The Poetical Works of Horace Smith :: :: University of Virginia Library

My last, dear Nokes, convey'd a full account
Of our most desperate and horrid plight,
When, to compel our poised balloon to mount
By rendering it more volatile and light,
So that we might approach some stellar fount,
And quench our raging thirst—we deem'd it right
To fix, by drawing lots of paper,
Which of our trio overboard should caper.

212

One after one Green placed them on his palm,
And was about to close his hand, when lo!
Although it hitherto had been dead calm,
A gust of wind snatch'd up those types of woe,
And whisk'd them out of sight. Hope's sudden balm
Gave to our spirits a reviving flow;
For, in this crisis of our sad condition,
It seem'd a heavenly interposition.

Especially when our balloon, beneath
Some new and strong attraction, upwards rush'd,
And we drew in, between our chattering teeth,
A warmer air, which thro' our system gush'd,
Thawing our blood until it seem'd to seethe,
While we no longer felt oppress'd and crush'd
By th' outward atmosphere, which now was neither
Too rare nor cold, but a delicious æther.

213

Hey! presto! pass!—One anxious moment more,
And we were compass'd by a vapoury shroud.
Another pause, and there began to pour
A heavy rain from this dissolving cloud;
So that, by holding up the hats we wore,
The swelling sides of the balloon allow'd
A stream continuous to trickle down,
And fill a bumper in the indented crown.

Me and my comrades did that magic draught
Raise from despair to bliss without alloy,
As if we simultaneously had quaff'd
Hope, courage, strength, vitality, and joy.
Green was no longer truculent:—he laugh'd,
And thought no more of whom he should destroy;
While Guy kept praying, in his own farrago,
Jupiter auctor! tibi gratias ago.”

214

From that most blessed cloud emerging soon,
There shot athwart our course a sudden light,
As warm as a meridian day of June,—
When our three voices, at their topmost height,
Set up a choral shout—“The moon! the moon!”
And there it was above us, huge and bright;
Confounding all my system of astronomy,
And notions of the sun and moon's economy.

When, as we thought, the balanced element,
Kept our balloon in equipoised inaction,
We still had made a gradual ascent,
Until we came within the moon's attraction.
For 'twas the moon indeed to which we bent
Our course with so much speed and satisfaction.
I tell you simply what I saw, dear Nokes,
So don't suppose my history a hoax.

215

After the sun went down brief twilight gleam'd;
We were rapt upwards with a rush—and lo!
As we approach'd the moon, the morning beamed,
And the warm planet sparkled in the glow
Of sunshine;—yes, however strange it seem'd,
There was no night that night. Guy felt it so,
For he exclaim'd,—“A miracle confess'd!
Occubuit sol, nox nulla secuta est.”

As we drew nearer, still the fairer smiled
That lunar garden of delight, until
The paradise thus open'd in the wild
Fill'd us with wonder, though it could not fill
Our maws:—the pangs of Tantalus were mild,
Compared to those that made us yearn and thrill,
As various fruits we noted, all and each
Within our sight, but far above our reach.

216

When we had nearly gain'd the promised land,
Some most provoking law of ærostatics
Brought our poised vessel to a second stand,
And thus we hung suspended in the attics;
While the ground floor exhibited a bland
Display of warmth to solace our rheumatics,
As well as food, which, in our starving langour,
Half madden'd us with an impatient anger.

Our woes to aggravate, the rustic crew,
Who in the fields already were at work,
Soon as our floating figures came in view,
Brandish'd ferociously scythe, spade, and fork,
Or gathered stones, which at our car they threw,
Each, with the look of a malignant Turk,
Shouting amain—“Hikanah polbob, boo!”
Words meaning, when their English garb is put on,
“If you alight, you're all as dead as mutton!”

217

Just then some influence of gravitation
Brought our balloon still nearer to the ground,
When, smitten with a sudden consternation
The peasants fled to the defying sound,
“Hikanah polbob, boo!” but in their station
We marked one maiden as we gazed around,
For such we judged her by her curly head,
Her figure slim, and petticoat of red.

Cried Green, whose spirits had revived, “By jingo!
That flaming petticoat and graceful mien
Give her the semblance of a red flamingo,
But that no beak or pinions can be seen.
I wonder whether she can speak our lingo:—
Hilloa! Ma'am or Miss! behold our lean
And starving state. If you can throw so far,
Pray toss a quartern loaf into our car!”

