May regal smiles attend you!
And should a noble monarch reign,
You will not seek his smiles in vain,
If worth can recommend you.

Yet since in danger courts abound,
Where specious rivals glitter round,

From snares may saints preserve you; And grant your love or friendship ne'er From any claim a kindred care,

But those who best deserve you!

Not for a moment may you stray
From truth's secure, unerring way!
May no delights decoy!
O'er roses may your footsteps move,
Your smiles be ever smiles of love,
Your tears be tears of joy!

Oh! if you wish that happiness
Your coming days and years may bless,
And virtues crown your brow;
Be still as you were wont to be,
Spotless as you've been known to me,
Be still as you are now.

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LINES WRITTEN BENEATH AN ELM IN THE CHURCHYARD OF HARROW

SPOT of my youth! whose hoary branches sigh,

Swept by the breeze that fans thy cloudless sky;

TRANSLATION FROM ANA

CREON

Εἰς ῥόδον. - Ode 5.

[First printed in Edition of 1898 from a manuscript in possession of Mr. Murray.] MINGLE with the genial bowl The Rose, the flow'ret of the Soul, The Rose and Grape together quaff'd, How doubly sweet will be the draught! With Roses crown our jovial brows, While every cheek with Laughter glows; While Smiles and Songs, with Wine incite, To wing our moments with Delight. Rose by far the fairest birth,

Which Spring and Nature cull from Earth-
Rose whose sweetest perfume given,
Breathes our thoughts from Earth to
Heaven -

Rose whom the Deities above,
From Jove to Hebe, dearly love,
When Cytherea's blooming Boy
Flies lightly through the dance of Joy,
With him the Graces then combine,
And rosy wreaths their locks entwine.
Then will I sing divinely crown'd,
With dusky leaves my temples bound
Lyæus in thy bowers of pleasure,
I'll wake a wildly thrilling measure.
There will my gentle Girl and I
Along the mazes sportive fly,
Will bend before thy potent throne-
Rose, Wine, and Beauty, all my own.

1805.

139

To Ossian, Orb of Light! thou look'st in vain,

Nor canst thou glad his aged eyes again, Whether thy locks in Orient Beauty stream, Or glimmer through the West with fainter gleam

But thou, perhaps, like me with age must bend;

Thy season o'er, thy days will find their end, No more yon azure vault with rays adorn, Lull'd in the clouds, nor hear the voice of Morn.

Exult, O Sun, in all thy youthful strength! Age, dark unlovely Age, appears at length, As gleams the moonbeam through the broken cloud

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FROM THE POEM 'CARTHON' [These lines were published by Mr. Pierre la Rose in the Atlantic Monthly, December, 1898. They were found by him written in Byron's hand in the poet's copy of Ossian deposited in the Harvard University Library.]

O THOU! who rollest in yon azure field, Round as the orb of my forefathers' shield, Whence are thy beams? From what eternal store

Dost thou, O Sun! thy vast effulgence pour?

In awful grandeur, when thou movest on high,

The stars start back and hide them in the

Mists shroud the hills, and 'neath the growing gloom,

The weary traveller shrinks and sighs for home.

1806.

PIGNUS AMORIS

[First printed in Edition of 1898 from a manuscript in possession of Mr. Murray.] As by the fix'd decrees of Heaven, 'Tis vain to hope that Joy can last; The dearest boon that Life has given, To me is visions of the past.

[First printed in Edition of 1898 from a manuscript in possession of Mr. Murray.] RAIL on, Rail on, ye heartless Crew! My strains were never meant for you; Remorseless Rancour still reveal, And damn the verse you cannot feel. Invoke those kindred passions' aid, Whose baleful stings your breasts pervade; Crush, if you can, the hopes of youth, Trampling regardless on the Truth. Truth's Records you consult in vain, She will not blast her native strain; She will assist her votary's cause, His will at least be her applause, Your prayer the gentle Power will spurn.

10

To Fiction's motley altar turn,
Who joyful in the fond address
Her favour'd worshippers will bless:
And lo! she holds a magic glass,
Where Images reflected
pass,
Bent on your knees the Boon receive
This will assist you to deceive
The glittering gift was made for you,
Now hold it up to public view;
Lest evil unforeseen betide,

--

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40

A Mask each canker'd brow shall hide
(Whilst Truth my sole desire is nigh,
Prepared the danger to defy),
'There is the Maid's perverted name,
And there the Poet's guilty Flame,
Gloaming a deep phosphoric fire,
Threatening but ere it spreads, retire.' 30
Says TruthUp Virgins, do not fear!
The Comet rolls its Influence here;
"T is Scandal's Mirror you perceive,
These dazzling Meteors but deceive
Approach and touch - Nay do not turn,
It blazes there but will not burn.'.
At once the shivering Mirror flies,
Teeming no more with varnish'd Lies;
The baffled friends of Fiction start,
Too late desiring to depart
Truth poising high Ithuriel's spear
Bids every Fiend unmask'd appear,
The vizard tears from every face,
And dooms them to a dire disgrace.
For ere they compass their escape,
Each takes perforce a native shape -
The Leader of the wrathful Band,
Behold a portly Female stand!
She raves, impell'd by private pique,
This mean unjust revenge to seek;
From vice to save this virtuous Age,
Thus does she vent indecent rage
What child has she of promise fair,
Who claims a fostering Mother's care?
Whose Innocence requires defence,
Or forms at least a smooth pretence,
Thus to disturb a harmless Boy,
His humble hope, and peace annoy?
She need not fear the amorous rhyme,
Love will not tempt her future time,
For her his wings have ceased to spread,
No more he flutters round her head;
Her day's Meridian now is past,
The clouds of Age her Sun o'ercast;
To her the strain was never sent,
For feeling Souls alone 't was meant
The verse she seized, unask'd, unbade,
And damn'd, ere yet the whole was read!

!

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