TRANSLATION FROM A.V. ARNAULT.
“Fables”: Livre v. “Fable” 16.
(1826.)
Thou poor leaf, so sear and frail,
Sport of every wanton gale,
Whence, and whither, dost thou fly, Through this bleak autumnal sky?
On a noble oak I grew,
Green, and broad, and fair to view; But the Monarch of the shade
By the tempest low was laid.
From that time, I wander o’er
Wood, and valley, hill, and moor,
Wheresoe’er the wind is blowing,
Nothing caring, nothing knowing:
Thither go I, whither goes,
Glory’s laurel, Beauty’s rose.
…
–De ta tige detachee,
Pauvre feuille dessechee
Ou vas tu?–Je n’en sais rien.
L’orage a frappe le chene
Qui seul etait mon soutien.
De son inconstante haleine,
Le zephyr ou l’aquilon
Depuis ce jour me promene
De la foret a la plaine,
De la montagne au vallon.
Je vais ou le vent me mene,
Sans me plaindre ou m’effrayer,
Je vais ou va toute chose
Ou va la feuille de rose
Et la feuille de laurier.
…
DIES IRAE.
(1826.)
On that great, that awful day,
This vain world shall pass away.
Thus the sibyl sang of old,
Thus hath holy David told.
There shall be a deadly fear
When the Avenger shall appear,
And unveiled before his eye
All the works of man shall lie.
Hark! to the great trumpet’s tones
Pealing o’er the place of bones:
Hark! it waketh from their bed
All the nations of the dead,–
In a countless throng to meet,
At the eternal judgment seat.
Nature sickens with dismay,
Death may not retain its prey;
And before the Maker stand
All the creatures of his hand.
The great book shall be unfurled,
Whereby God shall judge the world;
What was distant shall be near,
What was hidden shall be clear.
To what shelter shall I fly?
To what guardian shall I cry?
Oh, in that destroying hour,
Source of goodness, Source of power, Show thou, of thine own free grace,
Help unto a helpless race.
Though I plead not at thy throne
Aught that I for thee have done,
Do not thou unmindful be,
Of what thou hast borne for me:
Of the wandering, of the scorn,
Of the scourge, and of the thorn.
JESUS, hast THOU borne the pain,
And hath all been borne in vain?
Shall thy vengeance smite the head
For whose ransom thou hast bled?
Thou, whose dying blessing gave
Glory to a guilty slave:
Thou, who from the crew unclean
Didst release the Magdalene:
Shall not mercy vast and free,
Evermore be found in thee?
Father, turn on me thine eyes,
See my blushes, hear my cries;
Faint though be the cries I make,
Save me for thy mercy’s sake,
From the worm, and from the fire,
From the torments of thine ire.
Fold me with the sheep that stand
Pure and safe at thy right hand.
Hear thy guilty child implore thee, Rolling in the dust before thee.
Oh the horrors of that day!
When this frame of sinful clay,
Starting from its burial place,
Must behold thee face to face.
Hear and pity, hear and aid,
Spare the creatures thou hast made. Mercy, mercy, save, forgive,
Oh, who shall look on thee and live?
…
THE MARRIAGE OF TIRZAH AND AHIRAD.
(1827.)
GENESIS VI. 3.
It is the dead of night:
Yet more than noonday light
Beams far and wide from many a gorgeous hall. Unnumbered harps are tinkling,
Unnumbered lamps are twinkling,
In the great city of the fourfold wall. By the brazen castle’s moat,
The sentry hums a livelier note.
The ship-boy chaunts a shriller lay From the galleys in the bay.
Shout, and laugh, and hurrying feet Sound from mart and square and street,
From the breezy laurel shades,
From the granite colonnades,
From the golden statue’s base,
From the stately market-place,
Where, upreared by captive hands,
The great Tower of Triumph stands,
All its pillars in a blaze
With the many-coloured rays,
Which lanthorns of ten thousand dyes Shed on ten thousand panoplies.
But closest is the throng,
And loudest is the song,
In that sweet garden by the river side, The abyss of myrtle bowers,
The wilderness of flowers,
Where Cain hath built the palace of his pride. Such palace ne’er shall be again
Among the dwindling race of men.
From all its threescore gates the light Of gold and steel afar was thrown;
Two hundred cubits rose in height
The outer wall of polished stone.
On the top was ample space
For a gallant chariot race,
Near either parapet a bed
Of the richest mould was spread,
Where amidst flowers of every scent and hue Rich orange trees, and palms, and giant cedars grew.
In the mansion’s public court
All is revel, song, and sport;
For there, till morn shall tint the east, Menials and guards prolong the feast.
The boards with painted vessels shine; The marble cisterns foam with wine.
A hundred dancing girls are there
With zoneless waists and streaming hair; And countless eyes with ardour gaze,
And countless hands the measure beat, As mix and part in amorous maze
Those floating arms and bounding feet. But none of all the race of Cain,
Save those whom he hath deigned to grace With yellow robe and sapphire chain,
May pass beyond that outer space.
For now within the painted hall
The Firstborn keeps high festival.
Before the glittering valves all night Their post the chosen captains hold.
Above the portal’s stately height
The legend flames in lamps of gold: “In life united and in death
“May Tirzah and Ahirad be,
“The bravest he of all the sons of Seth, “Of all the house of Cain the loveliest she.”
Through all the climates of the earth This night is given to festal mirth.
The long continued war is ended.
The long divided lines are blended. Ahirad’s bow shall now no more
Make fat the wolves with kindred gore. The vultures shall expect in vain
Their banquet from the sword of Cain. Without a guard the herds and flocks
Along the frontier moors and rocks
From eve to morn may roam:
Nor shriek, nor shout, nor reddened sky, Shall warn the startled hind to fly
From his beloved home.
Nor to the pier shall burghers crowd With straining necks and faces pale,
And think that in each flitting cloud They see a hostile sail.
The peasant without fear shall guide Down smooth canal or river wide
His painted bark of cane,
Fraught, for some proud bazaar’s arcades, With chestnuts from his native shades,
And wine, and milk, and grain.
Search round the peopled globe to-night, Explore each continent and isle,
There is no door without a light,
No face without a smile.
The noblest chiefs of either race,
From north and south, from west and east, Crowd to the painted hall to grace
The pomp of that atoning feast.
