and the wild Carmanian waste," and, arrived at the vale of
Cashmire, lies down to sleep in a dell. Here he has a vision.
A "veiled maid" sits by him, and, after singing first of
knowledge and truth and virtue, then of love, embraces him.
When he awakes, all the beauty of the world that enchanted and
satisfied him before has faded:

"The Spirit of Sweet Human Love has sent
A vision to the sleep of him who spurned
Her choicest gifts,"

and he rushes on, wildly pursuing the beautiful shape, like an
eagle enfolded by a serpent and feeling the poison in his
breast. His limbs grow lean, his hair thin and pale. Does
death contain the secret of his happiness? At last he pauses
"on the lone Chorasmian shore," and sees a frail shallop in
which he trusts himself to the waves. Day and night the boat
fiies before the storm to the base of the cliffs of Caucasus,
where it is engulfed in a cavern. Following the twists of the
cavern, after a narrow escape from a maelstrom, he floats into
a calm pool, and lands. Elaborate descriptions of forest and
mountain scenery bring us, as the moon sets, to the death of
the worn-out poet--

"The brave, the gentle, and the beautiful,
The child of grace and genius! Heartless things
Are done and said i' the world, and many worms
And beasts and men live on . . . but thou art fled."

[4 "Alastor" is a Greek word meaning "the victim of an Avenging