LINES TO A LADY WEEPING.1 WEEP, daughter of a royal line, Could wash a Father's fault away! i. Sympathetic Address to a Young Lady. [Morning Chronicle, March 7, 1812.] 1. [The scene which begat these memorable stanzas was enacted at a banquet at Carlton House, February 22, 1812. On March 6 the following quatrain, entitled, "Impromptu on a Recent Incident," appeared in the Morning Chronicle: "Blest omens of a happy reign, In swift succession hourly rise, Forsaken friends, vows made in vain A daughter's tears, a nation's sighs." Byron's lines, headed, "Sympathetic Address to a Young Lady," were published anonymously in the Morning Chronicle of March 7, but it was not till March 10 that the Courier ventured to insert a report of "The Fracas at Carlton House on the 22nd ult.," which had already been communicated to the Caledonian Mercury. "The party consisted of the Princess Charlotte, the Duchess of York, the Dukes of York and Cambridge, Lords Moira, Erskine, Lauderdale, Messrs. Adams and Sheridan. "The Prince Regent expressed 'his surprise and mortification' at the conduct of Lords Grey and Grenville [who had replied unfavourably to a letter addressed by the P.R. to the Duke of York, suggesting an united administration]. Lord Lauderdale thereupon, with a freedom unusual in courts, asserted that the reply did not express the opinions of Lords Grey and Grenville only, but of every political friend of that way of thinking, and that he had been present at and assisted in the drawing-up, and that every sentence had his cordial assent. The Prince was suddenly and deeply affected by Lord Lauderdale's reply, so much so, that the Princess, observing his agitation, dropt her head and burst into tears-upon which the Prince turned round and begged the female part of the company to withdraw." In the following June, at a ball at Miss Johnson's, Byron was "presented by order to our gracious Regent, who honoured me with some conversation," and for a time he ignored and perhaps regretted his anonymous jeu d'esprit. But early in 1814, either out Weep-for thy tears are Virtue's tears- Repaid thee by thy People's smiles ! March, 1812. [MS. M. First published, Morning Chronicle, March 7, 1812 (Corsair, 1814, Second Edition).] IF SOMETIMES IN THE HAUNTS OF MEN. I. 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. i. Stanzas. [1812.] of mere bravado or in an access of political rancour, he determined to republish the stanzas under his own name. The first edition of the Corsair was printed, if not published, but in accordance with a peremptory direction (January 22, 1814), "eight lines on the little Royalty weeping in 1812," were included among the poems printed at the end of the second edition. The "newspapers were in hysterics and town in an uproar on the avowal and republication" of the stanzas (Diary, February 18), and during Byron's absence from town "Murray omitted the Tears in several of the copies "—that is, in the Third Edition-but yielding to force majeure, replaced them in a Fourth Edition, which was issued early in February. (See Letters of July 6, 1812, January 22, February 2, and February 10, 1814 (Letters, 1898, ii. 134, etc.); and for "Newspaper Attacks upon Byron," see Letters, 1898, ii. Appendix VII. pp. 463-492.)] 2. Oh, pardon that in crowds awhile I waste one thought I owe to thee, Nor deem that memory less dear, 3. If not the Goblet pass unquaffed, From all her troubled visions free, 4. For wert thou vanished from my mind, To honour thine abandoned Urn? 5. For well I know, that such had been Thy gentle care for him, who now Unmourned shall quit this mortal scene, Where none regarded him, but thou: A blessing never meant for me; For earthly Love to merit thee. March 14, 1812. [First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (Second Edition).] ON A CORNELIAN HEART WHICH WAS BROKEN.1 I. ILL-FATED Heart! and can it be, That thou shouldst thus be rent in twain ? 2. Yet precious seems each shattered part, March 16, 1812. [First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (Second Edition).] 1. [For allusion to the "Cornelian," see "The Cornelian," ["Pignus Amoris"], and "The Adieu," stanza 7, Poetical Works, 1898, i. 66, 231, 240. See, too, Letters, 1898, i. 130, note 3.] THE CHAIN I GAVE. FROM THE TURKISH. I. THE chain I gave was fair to view, 2. These gifts were charmed by secret spell, And they have done their duty well,- 3. That chain was firm in every link, But not to bear a stranger's touch; That lute was sweet-till thou couldst think 4. Let him who from thy neck unbound Who saw that lute refuse to sound, 5. When thou wert changed, they altered too; 'Tis past-to them and thee adieu False heart, frail chain, and silent lute. [MS. M. First published, Corsair, 1814 (Second Edition).] VOL. III. E |