With widening eyes and labouring breath Stand the fair-haired sons of Seth,
As bursts upon their dazzled sight
The endless avenue of light,
The bowers of tulip, rose, and palm, The thousand cressets fed with balm,
The silken vests, the boards piled high With amber, gold, and ivory,
The crystal founts whence sparkling flow The richest wines o’er beds of snow,
The walls where blaze in living dyes The king’s three hundred victories.
The heralds point the fitting seat
To every guest in order meet,
And place the highest in degree
Nearest th’ imperial canopy.
Beneath its broad and gorgeous fold, With naked swords and shields of gold,
Stood the seven princes of the tribes of Nod. Upon an ermine carpet lay
Two tiger cubs in furious play,
Beneath the emerald throne where sat the signed of God.
Over that ample forehead white
The thousandth year returneth.
Still, on its commanding height,
With a fierce and blood-red light,
The fiery token burneth.
Wheresoe’er that mystic star
Blazeth in the van of war,
Back recoil before its ray
Shield and banner, bow and spear,
Maddened horses break away
From the trembling charioteer.
The fear of that stern king doth lie On all that live beneath the sky:
All shrink before the mark of his despair, The seal of that great curse which he alone can bear. Blazing in pearls and diamonds’ sheen.
Tirzah, the young Ahirad’s bride,
Of humankind the destined queen,
Sits by her great forefather’s side. The jetty curls, the forehead high,
The swan like neck, the eagle face, The glowing cheek, the rich dark eye,
Proclaim her of the elder race.
With flowing locks of auburn hue,
And features smooth, and eye of blue, Timid in love as brave in arms,
The gentle heir of Seth askance
Snatches a bashful, ardent glance
At her majestic charms;
Blest when across that brow high musing flashes A deeper tint of rose,
Thrice blest when from beneath the silken lashes Of her proud eye she throws
The smile of blended fondness and disdain Which marks the daughters of the house of Cain.
All hearts are light around the hall
Save his who is the lord of all.
The painted roofs, the attendant train, The lights, the banquet, all are vain.
He sees them not. His fancy strays
To other scenes and other days.
A cot by a lone forest’s edge,
A fountain murmuring through the trees, A garden with a wildflower hedge,
Whence sounds the music of the bees, A little flock of sheep at rest
Upon a mountain’s swarthy breast.
On his rude spade he seems to lean
Beside the well remembered stone,
Rejoicing o’er the promised green
Of the first harvest man hath sown. He sees his mother’s tears;
His father’s voice he hears,
Kind as when first it praised his youthful skill. And soon a seraph-child,
In boyish rapture wild,
With a light crook comes bounding from the hill, Kisses his hands, and strokes his face,
And nestles close in his embrace.
In his adamantine eye
None might discern his agony;
But they who had grown hoary next his side, And read his stern dark face with deepest skill, Could trace strange meanings in that lip of pride, Which for one moment quivered and was still. No time for them to mark or him to feel
Those inward stings; for clarion, flute, and lyre, And the rich voices of a countless quire, Burst on the ear in one triumphant peal. In breathless transport sits the admiring throng, As sink and swell the notes of Jubal’s lofty song.
“Sound the timbrel, strike the lyre,
Wake the trumpet’s blast of fire,
Till the gilded arches ring.
Empire, victory, and fame,
Be ascribed unto the name
Of our father and our king.
Of the deeds which he hath done,
Of the spoils which he hath won,
Let his grateful children sing.
When the deadly fight was fought,
When the great revenge was wrought, When on the slaughtered victims lay
The minion stiff and cold as they,
Doomed to exile, sealed with flame, From the west the wanderer came.
Six score years and six he strayed
A hunter through the forest shade.
The lion’s shaggy jaws he tore,
To earth he smote the foaming boar, He crushed the dragon’s fiery crest,
And scaled the condor’s dizzy nest; Till hardy sons and daughters fair
Increased around his woodland lair. Then his victorious bow unstrung
On the great bison’s horn he hung.
Giraffe and elk he left to hold
The wilderness of boughs in peace,
And trained his youth to pen the fold, To press the cream, and weave the fleece. As shrunk the streamlet in its bed,
As black and scant the herbage grew, O’er endless plains his flocks he led
Still to new brooks and postures new. So strayed he till the white pavilions
Of his camp were told by millions,
Till his children’s households seven Were numerous as the stars of heaven.
Then he bade us rove no more;
And in the place that pleased him best, On the great river’s fertile shore,
He fixed the city of his rest.
He taught us then to bind the sheaves, To strain the palm’s delicious milk,
And from the dark green mulberry leaves To cull the filmy silk.
Then first from straw-built mansions roamed O’er flower-beds trim the skilful bees;
Then first the purple wine vats foamed Around the laughing peasant’s knees;
And olive-yards, and orchards green, O’er all the hills of Nod were seen.
“Of our father and our king
Let his grateful children sing.
From him our race its being draws,
His are our arts, and his our laws. Like himself he bade us be,
Proud, and brave, and fierce, and free. True, through every turn of fate,
In our friendship and our hate.
Calm to watch, yet prompt to dare;
Quick to feel, yet firm to bear;
Only timid, only weak,
Before sweet woman’s eye and cheek. We will not serve, we will not know,
The God who is our father’s foe.
In our proud cities to his name
No temples rise, no altars flame.
Our flocks of sheep, our groves of spice, To him afford no sacrifice.
Enough that once the House of Cain
Hath courted with oblation vain
The sullen power above.
Henceforth we bear the yoke no more; The only gods whom we adore
Are glory, vengeance, love.
“Of our father and our king
Let his grateful children sing.
What eye of living thing may brook
On his blazing brow to look?
What might of living thing may stand Against the strength of his right hand?
First he led his armies forth
Against the Mammoths of the north,
What time they wasted in their pride Pasture and vineyard far and wide.
Then the White River’s icy flood
Was thawed with fire and dyed with blood, And heard for many a league the sound
Of the pine forests blazing round,
And the death-howl and trampling din Of the gigantic herd within.
From the surging sea of flame
Forth the tortured monsters came;
As of breakers on the shore
Was their onset and their roar;
As the cedar-trees of God
Stood the stately ranks of Nod.
