s: Through all the mail of iron hearts would glide;


s: But still their flame was fierceness, and drew on


s: Keen contest and destruction near allied,


s: And many a tower for some fair mischief won,


s: Saw the discoloured Rhine beneath its ruin run.


s: Making thy waves a blessing as they flow


s: Through banks whose beauty would endure for ever


s: Could man but leave thy bright creation so,


s: Nor its fair promise from the surface mow[il]


s: With the sharp scythe of conflict, then to see


s: Thy valley of sweet waters, were to know


s: Earth paved like Heaven--and to seem such to me,[im]


s: Even now what wants thy stream?--that it should Lethe be.


s: A thousand battles have assailed thy banks,


s: But these and half their fame have passed away,


s: And Slaughter heaped on high his weltering ranks:


s: Their very graves are gone, and what are they?


s: Thy tide washed down the blood of yesterday,


s: And all was stainless, and on thy clear stream


s: Glassed, with its dancing light, the sunny ray;[in]


s: But o'er the blacken'd memory's blighting dream


s: Thy waves would vainly roll, all sweeping as they seem.


s: Thus Harold inly said, and passed along,


s: In glens which might have made even exile dear:


s: Though on his brow were graven lines austere,


s: And tranquil sternness, which had ta'en the place


s: Of feelings fierier far but less severe--


s: Joy was not always absent from his face,


s: But o'er it in such scenes would steal with transient trace.


s: Nor was all Love shut from him, though his days


s: Of Passion had consumed themselves to dust.


s: On such as smile upon us; the heart must


s: Leap kindly back to kindness, though Disgust[io]


s: Hath weaned it from all worldlings: thus he felt,


s: For there was soft Remembrance, and sweet Trust


s: In one fond breast, to which his own would melt,


s: And in its tenderer hour on that his bosom dwelt.


s: And he had learned to love,--I know not why,


s: For this in such as him seems strange of mood,


s: Even in its earliest nurture; what subdued,


s: To change like this, a mind so far imbued


s: With scorn of man, it little boots to know;


s: Small power the nipped affections have to grow,


s: In him this glowed when all beside had ceased to glow.


s: And there was one soft breast, as hath been said,[ip]


s: Which unto his was bound by stronger ties


s: Than the church links withal; and--though unwed,


s: _That_ love was pure--and, far above disguise,[iq]


s: But this was firm, and from a foreign shore


s: Well to that heart might his these absent greetings pour![ir]


s: And hills all rich with blossomed trees,


s: Have strewed a scene, which I should see


s: Through green leaves lift their walls of gray;


s: But one thing want these banks of Rhine,--


s: The haughtiest breast its wish might bound


s: Still sweeten more these banks of Rhine!


s: By Coblentz, on a rise of gentle ground,


s: Crowning the summit of the verdant mound;


s: Beneath its base are Heroes' ashes hid--


s: Honour to Marceau! o'er whose early tomb[is]


s: Tears, big tears, gushed from the rough soldier's lid,


s: Falling for France, whose rights he battled to resume.


s: Brief, brave, and glorious was his young career,--


s: His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes;


s: And fitly may the stranger lingering here


s: Pray for his gallant Spirit's bright repose;--


s: For he was Freedom's Champion, one of those,


s: The few in number, who had not o'erstept


s: The charter to chastise which she bestows


s: On such as wield her weapons; he had kept


s: The whiteness of his soul--and thus men o'er him wept.[11.B.]


s: Here Ehrenbreitstein,[12.B.] with her shattered wall


s: Black with the miner's blast, upon her height


s: Yet shows of what she was, when shell and ball


s: Rebounding idly on her strength did light:--


s: A Tower of Victory! from whence the flight


s: Of baffled foes was watched along the plain:


s: But Peace destroyed what War could never blight,


s: And laid those proud roofs bare to Summer's rain--


s: On which the iron shower for years had poured in vain.


s: Adieu to thee, fair Rhine! How long delighted


s: The stranger fain would linger on his way!


s: Thine is a scene alike where souls united


s: Or lonely Contemplation thus might stray;


s: And could the ceaseless vultures cease to prey[it]


s: On self-condemning bosoms, it were here,


s: Where Nature, nor too sombre nor too gay,


s: Wild but not rude, awful yet not austere,[iu]


s: Is to the mellow Earth as Autumn to the year.


s: There can be no farewell to scene like thine;


s: Their cherished gaze upon thee, lovely Rhine!


s: 'Tis with the thankful glance of parting praise;


s: More mighty spots may rise--more glaring shine,[iv]


s: The brilliant, fair, and soft,--the glories of old days,


s: The negligently grand, the fruitful bloom


s: Of coming ripeness, the white city's sheen,


s: The rolling stream, the precipice's gloom,


s: The forest's growth, and Gothic walls between,--


s: The wild rocks shaped, as they had turrets been,


s: In mockery of man's art; and these withal


s: Whose fertile bounties here extend to all,


s: Still springing o'er thy banks, though Empires near them fall.


s: But these recede. Above me are the Alps,


s: Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps,[iw]


s: Of cold Sublimity, where forms and falls


s: All that expands the spirit, yet appals,


s: How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below.


s: But ere these matchless heights I dare to scan,


s: There is a spot should not be passed in vain,--


s: Morat! the proud, the patriot field! where man


s: May gaze on ghastly trophies of the slain,


s: Nor blush for those who conquered on that plain;


s: Here Burgundy bequeathed his tombless host,


s: Themselves their monument;--the Stygian coast


s: Unsepulchred they roamed, and shrieked each


s: While Waterloo with Cannæ's carnage vies,


s: Morat and Marathon twin names shall stand;


s: They were true Glory's stainless victories,


s: All unbought champions in no princely cause


s: Of vice-entailed Corruption; they no land[iy]


s: Making Kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause.


s: A gray and grief-worn aspect of old days;


s: 'Tis the last remnant of the wreck of years,


s: And looks as with the wild-bewildered gaze


s: Yet still with consciousness; and there it stands


s: Levelled Aventicum,[14.B.] hath strewed her subject lands.


s: And there--oh! sweet and sacred be the name!--


s: Her youth to Heaven; her heart, beneath a claim


s: Nearest to Heaven's, broke o'er a father's grave.


s: Justice is sworn 'gainst tears, and hers would crave


s: The life she lived in--but the Judge was just--


s: And then she died on him she could not save.[iz]


s: Their tomb was simple, and without a bust,[ja]


s: And held within their urn one mind--one heart--one dust.[15.B.]


s: But these are deeds which should not pass away,


s: And names that must not wither, though the Earth


s: The enslavers and the enslaved--their death and birth;


s: Should be--and shall, survivor of its woe,


s: In the sun's face, like yonder Alpine snow,[16.B.]


s: Imperishably pure beyond all things below.


s: Lake Leman woos me with its crystal face,


s: The mirror where the stars and mountains view


s: The stillness of their aspect in each trace


s: Its clear depth yields of their far height and hue:[jb]


s: There is too much of Man here, to look through


s: With a fit mind the might which I behold;


s: Thoughts hid, but not less cherished than of old,


s: Ere mingling with the herd had penned me in their fold.


s: To fly from, need not be to hate, mankind:


s: All are not fit with them to stir and toil,


s: Deep in its fountain, lest it overboil[jc]


s: In the hot throng, where we become the spoil


s: Of our infection, till too late and long


s: We may deplore and struggle with the coil,


s: In wretched interchange of wrong for wrong


s: Midst a contentious world, striving where none are strong.[jd]


s: There, in a moment, we may plunge our years


s: Of our own Soul turn all our blood to tears,


s: And colour things to come with hues of Night;


s: The race of life becomes a hopeless flight


s: To those that walk in darkness: on the sea


s: The boldest steer but where their ports invite--


s: But there are wanderers o'er Eternity[je]


s: Whose bark drives on and on, and anchored ne'er shall be.


s: And love Earth only for its earthly sake?


s: By the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone,[17.B.]


s: Which feeds it as a mother who doth make


s: Kissing its cries away as these awake;--[jf]


s: Is it not better thus our lives to wear,


s: Than join the crushing crowd, doomed to inflict or bear?


s: High mountains are a feeling, but the hum


s: Nothing to loathe in Nature, save to be[jh]


s: Classed among creatures, when the soul can flee,


s: And with the sky--the peak--the heaving plain[ji]


s: Of Ocean, or the stars, mingle--and not in vain.


s: And thus I am absorbed, and this is life:--


s: Where, for some sin, to Sorrow I was cast,


s: To act and suffer, but remount at last[jj]


s: With a fresh pinion; which I feel to spring,


s: Though young, yet waxing vigorous as the Blast


s: Which it would cope with, on delighted wing,


s: Spurning the clay-cold bonds which round our being cling.[jk]


s: And when, at length, the mind shall be all free


s: From what it hates in this degraded form,[jl]


s: Reft of its carnal life, save what shall be


s: And dust is as it should be, shall I not


s: Feel all I see less dazzling but more warm?


s: The bodiless thought? the Spirit of each spot?[jm]


s: Of which, even now, I share at times the immortal lot?


s: Are not the mountains, waves, and skies, a part[jn]


s: Is not the love of these deep in my heart


s: With a pure passion? should I not contemn


s: All objects, if compared with these? and stem


s: Such feelings for the hard and worldly phlegm


s: Of those whose eyes are only turned below,


s: Gazing upon the ground, with thoughts which dare not glow?[jo]


s: But this is not my theme; and I return[jp]


s: Those who find contemplation in the urn,


s: To look on One, whose dust was once all fire,--


s: The clear air for a while--a passing guest,


s: Was to be glorious; 'twas a foolish quest,


s: The which to gain and keep, he sacrificed all rest.


s: Here the self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau,[jq]


s: Wrung overwhelming eloquence, first drew


s: The breath which made him wretched; yet he knew


s: O'er erring deeds and thoughts, a heavenly hue[jr]


s: Of words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they past


s: The eyes, which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast.


s: His love was Passion's essence--as a tree


s: On fire by lightning; with ethereal flame


s: Thus, and enamoured, were in him the same.[js]


s: But his was not the love of living dame,


s: Nor of the dead who rise upon our dreams,


s: Along his burning page, distempered though it seems.


s: _This_ breathed itself to life in Julie, _this_


s: Invested her with all that's wild and sweet;


s: This hallowed, too, the memorable kiss[18.B.]


s: Which every morn his fevered lip would greet,


s: From hers, who but with friendship his would meet;


s: But to that gentle touch, through brain and breast


s: Flashed the thrilled Spirit's love-devouring heat;[jt]


s: In that absorbing sigh perchance more blest


s: Than vulgar minds may be with all they seek possest.


