Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

In his doctrine, at least as a teacher,

And kick'd from one stool

As a knave and a fool,

Has mounted another as preacher!

In that gown, like a skin

With no lion within,

He still for the bench would be driving,

And roareth away,

A true Vicar of Bray,

Except that his bray lost his living.

"Gainst free-thinkers,' he roars, "You should all shut your doors, Or be bound in the Devil's indentures." And here I agree,

For who ever would be

A guest where old Simony enters!

Let the Priest who beguiled
His sovereign's child

To his own dirty views of promotion,
Wear the sheep's clothing still
Among flocks to his will,

And dishonour the cause of devotion.

The Altar and Throne

Are in peril alone

From such as yourself, who would render

[blocks in formation]

Though your visions of lawn
Have all been withdrawn,

And you miss'd your bold stroke for a mitre,
In a very snug way

You may still preach and pray,

And from bishop sink into backbiter!

TO THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON.

You have ask'd for a verse-the request,

In a rhymer, 't were strange to deny; But my Hyppocrene was but my breast, And my feelings (its fountain) are dry. Were I now as I was, I had sung

What Lawrence has pencill'd so well; But the strain would expire on my tongue, And the theme is too soft for my shell.

I am ashes where once I was fire,
And the bard in my bosom is dead;
What I loved I now merely admire,
And my heart is as grey as my head.

My life is not dated by years;

There are moments which act as a plough;
And there is not a furrow appears
But is deep in my soul as my brow.

Let the young and the brilliant aspire
To sing what I gaze on in vain ;

For sorrow has torn from my lyre

The string which was worthy the strain. (2)

STANZAS. (3)

OH!-my lonely-lonely-lonely-Pillow! Where is my lover? where is my lover?

Is it his bark which my dreary dreams discover? Far far away! and alone along the billow?

Oh! my lonely-lonely-lonely-Pillow! Why must my head ache where his gentle brow lay? How the long night flags lovelessly and slowly,

And my head droops over thee like the willow! Oh! thou, my sad and solitary Pillow! Send me kind dreams to keep my heart from breaking,

In return for the tears I shed upon thee waking; Let me not die till he comes back o'er the billow. Then if thou wilt-no more my lonely Pillow, In one embrace let these arms again enfold him! And then expire of the joy-but to behold him! Oh! my lone bosom!-oh! my lonely Pillow!

(3) Written by Lord Byron, and given to the Countess Guiccioli, a little before he left Italy for Greece. They were meant to suit the Hindostanee air-"Alla Malla Punca," which the Countess was fond of singing.-E.

THE CONQUEST. (1)

THE Son of Love and Lord of War I sing;
Him who bade England bow to Normandy,
And left the name of Conqueror, more than King
To his unconquerable dynasty.

Not fann'd alone by Victory's fleeting wing,

He rear'd his bold and brilliant throne on high: The Bastard kept, like lions, his prey fast, And Britons' bravest victor was the last. March 8-9, 1821.

BUT once I dared to lift my eyes,

To lift my eyes to thee;

And, since that day, beneath the skies, No other sight they see.

In vain sleep shuts them in the night, The night grows day to me, Presenting idly to my sight

What still a dream must be. A fatal dream-for many a bar Divides thy fate from mine; And still my passions wake and war, But peace be still with thine.

ON SAM ROGERS.(2) Question and Answer.

QUESTION.

NOSE and chin would shame a knocker;
Wrinkles that would puzzle Cocker;
Mouth which marks the envious scorner,
With a scorpion in each corner,
Turning its quick tail to sting you
In the place that most may wring you;
Eyes of lead-like hue, and gummy;
Carcass pick'd out from some mummy;
Bowels (but they were forgotten,
Save the liver, and that's rotten);
Skin all sallow, flesh all sodden,
Form the devil would frighten God in.
Is 't a corpse stuck up for show,
Galvanised at times to go?
With the Scripture in connection,
New proof of the resurrection ?
Vampire, ghost, or goul, what is it?
I would walk ten miles to miss it.

ANSWER.

Many passengers arrest one,

To demand the same free question.

(1) This fragment was found amongst Lord Byron's papers,

after his departure from Genoa for Greece.-E.

