The Litchfield County post., 1828-07-24

Their hoIlo'y eyes did utter streams of wo. And there grOans that ended not, and sighs That always sighed, and tears that ever wept And ever fell, but not in Mercy sight. And Sorrow, and Repentance, and Despair, Among them walked, and to their thirsty lips Presented frequent cups of burning gall. And as Iiistened l heard these beings curse Almighty God, and curse the Lamb, and curse The Earth, the Resurrection morn ,and seek, And ever vanly seek, for utter death, And to their everlasting anguish still, The thunders from above responding spoke These words, which, thro' the caverns of perdton Foriornly echoing, fell on every 'FYe knew your duty, but ye did it nOt.' And back again recoiled adeeper groan. deeper groan! Oh, what groan was that! I waited not, but swift on speediest wing, With unaccusomed thoughts cOnversing, back Retraced my venturous path from dark to light Then up ascending, long ascending up, l hasted on; tho whiles the chiming spheres, By Gods own finger touched to harmony, Held me delaying-t here arrived, Drawn upward by the eternal love of God, Of wonder full and strange astonishment, At what in yonder den of darkness dweIls, Which now your higher knowledge will unfold.
 The two youthful inhabitants of Heaven, having themselves arrived ''but of yesterday" and being doubtless from some other world than this, declare thelr inability to give him satisfactory answer, and propose to conduct him for information to Gan ancient bard of Earth," Milton, no doubt) who occupies an emlnence sby the stream of lfe.'' This being done, the stranger expresses in brief the wonders he Tas seen, and asks instruction into their meaning. The bard replies
 Thou rightly deemst, fair youth, began the bard, The form thou saw'st was Virtue, ever fair. Virtue, like God, whose excellent majesty Whose glory virtue is, omnpresent; No being, once created rational, Accountable, endowed with moral sense, With sapienlc of WI ght and wrong endowed, And charged, however fallen, debased, destroyed; However lost, forlorn, and miserable; Kn gullt'S dark Shroudng WraDt however thick However drunk, delirious and mad, With sIn's full cup; and with whatever damned Unnatural diligence it work and toll, Can bansh virtue from it's sight, O. once Forget that she is fair. Hides it in night, In central nght takes it the lightning s wing, And flies forever on, beyond the bounds Of all; drinks it the maddest cup ofsin; Dives 1t beneath the ocean of despair; 1t dives, 1t drinks, it flies. it hides in vain. For still the eternal beauty, image fair, Once stamp't upon the soul, before the eye All lovely stands, nor will depart; so God Ordans-and lovely to the worst she seems, And ever seems; and as they look, and still Must ever look upon her oveness, Remembrance dire of what they were, of what They might have been and bitter sense of what They are, polluted, ruined, hopeless, lost, With most repenting torment rend their hearts. So tod ordalns-their punishment severe, Externally inflicted by themselves. s "Iis thls-ths Virtue lowering evermore Before the vision of the damned, and in Upon their monstrous moral nakedness Casting unwelcOme light, that makes their wo, That makes the essence of the endless flame: Where this is, there is Hell-darker than aught That he, the bard three visioned, darkest saw.
 The place thou saw'st was hell the groans thou
 heard'st
 The wailings of the damned-of those who would Notbe redeemed-and at the Jugment Day, Long past, for unrepented sins were damned. The sevenloud thunders which thou heardst, declare The eternal wrath of the Almighty God. But whence, or why they came to dwell in wo, Why they curse God, what means the glorious morn or Resurrecton-these longer tale Demand and lead the mourniul Tyre far back Thro' memory of Sin, and mortal man.
 The bard then proceeds to relate the progress of past events from the creation the end of the world which occupies the remaining Nine Books. The language is oftentimes extremely bold and imagna- tve,-and by some the flight may be considered too high for mortal pinions; but whatever objectiors may be raised on this ground, the same will apply with equal force to Paradise Lost, the morality of which appears to be generally acknowledged.