Now sad is the garden of roses, Beloved but false Haidée ! There Flora all wither'd reposes, And mourns o'er thine absence with me. LINES IN THE TRAVELLERS' BOOK AT IN THIS BOOK A TRAVELLER HAD WRITTEN: "FAIR Albion, smiling, sees her son depart To trace the birth and nursery of art: Noble his object, glorious is his aim; He comes to Athens, and he writes his name." BENEATH WHICH LORD BYRON INSERTED THE FOLLOWING: THE modest bard, like many a bard unknown, Rhymes on our names, but wisely hides his own; But yet, whoe'er he be, to say no worse, His name would bring more credit than his verse. (1) (1) [At Orchomenus, where stood the Temple of the Graces, I was tempted to exclaim, 'Whither have the Graces fled?' Little did I expect to find them here; yet here comes one of them with golden cups and coffee, and another with a book. The book is a register of names, some of which are far sounded by the voice of fame. Among them is Lord Byron's, connected with some lines which I here send you.-H. W. WILLIAMS.] THE kiss, dear maid! thy lip has left Thy parting glance, which fondly beams, The tear that from thine eyelid streams I ask no pledge to make me blest Nor one memorial for a breast, Whose thoughts are all thine own. Nor need I write-to tell the tale By day or night, in weal or woe, And silent ache for thee. March, 1811. EPITAPH FOR JOSEPH BLACKETT, LATE STRANGER! behold, interr'd together, And if he did, 'twere shame to "Black-it." Malta, May 16, 1811. ON MOORE'S LAST OPERATIC FARCE, OR FARCICAL OPERA. GOOD plays are scarce, So Moore writes farce: The poet's fame grows brittle We knew before That Little's Moore, But now 'tis Moore that's little. September 14. 1811. (2) (1) [Some notice of this poetaster has been given, antè, Vol. VII. p. 269. He died in 1810, and his works have followed him.-E.] (2) [The farce in question was called "M. P.; or, the Blue Stocking," and came out at the Lyceum Theatre, on the 9th of September.-E.] EPISTLE TO A FRIEND, (1) IN ANSWER TO SOME LINES EXHORTING THE AUTHOR TO BE "OH! banish care"-such ever be Perchance of mine, when wassail nights "Twere long to tell, and vain to hear, (1) [i. e. Mr. Francis Hodgson (not then the Reverend). See Vol. VII. p. 305.-E.] I've seen my bride another's bride,— Have seen the infant, which she bore, ; When she and I in youth have smiled, And made my cheek belie my heart, The babe which ought to have been mine, But let this pass—I'll whine no more, When Britain's " May is in the sere," Thou hear'st of one, whose deepening crimes Suit with the sablest of the times, Of one, whom love nor pity sways, Nor hope of fame, nor good men's praise, Perchance not blood shall turn aside, (1) [These lines will show with what gloomy fidelity, even while under the pressure of recent sorrow, the poet reverted to the disappointment of his early affection, as the chief source of all his sufferings and errors, present and to come. - MOORE.] |