s: His life was one long war with self-sought foes,


s: Or friends by him self-banished; for his mind


s: Had grown Suspicion's sanctuary, and chose,


s: For its own cruel sacrifice, the kind,[ju]


s: 'Gainst whom he raged with fury strange and blind.


s: But he was phrensied, wherefore, who may know?


s: Since cause might be which Skill could never find;[jv]


s: To that worst pitch of all, which wears a reasoning show.


s: For then he was inspired, and from him came,


s: As from the Pythian's mystic cave of yore,


s: Those oracles which set the world in flame,


s: Nor ceased to burn till kingdoms were no more:


s: Did he not this for France? which lay before


s: Broken and trembling to the yoke she bore,


s: Till by the voice of him and his compeers,


s: Roused up to too much wrath which follows o'ergrown fears?


s: They made themselves a fearful monument!


s: The wreck of old opinions--things which grew,[jw]


s: Breathed from the birth of Time: the veil they rent,


s: And what behind it lay, all earth shall view.[jx]


s: Dungeons and thrones, which the same hour refilled,


s: As heretofore, because Ambition was self-willed.


s: But this will not endure, nor be endured!


s: Mankind have felt their strength, and made it felt.


s: They might have used it better, but, allured


s: By their new vigour, sternly have they dealt


s: With her once natural charities. But they,


s: Who in Oppression's darkness caved had dwelt,


s: They were not eagles, nourished with the day;


s: What marvel then, at times, if they mistook their prey?


s: What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?


s: The heart's bleed longest, and but heal to wear


s: That which disfigures it; and they who war


s: With their own hopes, and have been vanquished, bear


s: Silence, but not submission: in his lair


s: Fixed Passion holds his breath, until the hour


s: Which shall atone for years; none need despair:


s: It came--it cometh--and will come,--the power


s: To punish or forgive--in _one_ we shall be slower.[jy]


s: Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake,


s: With the wild world I dwelt in, is a thing


s: Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake


s: Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring.


s: To waft me from distraction; once I loved


s: Torn Ocean's roar, but thy soft murmuring


s: Sounds sweet as if a Sister's voice reproved,


s: That I with stern delights should e'er have been so moved.


s: It is the hush of night, and all between


s: Thy margin and the mountains, dusk, yet clear,


s: Mellowed and mingling, yet distinctly seen,


s: Save darkened Jura, whose capt heights appear


s: There breathes a living fragrance from the shore,


s: Of flowers yet fresh with childhood; on the ear


s: Drops the light drip of the suspended oar,


s: Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol more.


s: He is an evening reveller, who makes[jz]


s: His life an infancy, and sings his fill;[ka]


s: At intervals, some bird from out the brakes


s: Starts into voice a moment, then is still.


s: There seems a floating whisper on the hill,


s: But that is fancy--for the Starlight dews


s: All silently their tears of Love instil,


s: Weeping themselves away, till they infuse


s: Deep into Nature's breast the spirit of her hues.[kb]


s: Ye Stars! which are the poetry of Heaven!


s: If in your bright leaves we would read the fate


s: Of men and empires,--'tis to be forgiven,


s: Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state,


s: And claim a kindred with you; for ye are


s: In us such love and reverence from afar,


s: That Fortune,--Fame,--Power,--Life, have named themselves a Star.


s: All Heaven and Earth are still--though not in sleep,


s: But breathless, as we grow when feeling most;


s: And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep:--


s: All Heaven and Earth are still: From the high host


s: Of stars, to the lulled lake and mountain-coast,


s: Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost,


s: Of that which is of all Creator and Defence.


s: Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt[kc]


s: In solitude, where we are _least_ alone;


s: A truth, which through our being then doth melt,


s: The soul and source of Music, which makes known[kd]


s: Binding all things with beauty;--'twould disarm


s: The spectre Death, had he substantial power to harm.


s: Of earth-o'ergazing mountains,[19.B.] --and thus take


s: A fit and unwalled temple, there to seek


s: The Spirit, in whose honour shrines are weak


s: Upreared of human hands. Come, and compare


s: Columns and idol-dwellings--Goth or Greek--


s: With Nature's realms of worship, earth and air--


s: Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer!


s: The sky is changed!--and such a change! Oh Night,[20.B.]


s: And Storm, and Darkness, ye are wondrous strong,


s: Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light


s: From peak to peak, the rattling crags among


s: Leaps the live thunder! Not from one lone cloud,


s: But every mountain now hath found a tongue,


s: And Jura answers, through her misty shroud,


s: Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud!


s: And this is in the Night:--Most glorious Night![ke]


s: Thou wert not sent for slumber! let me be


s: A sharer in thy fierce and far delight,--


s: A portion of the tempest and of thee![kf]


s: How the lit lake shines, a phosphoric sea,[kg]


s: And the big rain comes dancing to the earth!


s: And now again 'tis black,--and now, the glee


s: Of the loud hills shakes with its mountain-mirth,


s: As if they did rejoice o'er a young Earthquake's birth.[kh]


s: Now, where the swift Rhone cleaves his way between


s: Heights which appear as lovers who have parted[ki]


s: In hate, whose mining depths so intervene,


s: That they can meet no more, though broken-hearted:


s: Though in their souls, which thus each other thwarted,


s: Which blighted their life's bloom, and then departed:--


s: Of years all winters,--war within themselves to wage:[kj]


s: Now, where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way,


s: The mightiest of the storms hath ta'en his stand:


s: For here, not one, but many, make their play,


s: And fling their thunder-bolts from hand to hand,


s: Flashing and cast around: of all the band,


s: The brightest through these parted hills hath forked


s: His lightnings,--as if he did understand,


s: There the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurked.


s: With night, and clouds, and thunder--and a Soul


s: To make these felt and feeling, well may be


s: Things that have made me watchful; the far roll


s: But where of ye, O Tempests! is the goal?


s: Are ye like those within the human breast?


s: Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest?


s: That which is most within me,--could I wreak


s: My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw


s: All that I would have sought, and all I seek,


s: Bear, know, feel--and yet breathe--into _one_ word,


s: And that one word were Lightning, I would speak;


s: With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword.


s: With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom--


s: Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn,


s: And living as if earth contained no tomb,--


s: Still on thy shores, fair Leman! may find room


s: Much, that may give us pause, if pondered fittingly.


s: Clarens! sweet Clarens birthplace of deep Love!


s: Thine air is the young breath of passionate Thought;


s: Thy trees take root in Love; the snows above,[kk]


s: The very Glaciers have his colours caught,


s: And Sun-set into rose-hues sees them wrought[21.B.]


s: By rays which sleep there lovingly: the rocks,[kl]


s: The permanent crags, tell here of Love, who sought


s: In them a refuge from the worldly shocks,


s: Which stir and sting the Soul with Hope that woos, then mocks.


s: Clarens! by heavenly feet thy paths are trod,--[km]


s: Undying Love's, who here ascends a throne


s: To which the steps are mountains; where the God


s: Is a pervading Life and Light,--so shown[kn]


s: In the still cave and forest; o'er the flower


s: His eye is sparkling, and his breath hath blown,


s: His soft and summer breath, whose tender power[ko]


s: Passes the strength of storms in their most desolate hour.


s: All things are here of _Him_; from the black pines,


s: Which are his shade on high, and the loud roar


s: Of torrents, where he listeneth, to the vines


s: Which slope his green path downward to the shore,


s: Where the bowed Waters meet him, and adore,


s: Kissing his feet with murmurs; and the Wood,


s: The covert of old trees, with trunks all hoar,


s: But light leaves, young as joy, stands where it stood,[kp]


s: Offering to him, and his, a populous solitude.


s: And fairy-formed and many-coloured things,


s: Who worship him with notes more sweet than words,[kq]


s: Fearless and full of life: the gush of springs,


s: And fall of lofty fountains, and the bend


s: Of stirring branches, and the bud which brings


s: The swiftest thought of Beauty, here extend


s: Mingling--and made by Love--unto one mighty end.


s: He who hath loved not, here would learn that lore,


s: And make his heart a spirit; he who knows


s: That tender mystery, will love the more;


s: For this is Love's recess, where vain men's woes,


s: And the world's waste, have driven him far from those,[kr]


s: He stands not still, but or decays, or grows


s: Into a boundless blessing, which may vie


s: With the immortal lights, in its eternity!


s: 'Twas not for fiction chose Rousseau this spot,


s: Peopling it with affections; but he found


s: It was the scene which Passion must allot


s: To the Mind's purified beings; 'twas the ground


s: Where early Love his Psyche's zone unbound,


s: And hallowed it with loveliness: 'tis lone,


s: And wonderful, and deep, and hath a sound,


s: And sense, and sight of sweetness; here the Rhone


s: Hath spread himself a couch, the Alps have reared a throne.


s: Lausanne! and Ferney! ye have been the abodes


s: Of Names which unto you bequeathed a name;[22.B.]


s: Mortals, who sought and found, by dangerous roads,


s: They were gigantic minds, and their steep aim


s: Was, Titan-like, on daring doubts to pile


s: Thoughts which should call down thunder, and the flame


s: Of Heaven again assailed--if Heaven, the while,


s: On man and man's research could deign do more than smile.


s: The one was fire and fickleness, a child


s: A wit as various,--gay, grave, sage, or wild,--


s: Historian, bard, philosopher, combined;[ks]


s: The Proteus of their talents: But his own


s: Breathed most in ridicule,--which, as the wind,


s: Blew where it listed, laying all things prone,--


s: Now to o'erthrow a fool, and now to shake a throne.


s: The other, deep and slow, exhausting thought,[kt]


s: And hiving wisdom with each studious year,


s: In meditation dwelt--with learning wrought,


s: And shaped his weapon with an edge severe,


s: Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer;


s: Which stung his foes to wrath, which grew from fear[ku]


s: And doomed him to the zealot's ready Hell,


s: Which answers to all doubts so eloquently well.


s: Yet, peace be with their ashes,--for by them,


s: It is not ours to judge,--far less condemn;


s: The hour must come when such things shall be made


s: Known unto all,--or hope and dread allayed


s: By slumber, on one pillow, in the dust,[kv]


s: Which, thus much we are sure, must lie decayed;


s: And when it shall revive, as is our trust,


s: 'Twill be to be forgiven--or suffer what is just.