(2) The author of The Pleasures of Memory, Italy, etc.

Shorter's my reply, and franker,—
That's the Bard, the Beau, the Banker.
Yet if you could bring about
Just to turn him inside out,
Satan's self would seem less sooty,
And his present aspect-Beauty.
Mark that (as he masks the bilious
Air, so softly supercilious)
Chasten'd bow, and mock humility,
Almost sicken to servility;
Hear his tone (which is to talking
That which creeping is to walking,
Now on all-fours, now on tip-toe),
Hear the tales he lends his lip to;
Little hints of heavy scandals;
Every friend in turn he handles;
All which women or which men do,
Glides forth in an inuendo,

Clothed in odds and ends of humour-
Herald of each paltry rumour,
From divorces down to dresses,
Women's frailties, men's excesses,
All which life presents of evil
Make for him a constant revel.
You're his foe, for that he fears you,
And in absence blasts and sears you.
You're his friend-for that he hates you,
First caresses, and then baits you—
Darting on the opportunity
When to do it with impunity:
You are neither—then he 'll flatter,
Till he finds some trait for satire;
Hunts your weak point out, then shows it
Where it injures to disclose it,

In the mode that 's most invidious,
Adding every trait that's hideous-
From the bile, whose blackening river
Rushes through his Stygian liver.
Then he thinks himself a lover-
Why? I really can't discover,
In his mind, age, face, or figure;
Viper-broth might give him vigour,-
Let him keep the cauldron steady,
He the venom has already.
For his faults-he has but one,→
'Tis but envy, when all's done.
He but pays the pain he suffers,
Clipping, like a pair of snuffers,
Lights which ought to burn the brighter
For this temporary blighter.
He's the cancer of his species,
And will eat himself to pieces,-
Plague personified, and famine,-
Devil, whose sole delight is damning.

For his merits, would you know 'em? Once he wrote a pretty Poem.

ON LADY MILBANKE'S DOG TRIM.(1)

ALAS! poor Trim;
I'm sorry for him:
I had rather by half

It had been Sir Ralph.

LINES TO LADY HOLLAND. (2) LADY, accept the gift a hero wore, In spite of all this elegiac stuff; Let not seven stanzas, written by a bore, Prevent your Ladyship from taking snuff

ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY THIRTY-SIXTH

YEAR.

Missolonghi, Jan. 22, 1824. (5)

'Tis time this heart should be unmoved,

Since others it hath ceased to move:
Yet, though I cannot be beloved,
Still let me love!

My days are in the yellow leaf;

The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone!

The fire that on my bosom preys
Is lone as some volcanic isle;
No torch is kindled at its blaze-
A funeral pile!

The hope, the fear, the jealous care,
The exalted portion of the pain
And power of love, I cannot share,

But wear the chain.

But 't is not thus-and 't is not here

Such thoughts should shake my soul, nor Where glory decks the hero's bier,

Or binds his brow.

The sword, the banner, and the field, Glory and Greece, around me see! The Spartan, borne upon his shield, Was not more free.

[now,

Awake! (not Greece-she is awake!)
Awake, my spirit! Think through whom
Thy life-blood tracks its parent lake,
And then strike home!

(1) Sir Ralph Milbanke and his Lady were addicted to frequent domestic quarrels. The Lady had a dog, hight Trim, on whose death she requested her son-in-law to write an epitaph, on which he immediately produced the above.-E.

(2) Written on reading in the newspapers an address to Lady Holland, by the Earl of Carlisle, persuading her to reject the snuff-box bequeathed to her by Napoleon, beginning:

"Lady, reject the gift," etc.-E.

(3) This morning Lord Byron came from his bed-room into the apartment where Colonel Stanhope and some friends were assembled, and said with a smile-You were complaining, the

Tread those reviving passions down, Unworthy manhood!-unto thee Indifferent should the smile or frown

Of Beauty be.

If thou regrett'st thy youth, why live?
The land of honourable death
Is here:-up to the field, and give
Away thy breath!

Seek out-less often sought than found-
A soldier's grave, for thee the best;
Then look around, and choose thy ground,
And take thy rest. (4)

TO JESSY. (5)

THERE is a mystic thread of life

So dearly wreathed with mine alone, That destiny's relentless knife

At once must sever both or none.

There is a form, on which these eyes
Have often gazed with fond delight-
By day that form their joy supplies,
And dreams restore it through the night.
There is a voice, whose tones inspire

Such thrills of rapture through my breast

I would not hear a seraph choir,

Unless that voice could join the rest. There is a face, whose blushes tell Affection's tale upon the cheek

But pallid at one fond farewell,

Proclaims more love than words can speak.

There is a lip, which mine hath press'd,

And none had ever press'd before,
It vow'd to make me sweetly blest,
And mine-mine only dress'd it more.
There is a bosom-all my own-

Hath pillow'd oft this aching head;
A mouth which smiles on me alone,

An eye, whose tears with mine are shed. There are two hearts, whose movements thrill In unison so closely sweet,

That, pulse to pulse responsive still,

They both must heave, or cease to beat.

other day, that I never write any poetry now. This is my birthday, and I have just finished something, which, I think, is better than what I usually write.' He then produced these noble and affecting verses." Count Camba.-E.

(4)" We perceive, from these lines as well as from his daily conversations, that his ambition and his hope were irrevocably fixe! apon the glorious objects of his expedition to Greece, and that he had made up his mind to return victorious or return no more." Ibid.

(5) Supposed to have been addressed to Lady Byron but a few months ere their fatal separation.

There are two souls, whose equal flow
In gentle streams so calmly run,
That when they part-they part!-ah! no,
They cannot part-those souls are one.

LINES

FOUND IN THe travellerS' BOOK AT CHAMOUNI.
How many number'd are, how few agreed,
In age, or clime, or character, or creed!
Here wandering Genius leaves a deathless name,
And Folly writes-for others do the same.
Italian treachery, and English pride,

Dutch craft, and German dulness, side by side!
The hardy Russian hails congenial snow;
The Spaniard shivers as these breezes blow.
Knew men the objects of this varied crew,
To stare how many, and to feel how few!
Here Nature's child, ecstatic from her school,
And travelling problems, that admire by rule;
The timorous poet woes his modest muse,
And thanks his stars he 's safe from all reviews;
The pedant drags from out his motley store
A line some hundred hills have heard before.
Here critics too (for where's the happy spot
So blest by nature as to have them not ?)
Spit their vile slander o'er some simple phrase
Of foolish wonder or of honest praise;
Some pompous hint, some comment on mine host,
Some direful failure, or some empty boast:
Not blacker spleen could fill these furious men,
If Jeffrey's soul had perch'd on Gifford's pen.
Here envy, hatred, and the fool of fame,
Join'd in one act of wonder when they came:
Here beauty's worshipper in flesh or rock,
The incarnate fancy, or the breathing block,
Sees the white giant, in his robe of light,
Stretch his huge form to look o'er Jura's height;
And stops, while hastening to the blest remains
And calmer beauties of the classic plains.
And here, whom hope beguiling bids to seek
Ease for his breast, and colour for his cheek,
Still steals a moment from Ausonia's sky,
And views and wonders on his way-to die.

But he, the author of these idle lines,
What passion leads him, and what tie confines?
For him what friend is true, what mistress
blooms,

What joy elates him, and what grief consumes ?
Impassion'd, senseless, vigorous, or old,
What matters!-bootless were his story told.
Some praise at least one act of sense may claim;
He wrote these verses, but he hid his name.

TO LADY CAROLINE LAMB.

AND say'st thou that I have not felt,

Whilst thou wert thus estranged from me?

Nor know'st how dearly I have dwelt
On one unbroken dream of thee?
But love like ours must never be,

And I will learn to prize thee less,
As thou hast fled, so let me flee,

And change the heart thou mayst not bless.
They'll tell thee, Clara! I have seem'd,
Of late, another's charms to woo,
Nor sigh'd, nor frown'd, as if I deem'd
That thou wert banish'd from my view.
Clara! this struggle-to undo

What thou hast done too well, for me-
This mask before the babbling crew-
This treachery-was truth to thee!