218

Whereat she threw her body back—uprear'd
Her fair round arms, and tenderly exclaim'd
“Squanch zimzom squish!” How euphonous appear'd
Those guttural and Dutch-like words, when named
By woman's ever welcome voice, endear'd
Tenfold to us, whose hearing was inflamed
By long and hungry listening for a sound,
While we were prison'd in our silent pound.

As speech was useless here, I made a sign,
By pointing to my mouth with starving look;
Untwisting then a little ball of twine,
And fastening to its lower end a hook,
I let a basket down until the line
Came within reach, which eagerly she took,
Untied the pannier in a trice, and, quicker
Than any antelope, bore off the wicker.

219

Oh! how we watch'd her flitting o'er the ground,
As to the covert of a wood she flew!
Oh! how our bosoms thrill'd with joy profound,
As her light form appeared again in view!
Oh! when the string she to the handle bound,
How carefully the basket we up-drew!
But oh! (and this beat all the other oh!'s)
At sight of its contents what joy arose!

Three bowls of milk we saw: I cannot say
How mortal cows could yield so rich a draught,
Unless they pastured in the milky way;—
Imagine with what eagerness we quaff'd!
Next were three loaves upon a wooden tray,
So far beyond an earthly baker's craft,
That from their taste they might have been surmised
To be sweet almond cakes celestialized.

220

Not Heliogabalus nor old Apicius,
Nor the famed suicidal cook Vattel,
Ever concocted banquet more delicious,
Or one so eagerly devour'd.—To tell
Th' effect of those restoratives auspicious
Transcends my power; in short, we felt quite well,
And in an access of hysteric gladness,
Shriek'd, laugh'd, and jumped with every sign of madness.

So kind the maiden, that I felt a hope,
Perchance, that she might aid us to descend,
So I uncoil'd and lowered down a rope,
With a small grappling iron at its end,
Making a sign,—(oh! there is ample scope
In signs, if people will but comprehend,)
That she should stick the hook into the ground,
Or fasten it to anything she found.

221

As quick to execute as understand,
The tackle to a withered stump she tied,
Then lifting up each alabaster hand,
She bowed, as if to say “I have complied.”
So did we gently pull ourselves to land,
And mooring the balloon that it might ride
Safely at anchor, out we jumped, enchanted
To find our feet on terra firma planted.

How shall I paint it—where begin—how frame
Language descriptive of a scene so rare?
Luxora (so the nymph was call'd) must claim
Precedence of my pen. That fairest fair,
Bending one knee as to the ground we came,
Thrice touch'd her forehead with a reverent air,
Then smiling like an opening rose in June,
Appeared to give us welcome to the moon.

222

All the Lunarians, you must keep in mind,
Are somewhat smaller than the human race,
Bearing the same proportion to mankind,
That the moon does to earth. In stature, grace,
And symmetry, Luxora's form combined
All that we dream of sylphs, although her face
More round and moonlike than we see on earth,
Showed her to be a girl of lunar birth.

Yet was it fair, most exquisitely fair,—
Her cheeks just beaming with a roseate light,
Contrasting with the yellow silken hair
That fell in tendrils o'er her shoulders white;
Her round ox-eye with Juno's might compare,
Save that its hue was moonlike, with a bright
Spot in the centre of the purest hazel,
More sparkling than the pupil of the gazelle.

223

Her tight-made boddice of a golden thread,
The budding beauties of her bust conceal'd,
Her petticoat of dark flamingo red,
Half of her fair unstocking'd leg reveal'd.
No wonder that with such a foot, her tread
Was light as gossamer. No nymph lark-heel'd,
Nor Dian, Atalanta, nor Aurora,
Had legs so lissom as the light Luxora.

When I had gazed my fill—no easy task,—
I look'd around me on the landscape fair.
Oh! what a master's pencil would it ask
To paint a scene so beautifully rare,
Where the whole face of nature wore a mask
That gave her features a diminish'd air,
And yet enhanced their charms, as if she sought
To prove how well in miniature she wrought.

224

A golden bloom illumed the velvet grass,
Whose flowers gave forth a perfume rich and rare,
The tinted waters looked like purple glass,
Flowing through meads auriferous;—the air
Thrill'd with the songs of birds that far surpass
Earth's nightingales in summer evenings fair;
And when we raised our ravished eyes on high,
What lovely visions glorified the sky!