s: But let me quit Man's works, again to read


s: His Maker's, spread around me, and suspend


s: This page, which from my reveries I feed,


s: The clouds above me to the white Alps tend,


s: And I must pierce them, and survey whate'er


s: To their most great and growing region, where


s: The earth to her embrace compels the powers of air.


s: Full flashes on the Soul the light of ages,


s: Since the fierce Carthaginian almost won thee,


s: To the last halo of the Chiefs and Sages


s: Thou wert the throne and grave of empires; still,


s: The fount at which the panting Mind assuages


s: Her thirst of knowledge, quaffing there her fill,


s: Flows from the eternal source of Rome's imperial hill.


s: We are not what we have been, and to deem


s: We are not what we should be,--and to steel


s: The heart against itself; and to conceal,


s: With a proud caution, love, or hate, or aught,--


s: Passion or feeling, purpose, grief, or zeal,--


s: Which is the tyrant Spirit of our thought,


s: Is a stern task of soul:--No matter,--it is taught.


s: And for these words, thus woven into song,


s: It may be that they are a harmless wile,--[kw]


s: The colouring of the scenes which fleet along,[kx]


s: Which I would seize, in passing, to beguile


s: My breast, or that of others, for a while.


s: Fame is the thirst of youth,--but I am not[ky]


s: So young as to regard men's frown or smile,


s: I stood and stand alone,--remembered or forgot.


s: I have not loved the World, nor the World me;


s: I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bowed


s: Nor coined my cheek to smiles,--nor cried aloud


s: They could not deem me one of such--I stood


s: Among them, but not of them--in a shroud


s: Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,


s: Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.[23.B.]


s: I have not loved the World, nor the World me,--


s: But let us part fair foes; I do believe,


s: Though I have found them not, that there may be


s: Words which are things,--hopes which will not deceive,


s: And Virtues which are merciful, nor weave


s: Snares for the failing; I would also deem


s: O'er others' griefs that some sincerely grieve--[kz][24.B.]


s: That two, or one, are almost what they seem,--


s: That Goodness is no name--and Happiness no dream.


s: My daughter! with thy name this song begun!


s: My daughter! with thy name thus much shall end!--


s: I see thee not--I hear thee not--but none


s: Can be so wrapt in thee; Thou art the Friend


s: To whom the shadows of far years extend:


s: Albeit my brow thou never should'st behold,


s: My voice shall with thy future visions blend,


s: And reach into thy heart,--when mine is cold,--


s: A token and a tone, even from thy father's mould.


s: To aid thy mind's developement,--to watch


s: Thy dawn of little joys,--to sit and see


s: Almost thy very growth,--to view thee catch


s: Knowledge of objects,--wonders yet to thee!


s: And print on thy soft cheek a parent's kiss,--


s: This, it should seem, was not reserved for me--


s: I know not what is there, yet something like to this.


s: Yet, though dull Hate as duty should be taught,


s: I know that thou wilt love me: though my name


s: Should be shut from thee, as a spell still fraught


s: Though the grave closed between us,--'twere the same,


s: I know that thou wilt love me--though to drain


s: _My_ blood from out thy being were an aim,


s: And an attainment,--all would be in vain,--


s: Still thou would'st love me, still that more than life retain.


s: The child of Love! though born in bitterness,


s: These were the elements,--and thine no less.


s: As yet such are around thee,--but thy fire


s: Shall be more tempered, and thy hope far higher!


s: Sweet be thy cradled slumbers! O'er the sea


s: And from the mountains where I now respire,


s: Fain would I waft such blessing upon thee,


s: As--with a sigh--I deem thou might'st have been to me![la]


s: {209} [D'Alembert (Jean-le-Rond, philosopher, mathematician, and


s: {215} ["If you turn over the earlier pages of the Huntingdon


s: "Those who view mathematical science not merely as a vast body of


s: It would seem, however, that she "wore her learning lightly as a


s: Compare _Henry V._, act iii. sc. 1, line 1--"Once more unto the


s: {217} [Compare _The Two Noble Kinsmen_ (now attributed to


s: Shall we two exercise like twins of Honour


s: Our arms again, and feel our fiery horses


s: ["The metaphor is derived from a torrent-bed, which, when dried


s: "Think'st thou existence doth depend on time?


s: Substance, and people planets of its own


s: With beings brighter than have been, and give


s: A breath to forms which can outlive all flesh."


s: In all which was served up to him, until


s: He fed on poisons, and they had no power,


s: [Of himself as distinct from Harold he will say no more. On the


s: _He of the breast that strove no more to feel,_


s: _Who can behold the flower at noon, nor seek_


s: _To pluck it? who can stedfastly behold_.--[MS.]


s: [The Temple of Fame is on the summit of a mountain; "Clouds


s: My spirit walked not with the souls of men,


s: Nor looked upon the earth with human eyes;


s: My joys, my griefs, my passions, and my powers


s: Made me a stranger; though I wore the form,


s: I had no sympathy with breathing flesh."


s: _Where there were mountains there for him were friends_.


s: _Where there was Ocean--there he was at home_.--[MS.]


s: _Like the Chaldean he could gaze on stars_.--[MS.]


s: _But in Man's dwelling--Harold was a thing_


s: _Restless and worn, and cold and wearisome_.--[MS.]


s: [The mound with the Belgian lion was erected by William I. of


s: [Stanzas xvii., xviii., were written after a visit to Waterloo.


s: "Here his last flight the haughty Eagle flew,


s: Then tore with bloody beak the fatal plain,


s: Pierced with the shafts of banded nations through ..."


s: "'Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain.'"


s: _Here his last flight the haughty eagle flew_.--[MS.]


s: _Then bit with bloody beak the rent plain_.--[MS. erased.]


s: Too late, since thou and France are in the dust,


s: Than Force or Fraud: old Custom, legal Crime,


s: And bloody Faith, the foulest birth of Time."


s: "Be just, be grateful; nor, the oppressor's creed


s: Than ever forced unpitied hearts to bleed."


s: "Peace hath she won ... with her victorious hand


s: Hath won thro' rightful war auspicious peace;


s: The withering rule of violence may cease.


s: Was ever War with such blest victory crowned!


s: Did ever Victory with such fruits abound!"]


s: _The lamps shone on lovely dames and gallant men_.--[MS.]


s: _Arm! arm, and out! it is the opening cannon's roar_.--[MS.]


s: [Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick (1771-1815), brother to


s: _His heart replying knew that sound too well_.--[MS.]


s: _And the hoped vengeance for a Sire so dear_


s: _His filial heart had mourned through many a year_


s: _Roused him to valiant fury nought could quell_.--[MS. erased.]


s: "Here from the heaps who strewed the fatal plain


s: Was Howard's corse by faithful hands conveyed;


s: And not to be confounded with the slain,


s: Here in a grave apart with reverence laid,


s: Till hence his honoured relics o'er the seas


s: Were borne to England, where they rest in peace."]


s: "Yet Nature everywhere resumed her course;


s: Low pansies to the sun their purple gave,


s: And the soft poppy blossomed on the grave."


s: [So, too, Coleridge. "Have you never seen a stick broken in the


s: Sits at the altar which she raised to woe,


s: And finds the scene whence tears eternal flow."


s: "And as a looking-glass, from the aspect,


s: Whilst it is whole doth but one face reflect,


s: But being crack'd or broken, there are shewn


s: Many half-faces, which at first were one.


s: [The "tale" or reckoning of the Psalmist, the span of threescore


s: _Here where the sword united Europe drew_


s: _I had a kinsman warring on that day_.--[MS.]


s: _For thou hast risen as fallen--even now thou seek'st_


s: [Byron seems to have been unable to make up his mind about


s: As a schoolboy at Harrow, Byron fought for the preservation of


s: [The stanza was written while Napoleon was still under the


s: _Was ne'er more rife within men's mouths than now_.--[MS.]


s: _To watch thee shrinking calmly hadst thou smiled._--[MS.]


s: _With a sedate tho' not unfeeling eye._--[MS. erased.]


s: _Greater than in thy fortunes; for in them_


s: _Ambition lured thee on too far to show_


s: _Which stir the blood too boiling in its springs_.--[MS. erased.]


s: [For the archaic use of "battles" for "battalions," compare


s: _Macbeth_, act v. sc. 4, line 4; and Scott's _Lord of the Isles_,


s: _What want these outlaws that a king should have_


s: [The most usual device is a bleeding heart.]


s: _Nor mar it frequent with an impious show_


s: {246} [Compare Moore's lines, _The Meeting of the Waters_--


s: "There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet


s: As that vale in whose bosom the wide waters meet."]


s: _Earth's dreams of Heaven--and such to seem to me_


s: _Glassed with its wonted light, the sunny ray;_


s: _But o'er the mind's marred thoughts--though but a dream_.--[MS.]


s: [Two lyrics, entitled _Stanzas to Augusta_, and the _Epistle to


s: [It has been supposed that there is a reference in this passage,


s: _Thus to that heart did his its thoughts in absence pour_.--[MS.]


s: [Marceau (_vide post_, note 2, p. 296) took part in crushing the


s: {252} [Compare Gray's lines in _The Fatal Sisters_--


s: _More mighty scenes may rise--more glaring shine_


s: _The fertile--fair--and soft--the glories of old days_.--[MS.]


s: _Around in chrystal grandeur to where falls_


s: _The avalanche--the thunder-clouds of snow_.--[MS.]


s: "Hast thou a charm to stay the morning star


s: In his steep course? So long he seems to pause


s: On thy bald awful head, O sovran Blanc!"


s: The "thunderbolt" (line 6) recurs in _Manfred_, act i. sc. 1--


s: {255} [The inscription on the ossuary of the Burgundian troops


s: Inclytissimi et fortissimi Burgundiæ ducis exercitus, Moratum


s: obsidens, ab Helvetiis cæsus, hoc sui monumentum reliquit."]


s: "Perque vias Urbis, Latiosque ululasse per agros


s: [Byron's point is that at Morat 15,000 men were slain in a


s: ["Haunted and hunted by the British tourist and gossip-monger,


s: Prove that his hand has touched responsive chords


s: With genuine rapture and with fervent love


s: Life's rule from passion craved for passion's sake;


s: Untaught that meekness is the cherished bent


s: Of all the truly great and all the innocent.


s: Through good and evil there, in just degree


s: [The metaphor is derived from a hot spring which appears to boil


s: Through that which had been death to many men,


s: And made him friends of mountains: with the stars


s: He held his dialogues! and they did teach


s: [Shelley seems to have taken Byron at his word, and in the


s: _Adonais_ (xxx. 3, _seq._) introduces him in the disguise of--


s: Over his living head like Heaven is bent,


s: {261} [The name "Tigris" is derived from the Persian _tîr_


s: (Sanscrit _Tigra_), "an arrow." If Byron ever consulted Hofmann's


s: authority for his natural and beautiful simile.]


