Are driven o'er the shoals of guilt or ocean of excess : The magnet of their course is gone, or only points in vain The shore to which their shiver'd sail shall never stretch again. Then the mortal coldness of the soul like death itself comes down; It cannot feel for others' woes, it dare not dream its own; That heavy chill has frozen o'er the foun tain of our tears, And though the eye may sparkle still, 't is where the ice appears. Would that breast, by thee glanced over, Every inmost thought could show ! Then thou wouldst at last discover 'Twas not well to spurn it so. Though the world for this commend thee- Founded on another's woe : Could no other arm he found, To inflict a cureless wound? Yet, oh yet, thyself deceive not ; Love may sink by slow decay, But by sudden wrench, believe not Hearts can thus be torn a way : Though wit may flash from fluent lips, and mirth listract the breast, Through midnight hours that yield no more their former hope of rest; 'Tis but as ivy-leaves around the ruin'd turret wreath, All green and wildly fresh without, but worn and gray beneath. Oh could I feel as I have felt,-or be what I have been, Or weep as I could once have wept o'er many a vanish'd scene; As springs in deserts found seem sweet, all brackish though they be, So, midst the wither'd waste of life, those tears would flow to me. Murch, 1815. 1816. FARE THEE WELL “Alas !they had been friends in youth; But whispering tongues can poison truth COLERIDGE's Christabel, FARE thee well! and if for ever, Still for ever, fare thee well : Even though unforgiving, never 'Gainst thee shall my heart rebel. Still thine own its life retaineth, Still must mine, though bleeding, beat: And the undying thouglit which paineth Is-that we no more may meet. These are words of deeper sorrow Than the wail above the dead; Both shall live, but every morrow Wake us from a widow'd bed. And when thou wouldst solace gather, When our child's first accents flow, Wilt thou teach her to say “ Father!” Though his care she must forego ? When her little hands shall press thee, When her lip to thine is press'd, Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee, Think of him thy love had bless'd! Should her lineaments resemble Those thou never more may'st see, Then thy heart will softly tremble With a pulse yet true to me. All my faults perchance thou knowest, All my madness none can kuol; All my liopes, where'er thou goest, Wither, yet with thee they go. Every feeling hath been shaken ; Pride, which not a world could bow, Bows to thee-by thee forsaken, Even my soul forsakes me now: But 't is done-all words are idle Words from me are vainer still ; But the thoughts we cannot bridle Force their way without the will. Would that breast were bared before thee Where thy head so oft hath lain, While that placid sleep came o'er thee Which thou ne'er canst know again : Fare thee well! thus disunited, Torn from every nearer tie, Sear'd in heart, and lone, and blighted, More than this I scarce can die. March 18, 1816. April 4, 1816. STANZAS FOR MUSIC THERE be none of Beauty's daughters With a magic like thee ; Is thy sweet voice to me: Her bright chain o'er the deep; As an infant's asleep: March 28, 1816. 1816. CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE CANTO THE THIRD Swift be their guidance, wheresoe'er it lead ! Though the strain'd mast should quiver as a reed, And the rent canvas fluttering strew the gale, Still must I on; for I am as a weed, Flung from the rock, on Ocean's foam to sail Where'er the surge may sweep, the tem pest's breath prevail. In my youth's summer I did sing of One, The wandering outlaw of his own dark mind; Again I seize the theme, then but begun, And bear it with me, as the rushing wind Bears the cloud onwards : in that Tale I find The furrows of long thought, and dried up tears, Which, ebbing, leave a sterile track be. hind. O’er which all heavily the journeying year's Plod the last sands of life, where not a flower appears. Since my young days of passion--joy, or pain, Perchance my heart and harp have lost a string, And both may jar: it may be, that in vain I would essay as I have sung to sing. Yet, though a dreary strain, to this I cling; So that it wean me from the weary dream Of selfish grief or gladness--so it fiing Forgetfulness around me--it shall seem To me, though to none else, a not un grateful theme. He, who grown aged in this world of In deeds, not years, piercing the depthis of life, So that no wonder waits him ; nor below Can love or sorrow, fame, ambition, strife, Cut to his heart again with the keen knife Of silent, sharp endurance: he can tell Why thought seeks refuge in lone caves, With airy images, and shapes which dwell Still unimpair'd, though old, in the soul's haunted cell. "Afin que cette application vous forçât de penser à autre chose ; il n'y a en vérité de remède que celui-là et le temps." Lettre du Roi de Prusse à D'Alembert, Sept. 7, 1776. woe, Is thy face like thy mother's, my fair child ! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart ? When last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled, And then we parted, -not as now we part, But with a hope. Awaking with a start, The waters heave around me; and on high The winds lift up their voices: I depart, Whither I know not; but the hour's gone by, When Albion's lessening shores could grieve or glad mine eye. Once more upon the waters ! yet once more ! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider. Welcome to their roar! yet rife Secure in guarded coldness, he had mix'a Again in fancied safety with his kind, And deem'd his spirit now so firmly fix'd And sheath'd with an invulnerable mind, That, if no joy, no sorrow lurk'd behind ; And he, as one, might ʼmidst the many stand Unheeded, searching through the crowd to find Fit speculation ; such as in strange land He found in wonder-works of God and Nature's hand. Yet must I think less wildly ;--I have thought Too long and darkly, till my brain be cane, In its own eddy boiling and o’erwrought, A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame : And thus, untaught in youth my heart to tame, My springs of life were poison'd. 