Prismatic clouds assumed the form and hues
Of a grand gallery of pictures splendid,
Where every taste its favourite scene might choose:
For here a gorgeous landscape lay extended,
An air-drawn Paradise; and there sea-views,
With figures, flowers, and cattle-pieces blended.
All, when a zephyr wafted them from sight,
To form again more beautifully bright.

225

While I stood thus in an admiring trance,
Green, who had gather'd and devour'd a mango,
Now, bowing, to Luxora would advance,
Now twirl around her in a mad fandango,
Crying at times, as he increased his dance,
“I'll show you, Miss, how rapidly I can go,”
And laughing louder as he caper'd round,
At poor Luxora's wonderment profound.

Guy's wonder was a stupor; every sight
And every moment seeming to increase it:
His first quotation was a bull outright,
“Steterunt comæ, vox faucibus hæsit,”—
For he was bald, and spoke.—“Who,” quoth our wight,
“Quis tale credat? even when he sees it?
Well may the moon be called decus astrorum,
Where everything is dulce et decorum.”

226

And now Luxora, tripping o'er the glades
That formed its outskirts, led us to a wood,
Within whose fragrant and sequestered shades,
A small pavilion picturesquely stood,
With windows looking down, thro' green arcades,
On a far lake, whose waves the zephyr woo'd,
Or sped some vessel on its sunny way,
That dash'd the waters into sparkling spray.

In this retreat, where everything betray'd
Simplicity, refined by female taste,
Our fair neat-handed Phillis—now our maid
And hostess too—(both characters she graced,)
A plain repast upon the table laid,
Waiting upon us with such looks of chaste
And reverent homage in her beaming features,
'Twas plain she took us for celestial creatures.

227

Whene'er we spoke, this answer still we heard—
“Squanch zimzom squish,” whose lunar sense implies,
“I cannot understand a single word;”
But we had little need of colloquies,
For what we wanted instantly occurr'd,
As if she read our very thoughts and eyes;
Such was the intuition of this airy,
Brave, gracious, graceful, deferential fairy.

Our meal concluded, with her tiny hand
Of ivory, she pointed to a door,
With signs to open it; at which command
We pass'd within and mark'd upon the floor
Three couches ready to receive our band;
Each at its head a plume of feathers bore,
Each was with rushes strewn, and flowers whose balm
Inspires a sleep, refreshing sweet, and calm.

228

When we returned, behold! the nymph had fled,
Or vanish'd as by magic from the place:
We listen'd, but we could not hear her tread;
We gazed around, no object could we trace;
So to beguile our lonesomeness we sped
Forth to the circling forest—not in chace
Of the fair fugitive—but just to see
Whate'er might move our curiosity.

Oft will my memory that stroll renew,
So strange and lovely was the woodland show:
Each wild flower, shrub, and tree that met our view,
Resembled those that in our tropics grow—
Palm, cedar, cypress, banyan, bamboo,
And many more whose names we did not know,
Were laced together in alcoves and bowers,
By parasitic plants, enwreathed with flowers.

229

The dove, gold pheasant, humming-bird, maccaw,
Swung to and fro upon the high festoons,
While, sporting in the lower boughs, we saw
Opossums, squirrels, monkeys, and racoons,
And all by some mysterious lunar law
Had round flat faces just like little moons;
Even the animals unknown on earth,
Bearing this token of their lunar birth.

If they were strange to us, 't was clearer still
That we were strange to them; for, as we sped,
The birds flew off with startl'd screamings shrill,
While quickly disappeared each quadruped;
New forms we glimpsed, which scarcely waited till
We came in sight, when instantly they fled.
We laugh'd at their alarms, but far more pleasant
Was the wild panic of a passing peasant.

230

Thus we pursued our fear-diffusing walk
Till evening's shadows fell, when home we hied,
Of fair Luxora's bravery to talk—
The only being who, unterrified,
Had faced us, and not only scorn'd to baulk
Our hopes of aid, but kindly had supplied
Such food and lodging, we could almost fancy
The whole some scene of fairy necromancy.

We saw the sun behind the mountains set
In all th'effulgence of prismatic glory,
Then gladly to our couches did we get,
To chat awhile of our surprising story,
But the flowers soporific would not let
Our talk be more than brief and transitory,
For we all sunk in balmy slumber soon:
So passed our first day's sojourn in the moon.