s: [Compare _Tintern Abbey_. In this line, both language and


s: sentiment are undoubtedly Wordsworth's--


s: Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,


s: The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,


s: Their colours, and their forms, were then to me


s: Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes


s: Not harsh nor grating, but of amplest power


s: "Whose half-beholdings through unsteady tears


s: Gave shape, hue, distance to the inward dream,"


s: [Compare Coleridge's _Dejection. An Ode_, iv. 4-9--


s: "And would we aught behold, of higher worth,


s: To the poor, loveless, ever-anxious crowd;


s: Ah! from the soul itself must issue forth


s: _O'er sinful deeds and thoughts the heavenly hue_


s: _With words like sunbeams dazzling as they passed_


s: [As, for instance, with Madame de Warens, in 1738; with Madame


s: ["He was possessed, as holier natures than his have been, by an


s: l'Inégalité parmi les Hommes_) in 1750 and 1753; _Émile, ou, de


s: l'Education_, and _Du Contrat Social_ in 1762.]


s: ["What Rousseau's Discourse [_Sur l'Origine ... de l'Inégalité_,


s: [The substitution of "one" for "both" (see _var._ i.) affords


s: [Compare Anacreon (Εἰς τέττιγα [Ei)s te/ttiga]), _Carm._ xliii.


s: Τὸ δὲ γῆρας οὒ σε τείρει [To\ de\ gê~ras ou)\ se tei/rei.].]


s: "Who can contemplate Fame through clouds unfold


s: The _star_ which rises o'er her steep," etc.?


s: And the allusion to Napoleon's "star," stanza xxxviii. line 9--


s: "Nor learn that tempted Fate will leave the loftiest _Star_."


s: And the _star_ of my fate has declined."


s: {271} [Compare Wordsworth's sonnet, "It is a Beauteous," etc.--


s: "It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,


s: [As the cestus of Venus endowed the wearer with magical


s: [Compare Herodotus, i. 131, Οἱ δὲ νομίζουσι Διἰ μὲν, ἐπὶ τὰ


s: And roofs and temples built by human hands--


s: To loftiest heights ascending, from their tops


s: _Hills which look like brethren with twin heights_


s: The latter half of the quotation runs thus--


s: Like cliffs which had been rent asunder;


s: But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,


s: The marks of that which once had been."]


s: [There are numerous instances of the use of "knoll" as an


s: alternative form of the verb "to knell;" but Byron seems, in this


s: Rousseau, Nature is a means to an end, a conduct of refined and


s: heightened fancy; whereas, to Byron, "her reward was with her," a


s: _Clarens--sweet Clarens--thou art Love's abode_--


s: _Undying Love's--who here hath made a throne_.--[MS.]


s: _And girded it with Spirit which is shown_


s: _From the steep summit to the rushing Rhone_.--[MS. erased.]


s: _Surpasses the strong storm in its most desolate hour_.--[MS.]


s: ("Let those love now, who never loved before;


s: Let those who always loved, now love the more.")


s: Parnell's _Vigil of Venus: British Poets_, 1794, vii. 7.]


s: [Compare _Confessions of J. J. Rousseau_, lib. iv., _passim._]


s: {281} [In his appreciation of Voltaire, Byron, no doubt, had in


s: _Coping with all and leaving all behind_


s: _And laughing at their faults betrayed his own_


s: _His own was ridicule which as the Wind_.--[MS.]


s: {282} [In his youth Voltaire was imprisoned for a year (1717-18)


s: The first half of the line may be illustrated by his quarrel with


s: [The first three volumes of Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the


s: [There is no reason to suppose that this is to be taken


s: {284} [The poet would follow in the wake of the clouds. He must


s: [The Roman Empire engulfed and comprehended the great empires of


s: _Fame is the dream of boyhood--I am not_


s: _So young as to regard the frown or smile_


s: "For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them


s: "My spirit walked not with the souls of men,


s: Nor looked upon the earth with human eyes;


s: The thirst of their ambition was not mine,


s: The aim of their existence was not mine."]


s: {289} [The Countess Guiccioli is responsible for the statement


s: [For a biographical notice of Ada Lady Lovelace, including


s: In "pride of place" here last the Eagle flew.


s: "An eagle towering in his pride of place


s: Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and killed."


s: Such as Harmodius drew on Athens' tyrant Lord.


s: "With myrtle my sword will I wreathe," etc.


s: "Hence," says Mr. Tozer, "'the sword in myrtles drest' (Keble's


s: And Evan's--Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears!


s: And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves.


s: The wood of Soignies is supposed to be a remnant of the forest of


s: I turned from all she brought to those she could not bring.


s: comparing it with my recollection of similar scenes. As a plain,


s: Like to the apples on the Dead Sea's shore.


s: For sceptred Cynics Earth were far too wide a den.


s: What want these outlaws conquerors should have?


s: "What wants that knave that a king should have?" was King James's


s: "There hang nine targats at Johnie's hat,


s: But the sword of honour and the crown'?"


s: The whiteness of his soul--and thus men o'er him wept.


s: "Ici repose Marceau, né à Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, soldat à seize


s: ans, général à vingtdeux ans. Il mourut en combattant pour sa


s: Here Ehrenbreitstein with her shattered wall.


s: Unsepulchred they roamed, and shrieked each wandering ghost.


s: Levelled Aventicum, hath strewed her subject lands.


s: And held within their urn one mind--one heart--one dust.


s: In the sun's face, like yonder Alpine snow.


s: By the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone.


s: Nevertheless, his mother was right. There was a resemblance, and


s: Of earth-o'ergazing mountains, and thus take.


s: It is to be recollected, that the most beautiful and impressive


s: "Je ne trouve pas de plus digne hommage à la Divinité que cette


s: extase à l'Auteur des merveilles qui les frappent? ... Dans ma


s: chambre je prie plus rarement et plus sèchement; mais à l'aspect


s: d'un beau paysage je me sens ému sans pourvoir dire de quoi."


s: Compare, too, Coleridge's lines "To Nature"--


s: "So will I build my altar in the fields,


s: And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be,


s: And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields,


s: Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee,


s: Thee only, God! and Thou shalt not despise


s: Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice."


s: The sky is changed!--and such a change! Oh Night!


s: And Sun-set into rose-hues sees them wrought.


s: Of Names which unto you bequeathed a name.


s: Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.


s: For Banquo's issue have I _filed_ my mind."


s: O'er others' griefs that some sincerely grieve.


s: [The Clef, is now a café on the Grande Place, and still


s: Rousseau with St. Preux, and mixing the man with the book."]


s: {304} [Claire, afterwards Madame Orbe, is Julie's cousin and


s: {305} [Byron mentions the "squall off Meillerie" in a letter to


s: Murray, dated Ouchy, near Lausanne, June 27, 1816. Compare, too,


s: Italia, e un mare e l'altro che la bagna."


s: Henceforth the works of man absorb his attention. Pompey's "dread


s: clxxviii.) were forwarded to Murray in the early spring of 1818.


s: Of these additions the most notable are four stanzas on Venice


s: Charlotte" (stanzas clxvii.-clxxii.); "Nemi" (stanzas clxxiii.,


s: clxxiv.); "The Desert and one fair Spirit" (stanzas clxxvii.,


s: archæology and art. Byron testifies (September 14, 1817) that his


s: The Fourth Canto was published on Tuesday, April 28, 1818. It was


s: Stanza i. "I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs,"--


s: Stanza xv. "Statues of glass--all shivered--the long file,"--


s: Stanza liii. "I leave to learnéd fingers, and wise hands,"--


s: Stanza lxi.-lxxix. "There be more things to greet the heart and


s: eyes,"--"The Niobe of nations! there she stands,"--


s: Stanza lxxxiv. "The dictatorial wreath--couldst thou divine,"--


s: Stanza xcix.-cviii. "There is a stern round tower of other


s: days,"--"There is the moral of all human tales,"--


s: Stanza cx. "Tully was not so eloquent as thou,"--


s: Stanza cxi. "Buried in air, the deep blue sky of Rome,"--


s: Stanza cxxxviii.-cli. "The seal is set.--Now welcome, thou dread


s: Power!"--"The starry fable of the Milky Way,"--


s: Stanza cliii.-clxvi. "But lo! the Dome--the vast and wondrous


s: Dome,"--"And send us prying into the abyss,"--


s: Stanza clxxv. "But I forget.--My Pilgrim's shrine is won,"--


s: Stanza clxxvi. "Upon the blue Symplegades: long years,"--


s: Stanza clxxix. "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean--roll!"--


s: Stanza clxxx. "His steps are not upon thy paths,--thy fields,"--


s: Stanza xl. "Great as thou art, yet paralleled by those,"--


s: Stanza ii. "She looks a sea Cybele, fresh from Ocean,"--


s: Stanza xii.-xiv. "The Suabian sued, and now the Austrian reigns,"


s: Stanza xvi. "When Athens' armies fell at Syracuse,"--


s: Stanza xvii. "Thus, Venice! if no stronger claim were thine,"--


s: Stanza xlvii. "Yet, Italy! through every other land,"--


s: Stanza li. "Appear'dst thou not to Paris in this guise?"--


s: Stanza lii. "Glowing, and circumfused in speechless love,"--


s: Stanza lxxxv. "Sylla was first of victors; but our own,"--


s: Stanza cxii.-cxiv. "Where is the rock of Triumph, the high


s: place,"--"Then turn we to her latest Tribune's name,"--


s: Stanza cxxxv.-cxxxvii. "That curse shall be Forgiveness,--Have I


s: not,"--"But I have lived, and have not lived in vain,"--


s: Stanza clii. "Turn to the Mole which Hadrian reared on high,"--


s: Stanza clxvii.-clxxii. "Hark! forth from the abyss a voice


s: proceeds,"--(On the death of the Princess Charlotte, November 6,


s: Stanza clxxiii. "Lo, Nemi! navelled in the woody hills,"--


s: Stanza clxxiv. "And near, Albano's scarce divided waves,"--


s: Stanza clxxxi. "The armaments which thunderstrike the walls,"--


s: Stanza xli. "The lightning rent from Ariosto's bust,"--


s: Stanza xcvii. "But France got drunk with blood to vomit crime,"--


s: Stanza cxx. "Alas! our young affections run to waste,"--


s: Stanza cxxi. "Oh, Love! no habitant of earth thou art,"--


s: Stanza cxxii. "Of its own beauty is the mind diseased,"--


s: Stanza cxxiv. "We wither from our youth, we gasp away,"--


s: existence, but which cannot poison my future while I retain the


s: these were necessarily limited to the elucidation of the text.