One long night and one short day
The sword was lifted up to slay.
Then marched the firstborn and his sons O’er the white ashes of the wood,
And counted of that savage brood
Nine times nine thousand skeletons.
“On the snow with carnage red
The wood is piled, the skins are spread. A thousand fires illume the sky;
Round each a hundred warriors lie.
But, long ere half the night was spent, Forth thundered from the golden tent
The rousing voice of Cain.
A thousand trumps in answer rang
And fast to arms the warriors sprang O’er all the frozen plain.
A herald from the wealthy bay
Hath come with tidings of dismay.
From the western ocean’s coast
Seth hath led a countless host,
And vows to slay with fire and sword All who call not on the Lord.
His archers hold the mountain forts; His light armed ships blockade the ports; His horsemen tread the harvest down.
On twelve proud bridges he hath passed The river dark with many a mast,
And pitched his mighty camp at last Before the imperial town.
“On the south and on the west,
Closely was the city prest.
Before us lay the hostile powers.
The breach was wide between the towers. Pulse and meal within were sold
For a double weight of gold.
Our mighty father had gone forth
Two hundred marches to the north.
Yet in that extreme of ill
We stoutly kept his city still;
And swore beneath his royal wall,
Like his true sons to fight and fall.
“Hark, hark, to gong and horn,
Clarion, and fife, and drum,
The morn, the fortieth morn,
Fixed for the great assault is come. Between the camp and city spreads
A waving sea of helmed heads.
From the royal car of Seth
Was hung the blood-reg flag of death: At sight of that thrice-hallowed sign
Wide flew at once each banner’s fold; The captains clashed their arms of gold; The war cry of Elohim rolled
Far down their endless line.
On the northern hills afar
Pealed an answering note of war.
Soon the dust in whirlwinds driven, Rushed across the northern heaven.
Beneath its shroud came thick and loud The tramp as of a countless crowd;
And at intervals were seen
Lance and hauberk glancing sheen;
And at intervals were heard
Charger’s neigh and battle word.
“Oh what a rapturous cry
From all the city’s thousand spires arose, With what a look the hollow eye
Of the lean watchman glared upon the foes, With what a yell of joy the mother pressed The moaning baby to her withered breast; When through the swarthy cloud that veiled the plain Burst on his children’s sight the flaming brow of Cain!”
There paused perforce that noble song; For from all the joyous throng,
Burst forth a rapturous shout which drowned Singer’s voice and trumpet’s sound.
Thrice that stormy clamour fell,
Thrice rose again with mightier swell. The last and loudest roar of all
Had died along the painted wall.
The crowd was hushed; the minstrel train Prepared to strike the chords again;
When on each ear distinctly smote
A low and wild and wailing note.
It moans again. In mute amaze
Menials, and guests, and harpers gaze. They look above, beneath, around,
No shape doth own that mournful sound. It comes not from the tuneful quire;
It comes not from the feasting peers. There is no tone of earthly lyre
So soft, so sad, so full of tears.
Then a strange horror came on all
Who sate at that high festival.
The far famed harp, the harp of gold, Dropped from Jubal’s trembling hold.
Frantic with dismay the bride
Clung to her Ahirad’s side.
And the corpse-like hue of dread
Ahirad’s haughty face o’erspread.
Yet not even in that agony of awe
Did the young leader of the fair-haired race From Tirzah’s shuddering grasp his hand withdraw, Or turn his eyes from Tirzah’s livid face. The tigers to their lord retreat,
And crouch and whine beneath his feet. Prone sink to earth the golden shielded seven. All hearts are cowed save his alone
Who sits upon the emerald throne;
For he hath heard Elohim speak from heaven. Still thunders in his ear the peal;
Still blazes on his front the seal: And on the soul of the proud king
No terror of created thing
From sky, or earth, or hell, hath power Since that unutterable hour.
He rose to speak, but paused, and listening stood, Not daunted, but in sad and curious mood, With knitted brow, and searching eye of fire. A deathlike silence sank on all around,
And through the boundless space was heard no sound, Save the soft tones of that mysterious lyre. Broken, faint, and low,
At first the numbers flow.
Louder, deeper, quicker, still
Into one fierce peal they swell,
And the echoing palace fill
With a strange funereal yell.
A voice comes forth. But what, or where? On the earth, or in the air?
Like the midnight winds that blow
Round a lone cottage in the snow,
With howling swell and sighing fall, It wails along the trophied hall.
In such a wild and dreary moan
The watches of the Seraphim
Poured out all night their plaintive hymn Before the eternal throne.
Then, when from many a heavenly eye Drops as of earthly pity fell
For her who had aspire too high,
For him who loved too well.
When, stunned by grief, the gentle pair From the nuptial garden fair,
Linked in a sorrowful caress,
Strayed through the untrodden wilderness; And close behind their footsteps came
The desolating sword of flame,
And drooped the cedared alley’s pride, And fountains shrank, and roses died.
“Rejoice, O Son of God, rejoice,”
Sang that melancholy voice,
“Rejoice, the maid is fair to see;
The bower is decked for her and thee; The ivory lamps around it throw
A soft and pure and mellow glow.
Where’er the chastened lustre falls On roof or cornice, floor or walls,
Woven of pink and rose appear
Such words as love delights to hear. The breath of myrrh, the lute’s soft sound, Float through the moonlight galleries round. O’er beds of violet and through groves of spice, Lead thy proud bride into the nuptial bower; For thou hast bought her with a fearful price, And she hath dowered thee with a fearful dower. The price is life. The dower is death.
Accursed loss! Accursed gain!
For her thou givest the blessedness of Seth, And to thine arms she brings the curse of Cain.
Round the dark curtains of the fiery throne Pauses awhile the voice of sacred song:
From all the angelic ranks goes forth a groan, ‘How long, O Lord, how long?’
The still small voice makes answer, ‘Wait and see, Oh sons of glory, what the end shall be.’
“But, in the outer darkness of the place Where God hath shown his power without his grace, Is laughter and the sound of glad acclaim, Loud as when, on wings of fire,
Fulfilled of his malign desire,
From Paradise the conquering serpent came. The giant ruler of the morning star
From off his fiery bed
Lifts high his stately head,
Which Michael’s sword hath marked with many a scar. At his voice the pit of hell
Answers with a joyous yell,
And flings her dusky portals wide
For the bridegroom and the bride.
