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Would that breast were bared before thee
Where thy head so oft hath lain,
While that placid sleep came o'er thee"
Which thou ne'er canst know again:
Would that breast, by thee glanced over,

Every inmost thought could show !
Then thou would'st at last discover

'Twas not well to spurn it so.

Though the world for this commend thee—1
Though it smile upon the blow,
Even its praises must offend thee,

Founded on another's woe:

Though my many faults defaced me,
Could no other arm be found,

Than the one which once embraced me,

To inflict a cureless wound?

Yet, oh yet, thyself deceive not-
Love may sink by slow decay,
But by sudden wrench, believe not
Hearts can thus be torn away:

i. Thou my breast laid bare before thee.—[MS. erased.]
ii. Not a thought is pondering on thee.—[MS. erased.]

ΙΟ

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first, for it is incomplete, and every line (almost) tortured with alterations.

"Fare Thee Well!" was printed in Leigh Hunt's Examiner, April 21, 1816, at the end of an article (by L. H.) entitled "Distressing Circumstances in High Life." The text there has two readings different from that of the pamphlet, viz.—

Examiner: "Than the soft one which embraced me."
Pamphlet: "Than the one which once embraced me."
Examiner: "Yet the thoughts we cannot bridle."
Pamphlet: "But," etc.

—MS. Notes taken by the late J. Dykes Campbell at Sotheby's, April 18, 1890, and re-transcribed for Mr. Murray, June 15, 1894.

A final proof, dated April 7, 1816, was endorsed by Murray, "Correct 50 copies as early as you can to-morrow."]

1. [Lines 13-20 do not appear in an early copy dated March 18, 1816. They were added on the margin of a proof dated April 4,

Still thine own its life retaineth

Still must mine, though bleeding, beat ;↳ And the undying thought which paineth"

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Is-that we no more may meet.
These are words of deeper sorrow
Than the wail above the dead;
Both shall live-but every morrow
Wake us from a widowed bed.
And when thou would'st solace gather-
When our child's first accents flow-
Wilt thou teach her to say " Father!"
Though his care she must forego?
When her little hands shall press thee-
When her lip to thine is pressed-

Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee-
Think of him thy love had blessed!

Should her lineaments resemble

Those thou never more may'st see,
Then thy heart will softly tremble"
With a pulse yet true to me.
All my faults perchance thou knowest--
All my madness-none can know ; vi.
All my hopes-where'er thou goest-
Wither-yet with thee they go.
Every feeling hath been shaken;

Pride-which not a world could bow-.-vih

Bows to thee-by thee forsaken,viii.

Even my soul forsakes me now.

i. Net result of many alterations.

ii. And the lasting thought—.—[MS. erased.] iii. of deadlier sorrow.-[MS. erased.]

iv. Every future night and morrow.—[MS. erased.] v. Still thy heart -[MS. erased.]

vi. All my follies

-.

-.-[MS. erased.]

vii. which not the world could bow.-[MS.]
viii. Falls at once —.
—.—[MS. erased.]

30

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50

But 'tis done all words are idle--
Words from me are vainer still; ↳
But the thoughts we cannot bridle
Force their way without the will.
Fare thee well! thus disunited— “

Torn from every nearer tie—

Seared in heart-and lone-and blighted-
More than this I scarce can die.

60

[First draft, March 18, 1816.

First printed as published, April 4, 1816.]

A SKETCH.. 1

"Honest-honest Iago!

If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thec."

SHAKESPEARE.

BORN in the garret, in the kitchen bred,
Promoted thence to deck her mistress' head;'
Next--for some gracious service unexpressed,
And from its wages only to be guessed-

iv.

i. Tears and sighs are idler still.-[MS. erased.] ii. Fare thee well—thus lone and blighted.—[MS. erased.] iii. A Sketch from Life.-[MS. M.】

iv. Promoted thence to comb -.

-.—[MS. M. erased.]

1. ["I send you my last night's dream, and request to have 50 copies (for private distribution) struck off. I wish Mr. Gifford to look at them; they are from life."-Letter to Murray, March 30, 1816.

"The original MS. of Lord Byron's Satire, 'A Sketch from Private Life,' written by his Lordship, 30th March, 1816. Given by his Lordship to me on going abroad after his separation from Lady Byron, John Hanson. To be carefully preserved." (This MS. omits lines 19-20, 35-36, 55-56, 65-70, 77-78, 85-92.)

A copy entitled, “A sketch from private Life," dated March 30, 1816, is in Mrs. Leigh's handwriting. The corrections and additions are in Byron's handwriting.

A proof dated April 2, 1816, is endorsed by Murray, "Correct with most particular care and print off 50 copies, and keep standing."]

Raised from the toilet to the table,-where
Her wondering betters wait behind her chair.
With eye unmoved, and forehead unabashed,
She dines from off the plate she lately washed.
Quick with the tale, and ready with the lie,
The genial confidante, and general spy-
Who could, ye gods! her next employment guess-
An only infant's earliest governess !1

She taught the child to read, and taught so well,
That she herself, by teaching, learned to spell.
An adept next in penmanship she grows,
As many a nameless slander deftly shows:
What she had made the pupil of her art,

None know-but that high Soul secured the heart,"
And panted for the truth it could not hear,

With longing breast and undeluded ear.

Foiled was perversion by that youthful mind,.

Which Flattery fooled not, Baseness could not blind,
Deceit infect not, near Contagion soil,

Indulgence weaken, nor Example spoil,iv.
Nor mastered Science tempt her to look down
On humbler talents with a pitying frown,

Nor Genius swell, nor Beauty render vain,

Nor Envy ruffle to retaliate pain,"

Nor Fortune change, Pride raise, nor Passion bow,
Nor Virtue teach austerity-till now.

Serenely purest of her sex that live,vi

i.

ii.

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early governess.—[MS. M.]

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20

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but that pure spirit saved her heart.-[MS. M. erased.]

iii. Vain was each effort.—[MS. M.]

iv. Much Learning madden-when with scarce a peer She soared through science with a bright careerNor talents swell

V.

--[MS. M.]

bigotry provoke.-[MS. M. erased.]

vi. Serenely purest of the things that live.-[MS. M.]

But wanting one sweet weakness-to forgive;
Too shocked at faults her soul can never know,
She deems that all could be like her below:
Foe to all vice, yet hardly Virtue's friend,
For Virtue pardons those she would amend.

But to the theme, now laid aside too long,
The baleful burthen of this honest song,
Though all her former functions are no more,
She rules the circle which she served before.
If mothers-none know why-before her quake;
If daughters dread her for the mothers' sake;
If early habits-those false links, which bind
At times the loftiest to the meanest mind—“
Have given her power too deeply to instil
The angry essence of her deadly will;"
If like a snake she steal within your walls,
Till the black slime betray her as she crawls;
If like a viper to the heart she wind,
And leave the venom there she did not find;
What marvel that this hag of hatred works iv.
Eternal evil latent as she lurks,

iii.

To make a Pandemonium where she dwells,
And reign the Hecate of domestic hells?
Skilled by a touch to deepen Scandal's tints
With all the kind mendacity of hints,

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While mingling truth with falsehood-sneers with smiles— A thread of candour with a web of wiles ;"

i. The trusty burthen of my honest song.—[MS. M.]

ii. At times the highest

-. .—[MS. M.] iii. of her evil will.—[MS. M.]

iv. What marvel that this mistress demon works

Eternal evil wheresoeer she lurks.-MS. M.]
when she latent works.-[Copy.]

v. A gloss of candour of a web of wiles.-[MS. M.]

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