IF sometimes in the haunts of men
Thine image from my breast may fade,
The lonely hour presents again

The semblance of thy gentle shade:
And now that sad and silent hour

Thus much of thee can still restore, And sorrow unobserved may pour The plaint she dare not speak before.

Oh, pardon that in crowds awhile

I waste one thought I owe to thee, And, self-condemn'd, appear to smile, Unfaithful to thy Memory! Nor deem that memory less dear, That then I seem not to repine; I would not fools should overhear One sigh that should be wholly thine.

If not the goblet pass unquaff'd,

It is not drain'd to banish care;
The cup must hold a deadlier draught,
That brings a Lethe for despair.
And could Oblivion set my soul

From all her troubled visions free,
I'd dash to earth the sweetest bowl
That drown'd a single thought of thee.

[Drury-Lane Theatre had burned down February 24, 1803, and Byron had himself viewed the fire from a house-top in Covent Garden.' The managers advertised a general competition of addresses for the opening of the restored edifice, and scores of poems, all intolerably poor, were submitted. Lord Holland, in despair, finally appealed to Byron for an address, and the following verses of his were spoken by Mr. Elliston. The Rejected Addresses has made the occasion ever memorable.]

In one dread night our city saw, and sigh'd, Bow'd to the dust the Drama s tower of pride;

Scenes not unworthy Drury's days of old! Britons our judges, Nature for our guide, Still may we please - long, long may you preside!

PARENTHETICAL ADDRESS

BY DR. PLAGIARY

[Among the rejected addresses was one by Dr. Busby which his son attempted to recite on the stage by force on October 14. He was taken into custody for his pains, but on the next night Dr. Busby obtained a hearing for his son. Byron in the satire below ridicules the ineffective delivery of the young man whose voice was quite ‘inarticulate.' He introduces the verses with these words: Half stolen, with acknowledgments, to be spoken in an inarticulate voice by Master B. at the opening of the next new theatre. Stolen parts marked with the inverted commas of quotation - thus -'.

'WHEN energising objects men pursue,' Then Lord knows what is writ by Lord knows whc.

'A modest monologue you here survey,' Hiss'd from the theatre the 'other day,' As if Sir Fretful wrote the slumberous'

"This spirit Wellington has shown in Spain,' To furnish melo-drames for Drury Lane. 'Another Marlborough points to Blenheim's story,'

And George and I will dramatise it for ye.

'In arts and sciences our isle hath shone' (This deep discovery is mine alone).

O British poesy, whose powers inspire' My verse or I'm a fool- and Fame's a liar,

'Thee we invoke, your sister arts implore' With 'smiles,' and 'lyres,' and 'pencils,' and much more.

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These, if we win the Graces, too, we gain Disgraces, too! inseparable train !' 'Three who have stolen their witching airs from Cupid'

(You all know what I mean, unless you're stupid):

'Harmonious throng' that I have kept in petto,

Now to produce in a 'divine sestetto !! ' 'While Poesy,' with these delightful doxies, 'Sustains her part' in all the 'upper' boxes!

'Thus lifted gloriously, you'll sweep along,' Borne in the vast balloon of Busby's song; 'Shine in your farce, masque, scenery, and

play

41

(For this last line George had a holiday). 'Old Drury never, never soar'd so high,' and so say I. 'But hold, you say, this self-complacent

So

says

the manager,

boast;'

Is this the poem which the public lost? 'True true - that lowers at once our mounting pride;'

-

But lo!-the papers print what you deride.

"Tis ours to look on you

prize,'

you hold the

50

Tis twenty guineas, as they advertise! 'A double blessing your rewards impart'

I wish I had them, then, with all my

VERSES FOUND IN A SUMMERHOUSE AT HALES-OWEN

WHEN Dryden's fool, 'unknowing what he sought,'

His hours in whistling spent, 'for want of thought,'

This guiltless oaf his vacancy of sense
Supplied, and amply too, by innocence;
Did modern swains, possess'd of Cymon's
powers,

In Cymon's manner waste their leisure hours, The offended guests would not, with blushing, see

These fair green walks disgraced by infamy. Severe the fate of modern fools, alas! When vice and folly mark them as they pass. Like noxious reptiles o'er the whiten'd wall, The filth they leave still points out where they crawl.

[First published, 1832.]

'REMEMBER THEE! REMEMBER!'

[Lady Caroline Lamb 'called one morning at her quondamn lover's apartments. His lordship was from home; but finding Vathek on the table, the lady wrote in the first page of the volume the words, "Remember me!" Byron immediately wrote under the ominous warning these two stanzas.' - MEDWIN, Conversations of Lord Byron, 1824, pp. 329, 330.] REMEMBER thee! remember thee!

Till Lethe quench life's burning stream Remorse and Shame shall cling to thee, And haunt thee like a feverish dream! Remember thee! Aye, doubt it not.Thy husband too shall think of thee: By neither shalt thou be forgot, Thou false to him, thou fiend to me!

TO TIME

TIME! on whose arbitrary wing
The varying hours must flag or fly,
Whose tardy winter, fleeting spring,
But drag or drive us on to die-

Hail thou! who on my birth bestow'd
Those boons to all that know thee known;
Yet better I sustain thy load,

For now I bear the weight alone.

A bird of free and careless wing
Was I, through many a smiling spring;
But caught within the subtle snare,
I burn, and feebly flutter there.

Who ne'er have loved, and loved in vain,
Can neither feel nor pity pain,

The cold repulse, the look askance,
The lightning of Love's angry glance.

In flattering dreams I deem'd thee mine;
Now hope, and he who hoped, decline;
Like melting wax, or withering flower,
I feel my passion and thy power.

My light of life! ah, tell me why
That pouting lip and alter'd eye ?

20

My bird of love! my beauteous mate! And art thou changed, and caust thou hate?