IV. I was the eldest of the three, And to uphold and cheer the rest I ought to do-and did my bestAnd each did well in his degree. The youngest, whom my father loved, Because our mother's brow was given To him-with eyes as blue as heaven, For him my soul was sorely moved; And truly might it be distrest To see such bird in such a nest; For he was beautiful as day (When day was beautiful to me As to young eagles, being free)A polar day, which will not see A sunset till its summer's gone, Its sleepless summer of long light, The snow-clad offspring of the sun; And thus he was as pure and bright, And in his natural spirit gay, With tears for nought but others' ills, And then they flow'd like mountain rills, Unless he could assuage the wo Which he abhorr'd to view below. V. The other was as pure of mind, Which 'gainst the world in war had stood, With joy:-but not in chains to pine: And so perchance in sooth did mine; Had follow'd there the deer and wolf; VI. Lake Leman lies by Chillon's walls; A thousand feet in depth below Sounding o'er our heads it knock'd; . Wash through the bars when winds were high, And wanton in the happy sky; And then the very rock hath rock'd, And I have felt it shake, unshock'd, Because I could have smiled to see VII. I said my nearer brother pined, It was not that 'twas coarse and rude, For we were used to hunter's fare, I might have spared my idle prayer They coldly laugh'd-and laid him there: The flat and turfless earth above VIII. But he, the favorite and the flower, So tearless, yet so tender-kind, An eye of most transparent light, And not a word of murmur-not The accursed breath of dungeon-dew: I could not die, I had no earthly hope-but faith, And that forbade a selfish death. IX. What next befel me then and there I had no thought, no feeling-none- But vacancy absorbing space, There were no stars-no earth-no time No check-no change-no good-no crime- Blind, boundless mute, and motionless! X. A light broke in upon my brain,- The sweetest song ear ever heard, I saw the dungeon walls and floor But through the crevice where it came I ne'er shall see its likeness more: Or broke its cage to perch on mine, Sweet bird! I could not wish for thine; Or if it were, in winged guise, A visitant from Paradise; For-Heaven forgive that thought! the while I sometimes deem'd that it might be A single cloud on a sunny day, That hath no business to appear When skies are blue, and earth is gay. XI. A kind of change came in my fate, My brothers' graves without a sod; I made a footing in the wall, It was not therefrom to escape, For I had buried one and all, Who loved me in a human shape; And the whole earth would henceforth be A wider prison unto me; No child-no sire-no kin had I, No partner in my misery; I thought of this, and I was glad, To my barr'd windows, and to bend XIII. I saw them-and they were the same, A small green isle, it seem'd no more, The fish swam by the castle wall, The darkness of my dim abode It was as is a new-dug grave, XIV. It might be months, or years, or days, And clear them of their dreary mote; I ask'd not why, and reck'd not where, I learn'd to love despair. And thus when they appear'd at last, NOTES TO THE PRISONER OF CHILLON. 1. rera encore la plus vive reconnaissance dans les By Bonnivard!—may none those marks efface! cœurs des Genevois qui aiment Genève. Bonnivard Page 183, line 13. en fut toujours un des plus fermes appuis: pour assurer la liberté de notre République, il ne craignit François de Bonnivard, fils de Louis de Bonni- pas de perdre souvent la sienne; il oublia son repos; vard, originaire de Seyssel et Seigneur de Lunes, il méprisa ses richesses; il ne négligea rien pour naquit en 1496; il fit ses etudes à Turin: en 1510 affermir le bonheur d'une patrie qu'il honora de son Jean Aimé de Bonnivard, son oncle, lui résigna le choix: dès ce moment il la cherit comme le plus Prieuré de St. Victor, qui aboutissoit aux murs de zelee, de ses citoyens; il la servit avec l'intrépidité Genève, et qui formoit un benefice considerable. d'un héros, et il écrivit son Histoire avec la naïveté Ce grand homme (Bonnivard merite ce titre par d'un philosophe et la chaleur d'un patriote. la force de son âme, la droiture de son cœur, la no- Il dit dans le commencement de son histoire de blesse de ses intentions, la sagesse de ses conseils, Genève, que, des qu'il eut commencé de lire l'histoire le courage de ses demarches, l'étendue de ses con-des nations, il se sentit entraîné par son goût pour les naissances et la vivacité de son esprit,) ce grand Republiques, dont il épousa toujours les intérêts: homme, qui excitera l'admiration de tous ceux c'est ce goût pour la liberté que lui fit sans doute qu'une vertu héroïque peut encore émouvoir, inspi-Jadopter Genève pour sa patrie. Bonnivard, encore jeune, s'annonça hautement] comme le défenseur de Genève contre le Duc de Savoye et l'Evêque. Ludovico Sforza, and others.-The same is asserted of Marie Antoinette's, the wife of Louis XVI. though not in quite so short a period. Grief is said to have the same effect: to such, and not to fear this change in hers was to be attributed. 