s: dovrebbe essere la prima." Italy has great names still--Canova,


s: highest--Europe--the World--has but one Canova.


s: I stood in Venice, on the "Bridge of Sighs;"[1.H.]


s: I saw from out the wave her structures rise


s: As from the stroke of the Enchanter's wand:


s: A thousand Years their cloudy wings expand


s: O'er the far times, when many a subject land


s: Looked to the winged Lion's marble piles,


s: Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles![lb]


s: She looks a sea Cybele, fresh from Ocean,


s: And such she was;--her daughters had their dowers


s: From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East[lc]


s: Poured in her lap all gems in sparkling showers.


s: In purple was she robed, and of her feast


s: Monarchs partook, and deemed their dignity increased.[ld]


s: In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more,[2.H.]


s: Those days are gone--but Beauty still is here.


s: States fall--Arts fade--but Nature doth not die,


s: Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear,


s: The pleasant place of all festivity,[le]


s: The Revel of the earth--the Masque of Italy!


s: Of mighty shadows, whose dim forms despond


s: Above the Dogeless city's vanished sway;


s: And Pierre, can not be swept or worn away--


s: The keystones of the Arch! though all were o'er,


s: For us repeopled were the solitary shore.


s: And more beloved existence: that which Fate


s: Prohibits to dull life in this our state[lf]


s: Of mortal bondage, by these Spirits supplied,


s: First exiles, then replaces what we hate;


s: Watering the heart whose early flowers have died,


s: And with a fresher growth replenishing the void.


s: Such is the refuge of our youth and age--


s: The first from Hope, the last from Vacancy;


s: And this wan feeling peoples many a page--[lg]


s: And, may be, that which grows beneath mine eye:[lh]


s: Yet there are things whose strong reality


s: Outshines our fairy-land; in shape and hues[li]


s: And the strange constellations which the Muse


s: O'er her wild universe is skilful to diffuse:


s: I saw or dreamed of such,--but let them go,--


s: They came like Truth--and disappeared like dreams;


s: And whatsoe'er they were--are now but so:


s: I could replace them if I would; still teems


s: My mind with many a form which aptly seems


s: Such as I sought for, and at moments found;


s: Let these too go--for waking Reason deems


s: And other voices speak, and other sights surround.


s: I've taught me other tongues--and in strange eyes


s: Have made me not a stranger; to the mind


s: Which is itself, no changes bring surprise;


s: Nor is it harsh to make, nor hard to find


s: A country with--aye, or without mankind;


s: Yet was I born where men are proud to be,--


s: Not without cause; and should I leave behind[lj]


s: The inviolate Island of the sage and free,


s: And seek me out a home by a remoter sea,[lk]


s: Perhaps I loved it well; and should I lay


s: My Spirit shall resume it--if we may[ll]


s: With my land's language: if too fond and far


s: These aspirations in their scope incline,--


s: If my Fame should be, as my fortunes are,


s: Of hasty growth and blight, and dull Oblivion bar


s: My name from out the temple where the dead


s: Are honoured by the Nations--let it be--


s: And light the Laurels on a loftier head!


s: "Sparta hath many a worthier son than he."


s: Meantime I seek no sympathies, nor need--


s: The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree


s: I planted,--they have torn me,--and I bleed:


s: I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.


s: The spouseless Adriatic mourns her Lord,[lm]


s: And annual marriage now no more renewed--


s: St. Mark yet sees his Lion where he stood[3.H.]


s: Stand, but in mockery of his withered power,


s: Over the proud Place where an Emperor sued,[ln]


s: And monarchs gazed and envied in the hour


s: When Venice was a Queen with an unequalled dower.


s: The Suabian sued, and now the Austrian reigns--[4.H.]


s: An Emperor tramples where an Emperor knelt;


s: Kingdoms are shrunk to provinces, and chains


s: Clank over sceptred cities; Nations melt


s: From Power's high pinnacle, when they have felt


s: The sunshine for a while, and downward go


s: Like Lauwine loosened from the mountain's belt;


s: Oh for one hour of blind old Dandolo![5.H.]


s: Th' octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe.[lo]


s: Before St. Mark still glow his Steeds of brass,


s: Their gilded collars glittering in the sun;


s: But is not Doria's menace come to pass?[6.H.]


s: Are they not bridled?--Venice, lost and won,


s: Her thirteen hundred years of freedom done,


s: Sinks, like a sea-weed, unto whence she rose![lp]


s: Better be whelmed beneath the waves, and shun,


s: Even in Destruction's depth, her foreign foes,[lq]


s: From whom Submission wrings an infamous repose.


s: In youth She was all glory,--a new Tyre,--


s: The "Planter of the Lion," which through fire


s: And blood she bore o'er subject Earth and Sea;


s: Though making many slaves, Herself still free,


s: And Europe's bulwark 'gainst the Ottomite;


s: Witness Troy's rival, Candia! Vouch it, ye


s: Immortal waves that saw Lepanto's fight!


s: For ye are names no Time nor Tyranny can blight.


s: Statues of glass--all shivered--the long file


s: But where they dwelt, the vast and sumptuous pile


s: Bespeaks the pageant of their splendid trust;


s: Their sceptre broken, and their sword in rust,


s: Have yielded to the stranger: empty halls,


s: Thin streets, and foreign aspects, such as must


s: Too oft remind her who and what enthrals,[7.H.]


s: Have flung a desolate cloud o'er Venice' lovely walls.


s: And fettered thousands bore the yoke of war,


s: Her voice their only ransom from afar:[lr]


s: See! as they chant the tragic hymn, the car


s: Of the o'ermastered Victor stops--the reins


s: Starts from its belt--he rends his captive's chains,


s: And bids him thank the Bard for Freedom and his strains.[ls]


s: Thus, Venice! if no stronger claim were thine,


s: Were all thy proud historic deeds forgot--


s: Thy love of Tasso, should have cut the knot[lt]


s: Which ties thee to thy tyrants; and thy lot


s: Is shameful to the nations,--most of all,


s: Albion! to thee: the Ocean queen should not


s: Of Venice think of thine, despite thy watery wall.[lu]


s: Rising like water-columns from the sea--


s: Of Joy the sojourn, and of Wealth the mart;


s: And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shakespeare's art,[lv]


s: Had stamped her image in me, and even so,


s: Although I found her thus, we did not part;[lw]


s: Perchance even dearer in her day of woe,


s: Than when she was a boast, a marvel, and a show.


s: The present there is still for eye and thought,


s: And more, it may be, than I hoped or sought;


s: And of the happiest moments which were wrought


s: From thee, fair Venice! have their colours caught:


s: There are some feelings Time can not benumb,[lx]


s: But from their nature will the Tannen grow[ly]


s: Loftiest on loftiest and least sheltered rocks,


s: Rooted in barrenness, where nought below


s: Of soil supports them 'gainst the Alpine shocks


s: Of eddying storms; yet springs the trunk, and mocks


s: The howling tempest, till its height and frame


s: Are worthy of the mountains from whose blocks


s: Of bleak, gray granite into life it came,[lz]


s: And grew a giant tree;--the Mind may grow the same.


s: Existence may be borne, and the deep root


s: Of life and sufferance make its firm abode


s: The camel labours with the heaviest load,


s: And the wolf dies in silence--not bestowed


s: In vain should such example be; if they,


s: Endure and shrink not, we of nobler clay


s: May temper it to bear,--it is but for a day.


s: All suffering doth destroy, or is destroyed,


s: Even by the sufferer--and, in each event,


s: Ends:--Some, with hope replenished and rebuoyed,


s: Return to whence they came--with like intent,


s: And weave their web again; some, bowed and bent,


s: Wax gray and ghastly, withering ere their time,


s: And perish with the reed on which they leant;


s: Some seek devotion--toil--war--good or crime,


s: According as their souls were formed to sink or climb.


s: There comes a token like a Scorpion's sting,


s: Scarce seen, but with fresh bitterness imbued;


s: And slight withal may be the things which bring


s: Back on the heart the weight which it would fling


s: A tone of music--summer's eve--or spring--[mb]


s: A flower--the wind--the Ocean--which shall wound,


s: Striking the electric chain wherewith we are darkly bound;


s: And how and why we know not, nor can trace


s: Home to its cloud this lightning of the mind,


s: But feel the shock renewed, nor can efface


s: The blight and blackening which it leaves behind,


s: Which out of things familiar, undesigned,


s: When least we deem of such, calls up to view


s: The Spectres whom no exorcism can bind,--


s: The cold--the changed--perchance the dead, anew--


s: The mourned--the loved--the lost--too many! yet how few!


s: Fall'n states and buried greatness, o'er a land


s: Which _was_ the mightiest in its old command,


s: And _is_ the loveliest, and must ever be


s: The master-mould of Nature's heavenly hand;


s: Wherein were cast the heroic and the free,--


s: The beautiful--the brave--the Lords of earth and sea,


s: The Commonwealth of Kings--the Men of Rome!


s: Of all Art yields, and Nature can decree;


s: Even in thy desert, what is like to thee?


s: With an immaculate charm which cannot be defaced.


s: The Moon is up, and yet it is not night--


s: Of glory streams along the Alpine height


s: Of blue Friuli's mountains; Heaven is free


s: From clouds, but of all colours seems to be,--


s: While, on the other hand, meek Dian's crest


s: Floats through the azure air--an island of the blest!


s: A single star is at her side, and reigns


s: With her o'er half the lovely heaven; but still


s: Yon sunny Sea heaves brightly, and remains


s: Rolled o'er the peak of the far Rhætian hill,


s: Nature reclaimed her order:--gently flows


s: The deep-dyed Brenta, where their hues instil


s: Which streams upon her stream, and glassed within it glows,


s: Filled with the face of heaven, which, from afar,


s: Comes down upon the waters! all its hues,


s: From the rich sunset to the rising star,


s: And now they change--a paler Shadow strews


s: Its mantle o'er the mountains; parting Day


s: Dies like the Dolphin, whom each pang imbues


s: The last still loveliest, till--'tis gone--and all is gray.


s: There is a tomb in Arqua;--reared in air,


s: To raise a language, and his land reclaim


s: From the dull yoke of her barbaric foes:


s: Watering the tree which bears his Lady's name[8.H.]


s: With his melodious tears, he gave himself to Fame.


s: They keep his dust in Arqua, where he died--[9.H.]


s: The mountain-village where his latter days


s: Went down the vale of years; and 'tis their pride--


s: An honest pride--and let it be their praise,


s: His mansion and his sepulchre--both plain[mc]


s: A feeling more accordant with his strain


s: Than if a Pyramid formed his monumental fane.[md]


s: And the soft quiet hamlet where he dwelt


s: Is one of that complexion which seems made


s: For those who their mortality have felt,


s: And sought a refuge from their hopes decayed


s: In the deep umbrage of a green hill's shade,


s: For they can lure no further; and the ray


s: Of a bright Sun can make sufficient holiday,


s: Developing the mountains, leaves, and flowers,


s: And shining in the brawling brook, where-by,


s: Clear as its current, glide the sauntering hours


s: With a calm languor, which, though to the eye


s: 'Tis Solitude should teach us how to die;


s: No hollow aid; alone--man with his God must strive:[mf]


s: The strength of better thoughts, and seek their prey


s: Of moody texture from their earliest day,


s: And loved to dwell in darkness and dismay


s: Deeming themselves predestined to a doom


s: Which is not of the pangs that pass away;[mg]


s: Making the Sun like blood, the Earth a tomb,


s: The tomb a hell--and Hell itself a murkier gloom.[mh]


s: Ferrara! in thy wide and grass-grown streets,


s: There seems as 'twere a curse upon the Seats


s: Of former Sovereigns, and the antique brood


s: Of Este, which for many an age made good


s: Its strength within thy walls, and was of yore


s: Of petty power impelled, of those who wore


s: The wreath which Dante's brow alone had worn before.


s: And Tasso is their glory and their shame--


s: Hark to his strain! and then survey his cell!


s: And see how dearly earned Torquato's fame,


s: The insulted mind he sought to quench, and blend


s: With the surrounding maniacs, in the hell


s: Where he had plunged it. Glory without end


s: Scattered the clouds away--and on that name attend


s: The tears and praises of all time, while thine


s: Of worthless dust, which from thy boasted line


s: Thou formest in his fortunes bids us think


s: Of thy poor malice, naming thee with scorn:


s: From thee! if in another station born,[mi]


s: Scarce fit to be the slave of him thou mad'st to mourn:


s: _Thou!_ formed to eat, and be despised, and die,


s: Even as the beasts that perish--save that thou


s: Hadst a more splendid trough and wider sty:--


s: _He!_ with a glory round his furrowed brow,


s: In face of all his foes, the Cruscan quire,[10.H.]


s: And Boileau, whose rash envy could allow[mj]


s: No strain which shamed his country's creaking lyre,


s: That whetstone of the teeth--Monotony in wire![mk]


s: Peace to Torquato's injured shade! 'twas his


s: In life and death to be the mark where Wrong


s: Aimed with her poisoned arrows,--but to miss.


s: Each year brings forth its millions--but how long


s: And not the whole combined and countless throng


s: Compose a mind like thine? though all in one[ml]


s: Condensed their scattered rays--they would not form a Sun.[mm]


s: Great as thou art, yet paralleled by those,


s: Thy countrymen, before thee born to shine,


s: The Bards of Hell and Chivalry: first rose


s: The southern Scott, the minstrel who called forth


s: Sang Ladye-love and War, Romance and Knightly Worth.


s: The lightning rent from Ariosto's bust[11.H.]


s: The iron crown of laurel's mimicked leaves;


s: For the true laurel-wreath which Glory weaves[12.H.]


s: Is of the tree no bolt of thunder cleaves,


s: And the false semblance but disgraced his brow;


s: Yet still, if fondly Superstition grieves,


s: Know, that the lightning sanctifies below[13.H.]


s: Whate'er it strikes;--yon head is doubly sacred now.


s: A funeral dower of present woes and past--


s: On thy sweet brow is sorrow ploughed by shame,[mn]


s: And annals graved in characters of flame.


s: Oh, God! that thou wert in thy nakedness


s: Less lovely or more powerful, and couldst claim


s: Thy right, and awe the robbers back, who press


s: To shed thy blood, and drink the tears of thy distress;


s: Then might'st thou more appal--or, less desired,


s: Be homely and be peaceful, undeplored[mo]


s: For thy destructive charms; then, still untired,


s: Would not be seen the arméd torrents poured


s: Down the deep Alps; nor would the hostile horde


s: Quaff blood and water; nor the stranger's sword


s: Victor or vanquished, thou the slave of friend or foe.


s: Wandering in youth, I traced the path of him,


s: The Roman friend of Rome's least-mortal mind,


s: The friend of Tully: as my bark did skim


s: The bright blue waters with a fanning wind,


s: In ruin--even as he had seen the desolate sight;


s: For Time hath not rebuilt them, but upreared


s: Barbaric dwellings on their shattered site,


s: Which only make more mourned and more endeared


s: The few last rays of their far-scattered light,


s: And the crashed relics of their vanished might.


s: The Roman saw these tombs in his own age,


s: These sepulchres of cities, which excite[mp]


s: The moral lesson bears, drawn from such pilgrimage.


s: Of perished states he mourned in their decline,


s: Of then destruction _is_; and now, alas!


s: Rome--Rome imperial, bows her to the storm,


s: In the same dust and blackness, and we pass


s: Wrecks of another world, whose ashes still are warm.


s: Thy wrongs should ring--and shall--from side to side;


s: Mother of Arts! as once of Arms! thy hand


s: Was then our Guardian, and is still our Guide;


s: Nations have knelt to for the keys of Heaven!


s: Shall yet redeem thee, and, all backward driven,


s: Roll the barbarian tide, and sue to be forgiven.


s: But Arno wins us to the fair white walls,


s: Where the Etrurian Athens claims and keeps


s: Her corn, and wine, and oil--and Plenty leaps


s: To laughing life, with her redundant Horn.


s: Along the banks where smiling Arno sweeps


s: And buried Learning rose, redeemed to a new Morn.


s: There, too, the Goddess loves in stone, and fills[mr][14.H.]


s: The air around with Beauty--we inhale[ms]


s: The ambrosial aspect, which, beheld, instils


s: Of heaven is half undrawn--within the pale


s: We stand, and in that form and face behold


s: What Mind can make, when Nature's self would fail;


s: Envy the innate flash which such a Soul could mould:


s: We gaze and turn away, and know not where,


s: Dazzled and drunk with Beauty, till the heart


s: Reels with its fulness; there--for ever there--


s: Chained to the chariot of triumphal Art,


s: We stand as captives, and would not depart.


s: Away!--there need no words, nor terms precise,


s: Where Pedantry gulls Folly--we have eyes:


s: Blood--pulse--and breast confirm the Dardan Shepherd's prize.


s: Appear'dst thou not to Paris in this guise?


s: In all thy perfect Goddess-ship, when lies


s: Before thee thy own vanquished Lord of War?


s: And gazing in thy face as toward a star,


s: Laid on thy lap, his eyes to thee upturn,


s: Feeding on thy sweet cheek! while thy lips are


s: With lava kisses melting while they burn,


s: Showered on his eyelids, brow, and mouth, as from an urn!


s: Glowing, and circumfused in speechless love--[mt]


s: That feeling to express, or to improve--


s: The Gods become as mortals--and man's fate[mu]


s: Has moments like their brightest; but the weight


s: From what has been, or might be, things which grow


s: Into thy statue's form, and look like gods below.


s: I leave to learnéd fingers, and wise hands,


s: The Artist and his Ape, to teach and tell


s: How well his Connoisseurship understands


s: The graceful bend, and the voluptuous swell:


s: I would not their vile breath should crisp the stream


s: Wherein that Image shall for ever dwell--


s: The unruffled mirror of the loveliest dream


s: That ever left the sky on the deep soul to beam.


s: In Santa Croce's holy precincts lie[15.H.]


s: Ashes which make it holier, dust which is


s: Though there were nothing save the past, and this,


s: Which have relapsed to chaos:--here repose


s: Here Machiavelli's earth returned to whence it rose.[17.H.]


s: These are four minds, which, like the elements,


s: Might furnish forth creation:--Italy![mv]


s: Time, which hath wronged thee with ten thousand rents


s: Of thine imperial garment, shall deny[mw]


s: Spirits which soar from ruin:--thy Decay


s: Such as the great of yore, Canova is to-day.


s: But where repose the all Etruscan three--


s: Dante, and Petrarch, and, scarce less than they,


s: The Bard of Prose, creative Spirit! he[mx]


s: Of the Hundred Tales of Love--where did they lay


s: Their bones, distinguished from our common clay


s: In death as life? Are they resolved to dust,


s: And have their Country's Marbles nought to say?


s: Could not her quarries furnish forth one bust?


s: Did they not to her breast their filial earth entrust?


s: Ungrateful Florence! Dante sleeps afar,[18.H.]


s: Like Scipio buried by the upbraiding shore:[19.H.]


s: Thy factions, in their worse than civil war,


s: Proscribed the Bard whose name for evermore


s: Their children's children would in vain adore


s: With the remorse of ages; and the crown[20.H.]


s: Which Petrarch's laureate brow supremely wore,


s: His Life, his Fame, his Grave, though rifled--not thine own.


s: Boccaccio to his parent earth bequeathed[my][21.H.]


s: His dust,--and lies it not her Great among,


s: With many a sweet and solemn requiem breathed


s: O'er him who formed the Tuscan's siren tongue?


s: That music in itself, whose sounds are song,


s: The poetry of speech? No;--even his tomb


s: Uptorn, must bear the hyæna bigot's wrong,


s: No more amidst the meaner dead find room,


s: Nor claim a passing sigh, because it told for _whom!_


s: And Santa Croce wants their mighty dust;


s: Yet for this want more noted, as of yore


s: The Cæsar's pageant, shorn of Brutus' bust,


s: Did but of Rome's best Son remind her more:


s: Fortress of falling Empire! honoured sleeps[mz]


s: The immortal Exile;--Arqua, too, her store


s: Of tuneful relics proudly claims and keeps,


s: While Florence vainly begs her banished dead and weeps.


s: What is her Pyramid of precious stones?[22.H.]


s: Of porphyry, jasper, agate, and all hues


s: Which, sparkling to the twilight stars, infuse


s: Freshness in the green turf that wraps the dead,


s: Are gently prest with far more reverent tread


s: Than ever paced the slab which paves the princely head.


