Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

XXXI.

ELEGIAC STANZAS.

The lamented Youth whose untimely death gave occasion to these elegiac verses, was Frederick William Goddard, from Boston in North America. He was in his twentieth year, and had resided for some time with a clergyman in the neighbourhood of Geneva for the completion of his education. Accompanied by a fellow-pupil, a native of Scotland, he had just set out on a Swiss tour when it was his misfortune to fall in with a friend of mine who was hastening to join our party. The travellers, after spending a day together on the road from Berne and at Soleure, took leave of each other at night, the young men having intended to proceed directly to Zurich. But early in the morning my friend found his new acquaintances, who were informed of the object of his journey, and the friends he was in pursuit of, equipped to accompany him. We met at Lucerne the succeeding evening, and Mr. G. and his fellow-student became in consequence our travelling companions for a couple of days. We ascended the Righi together; and, after contemplating the sunrise from that noble mountain, we separated at an hour and on a spot well suited to the parting of those who were to meet no more. Our party de. scended through the valley of our Lady of the Snow, and our late companions, to Art. We had hoped to meet in a few weeks at Geneva; but on the third suceeding day (on the 21st of August) Mr. Goddard perished, being overset in a boat while crossing the lake of Zurich. His companion saved himself by swimming, and was hospitably received in the mansion of a Swiss gentleman (M. Keller) situated on the eastern coast of the lake. The corpse of poor G. was cast ashore on the estate of the same gentleman, who generously performed all the rites of hospitality which could be rendered to the dead as well as to the living. He caused a handsome mural monument to be erected in the church of Küsnacht, which records the premature fate of the young American, and on the shores too of the lake the traveller may read an inscription pointing out the spot where the body was deposited by the waves.

LULLED by the sound of pastoral bells,
Rude Nature's Pilgrims did we go,
From the dread summit of the Queen
Of Mountains, through a deep ravine,
Where, in her holy Chapel, dwells
"Our Lady of the Snow."

* Mount Righi - Regina Montium.

The sky was blue, the air was mild;
Free were the streams and green the bowers;
As if, to rough assaults unknown,

The genial spot had ever shown

A countenance that sweetly smiled,
The face of summer-hours.

And we were gay, our hearts at ease;
With pleasure dancing through the frame
We journeyed; all we knew of care-
Our path that straggled here and there,
Of trouble-but the fluttering breeze,
Of Winter-but a name.

If foresight could have rent the veil Of three short days—but hush-no more! Calm is the grave, and calmer none Than that to which thy cares are gone, Thou Victim of the stormy gale; Asleep on ZURICH's shore!

Oh GODDARD! what art thou? -a name
A sunbeam followed by a shade!
Nor more, for aught that time supplies,
The great, the experienced, and the wise;
Too much from this frail earth we claim,
And therefore are betrayed.

We met, while festive mirth ran wild,
Where, from a deep Lake's mighty urn,
Forth slips, like an enfranchised Slave,
A sea-green River, proud to lave,
With current swift and undefiled,
The towers of old LUCERNE,

We parted upon solemn ground
Far-lifted towards the unfading sky;
But all our thoughts were then of Earth,
That gives to common pleasures birth ;
And nothing in our hearts we found
That prompted even a sigh.

Fetch, sympathising Powers of air,
Fetch, ye that post o'er seas and lands,
Herbs moistened by Virginian dew,
A most untimely grave to strew,
Whose turf may never know the care
Of kindred human hands!

Beloved by every gentle Muse
He left his Transatlantic home:
Europe, a realised romance,

Had opened on his eager glance;
What present bliss! - what golden views!
What stores for years to come!

Though lodged within no vigorous frame,
His soul her daily tasks renewed,
Blithe as the lark on sun-gilt wings
High poised-or as the wren that sings
In shady places, to proclaim

Her modest gratitude.

Not vain is sadly-uttered praise ;
The words of truth's memorial vow

Are sweet as morning fragrance shed
From flowers 'mid GOLDAU's* ruins bred;
As evening's fondly-lingering rays,

On RIGHI's silent brow.

* One of the villages desolated by the fall of part of the Mountain Rossberg.

Lamented Youth! to thy cold clay
Fit obsequies the Stranger paid;
And piety shall guard the stone
Which hath not left the spot unknown
Where the wild waves resigned their prey,
And that which marks thy bed.

And, when thy Mother weeps for Thee,
Lost Youth! a solitary Mother;

This tribute from a casual Friend

A not unwelcome aid may lend,
To feed the tender luxury,
The rising pang to smother.*

XXXII.

SKY-PROSPECT FROM THE PLAIN OF FRANCE.

Lo! in the burning West, the craggy nape
Of a proud Ararat! and, thereupon,
The Ark, her melancholy voyage done!
Yon rampant Cloud mimics a Lion's shape;
There, combats a huge Crocodile- -agape
A golden spear to swallow! and that brown
And massy Grove, so near yon blazing Town,
Stirs and recedes--destruction to escape!
Yet all is harmless as the Elysian shades
Where Spirits dwell in undisturbed repose,
Silently disappears, or quickly fades;-
Meek Nature's evening comment on the shows
That for oblivion take their daily birth
From all the fuming vanities of Earth!

The persuasion here expressed was not groundless. The first human consolation that the afflicted Mother felt, was derived from this tribute to her son's memory, a fact which the author learned, at his own residence, from her Daughter, who visited Europe some years afterwards.

[blocks in formation]

XXXIII.

ON BEING STRANDED NEAR THE HARBOUR OF BOULOGNE.

WHY cast ye back upon the Gallic shore,
Ye furious waves! a patriotic Son

Of England-who in hope her coast had won,
His project crowned, his pleasant travel o'er?
Well-let him pace this noted beach once more,
That gave the Roman his triumphal shells;
That saw the Corsican his cap and bells
Haughtily shake, a dreaming Conqueror!
Enough; my Country's Cliffs I can behold,
And proudly think, beside the murmuring sea,
Of checked ambition, tyranny controlled,
And folly cursed with endless memory:
These local recollections ne'er can cloy;
Such ground I from my very heart enjoy!

XXXIV.

AFTER LANDING THE VALLEY OF DOVER.

WHERE be the noisy followers of the game

NOV. 1820.

Which Faction breeds; the turmoil where? that past
Through Europe, echoing from the Newsman's blast,
And filled our hearts with grief for England's shame.
Peace greets us;-rambling on without an aim
We mark majestic herds of Cattle free
To ruminate- - couched on the grassy lea,
And hear far-off the mellow horn proclaim
The Season's harmless pastime. Ruder sound
Stirs not; enrapt I gaze with strange delight,
While consciousnesses, not to be disowned,
Here only serve a feeling to invite

That lifts the Spirit to a calmer height,
And makes the rural stillness more profound.

*See note at the end.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »