As active round the hollow dome,

Illusive cataracts! of their terrors

Not stripped, nor voiceless in the mirrors,

That catch the pageant from the flood

Thundering adown a rocky wood.

What pains to dazzle and confound!

What strife of colour, shape and sound

In this quaint medley, that might seem

Devised out of a sick man's dream![27]

Strange scene, fantastic and uneasy