw down. No sooner had the reins wide-floating touched The horses' backs, than with redoubled speed Hither and thither, with wild fury rush The maddened beasts, now mounting high amid Luna astounded sees the Sun-car glide And clouds that veil them burst in angry flame. Then Phaethon from his lofty height beholds Around him thick in fiery showers fall Ashes and glowing embers. Wrapped in smoke He knows not whither, at the horses' will. Then, as 'tis said, the Ethiop's dusky hue By scorching heat was caused. Her waters dried To desert waste. Then with dishevelled hair And Corinth mourns the lost Pirenian Spring. At Juno's proud command, now roll in flames. The rapid Tagus down its sandy bed Pours liquid gold. The graceful swans that sing The western rivers, Rhine and Rhone and Po To rivulets. On every hand the earth Yawns wide, and through the fissures deep light gleams On Tartarus, and consternation dire Makes in the nether world. The sea contracts Its bounds; and from its narrowed limits now In dire extremity to Heaven turned Her suppliant eye for aid; with trembling voice The King of Heaven addressed. "Oh! mighty Jove, "If I this fate deserve, why linger now "Thy thunderbolts? If Fate has long decreed "That I by fire must perish, let it come "From thy great hand. Scarce can my parching tongue "My woes unfold. From year to year I feel "The ploughshare's wounds; for flocks the nutrient grass, "For man abundant fruits I yield, for you "The rich frankincense. This then the reward "Of my fertility,—the gratitude "For all my service! Say that I deserved "This fate, what has my brother done to move 66 Around you look,—the swift devouring flame "Wraps either pole, and soon in ruin vast "Your halls will sink. See! Laboring Atlas reels "And on his shoulders broad a blazing world "Can scarce sustain. If sea, and land and sky "Together fall, Chaos is come again. "For general good consult, and from the flames "The relics of the Universe retrieve. Thus Tellus spoke, but now the blinding smoke And vapor rising fast her utterance choked. Then Jove omnipotent in conclave all The high divinities of heaven convoked, And to th' assembled Gods, in anxious words From ruin irretrievable, his arm Must interpose. Up to the lofty mount, Whence he is wont with friendly veil of clouds His lightnings, and his thunders, he ascends. But now, alas! no clouds has he to spread, The scattered fragments of the ruined car. But Phaethon, the flame devouring fast His auburn hair, headlong through tract immense Far from his native land upon the banks Of winding Po, fell dead. His bleeding corse This epitaph inscribe. "Here Phaethon lies, "In high and noble enterprise he fell. W. H. P. PATRICK HENRY AND THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. My attention has been drawn to an article that appeared in "the Messenger," for November, headed as above and subscribed "R. R." By these initials I recognize Mr. Richard Randolph as the writer. He certainly cannot be charged with any precipitancy in giving vent to his pent-up feelings of patriotic indignation, since the statements in "The History of Virginia," published by me, have been in print and before him these ten years past. But no time runs against the king, and the critic is barred by no statute of limitations. R. R. after presenting his "specifications" and commenting on them, proceeds to make what are apparently two quotations, from the aforementioned work; but upon comparing them with the text, it is found, that these two paragraphs are made up of five separate extracts, or excerpts, which he, by some poetic license, has thrown together into hotch-pot, so that they no longer stand in "a concatenation accordingly." His specifications are first, my stating, that envy was at the bottom of the proceedings of the Committee of Safety in 1775 towards Colonel Henry; second, my stating, that Congress, in resolving to exclude Col. Henry from the chief command of the Virginia forces, was misled by the machinations of a cabal. In enlarging on his specifications, R. R. remarks of the Committee of Safety, "These apostles of liberty were, according to Mr. Campbell, not one but all traitors." From the interpretation which R. R. is pleased to give my words, it would seem to be his opinion that envy is synonymous with high treason: if he be right in this; if envy of a popular favorite at such a conjuncture be treason, then there has been more treason in the world than is commonly supposed, and the law of treason may need some amendment and enlargement. Nor can it fairly be inferred from the expression, "Envy was at the bottom of these proceedings" that it charges all the members of the Committee with being actuated by envy, and that in an equal degree. "At the bottom of these proceedings" more properly implies, that there was a secret envious influence at work in the Committee. It is by no means an uncommon or |