Henceforth, let no man trust the first false step
    Of guilt.  It hangs upon a precipice,
    Whose deep descent in last perdition ends. 
    How far am I plung’d down, beyond all thought
    Which I this evening fram’d—­
    Consummate horror! guilt beyond, a name!—­
    Dare not, my soul, repent.  In thee, repentance
    Were second guilt; and ’twere blaspheming Heav’n
    To hope for mercy.  My pain can only cease
    When gods want power to punish.—­Ha!—­the dawn—­
    Rise never more, O fun!—­let night prevail: 
    Eternal darkness close the world’s wide scene—­
    And hide me from myself.

DISTRACTION.

    Mercy!—­I know it not—­for I am miserable. 
    I’ll give thee misery—­for here she dwells,
    This is her house—­where the sun never dawns: 
    The bird of night sits screaming o’er the roof;
    Grim spectres sweep along the horrid gloom;
    And nought in heard, but wailings and lamenting. 
    Hark!—­something cracks above;—­it shakes—­it totters! 
    And see—­the nodding ruin falls to crush me!—­
    ’Tis fallen—­’Tis here!—­I feel it on my brain! 
    A waving flood of bluish fire swells o’er me! 
    And now ’tis out—­and I am drown’d in blood.—­
    Ha! what art thou? thou horrid headless trunk!—­
    It is my Hastings—­See, he wafts me on! 
    Away I go!—­I fly!—­I follow thee!

GRATITUDE.

    My Father!  Oh! let me unlade my breast;
    Pour out the fullness of my soul before you;
    Shew ev’ry tender, ev’ry grateful thought,
    This wond’rous goodness stirs.  But ’tis impossible,
    And utt’rance all is vile; since I can only
    Swear you reign here, but never tell how much.

INTREATY.

    Reward him for the noble deed, just Heavens! 
    For this one action, guard him, and distinguish him
    With signal mercies, and with great deliverance,
    Save him from wrong, adversity, and shame,
    Let never-fading honours flourish round him;
    And consecrate his name; ev’n to time’s end. 
    Let him know nothing else, but good on earth
    And everlasting blessedness hereafter.

COMMANDING.

    Silence, ye winds! 
    That make outrageous war upon the ocean: 
    And then, old ocean? lull thy boist’rous waves. 
    Ye warring elements! be hush’d as death,
    While I impose my dread commands on hell. 
    And thou, profoundest hell! whose dreary sway,
    Is given to me by fate and demogorgon—­
    Hear, hear my powerful voice, through all thy regions
    And from thy gloomy caverns thunder the reply.

COURAGE.