“But louder still shall be the din
In the halls of Death and Sin,
When the full measure runneth o’er, When mercy can endure no more,
When he who vainly proffers grace,
Comes in his fury to deface
The fair creation of his hand;
When from the heaven streams down amain For forty days the sheeted rain;
And from his ancient barriers free, With a deafening roar the sea
Comes foaming up the land.
Mother, cast thy babe aside:
Bridegroom, quit thy virgin bride:
Brother, pass thy brother by:
‘Tis for life, for life, ye fly.
Along the drear horizon raves
The swift advancing line of waves.
On: on: their frothy crests appear
Each moment nearer, and more near.
Urge the dromedary’s speed;
Spur to death the reeling steed;
If perchance ye yet may gain
The mountains that o’erhang the plain.
“Oh thou haughty land of Nod,
Hear the sentence of thy God.
Thou hast said, ‘Of all the hills
Whence, after autumn rains, the rills In silver trickle down,
The fairest is that mountain white
Which intercepts the morning light
From Cain’s imperial town.
On its first and gentlest swell
Are pleasant halls where nobles dwell; And marble porticoes are seen
Peeping through terraced gardens green. Above are olives, palms, and vines;
And higher yet the dark-blue pines; And highest on the summit shines
The crest of everlasting ice.
Here let the God of Abel own
That human art hath wonders shown
Beyond his boasted paradise.’
“Therefore on that proud mountain’s crown Thy few surviving sons and daughters
Shall see their latest sun go down
Upon a boundless waste of waters.
None salutes and none replies;
None heaves a groan or breathes a prayer They crouch on earth with tearless eyes, And clenched hands, and bristling hair.
The rain pours on: no star illumes
The blackness of the roaring sky.
And each successive billow booms
Nigher still and still more nigh.
And now upon the howling blast
The wreaths of spray come thick and fast; And a great billow by the tempest curled Falls with a thundering crash; and all is o’er. In what is left of all this glorious world? A sky without a beam, a sea without a shore.
“Oh thou fair land, where from their starry home Cherub and seraph oft delight to roam,
Thou city of the thousand towers,
Thou palace of the golden stairs,
Ye gardens of perennial flowers,
Ye moted gates, ye breezy squares;
Ye parks amidst whose branches high Oft peers the squirrel’s sparkling eye;
Ye vineyards, in whose trellised shade Pipes many a youth to many a maid;
Ye ports where rides the gallant ship, Ye marts where wealthy burghers meet;
Ye dark green lanes which know the trip Of woman’s conscious feet;
Ye grassy meads where, when the day is done, The shepherd pens his fold;
Ye purple moors on which the setting sun Leaves a rich fringe of gold;
Ye wintry deserts where the larches grow; Ye mountains on whose everlasting snow
No human foot hath trod;
Many a fathom shall ye sleep
Beneath the grey and endless deep,
In the great day of the revenge of God.”
…
THE COUNTRY CLERGYMAN’S TRIP TO CAMBRIDGE.
AN ELECTION BALLAD.
(1827.)
As I sate down to breakfast in state, At my living of Tithing-cum-Boring,
With Betty beside me to wait,
Came a rap that almost beat the door in. I laid down my basin of tea,
And Betty ceased spreading the toast, “As sure as a gun, sir,” said she,
“That must be the knock of the post.”
A letter–and free–bring it here–
I have no correspondent who franks. No! Yes! Can it be? Why, my dear,
‘Tis our glorious, our Protestant Bankes. “Dear sir, as I know you desire
That the Church should receive due protection, I humbly presume to require
Your aid at the Cambridge election.
“It has lately been brought to my knowledge, That the Ministers fully design
To suppress each cathedral and college, And eject every learned divine.
To assist this detestable scheme
Three nuncios from Rome are come over; They left Calais on Monday by steam,
And landed to dinner at Dover.
“An army of grim Cordeliers,
Well furnished with relics and vermin, Will follow, Lord Westmoreland fears,
To effect what their chiefs may determine. Lollard’s bower, good authorities say,
Is again fitting up for a prison;
And a wood-merchant told me to-day
‘Tis a wonder how faggots have risen.
“The finance scheme of Canning contains A new Easter-offering tax;
And he means to devote all the gains To a bounty on thumb-screws and racks.
Your living, so neat and compact–
Pray, don’t let the news give you pain!– Is promised, I know for a fact,
To an olive-faced Padre from Spain.”
I read, and I felt my heart bleed,
Sore wounded with horror and pity;
So I flew, with all possible speed, To our Protestant champion’s committee.
True gentlemen, kind and well-bred! No fleering! no distance! no scorn!
They asked after my wife who is dead, And my children who never were born.
They then, like high-principled Tories, Called our Sovereign unjust and unsteady, And assailed him with scandalous stories, Till the coach for the voters was ready. That coach might be well called a casket Of learning and brotherly love:
There were parsons in boot and in basket; There were parsons below and above.
There were Sneaker and Griper, a pair Who stick to Lord Mulesby like leeches;
A smug chaplain of plausible air,
Who writes my Lord Goslingham’s speeches. Dr Buzz, who alone is a host,
Who, with arguments weighty as lead, Proves six times a week in the Post
That flesh somehow differs from bread.
Dr Nimrod, whose orthodox toes
Are seldom withdrawn from the stirrup; Dr Humdrum, whose eloquence flows,
Like droppings of sweet poppy syrup; Dr Rosygill puffing and fanning,
And wiping away perspiration;
Dr Humbug who proved Mr Canning
The beast in St John’s Revelation.
A layman can scarce form a notion
Of our wonderful talk on the road;
Of the learning, the wit, and devotion, Which almost each syllable showed:
Why divided allegiance agrees
So ill with our free constitution;
How Catholics swear as they please, In hope of the priest’s absolution;
How the Bishop of Norwich had bartered His faith for a legate’s commission;
How Lyndhurst, afraid to be martyr’d, Had stooped to a base coalition;
How Papists are cased from compassion By bigotry, stronger than steel;
How burning would soon come in fashion, And how very bad it must feel.