s: There be more things to greet the heart and eyes


s: In Arno's dome of Art's most princely shrine,


s: Where Sculpture with her rainbow Sister vies;


s: There be more marvels yet--but not for mine;


s: My thoughts with Nature rather in the fields,


s: Than Art in galleries: though a work divine


s: Calls for my Spirit's homage, yet it yields


s: Less than it feels, because the weapon which it wields


s: For there the Carthaginian's warlike wiles


s: Come back before me, as his skill beguiles


s: The host between the mountains and the shore,


s: Where Courage falls in her despairing files,[na]


s: And torrents, swoll'n to rivers with their gore,


s: Reek through the sultry plain, with legions scattered o'er.


s: Like to a forest felled by mountain winds;


s: And such the storm of battle on this day,


s: And such the frenzy, whose convulsion blinds


s: To all save Carnage, that, beneath the fray,


s: An Earthquake reeled unheededly away![23.H.]


s: None felt stern Nature rocking at his feet,


s: And yawning forth a grave for those who lay


s: Upon their bucklers for a winding sheet--


s: Such is the absorbing hate when warring nations meet!


s: The Ocean round, but had no time to mark


s: The motions of their vessel; Nature's law,


s: In them suspended, recked not of the awe


s: Which reigns when mountains tremble, and the birds


s: Plunge in the clouds for refuge, and withdraw[nb]


s: From their down-toppling nests; and bellowing herds


s: Stumble o'er heaving plains--and Man's dread hath no words.


s: Her lake a sheet of silver, and her plain


s: Rent by no ravage save the gentle plough;


s: Her agéd trees rise thick as once the slain


s: Lay where their roots are; but a brook hath ta'en--


s: A little rill of scanty stream and bed--


s: A name of blood from that day's sanguine rain;


s: Made the earth wet, and turned the unwilling waters red.[nc]


s: But thou, Clitumnus! in thy sweetest wave


s: Of the most living crystal that was e'er


s: The haunt of river-Nymph, to gaze and lave


s: Her limbs where nothing hid them, thou dost rear


s: Thy grassy banks whereon the milk-white steer


s: Grazes--the purest God of gentle waters!


s: And most serene of aspect, and most clear;


s: Surely that stream was unprofaned by slaughters--


s: A mirror and a bath for Beauty's youngest daughters!


s: Thy current's calmness; oft from out it leaps


s: The finny darter with the glittering scales,


s: Who dwells and revels in thy glassy deeps;


s: While, chance, some scattered water-lily sails[ne]


s: Down where the shallower wave still tells its bubbling tales.


s: Pass not unblest the Genius of the place!


s: Win to the brow, 'tis his; and if ye trace


s: If on the heart the freshness of the scene


s: Sprinkle its coolness, and from the dry dust


s: With Nature's baptism,--'tis to him ye must


s: Pay orisons for this suspension of disgust.


s: The roar of waters!--from the headlong height


s: The flashing mass foams shaking the abyss;


s: The Hell of Waters! where they howl and hiss,


s: And boil in endless torture; while the sweat


s: Of their great agony, wrung out from this


s: Their Phlegethon, curls round the rocks of jet


s: That gird the gulf around, in pitiless horror set,


s: And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again


s: Returns in an unceasing shower, which round,


s: With its unemptied cloud of gentle rain,


s: Making it all one emerald:--how profound[nf]


s: From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound,[ng]


s: Crushing the cliffs, which, downward worn and rent


s: With his fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a fearful vent


s: To the broad column which rolls on, and shows


s: Torn from the womb of mountains by the throes


s: With many windings, through the vale:--Look back!


s: As if to sweep down all things in its track,


s: Charming the eye with dread,--a matchless cataract,


s: From side to side, beneath the glittering morn,


s: An Iris sits, amidst the infernal surge,


s: Its steady dyes, while all around is torn


s: Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn:


s: Resembling, 'mid the torture of the scene,


s: Love watching Madness with unalterable mien.


s: The infant Alps, which--had I not before


s: Gazed on their mightier Parents, where the pine


s: Sits on more shaggy summits, and where roar[nh]


s: The thundering Lauwine--might be worshipped more;


s: But I have seen the soaring Jungfrau rear[ni]


s: Her never-trodden snow, and seen the hoar


s: Glaciers of bleak Mont Blanc both far and near--


s: And in Chimari heard the Thunder-Hills of fear,


s: Th' Acroceraunian mountains of old name;


s: Like Spirits of the spot, as 'twere for fame.


s: These hills seem things of lesser dignity;


s: All, save the lone Soracte's height, displayed


s: Not _now_ in snow, which asks the lyric Roman's aid


s: For our remembrance, and from out the plain


s: Heaves like a long-swept wave about to break,


s: And on the curl hangs pausing: not in vain


s: May he, who will, his recollections rake,


s: And quote in classic raptures, and awake


s: The hills with Latian echoes--I abhorred


s: Too much, to conquer for the Poet's sake,


s: The drilled dull lesson, forced down word by word


s: In my repugnant youth, with pleasure to record


s: Aught that recalls the daily drug which turned


s: My sickening memory; and, though Time hath taught


s: My mind to meditate what then it learned,[nj]


s: Yet such the fixed inveteracy wrought[nk]


s: That, with the freshness wearing out before


s: My mind could relish what it might have sought,


s: Its health--but what it then detested, still abhor.[nl]


s: Not for thy faults, but mine: it is a curse


s: To comprehend, but never love thy verse;


s: Our little life, nor Bard prescribe his art,


s: Nor livelier Satirist the conscience pierce,


s: Awakening without wounding the touched heart,


s: Yet fare thee well--upon Soracte's ridge we part.


s: The orphans of the heart must turn to thee,


s: Lone Mother of dead Empires! and control


s: In their shut breasts their petty misery.


s: What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see


s: The cypress--hear the owl--and plod your way


s: O'er steps of broken thrones and temples--Ye!


s: A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.


s: Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe;[nm]


s: The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now;


s: Of their heroic dwellers: dost thou flow,


s: Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress.


s: Have dealt upon the seven-hilled City's pride;


s: She saw her glories star by star expire,[nn]


s: And up the steep barbarian Monarchs ride,


s: Where the car climbed the Capitol; far and wide


s: Temple and tower went down, nor left a site:


s: Chaos of ruins! who shall trace the void,


s: O'er the dim fragments cast a lunar light,


s: And say, "here was, or is," where all is doubly night?


s: The double night of ages, and of her,[no]


s: Night's daughter, Ignorance, hath wrapt and wrap


s: All round us; we but feel our way to err:


s: The Ocean hath his chart, the Stars their map,


s: And Knowledge spreads them on her ample lap;


s: But Rome is as the desert--where we steer


s: Stumbling o'er recollections; now we clap


s: Our hands, and cry "Eureka!" "it is clear"--


s: When but some false Mirage of ruin rises near.


s: The trebly hundred triumphs! and the day


s: When Brutus made the dagger's edge surpass


s: The Conqueror's sword in bearing fame away!


s: Alas, for Tully's voice, and Virgil's lay,[np]


s: And Livy's pictured page!--but these shall be


s: That brightness in her eye she bore when Rome was free!


s: Oh, thou, whose chariot rolled on Fortune's wheel,


s: Triumphant Sylla! Thou, who didst subdue


s: Thy country's foes ere thou wouldst pause to feel


s: The wrath of thy own wrongs, or reap the due


s: Of hoarded vengeance till thine Eagles flew


s: O'er prostrate Asia;--thou, who with thy frown


s: With all thy vices--for thou didst lay down


s: With an atoning smile a more than earthly crown,


s: Thy dictatorial wreath--couldst thou divine


s: To what would one day dwindle that which made


s: Thee more than mortal? and that so supine


s: By aught than Romans Rome should thus be laid?[nq]


s: Her warriors but to conquer--she who veiled


s: Earth with her haughty shadow, and displayed,[nr]


s: Her rushing wings--Oh! she who was Almighty hailed!


s: Sylla was first of victors; but our own,[ns]


s: Too swept off senates while he hewed the throne


s: What crimes it costs to be a moment free,


s: And famous through all ages! but beneath


s: Beheld him win two realms, and, happier, yield his breath.


s: The third of the same Moon whose former course


s: Had all but crowned him, on the selfsame day


s: Deposed him gently from his throne of force,


s: And laid him with the Earth's preceding clay.


s: And showed not Fortune thus how fame and sway,


s: Our souls to compass through each arduous way,


s: Are in her eyes less happy than the tomb?


s: Were they but so in Man's, how different were his doom!


s: And thou, dread Statue! yet existent in[24.H.]


s: Thou who beheldest, 'mid the assassins' din,


s: At thy bathed base the bloody Cæsar lie,


s: An offering to thine altar from the Queen


s: Of gods and men, great Nemesis! did he die,


s: And thou, too, perish, Pompey? have ye been


s: Victors of countless kings, or puppets of a scene?


s: And thou, the thunder-stricken nurse of Rome![25.H.]


s: She-wolf! whose brazen-imaged dugs impart


s: The milk of conquest yet within the dome


s: Thou standest:--Mother of the mighty heart,


s: Which the great Founder sucked from thy wild teat,


s: Scorched by the Roman Jove's ethereal dart,


s: And thy limbs black with lightning--dost thou yet


s: Guard thine immortal cubs, nor thy fond charge forget?


s: Thou dost;--but all thy foster-babes are dead--


s: The men of iron; and the World hath reared


s: Cities from out their sepulchres: men bled


s: And fought and conquered, and the same course steered,


s: At apish distance; but as yet none have,


s: Nor could, the same supremacy have neared,


s: Save one vain Man, who is not in the grave--


s: But, vanquished by himself, to his own slaves a slave--


s: With steps unequal; for the Roman's mind


s: Was modelled in a less terrestrial mould,[26.H.]


s: With passions fiercer, yet a judgment cold,


s: The frailties of a heart so soft, yet bold--


s: At Cleopatra's feet,--and now himself he beamed,


s: And came--and saw--and conquered! But the man


s: Who would have tamed his Eagles down to flee,


s: Like a trained falcon, in the Gallic van,


s: Which he, in sooth, long led to Victory,


s: With a deaf heart which never seemed to be


s: A listener to itself, was strangely framed;


s: With but one weakest weakness--Vanity--[nt]


s: Coquettish in ambition--still he aimed--


s: And what? can he avouch, or answer what he claimed?[nu]


s: And would be all or nothing--nor could wait


s: For the sure grave to level him; few years


s: Had fixed him with the Cæsars in his fate


s: On whom we tread: For _this_ the conqueror rears


s: The Arch of Triumph! and for this the tears


s: And blood of earth flow on as they have flowed,


s: Without an Ark for wretched Man's abode,


s: And ebbs but to reflow!--Renew thy rainbow, God![nv]


s: Our senses narrow, and our reason frail,


s: Life short, and truth a gem which loves the deep,


s: And all things weighed in Custom's falsest scale;


s: Mantles the earth with darkness, until right


s: And wrong are accidents, and Men grow pale


s: Lest their own judgments should become too bright,


s: And their free thoughts be crimes, and Earth have too much light.