I have not wept while thou wert gone,
Nor worn one look of sullen woe;
But sought, in many, all that one

(Ah! need I name her!) could bestow. It is a duty which I owe

To thine to thee-to man-to God, To crush, to quench this guilty glow, Ere yet the path of crime be trod. But, since my breast is not so pure,

Since still the vulture tears my heart, Let me this agony endure,

Not thee, oh! dearest as thou art! In mercy, Clara! let us part,

And I will seek, yet know not how, To shun, in time, the threatening dart; Guilt must not aim at such as thou. But thou must aid me in the task,

And nobly thus exert thy power; Then spurn me hence-'t is all I askEre time mature a guiltier hour; Ere wrath's impending vials shower Remorse redoubled on my head; Ere fires unquenchably devour

A heart whose hope has long been dead. Deceive no more thyself and me,

Deceive not better hearts than mine; Ah, shouldst thou, whither wouldst thou flee, From woe like ours-from shame like thine! And if there be a wrath divine,

A pang beyond this fleeting breath, E'en now all future hope resign: Such thoughts are guilt-such guilt is death!

THE PRINCE OF WHALES. lo Paan! lo! sing

To the finny people's king-
Not a mightier whale than this
In the vast Atlantic is;

Not a fatter fish than he
Flounders round the Polar sea:
See his blubber-at his gills
What a world of drink he swills,

From his trunk as from a spout!
Which next moment he pours out.
Such his person: next declare,
Muse! who his companions are.
Every fish of generous kind
Scuds aside or slinks behind,
But about his person keep
All the monsters of the deep;
Mermaids, with their tales and singing,
His delighted fancy stinging;
Crooked dolphins, they surround him;
Dog-like seals, they fawn around him:
Following hard, the progress mark
Of the intolerant salt sea-shark-
For his solace and relief

Flat fish are his courtiers chief;
Last and lowest of his train,
Ink-fish, libellers of the main,
Their black liquor shed in spite-
(Such on earth the things that write)
In his stomach, some do say
No good thing can ever stay;
Had it been the fortune of it

To have swallow'd the old prophet,
Three days there he'd not have dwell'd,
But in one have been expell'd.

Hapless mariners are they
Who, beguiled, as seamen say,
Deeming it some rock or island,
Footing sure, safe spot, and dry land,
Anchor in his scaly rind;
Soon the difference they find,
Sudden, plump, he sinks beneath them-
Does to ruthless waves bequeath them.
Name or title, what has he?

Is he regent of the sea?

From the difficulty free us,

Buffon, Banks, or sage Linnæus!
With his wondrous attributes
Say-what appellation suits?

By his bulk and by his size,

By his oily qualities,

This, or else my eye-sight fails,

This should be the Prince of Whales.

TO MY DEAR MARY ANNE.

ADIEU to sweet Mary for ever!

From her I must quickly depart:
Though the fates us from each other sever,
Still her image shall dwell in my heart.
The flame that within my breast burns
Is unlike what in lovers' hearts glows;
The love which for Mary I feel

Is far purer than Cupid bestows.
I wish not your peace to disturb,
I wish not your joys to molest;

[blocks in formation]

I HEARD thy fate without a tear,
Thy loss with scarce a sigh;
And yet thou wert surpassing dear-
Too loved of all to die.

I know not what hath sear'd mine eye:
The tears refuse to start;
But every drop its lids deny

Falls dreary on my heart.
Yes-deep and heavy, one by one,

They sink, and turn to care;
As cavern'd waters wear the stone,
Yet, dropping, harden there.
They cannot petrify more fast
Than feelings sunk remain,
Which, coldly fix'd, regard the past,
But never melt again.

ON THE LETTER I.

(Written in a Lady's Scrap-Book.)

I AM not in youth, nor in manhood, nor age,
But in infancy ever am known;

I'm a stranger alike to the fool and the sage,
And though I'm distinguish'd in history's page,
I always am greatest alone.

I am not in earth, nor the sun, nor the moon;
You may search all the sky-I 'm not there:
In the morning and evening-though not in the
noon,

You may plainly perceive me-for, like a balloon,
I am midway suspended in air.

I am always in riches, and yet I am told
Wealth ne'er did my presence desire!

I dwell with the miser, but not with his gold,
And sometimes I stand in his chimney so cold,
Though I serve as a part of the fire.

« PreviousContinue »