We were all so much touched and excited By a subject so direly sublime,
That the rules of politeness were slighted, And we all of us talked at a time;
And in tones, which each moment grew louder, Told how we should dress for the show,
And where we should fasten the powder, And if we should bellow or no.
Thus from subject to subject we ran,
And the journey passed pleasantly o’er, Till at last Dr Humdrum began;
From that time I remember no more.
At Ware he commenced his prelection, In the dullest of clerical drones;
And when next I regained recollection We were rambling o’er Trumpington stones.
…
SONG.
(1827.)
O stay, Madonna! stay;
‘Tis not the dawn of day
That marks the skies with yonder opal streak: The stars in silence shine;
Then press thy lips to mine,
And rest upon my neck thy fervid cheek.
O sleep, Madonna! sleep;
Leave me to watch and weep
O’er the sad memory of departed joys, O’er hope’s extinguished beam,
O’er fancy’s vanished dream;
O’er all that nature gives and man destroys.
O wake, Madonna! wake;
Even now the purple lake
Is dappled o’er with amber flakes of light; A glow is on the hill;
And every trickling rill
In golden threads leaps down from yonder height.
O fly, Madonna! fly,
Lest day and envy spy
What only love and night may safely know: Fly, and tread softly, dear!
Lest those who hate us hear
The sounds of thy light footsteps as they go.
…
POLITICAL GEORGICS.
(MARCH 1828.)
“Quid faciat laetas segetes,” etc.
How cabinets are formed, and how destroy’d, How Tories are confirmed, and Whigs decoy’d, How in nice times a prudent man should vote, At what conjuncture he should turn his coat, The truths fallacious, and the candid lies, And all the lore of sleek majorities,
I sing, great Premier. Oh, mysterious two, Lords of our fate, the Doctor and the Jew, If, by your care enriched, the aspiring clerk Quits the close alley for the breezy park, And Dolly’s chops and Reid’s entire resigns For odorous fricassees and costly wines; And you, great pair, through Windsor’s shades who rove, The Faun and Dryad of the conscious grove; All, all inspire me, for of all I sing,
Doctor and Jew, and M–s and K–g.
Thou, to the maudlin muse of Rydal dear; Thou more than Neptune, Lowther, lend thine ear. At Neptune’s voice the horse, with flowing mane And pawing hoof, sprung from the obedient plain; But at thy word the yawning earth, in fright, Engulf’d the victor steed from mortal sight. Haste from thy woods, mine Arbuthnot, with speed, Rich woods, where lean Scotch cattle love to feed: Let Gaffer Gooch and Boodle’s patriot band, Fat from the leanness of a plundered land, True Cincinnati, quit their patent ploughs, Their new steam-harrows, and their premium sows; Let all in bulky majesty appear,
Roll the dull eye, and yawn th’ unmeaning cheer. Ye veteran Swiss, of senatorial wars,
Who glory in your well-earned sticks and stars; Ye diners-out from whom we guard our spoons; Ye smug defaulters; ye obscene buffoons; Come all, of every race and size and form, Corruption’s children, brethren of the worm; From those gigantic monsters who devour
The pay of half a squadron in an hour, To those foul reptiles, doomed to night and scorn, Of filth and stench equivocally born;
From royal tigers down to toads and lice; From Bathursts, Clintons, Fanes, to H– and P–; Thou last, by habit and by nature blest
With every gift which serves a courtier best, The lap-dog spittle, the hyaena bile,
The maw of shark, the tear of crocodile, Whate’er high station, undetermined yet, Awaits thee in the longing Cabinet,–
Whether thou seat thee in the room of Peel, Or from Lord Prig extort the Privy Seal, Or our Field-marshal-Treasurer fix on thee, A legal admiral, to rule the sea,
Or Chancery-suits, beneath thy well known reign, Turn to their nap of fifty years again;
(Already L–, prescient of his fate, Yields half his woolsack to thy mightier weight;) Oh! Eldon, in whatever sphere thou shine, For opposition sure will ne’er be thine, Though scowls apart the lonely pride of Grey, Though Devonshire proudly flings his staff away, Though Lansdowne, trampling on his broken chain, Shine forth the Lansdowne of our hearts again, Assist me thou; for well I deem, I see
An abstract of my ample theme in thee. Thou, as thy glorious self hath justly said, From earliest youth, wast pettifogger bred, And, raised to power by fortune’s fickle will, Art head and heart a pettifogger still.
So, where once Fleet-ditch ran confessed, we vie A crowded mart and stately avenue;
But the black stream beneath runs on the same, Still brawls in W–‘s key,–still stinks like H–‘s name.
…
THE DELIVERANCE OF VIENNA.
TRANSLATED FROM VINCENZIO DA FILICAIA.
(Published in the “Winter’s Wreath,” Liverpool, 1828.)
“Le corde d’oro elette,” etc.
The chords, the sacred chords of gold, Strike, O Muse, in measure bold;
And frame a sparkling wreath of joyous songs For that great God to whom revenge belongs. Who shall resist his might,
Who marshals for the fight
Earthquake and thunder, hurricane and flame? He smote the haughty race
Of unbelieving Thrace,
And turned their rage to fear, their pride to shame. He looked in wrath from high,
Upon their vast array;
And, in the twinkling of an eye,
Tambour, and trump, and battle-cry, And steeds, and turbaned infantry,
Passed like a dream away.
Such power defends the mansions of the just: But, like a city without walls,
The grandeur of the mortal falls
Who glories in his strength, and makes not God his trust. The proud blasphemers thought all earth their own; They deemed that soon the whirlwind of their ire Would sweep down tower and palace, dome and spire, The Christian altars and the Augustan throne. And soon, they cried, shall Austria bow
To the dust her lofty brow.
The princedoms of Almayne
Shall wear the Phrygian chain;
In humbler waves shall vassal Tiber roll; And Rome a slave forlorn,
Her laurelled tresses shorn,
Shall feel our iron in her inmost soul. Who shall bid the torrent stay?
Who shall bar the lightning’s way?
Who arrest the advancing van
Of the fiery Ottoman?
As the curling smoke-wreaths fly
When fresh breezes clear the sky,
Passed away each swelling boast
Of the misbelieving host.
From the Hebrus rolling far
Came the murky cloud of war,
And in shower and tempest dread
Burst on Austria’s fenceless head.