3. From Chillon's snow-white battlement. En 1519, Bonnivard devient le martyr de sa patrie. Le Duc de Savoye étant entré dans Genève avec cino cent hommes, Bonnivard craint le ressentiment du Duc; il voulut se retirer à Fribourg pour en éviter les suites; mais il fut trahi par deux hommes qui l'accompagnoient, et conduit par ordre du Prince à Grolée où il resta prisonnier pendant deux Page 184, line 43. ans. Bonnivard étoit malheureux dans ses voyages: comme ses malheurs n'avoient point ralenti son zèle The Chateau de Chillon is situated between pour Genève, il étoit toujours un ennemi redoutable Clarens and Villeneuve, which last is at one expour ceux qui la menaçoient, et par conséquent il tremity of the Lake of Geneva. On its left are the devoit être exposé à leurs coups. Il fut rencontré entrances of the Rhone, and opposite are the heights en 1530 sur le Jura par des voleurs, qui le dépouil- of Meillerie and the range of Alps above Boveret lèrent, et qui le mirent encore entre les mains du and St. Gingo. Duc de Savoye: ce Prince le fit enfermer dans le Château de Chillon, où il resta sans être interrogé jusques en 1536; il fut alors delivré par les Bernois, qui s'emparèrent du Pays de Vaud. Near it, on a hill behind, is a torrent; below it, washing its walls, the lake has been fathomed to the depth of eight hundred feet, (French measure;) within it are a range of dungeons, in which the Bonnivard, en sortant de sa captivité, eut le plaisir early reformers, and subsequently prisoners of state, de trouver Genève libre et réformée; la République were confined. Across one of the vaults is a beam s'empressa de lui témoigner sa reconnaissance et de black with age, on which we were informed that le dédommager des maux qu'il avoit soufferts; elle the condemned were formerly executed. In the le recut Bourgeois de la ville au mois de Juin 1536; cells are seven pillars, or rather, eight, one being elle lui donna la maison habitee autrefois par le half merged in the wall; in some of these are rings Vicaire-Général, et elle lui assigna une pension de for the fetters and the fettered: in the pavement 200 ecus d'or tant qu'il séjourneroit à Genève. Il the steps of Bonnivard have left their traces-he fut admis dans le Conseil de Deux-Cent en 1537. was confined here several years. Bonnivard n'a pas fini d'etre utile: appres avoir It is by this castle that Rousseau has fixed the travaillé à rendre Genève libre, il réussit à la rendre catastrophe of his Heloise, in the rescue of one of tolerante. Bonnivard engagea le Conseil à accorder her children by Julie from the water; the shock of aux Ecclésiastiques et aux paysans un tems suffi- which, and the illness produced by the immersion sant pour examiner les propositions qu'on leur is the cause of her death. faisoit: il reussit par sa douceur: on prêche tou- The chateau is large, and seen along the lake for jours le Christianisme avec succès quand on le a great distance. The walls are white. prêche avec charité. 4. And then there was a little isle. Bonnivard fut savant; ses manuscrits, qui sont dans la Biblothéque publique, prouvent qu'il avoit bien lu les auteurs classiques latins, et qu'il avoit approfondi la théologie et l'histoire. Ce grand homme aimoit les sciences, et il croyoit qu'elles Page 186, line 16. pouvoient faire la gloire de Geneve; aussi il ne Between the entrances of the Rhone and Ville négligea rien pour les fixer dans cette ville nais-neuve, not far from Chillon, is a very small island; sante; en 1551 il donna sa bibliothèque au public; the only one I could perceive, in my voyage round elle fut le commencement de notre bibliothèque pub- and over the lake, within its circumference. It lique; et ces livres sont en partie les rares et belles contains a few trees, (I think not above three,) and éditions du quinzième siècle qu'on voit dans notre from its singleness and diminutive size has a pecucollection. Enfin, pendant la même année, ce bon liar effect upon the view. patriote institua la République son héritière à condition qu'elle employeroit ses biens à entretnir le college dont on projettoit la fondation. Il paroit que Bonnivard mourut en 1570; mais on ne peut l'assurer, parce qu'il y a une lacune dans le Nécrologe depuis le mois de Juillet 1570 jusques en 1571. When the foregoing poem was composed I was not sufficiently aware of the history of Bonnivard, or I should have endeavored to dignify the subject by an attempt to celebrate his courage and his virtues. Some account of his life will be found in a note appended to the "Sonnet on Chillon," with which I have been furnished by the kindness of a citizen of that Republic, which is still proud of the memory of a man worthy of the best age of ancient freedom." BEPPO; A VENETIAN STORY. Rosalind. Farewell, Monsieur Traveller; Look you lisp, and wear strange suits: disable all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your Nativity, and almost chide God for making you that countenance you are; or i will scarce think that you have swam in a Gondola-As You Like It, Act IV. Sc. I. Annotation of the Commentators. That is, been at Venice, which was much visited by the young English gentlemen of those times, and was then what "Tis known, at least it should be, that throughoutBut saving this, you may put on whate'er However high their rank, or low their station, II. The moment night with dusky mantle covers The skies, (and the more duskily the better,) The time less liked by husbands than by lovers Begins, and prudery flings aside her fetter; And gayety on restless tiptoe hovers, Giggling with all the gallants who beset her; And there are songs and quavers, roaring, humming, Guitars, and every other sort of strumming. III. And there are dresses splendid, but fantastical, All people, as their fancies hit, may choose, IV. You'd better walk about begirt with briers, Although you swore it only was in fun; You like by way of doublet, cape, or cloak, With prettier name in softer accents spoke, VI. This feast is named the Carnival, which being VII. And thus they bid farewell to carnal dishes, And solid meats, and highly spiced ragouts, Because they have no sauces to their stews, VIII. And therefore humbly I would recommend "The curious in fish-sauce," before they cross The sea, to bid their cook, or wife, or friend, Walk or ride to the Strand, and buy in gross, (Or if set out beforehand, these may send By any means least liable to loss,) Ketchup, Soy, Chili-vinegar, and Harvey, Or, by the Lord! a Lent will well nigh starve ye; |