PLEASURES PALL, IF LONG ENJOYED THEY BE."-LORD LYTTON. LORD LYTTON. 269 For so many wicked years! By what strange revenge of chance Didst thou thus ascend so high? From a Dauphin's lips at last? [From "Chronicles and Characters."-The young Dauphin's fate was "NOW LIFE, WITH EVERY MOMENT, SEEMS TO START IN AIR, IN WAVE, ON EARTH, ABOVE, BELOW."-LYTTON. "LOVE WARMS WHERE DEATH WITHERS, DEATH BLIGHTS WHERE LOVE BLOOMS."-LORD LYTTON. Lord Lytton. [EDWARD GEORGE EARLE LYTTON BULWER is the third son of the late General Bulwer, and of his wife Elizabeth, the only daughter and heiress of Richard Warburton Lytton, of Knebworth, Herts. He was born in May 1805; educated by his mother, a woman of great gifts, and afterwards in private schools; and removed to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1822, where he won the prize medal for the best English poem, graduated as B.A. in 1826, and as M. A. in 1835. He essayed authorship at an early age, but his first work which attracted attention was his "Pelham, or the Adventures of a Gentleman," published in 1827. This brilliant novel has been followed by a series of tales and romances, all more or less successful, all exhibiting great gifts of invention and fancy, considerable learning, an intimate acquaintance with certain phases of society, and the later breathing a very pure and genial spirit. Our space precludes us from quoting their titles or discussing their merits, but we may refer to "The Last Days of Pompeii," "Zanoni," "The Caxtons," and "My Novel," as worthy of "MAN, SAY THE SAGES, HATH A FICKLE MIND."-LORD LYTTON. 66 OUT ON THIS choice of unrewarded toil,-(Lord LYTTON) ranking with the best works of fiction in the English language, and as likely Mr. Bulwer entered Parliament in 1831, and acquired distinction as a His poetical works, which have been revised and collected in one volume, are-" Milton," "Eva," "The Ill-Omened Marriage," "The New Timon," the epic of "King Arthur" (in twelve books), and numerous minor pieces. In 1866 he published a collection of legends, in imitation of the classic metres, entitled "The Lost Tales of Miletus." He has also translated the "Poems and Ballads of Schiller" (1844); and is the author of several dramas-"The Lady of Lyons" (1838); "Richelieu" (1839); "The SeaCaptain" (1839); "Money" (1840); and "Not so Bad as We Seem" (1851). Respecting his merits as a poet, critics are hopelessly divided. We suspect he will be allowed a higher rank among "the sons of song" by posterity than his contemporaries are willing to allow him.] "FOR WHAT FALSE GOLD, LIKE ALCHEMISTS, WE YEARN, WASTING THE WEALTH WE NEVER CAN RECALL: JOY AND LIFE'S LAVISH PRIME, AND OUR RETURN?-ASHES, COLD ASHES, ALL!"-LORD LYTTON. THE OLD AGE OF MILTON. [Milton's last years were spent in a house in Artillery Walk, leading to Bunhill Fields,-then an open and pleasant part of London.] ITS gay farewell to hospitable eaves, The swallow twittered in the autumn heaven; THIS UPWARD PATH INTO THE REALM OF SNOW."-LORD LYTION. COULD YOUTH BUT DREAM WHAT NARROW BURIAL URNS-(LORD LYTTON) THE OLD AGE OF MILTON. The clock, faint-heard beyond the gaping door, Uncertain footprints on the sanded floor 271 "LOOK BACK, HOW ALL THE BEAUTIFUL IDEAL, SPORTING IN DOUBTFUL MOONLIGHT, ONE BY ONE FADES FROM THE RISING OF THE HARD-EYED REAL, LIKE FAIRIES FROM THE SUN!"-LORD LYTTON. The old man felt the fresh air o'er him blowing, * "Thus with the year Seasons return, but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn. * Paradise Lost, Book iii. HOPES THAT WENT FORTH TO CONQUER WORLDS SHOULD HOLD!""-LYTTON. List; not a sigh!-though fall'n on evil days, Nightly he walks the bowers of Paradise. So on his brow-where grief has passed away— [From "Milton," Part iv.-"We regard this poem as one of great beauty. Difficult as was the subject, the author's treatment of it has been eminently successful, while the melody and exquisite construction of the verse are in accordance with the sentiments it conveys."-(Blackwood's Magazine.) "Neither in the fancy nor the form of this 'graceful poem,'" says The Quarterly Review, "is there aught for the ripeness of age, with all its gathered cultivation, refinement, and experience, to blush at or disown. The central figure, one of the grandest in our literary annals, is sketched with a loving reverence; the thread of romance is justifiably amplified, but not strained beyond the limits of the probable, whilst the accessories are all in perfect keeping and subordination. The result of the whole is a noble picture of the bard of Comus, in his youth, manhood, and age."] "THE GRAND DESIRE WHICH EVER FOR THE DISTANT SIGHS AND MUST PERFORCE ASPIRE."-LYTTON. THE DESIRE OF FAME. Written at the age of Thirty. DO confess that I have wished to give * "Though fall'n on evil days, In darkness, and with danger compassed round." Paradise Lost, Book viii. AS MAY LEAVES TO THE BREEZE."-LORD LYTTON. "THAT GRAND AMBITION, WHEN BOYHOOD'S HEART SWELLS UP TO THE sublime."-LORD LYTTON. "FOR IF THOU LOV'ST TRULY THOU CANST NOT DISSEVEr the grave from the alTAR, THE NOW AND THE EVER; " OH, STRONG AS THE EAGLE, OH, MILD AS THE DOVE,-(LORD LYTTON) Do I lament that I have seen the bays Denied my own, not worthier brows above,-- Do I lament that roseate youth had flown In the hard labour grudged its niggard meed, Few flowers from many a seed? No! for whoever with an earnest soul, Better than Fame is still the wish for Fame, The wish for Fame is faith in holy things To gladden the earth with beauty, or men's lives No, I lament not, though these leaves may fall HOW LIKE AND HOW UNLIKE, O DEATH AND O LOVE!"-LORD LYTTON. AND IF, NOTHING HOPING, THOU GAZEST ABOVE, IN DEATH THOU BEHOLDEST THE ASPECT OF LOVE."-LORD LYTTON. |