But not for vaunt or threat
Didst Thou, O Lord, forget
The flock so dearly bought, and loved so well.
Even in the very hour
Of guilty pride and power
Full on the circumcised Thy vengeance fell. Then the fields were heaped with dead,
Then the streams with gore were red, And every bird of prey, and every beast, From wood and cavern thronged to Thy great feast.
What terror seized the fiends obscene of Nile! How wildly, in his place of doom beneath, Arabia’s lying prophet gnashed his teeth, And cursed his blighted hopes and wasted guile! When, at the bidding of Thy sovereign might, Flew on their destined path
Thy messages of wrath,
Riding on storms and wrapped in deepest night. The Phthian mountains saw,
And quaked with mystic awe:
The proud Sultana of the Straits bowed down Her jewelled neck and her embattled crown. The miscreants, as they raised their eyes Glaring defiance on Thy skies,
Saw adverse winds and clouds display The terrors of their black array;–
Saw each portentous star
Whose fiery aspect turned of yore to flight The iron chariots of the Canaanite
Gird its bright harness for a deadlier war.
Beneath Thy withering look
Their limbs with palsy shook;
Scattered on earth the crescent banners lay; Trembled with panic fear
Sabre and targe and spear,
Through the proud armies of the rising day. Faint was each heart, unnerved each hand; And, if they strove to charge or stand
Their efforts were as vain
As his who, scared in feverish sleep By evil dreams, essays to leap,
Then backward falls again.
With a crash of wild dismay,
Their ten thousand ranks gave way;
Fast they broke, and fast they fled; Trampled, mangled, dying, dead,
Horse and horsemen mingled lay;
Till the mountains of the slain
Raised the valleys to the plain.
Be all the glory to Thy name divine! The swords were our’s; the arm, O Lord, was Thine. Therefore to Thee, beneath whose footstool wait The powers which erring man calls Chance and Fate, To Thee who hast laid low
The pride of Europe’s foe,
And taught Byzantium’s sullen lords to fear, I pour my spirit out
In a triumphant shout,
And call all ages and all lands to hear. Thou who evermore endurest,
Loftiest, mightiest, wisest, purest, Thou whose will destroys or saves,
Dread of tyrants, hope of slaves,
The wreath of glory is from Thee,
And the red sword of victory.
There where exulting Danube’s flood
Runs stained with Islam’s noblest blood From that tremendous field,
There where in mosque the tyrants met, And from the crier’s minaret
Unholy summons pealed,
Pure shrines and temples now shall be Decked for a worship worthy Thee.
To Thee thy whole creation pays
With mystic sympathy its praise,
The air, the earth, the seas:
The day shines forth with livelier beam; There is a smile upon the stream,
An anthem on the breeze.
Glory, they cry, to Him whose might Hath turned the barbarous foe to flight, Whose arm protects with power divine
The city of his favoured line.
The caves, the woods, the rocks, repeat the sound; The everlasting hills roll the long echoes round.
But, if Thy rescued church may dare
Still to besiege Thy throne with prayer, Sheathe not, we implore Thee, Lord,
Sheathe not Thy victorious sword.
Still Panonia pines away,
Vassal of a double sway:
Still Thy servants groan in chains, Still the race which hates Thee reigns:
Part the living from the dead:
Join the members to the head:
Snatch Thine own sheep from yon fell monster’s hold; Let one kind shepherd rule one undivided fold.
He is the victor, only he
Who reaps the fruits of victory.
We conquered once in vain,
When foamed the Ionian waves with gore, And heaped Lepanto’s stormy shore
With wrecks and Moslem slain.
Yet wretched Cyprus never broke
The Syrian tyrant’s iron yoke.
Shall the twice vanquished foe
Again repeat his blow?
Shall Europe’s sword be hung to rust in peace? No–let the red-cross ranks
Of the triumphant Franks
Bear swift deliverance to the shrines of Greece And in her inmost heart let Asia feel
The avenging plagues of Western fire and steel.
Oh God! for one short moment raise
The veil which hides those glorious days. The flying foes I see Thee urge
Even to the river’s headlong verge.
Close on their rear the loud uproar
Of fierce pursuit from Ister’s shore Comes pealing on the wind;
The Rab’s wild waters are before,
The Christian sword behind.
Sons of perdition, speed your flight, No earthly spear is in the rest;
No earthly champion leads to fight
The warriors of the West.
The Lord of Host asserts His old renown, Scatters, and smites, and slays, and tramples down. Fast, fast beyond what mortal tongue can say, Or mortal fancy dream,
He rushes on his prey:
Till, with the terrors of the wondrous theme Bewildered, and appalled, I cease to sing, And close my dazzled eye, and rest my wearied wing.
…
THE LAST BUCCANEER.
(1839.)
The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling, The sky was black and drear,
When the crew with eyes of flame brought the ship without a name Alongside the last Buccaneer.
“Whence flies your sloop full sail before so fierce a gale, When all others drive bare on the seas?
Say, come ye from the shore of the holy Salvador, Or the gulf of the rich Caribbees?”
“From a shore no search hath found, from a gulf no line can sound,
Without rudder or needle we steer;
Above, below, our bark, dies the sea-fowl and the shark, As we fly by the last Buccaneer.
“To-night there shall be heard on the rocks of Cape de Verde, A loud crash, and a louder roar;
And to-morrow shall the deep, with a heavy moaning, sweep The corpses and wreck to the shore.”
The stately ship of Clyde securely now may ride, In the breath of the citron shades;
And Severn’s towering mast securely now flies fast, Through the sea of the balmy Trades.
From St Jago’s wealthy port, from Havannah’s royal fort, The seaman goes forth without fear;
For since that stormy night not a mortal hath had sight Of the flag of the last Buccaneer.
…
EPITAPH ON A JACOBITE.
(1845.)
To my true king I offered free from stain Courage and faith; vain faith, and courage vain. For him, I threw lands, honours, wealth, away. And one dear hope, that was more prized than they. For him I languished in a foreign clime, Grey-haired with sorrow in my manhood’s prime; Heard on Lavernia Scargill’s whispering trees, And pined by Arno for my lovelier Tees;
Beheld each night my home in fevered sleep, Each morning started from the dream to weep; Till God who saw me tried too sorely, gave The resting place I asked, an early grave. Oh thou, whom chance leads to this nameless stone, From that proud country which was once mine own, By those white cliffs I never more must see, By that dear language which I spake like thee, Forget all feuds, and shed one English tear O’er English dust. A broken heart lies here.