'T is too late! Yet am I changed ; though still enough the same In strength to bear what time cannot abate, And feed on bitter fruits without ac. cusing Fate. Something too much of this :--but now 't is past, And the spell closes with its silent seal. Long absent HAROLD re-appears at last ; He of the breast which fain no more would feel, Wrung with the wounds which kill not but ne'er heal ; Yet Time, who changes all, had alter'd hiin In soul and aspect as in age: years steal Fire from the mind as vigor from the limb; And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim. But who can view the ripen d rose, nor seek To wear it? who can curiously behold The smoothness and the sheen of beauty's cheek, Nor feel the heart can never all grow old ? Who can contemplate Fame through clouds unfold The star which rises o'er her steep, nor climb ? Harold, once more within the vortex, rollid On with the giddy circle, chasing Time, Yet with a nobler aim than in his youth's fond prime. But soon he knew himself the most unfit Of men to herd with Man; with whom he held Little in common ; untaught to submit His thoughts to others, though his soul was quell'u In youth by his own thoughts; still un compell'd, He would not yield dominion of his mind To spirits against whom his own rebellid : Proud though in desolation; which could find A life within itself, to breathe without mankind. His had been quaffèd too quickly, and he found The dregs were wormwood, --but he fill' again, And from a purer fount, on holier ground And deem'd its spring perpetual; but in vain ! Still round him clung in visibly a chain hich gallid for ever, fettering though unseen, And heavy though it clank'd not; worn with pain, Where rose the mountains, there to him were friends : Where rollid the ocean, thereon was lis home ; Where a ue sky, and glowing clime, extends, He had the passion and the power to roam ; But in Man's dwellings he became a thing Restless and worn, and stern and weari some, Droop'd as a wild-born falcon with clipt wing, To whom the boundless air alone were home : Then came his fit again, which to o'er. come, As eagerly the barr'd-up bird will beat His breast and beak against his wiry dome Till the blood tinge his plumage, so the heat Of his impeded soul would through his bosom eat. Self-exiled Harold wanders forth again, With nought of hope left, but with less of gloom ; The very knowledge that he lived in vain, That all was over on this side the tomb, Had made Despair a smilingness assume, Which, though 't were wild, -as on the plunder'd wreck When mariners would madly meet their doom With draughts intemperate on the sink ing deck, Did yet inspire a cheer, which he forbore to check. Fit retribution ! Gaul may champ the bit And foam in fetters ;-but is Earth more free? Did nations combat to make One sub mit; Or league to teach all kings true sov ereignty? What! shall reviving Thraldom again be The patch’d-up idol of enlighten'd days ? Shall we, who struck the Lion down, shall we Pay the Wolf homage? proffering lowly gaze And servile knees to thrones ? No; prove before ye praise ! If not, o'er one fallen despot boast no more! In vain fair cheeks were furrow'd with hot tears For Europe's flowers long rooted up before And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell; He rushi'd into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress, And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago The trampler of her vineyards; in vain years of death, depopulation, bondage, fears, Have all been borne, and broken by the accord Of roused-up millions; all that most endears Glory, is when the myrtle wreathes a sword Such as Harmodius drew on Athens' tyrant lord. There was a sound of revelry by night And Belgium's capital had gatherd then Her Beauty and her Chivalry, and bright The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men ; A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when Music arose with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell; But hush ! bark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knelii Did ye not hear it ?-No; 'twas but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street; On with the dance ! let joy be uncon fined ; No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing Hours with flying feetBut hark !-that heavy sound breaks in once more, As if the clouds its echo would repeat; And nearer, clearer, deadlier than be fore! Arm! Arm! it is--it is—the cannon's opening roar! Within a window'd niche of that high hall Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain ; he did hear That sound the first amidst the fes tival, And caught its tone with Death's pro phetic ear; And when they smiled because he deem'l it near, His heart more truly knew that pea too well Which stretch'd his father on a bloody kier. war ; Blush'd at the praise of their own lore. liness ; And there were sudden partings, such as press The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs Which ne'er might be repeated; wlio could guess If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise ! And there was mounting in hot haste : the steed, The mustering squadron, and the clat tering car, Went paring forward with impetuous speedl, And swiftly forming in the ranks of And the deep thunder peal on peal afar ; And near, the beat of the darming drum Roused up the soldier ere the mornas star; While throng'd the citizens witla ter ror dumb, Or whispering, with white lips--" The foe, they come! they come !" And wild and high the “ Cameroit's gathering ” rose! The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills Have heard, and heard, too, have lider Saxon foes :Ilow in the noon of night that pibroch thrills, Savage and shrill! But with the breat which fills Their mountain-pipe, so fill the moun taineers With the fierce native daring which : instils The stirring memory of a thousandla And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears : years, |