X.

Childe Harold had a mother-not forgot,"

Though parting from that mother he did shun;
A sister whom he loved, but saw her not1
Before his weary pilgrimage begun :

If friends he had, he bade adieu to none.".

Yet deem not thence his breast a breast of steel: iii. 2

Ye, who have known what 'tis to dote upon

A few dear objects, will in sadness feel

Such partings break the heart they fondly hope to heal.

ii. Of friends he had but few, embracing none.—[MS. erased.] iii. Yet deem him not from this with breast of steel.-[MS. D.]

I. [In a suppressed stanza of "Childe Harold's Good Night" (see p. 27, var. ii.), the Childe complains that he has not seen his sister for "three long years and moe." Before her marriage, in 1807, Augusta Byron divided her time between her mother's children, Lady Chichester and the Duke of Leeds; her cousin, Lord Carlisle; and General and Mrs. Harcourt. After her marriage to Colonel Leigh, she lived at Newmarket. From the end of 1805 Byron corresponded with her more or less regularly, but no meeting took place. In a letter to his sister, dated November 30, 1808 (Letters, 1898, i. 203), he writes, "I saw Col. Leigh at Brighton in July, where I should have been glad to have seen you; I only know your husband by sight." Colonel Leigh was his first cousin, as well as his half-sister's husband, and the incidental remark that "he only knew him by sight " affords striking proof that his relations and connections were at no pains to seek him out, but left him to fight his own way to social recognition and distinction. (For particulars of "the Hon. Augusta Byron," see Letters, 1898, i. 18, note.)]

2. [Compare Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming, ii. 8. 1—

"Yet deem not Gertrude sighed for foreign joy."]

XI.

His house, his home, his heritage, his lands,

i.

The laughing dames in whom he did delight,"
Whose large blue eyes, fair locks, and snowy hands,
Might shake the Saintship of an Anchorite,
And long had fed his youthful appetite ;

His goblets brimmed with every costly wine,
And all that mote to luxury invite,

Without a sigh he left, to cross the brine,

And traverse Paynim shores, and pass Earth's central line.iii. 1

XII.

The sails were filled, and fair the light winds blew,iv.

As glad to waft him from his native home;
And fast the white rocks faded from his view,

And soon were lost in circumambient foam :
And then, it may be, of his wish to roam
Repented he, but in his bosom slept 2

i. His house, his home, his vassals, and his lands.—[MS. D.]
ii. The Dalilahs

.-[MS. D.]

His damsels all -.-[MS. erased.]

iii. where brighter sunbeams shine.-[MS. erased.] iv. The sails are filled

—.—[MS.]

-.

1. ["Your objection to the expression central line' I can only meet by saying that, before Childe Harold left England, it was his full intention to traverse Persia, and return by India, which he could not have done without passing the equinoctial" (letter to Dallas, September 7, 1811; see, too, letter to his mother, October 7, 1808: Letters, 1898, i. 193; ii. 27).]

2. [He experienced no such emotion on the resumption of

The silent thought, nor from his lips did come One word of wail, whilst others sate and wept, And to the reckless gales unmanly moaning kept.

XIII.

But when the Sun was sinking in the sea

He seized his harp, which he at times could string,
And strike, albeit with untaught melody,

When deemed he no strange ear was listening:
And now his fingers o'er it he did fling,
And tuned his farewell in the dim twilight;
While flew the vessel on her snowy wing,

And fleeting shores receded from his sight,

Thus to the elements he poured his last "Good Night."1

his Pilgrimage in 1816. With reference to the confession, he writes (Canto III. stanza i. lines 6-9)—–

66

"... I depart,

Whither I know not; but the hour's gone by,

When Albion's lessening shores could grieve or glad mine eye."]

1. [See Lord Maxwell's "Good Night" in Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (Poetical Works, ii. 141, ed. 1834): Adieu, madam, my mother dear," etc. [MS.]. Compare, too, Armstrong's "Good Night,” ibid.—

"This night is my departing night,
For here nae langer mun I stay;
There's neither friend nor foe of mine,
But wishes me away.

What I have done thro' lack of will,
I never, never can recall;

I hope ye're a' my friends as yet.

Good night, and joy be with you all."]

CHILDE HAROLD'S GOOD NIGHT.

I.

ADIEU, adieu! my native shore

Fades o'er the waters blue;

The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar,
And shrieks the wild sea-mew.

Yon Sun that sets upon the sea
We follow in his flight;

Farewell awhile to him and thee,

My native Land-Good Night!

2.

"A few short hours and He will rise
To give the Morrow birth;

And I shall hail the main and skies,
But not my mother Earth.
Deserted is my own good Hall,

Its hearth is desolate;

Wild weeds are gathering on the wall;

My Dog howls at the gate.

3.

"Come hither, hither, my little page!1

Why dost thou weep and wail?

1. [Robert Rushton, the son of one of the Newstead "Robert I take with me; I like him, because, like

tenants.

Or dost thou dread the billows' rage,
Or tremble at the gale?

But dash the tear-drop from thine eye;
Our ship is swift and strong:
Our fleetest falcon scarce can fly i

More merrily along.".

4.

"Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high,.

I fear not wave nor wind:

Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I

Am sorrowful in mind;1

For I have from my father gone,

A mother whom I love,

And have no friend, save these alone,

But thee-and One above.

i. Our best gos-hawk can hardly fly

So merrily along.--[MS.]

Our best greyhound can hardly fly.-[D. erased.] ii. Here follows in the MS. the following erased stanza :-My mother is a high-born dame,

And much misliketh me;

She saith my riot bringeth shame
On all my ancestry.

I had a sister once I ween,

Whose tears perhaps will flow;
But her fair face I have not seen
For three long years and moe.

iii. Oh master dear I do not cry

From fear of wave or wind.—[MS.]

myself, he seems a friendless animal. Tell Mr. Rushton his son is well, and doing well" (letter to Mrs. Byron, Falmouth, June 22, 1809: Letters, 1898, i. 224).]

1. [Robert was sent back from Gibraltar under the care of Joe Murray (see letter to Mr. Rushton, August 15, 1809 : Letters, 1898, i. 242).]