…
LINES WRITTEN IN AUGUST.
(1847.)
The day of tumult, strife, defeat, was o’er; Worn out with toil, and noise, and scorn, and spleen, I slumbered, and in slumber saw once more A room in an old mansion, long unseen.
That room, methought, was curtained from the light; Yet through the curtains shone the moon’s cold ray Full on a cradle, where, in linen white, Sleeping life’s first soft sleep, an infant lay.
Pale flickered on the hearth the dying flame, And all was silent in that ancient hall, Save when by fits on the low night-wind came The murmur of the distant waterfall.
And lo! the fairy queens who rule our birth Drew nigh to speak the new-born baby’s doom: With noiseless step, which left no trace on earth, From gloom they came, and vanished into gloom.
Not deigning on the boy a glance to cast Swept careless by the gorgeous Queen of Gain; More scornful still, the Queen of Fashion passed, With mincing gait and sneer of cold disdain.
The Queen of Power tossed high her jewelled head, And o’er her shoulder threw a wrathful frown; The Queen of Pleasure on the pillow shed Scarce one stray rose-leaf from her fragrant crown.
Still Fay in long procession followed Fay; And still the little couch remained unblest: But, when those wayward sprites had passed away, Came One, the last, the mightiest, and the best.
Oh glorious lady, with the eyes of light And laurels clustering round thy lofty brow, Who by the cradle’s side didst watch that night, Warbling a sweet, strange music, who wast thou?
“Yes, darling; let them go;” so ran the strain: “Yes; let them go, gain, fashion, pleasure, power, And all the busy elves to whose domain
Belongs the nether sphere, the fleeting hour.
“Without one envious sigh, one anxious scheme, The nether sphere, the fleeting hour resign. Mine is the world of thought, the world of dream, Mine all the past, and all the future mine.
“Fortune, that lays in sport the mighty low, Age, that to penance turns the joys of youth, Shall leave untouched the gifts which I bestow, The sense of beauty and the thirst of truth.
“Of the fair brotherhood who share my grace, I, from thy natal day, pronounce thee free; And, if for some I keep a nobler place,
I keep for none a happier than for thee.
“There are who, while to vulgar eyes they seem Of all my bounties largely to partake,
Of me as of some rival’s handmaid deem And court me but for gain’s, power’s, fashion’s sake.
“To such, though deep their lore, though wide their fame, Shall my great mysteries be all unknown: But thou, through good and evil, praise and blame, Wilt not thou love me for myself alone?
“Yes; thou wilt love me with exceeding love; And I will tenfold all that love repay,
Still smiling, though the tender may reprove, Still faithful, though the trusted may betray.
“For aye mine emblem was, and aye shall be, The ever-during plant whose bough I wear, Brightest and greenest then, when every tree That blossoms in the light of Time is bare.
“In the dark hour of shame, I deigned to stand Before the frowning peers at Bacon’s side: On a far shore I smoothed with tender hand, Through months of pain, the sleepless bed of Hyde:
“I brought the wise and brave of ancient days To cheer the cell where Raleigh pined alone: I lighted Milton’s darkness with the blaze Of the bright ranks that guard the eternal throne.
“And even so, my child, it is my pleasure That thou not then alone shouldst feel me nigh, When in domestic bliss and studious leisure, Thy weeks uncounted come, uncounted fly;
“Not then alone, when myriads, closely pressed Around thy car, the shout of triumph raise; Nor when, in gilded drawing rooms, thy breast Swells at the sweeter sound of woman’s praise.
“No: when on restless night dawns cheerless morrow, When weary soul and wasting body pine,
Thine am I still, in danger, sickness, sorrow, In conflict, obloquy, want, exile, thine;
“Thine, where on mountain waves the snowbirds scream, Where more than Thule’s winter barbs the breeze, Where scarce, through lowering clouds, one sickly gleam Lights the drear May-day of Antarctic seas;
“Thine, when around thy litter’s track all day White sandhills shall reflect the blinding glare; Thine, when, through forests breathing death, thy way All night shall wind by many a tiger’s lair;
“Thine most, when friends turn pale, when traitors fly, When, hard beset, thy spirit, justly proud, For truth, peace, freedom, mercy, dares defy A sullen priesthood and a raving crowd.
“Amidst the din of all things fell and vile, Hate’s yell, and envy’s hiss, and folly’s bray, Remember me; and with an unforced smile
See riches, baubles, flatterers, pass away.
“Yes: they will pass away; nor deem it strange: They come and go, as comes and goes the sea: And let them come and go: thou, through all change, Fix thy firm gaze on virtue and on me.”
…
TRANSLATION FROM PLAUTUS.
(1850.)
[The author passed a part of the summer and autumn of 1850 at Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight. He usually, when walking alone, had with him a book. On one occasion, as he was loitering in the landslip near Bonchurch, reading the Rudens of Plautus, it struck him that it might be an interesting experiment to attempt to produce something which might be supposed to resemble passages in the lost Greek drama of Diphilus, from which the Rudens appears to have been taken. He selected one passage in the Rudens, of which he then made the following version, which he afterwards copied out at the request of a friend to whom he had repeated it.]
Act IV. Sc. vii.
DAEMONES:
O Gripe, Gripe, in aetate hominum plurimae Fiunt transennae, ubi decipiuntur dolis; Atque edepol in eas plerumque esca imponitur. Quam si quis avidus pascit escam avariter, Decipitur in transenna avaritia sua.
Ille, qui consulte, docte, atque astute cavet, Diutine uti bene licet partum bene.
Mi istaec videtur praeda praedatum irier: Ut cum majore dote abeat, quam advenerit. Egone ut, quod ad me adlatum esse alienum sciam, Celem? Minime istuc faciet noster Daemones. Semper cavere hoc sapientes aequissimum est, Ne conscii sint ipsi maleficiis suis.
Ego, mihi quum lusi, nil moror ullum lucrum.
