Well-I will dream that we may meet again, If aught of young Remembrance then remain, For me 'twere bliss enough to know thy spirit blest! 1 X. Here let me sit upon this massy stone, 2 The marble column's yet unshaken base; Here, son of Saturn! was thy fav'rite throne : 3 Mightiest of many such! Hence let me trace The latent grandeur of thy dwelling-place. It may not be: nor ev'n can Fancy's eye Restore what Time hath labour'd to deface. Yet these proud pillars claim no passing sigh; Unmov'd the Moslem sits, the light Greek carols by. XI. But who, of all the plunderers of yon fane [Lord Byron wrote this stanza at Newstead, in October, 1811, on hearing of the death of his Cambridge friend, young Eddlestone "making," he says, "the sixth, within four months, of friends and relations that I have lost between May and the end of August."] 2 [" The thought and the expression," says Professor Clarke, in a letter to the poet, " are here so truly Petrarch's, that I would you whether you ever read, — ask Poi quando 'l vero sgombra Quel dolce error pur li medesmo assido, Me freddo, pietra morta in pietra viva; In guisa d' uom chè pensi e piange e scriva. ' "Thus rendered by Wilmot, 'But when rude truth destroys The loved illusion of the dreamed sweets, I sit me down on the cold rugged stone, Less cold, less dead than I, and think and weep alone.'"] 3 The temple of Jupiter Olympius, of which sixteen columns, entirely of marble, yet survive: originally there were one hundred and fifty. These columns, however, are by many supposed to have belonged to the Pantheon. The latest relic of her ancient reign; The last, the worst, dull spoiler, who was he? Thy free-born men should spare what once was free; Yet they could violate each saddening shrine, And bear these altars o'er the long-reluctant brine. 1 XII. But most the modern Pict's ignoble boast, 3 To rive what Goth, and Turk, and Time hath spared: 2 Her sons too weak the sacred shrine to guard, XIII. What! shall it e'er be said by British tongue, Though in thy name the slave her bosom wrung, 1 The ship was wrecked in the Archipelago. 2 See Appendix, Note A, for some strictures on the removal of the works of art from Athens. 3" Cold and accursed as his native coast."-MS.] 4 I cannot resist availing myself of the permission of my friend Dr. Clarke, whose name requires no comment with the public, but whose sanction will add' tenfold weight to my testimony, to insert the following extract from a very obliging letter of his to me, as a note to the above lines:-"When the last of the Metopes was taken from the Parthenon, and, in moving of it, great part of the superstructure with one of the triglyphs was thrown down by the workmen whom Lord Elgin employed, the Disdar, who beheld the mischief done to the building, took his pipe from his mouth, dropped a tear, and, in a supplicating tone of voice, said to Lusieri, Tinos! I was present." The Disdar alluded to was the father of the present Disdar. The ocean queen, the free Britannia, bears The last poor plunder from a bleeding land: Yes, she, whose gen'rous aid her name endears, Tore down those remnants with a harpy's hand, Which envious Eld forbore, and tyrants left to stand.1 XIV. Where was thine Ægis, Pallas! that appall'd Where Peleus' son? whom Hell in vain enthrall'd, Bursting to light in terrible array! What! could not Pluto spare the chief once more, To scare a second robber from his prey ? Idly he wander'd on the Stygian shore, Nor now preserv'd the walls he loved to shield before. [After stanza xiii. the original MS. has the following: "Come, then, ye classic Thanes of each degree, Than ye should bear one stone from wrong'd Athena's site. "Or will the gentle Dilettanti crew Now delegate the task to digging Gell, His pencil, pen, and shade, alike without a flaw."] 2 According to Zosimus, Minerva and Achilles frightened Alaric from the Acropolis; but others relate that the Gothic king was nearly as mischievous as the Scottish peer. See Chandler. XV. Cold is the heart, fair Greece! that looks on thee, Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed To guard those relics ne'er to be restored. And snatch'd thy shrinking Gods to northern climes abhorr'd! XVI. But where is Harold? shall I then forget And left without a sigh the land of war and crimes. XVII. He that has sail'd upon the dark blue sea So gaily curl the waves before each dashing prow. XVIII. 1 And oh, the little warlike world within! The well-reeved guns, the netted canopy, The hoarse command, the busy humming din, When, at a word, the tops are mann'd on high: Hark, to the Boatswain's call, the cheering cry ! While through the seaman's hand the tackle glides; Or schoolboy Midshipman that, standing by, Strains his shrill pipe as good or ill betides, And well the docile crew that skilful urchin guides. XIX. White is the glassy deck, without a stain, Where on the watch the staid Lieutenant walks : Look on that part which sacred doth remain For the lone chieftain, who majestic stalks, Silent and fear'd by all-not oft he talks With aught beneath him, if he would preserve That strict restraint, which broken, ever balks Conquest and Fame: but Britons rarely swerve From law, however stern, which tends their strength to nerve. 2 XX. Blow! swiftly blow, thou keel-compelling gale! The flapping sail haul'd down to halt for logs like these! To prevent blocks or splinters from falling on deck during action. 2 ["From Discipline's stern law," &c. - MS.] |