GRIPUS:
Spectavi ego pridem Comicos ad istum modum Sapienter dicta dicere, atque iis plaudier, Quum illos sapientis mores monstrabant poplo; Sed quum inde suam quisque ibant diversi domum, Nullus erat illo pacto, ut illi jusserant.
DAIM:
O Gripe, Gripe, pleista pagidon schemata idoi tis an pepegmen en thneton bio,
kai pleist ep autois deleath, on epithumia oregomenos tis en kakois alisketai
ostis d apistei kai sophos phulattetai kalos apolauei ton kalos peporismenon.
arpagma d ouch arpagm o larvax outosi, all autos, oimai, mallon arpaxei tina.
tond andra kleptein tallotri–euphemei, talan tauten ye me mainoito manian Daimones.
tode gar aei sophoisin eulabeteon,
me ti poth eauto tis adikema sunnoe kerde d emoige panth osois euphrainomai, kerdos d akerdes o toumon algunei kear.
GRIP:
kago men ede komikon akekoa
semnos legonton toiade, tous de theomenous krotein, mataiois edomenous sophismasin
eith, os apelth ekastos oikad, oudeni ouden paremeine ton kalos eiremenon.
…
PARAPHRASE OF A PASSAGE IN THE CHRONICLE OF THE MONK OF ST GALL.
[In the summer of 1856, the author travelled with a friend through Lombardy. As they were on the road between Novara and Milan, they were conversing on the subject of the legends relating to that country. The author remarked to his companion that Mr Panizzi, in the Essay on the Romantic Narrative Poetry of the Italians, prefixed to his edition of Bojardo, had pointed out an instance of the conversion of ballad poetry into prose narrative which strongly confirmed the theory of Perizonius and Niebuhr, upon which “The Lays of Ancient Rome” are founded; and, after repeating an extract which Mr Panizzi has given from the chronicle of “The Monk of St Gall,” he proceeded to frame a metrical paraphrase. The note in Mr Panizzi’s work (volume i. page 123, note b) is here copied verbatim.]
“The monk says that Oger was with Desiderius, King of Lombardy, watching the advance of Charlemagne’s army. The king often asked Oger where was Charlemagne. Quando videris, inquit, segetem campis inhorrescere, ferreum Padum et Ticinum marinis fluctibus ferro nigrantibus muros civitatis inundantes, tunc est spes Caroli venientis. His nedum expletis primum ad occasum Circino vel Borea coepit apparere, quasi nubes tenebrosa, quae diem clarissimam horrentes convertit in umbras. Sed propiante Imperatore, ex armorum splendore, dies omni nocte tenebrosior oborta est inclusis. Tunc visus est ipse ferreus Carolus ferrea galea cristatus, ferreis manicis armillatus, etc., etc. His igitur, quae ego balbus et edentulus, non ut debui circuitu tardiore diutius explicare tentavi, veridicus speculator Oggerus celerrimo visu contuitus dixit ad Desiderium: Ecce, habes quem tantopere perquisisti. Et haec dicens, pene exanimis cecidit.– “Monach. Sangal.” de Reb. Bel. Caroli Magni. lib. ii. para xxvi. Is this not evidently taken from poetical effusions?”
PARAPHRASE.
To Oggier spake King Didier:
“When cometh Charlemagne?
We looked for him in harvest:
We looked for him in rain.
Crops are reaped; and floods are past; And still he is not here.
Some token show, that we may know
That Charlemagne is near.”
Then to the King made answer
Oggier, the christened Dane:
“When stands the iron harvest,
Ripe on the Lombard plain,
That stiff harvest which is reaped
With sword of knight and peer,
Then by that sign ye may divine
That Charlemagne is near.
“When round the Lombard cities
The iron flood shall flow,
A swifter flood than Ticin,
A broader flood than Po,
Frothing white with many a plume,
Dark blue with many a spear,
Then by that sign ye may divine
That Charlemagne is near.”
…
INSCRIPTION ON THE STATUE OF LORD WM. BENTINCK.
AT CALCUTTA. (1835.)
To
WILLIAM CAVENDISH BENTINCK,
Who, during seven years, ruled India with eminent Prudence, Integrity, and Benevolence:
Who, placed at the head of a great
Empire, never laid aside
The simplicity and moderation of a private citizen: Who infused into Oriental despotism the spirit of British Freedom:
Who never forgot that the end of Government is The happiness of the Governed:
Who abolished cruel rites:
Who effaced humiliating distinctions: Who gave liberty to the expression of public opinion: Whose constant study it was, to elevate the intellectual And moral character of
The Nations committed to his charge: This Monument
Was erected by men,
Who, differing in Race, in
Manners, in Language, and in Religion, Cherish, with equal veneration and gratitude, The memory of his wise, upright, and Paternal Administration.
…
EPITAPH ON SIR BENJAMIN HEATH MALKIN.
AT CALCUTTA. (1837.)
This monument
Is sacred to the memory
of
SIR BENJAMIN HEATH MALKIN, Knight,
One of the Judges of
The Supreme Court of Judicature:
A man eminently distinguished
By his literary and scientific attainments, By his professional learning and ability, By the clearness and accuracy of his intellect, By diligence, by patience, by firmness, by love of truth, By public spirit, ardent and disinterested, Yet always under the guidance of discretion, By rigid uprightness, by unostentatious piety, By the serenity of his temper,
And by the benevolence of his heart.
He was born on the 29th September 1797. He died on the 21st October 1837.
…
EPITAPH ON LORD METCALFE.
(1847.)
Near this stone is laid
CHARLES, LORD METCALFE,
A Statesman tried in many high offices, And difficult conjunctures,
And found equal to all.
The three greatest Dependencies of the British Crown Were successively entrusted to his care. In India, his fortitude, his wisdom,
His probity, and his moderation,
Are held in honourable remembrance
By men of many races, languages, and religions. In Jamaica, still convulsed by a social revolution, His prudence calmed the evil passions
Which long suffering had engendered in one class And long domination in another.
In Canada, not yet recovered from the calamities of civil war, He reconciled contending factions to each other, And to the Mother Country.
Costly monuments in Asiatic and American cities Attest the gratitude of the nations which he ruled. This tablet records the sorrow and the pride With which his memory is cherished by his family.