s: And thus they plod in sluggish misery,[nw]


s: Rotting from sire to son, and age to age,


s: Proud of their trampled nature, and so die,[nx]


s: To the new race of inborn slaves, who wage


s: War for their chains, and rather than be free,


s: Their fellows fall before, like leaves of the same tree.


s: I speak not of men's creeds--they rest between


s: Man and his Maker--but of things allowed,


s: Averred, and known, and daily, hourly seen--


s: The edict of Earth's rulers, who are grown


s: The apes of him who humbled once the proud,


s: And shook them from their slumbers on the throne;


s: Too glorious, were this all his mighty arm had done.


s: Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be,


s: And Freedom find no Champion and no Child


s: Sprung forth a Pallas, armed and undefined?


s: Or must such minds be nourished in the wild,


s: Deep in the unpruned forest, 'midst the roar[ny]


s: Of cataracts, where nursing Nature smiled


s: Such seeds within her breast, or Europe no such shore?


s: But France got drunk with blood to vomit crime;[nz]


s: To Freedom's cause, in every age and clime;


s: Because the deadly days which we have seen,


s: And vile Ambition, that built up between


s: And the base pageant last upon the scene,


s: Are grown the pretext for the eternal thrall


s: Which nips Life's tree, and dooms Man's worst--his second fall.


s: Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying,


s: Streams like the thunder-storm _against_ the wind;


s: Thy trumpet voice, though broken now and dying,


s: The loudest still the Tempest leaves behind;


s: Thy tree hath lost its blossoms, and the rind,


s: Chopped by the axe, looks rough and little worth,


s: But the sap lasts,--and still the seed we find


s: Sown deep, even in the bosom of the North;


s: So shall a better spring less bitter fruit bring forth.


s: There is a stern round tower of other days


s: Firm as a fortress, with its fence of stone,


s: Such as an army's baffled strength delays,


s: Standing with half its battlements alone,


s: And with two thousand years of ivy grown,


s: The green leaves over all by Time o'erthrown;--


s: What was this tower of strength? within its cave


s: What treasure lay so locked, so hid?--A woman's grave.[ob]


s: Tombed in a palace? Was she chaste and fair?


s: Worthy a king's--or more--a Roman's bed?


s: What race of Chiefs and Heroes did she bear?


s: What daughter of her beauties was the heir?


s: How lived--how loved--how died she? Was she not


s: Where meaner relics must not dare to rot,


s: Placed to commemorate a more than mortal lot?


s: Was she as those who love their lords, or they


s: Who love the lords of others? such have been


s: Even in the olden time, Rome's annals say.


s: Profuse of joy--or 'gainst it did she war,


s: To the soft side of the heart, or wisely bar


s: Love from amongst her griefs?--for such the affections are.[oc]


s: Perchance she died in youth--it may be, bowed


s: With woes far heavier than the ponderous tomb


s: That weighed upon her gentle dust: a cloud


s: Might gather o'er her beauty, and a gloom


s: Heaven gives its favourites--early death--yet shed


s: With hectic light, the Hesperus of the dead,


s: Of her consuming cheek the autumnal leaf-like red.


s: Perchance she died in age--surviving all,


s: Charms--kindred--children--with the silver gray


s: On her long tresses, which might yet recall,


s: When they were braided, and her proud array


s: And lovely form were envied, praised, and eyed


s: By Rome--But whither would Conjecture stray?


s: The wealthiest Roman's wife: Behold his love or pride!


s: I know not why--but standing thus by thee


s: It seems as if I had thine inmate known,


s: Thou Tomb! and other days come back on me


s: Is changed and solemn, like the cloudy groan


s: Till I had bodied forth the heated mind[od]


s: Forms from the floating wreck which Ruin leaves behind:


s: And from the planks, far shattered o'er the rocks,


s: Built me a little bark of hope, once more


s: Of the loud breakers, and the ceaseless roar


s: Where all lies foundered that was ever dear:


s: But could I gather from the wave-worn store


s: Enough for my rude boat, where should I steer?


s: There woos no home, nor hope, nor life, save what is here.[oe]


s: Then let the Winds howl on! their harmony


s: Shall henceforth be my music, and the Night


s: The sound shall temper with the owlets' cry,


s: Dim o'er the bird of darkness' native site,


s: With their large eyes, all glistening gray and bright,


s: And sailing pinions.--Upon such a shrine


s: What are our petty griefs?--let me not number mine.


s: Cypress and ivy, weed and wallflower grown


s: Matted and massed together--hillocks heaped


s: On what were chambers--arch crushed, column strown


s: In fragments--choked up vaults, and frescos steeped


s: In subterranean damps, where the owl peeped,[of]


s: Deeming it midnight:--Temples--Baths--or Halls?


s: Pronounce who can: for all that Learning reaped


s: From her research hath been, that these are walls--


s: Behold the Imperial Mount! 'tis thus the Mighty falls.


s: 'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past,


s: First Freedom, and then Glory--when that fails,


s: Hath but _one_ page,--'tis better written here,


s: Where gorgeous Tyranny hath thus amassed


s: All treasures, all delights, that Eye or Ear,


s: Heart, Soul could seek--Tongue ask--Away with words! draw near,


s: There is such matter for all feeling:--Man![og]


s: Ages and Realms are crowded in this span,


s: Of Glory's gewgaws shining in the van[oh]


s: Till the Sun's rays with added flame were filled!


s: Where are its golden roofs? where those who dared to build?


s: Thou nameless column with the buried base!


s: What are the laurels of the Cæsar's brow?


s: Crown me with ivy from his dwelling-place.


s: Whose arch or pillar meets me in the face,


s: Titus or Trajan's? No--'tis that of Time:


s: Triumph, arch, pillar, all he doth displace[oi]


s: To crush the imperial urn, whose ashes slept sublime,


s: Buried in air, the deep blue sky of Rome,


s: And looking to the stars: they had contained


s: A Spirit which with these would find a home,


s: The last of those who o'er the whole earth reigned,


s: The Roman Globe--for, after, none sustained,


s: But yielded back his conquests:--he was more


s: With household blood and wine, serenely wore


s: His sovereign virtues--still we Trajan's name adore.


s: Where is the rock of Triumph, the high place


s: Where Rome embraced her heroes?--where the steep


s: Tarpeian?--fittest goal of Treason's race,


s: The Promontory whence the Traitor's Leap[oj]


s: Cured all ambition? Did the conquerors heap


s: Their spoils here? Yes; and in yon field below,


s: A thousand years of silenced factions sleep--


s: The Forum, where the immortal accents glow,


s: And still the eloquent air breathes-burns with Cicero![ok]


s: The field of Freedom--Faction--Fame--and Blood:


s: Here a proud people's passions were exhaled,


s: From the first hour of Empire in the bud


s: To that when further worlds to conquer failed;


s: But long before had Freedom's face been veiled,


s: Trod on the trembling Senate's slavish mutes,


s: Or raised the venal voice of baser prostitutes.


s: Then turn we to her latest Tribune's name,


s: From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee,


s: Of Freedom's withered trunk puts forth a leaf,


s: The Forum's champion, and the people's chief--


s: Her new-born Numa thou--with reign, alas! too brief.


s: Egeria! sweet creation of some heart[27.H.]


s: Which found no mortal resting-place so fair


s: As thine ideal breast; whate'er thou art


s: The nympholepsy of some fond despair--[ol]


s: Who found a more than common Votary there


s: Thou wert a beautiful Thought, and softly bodied forth.


s: The mosses of thy Fountain still are sprinkled


s: With thine Elysian water-drops; the face


s: Of thy cave-guarded Spring, with years unwrinkled,


s: Reflects the meek-eyed Genius of the place,


s: Whose green, wild margin now no more erase


s: Art's works; nor must the delicate waters sleep


s: Prisoned in marble--bubbling from the base


s: The rill runs o'er--and round, fern, flowers, and ivy, creep


s: Are clothed with early blossoms--through the grass


s: The quick-eyed lizard rustles--and the bills


s: Of summer-birds sing welcome as ye pass;


s: Flowers fresh in hue, and many in their class,


s: Implore the pausing step, and with their dyes


s: Dance in the soft breeze in a fairy mass;


s: The sweetness of the Violet's deep blue eyes,


s: Kissed by the breath of heaven, seems coloured by its skies.


s: Here didst thou dwell, in this enchanted cover,


s: For the far footsteps of thy mortal lover;


s: The purple Midnight veiled that mystic meeting


s: With her most starry canopy--and seating


s: This cave was surely shaped out for the greeting


s: Haunted by holy Love--the earliest Oracle!


s: And didst thou not, thy breast to his replying,


s: Blend a celestial with a human heart;[om]


s: And Love, which dies as it was born, in sighing,


s: Share with immortal transports? could thine art


s: Expel the venom and not blunt the dart--


s: And root from out the soul the deadly weed which cloys?


s: Alas! our young affections run to waste,


s: But weeds of dark luxuriance, tares of haste,


s: Rank at the core, though tempting to the eyes


s: Flowers whose wild odours breathe but agonies,


s: And trees whose gums are poison; such the plants


s: Which spring beneath her steps as Passion flies


s: O'er the World's wilderness, and vainly pants


s: For some celestial fruit forbidden to our wants.


s: Oh, Love! no habitant of earth thou art--[on]


s: A faith whose martyrs are the broken heart,--


s: But never yet hath seen, nor e'er shall see


s: The naked eye, thy form, as it should be;


s: The mind hath made thee, as it peopled Heaven,


s: And to a thought such shape and image given,


s: Where are the forms the sculptor's soul hath seized?


s: Where are the charms and virtues which we dare


s: Which o'er-informs the pencil and the pen,


s: And overpowers the page where it would bloom again?


s: Who loves, raves--'tis youth's frenzy--but the cure


s: Is bitterer still, as charm by charm unwinds


s: Which robed our idols, and we see too sure


s: Nor Worth nor Beauty dwells from out the mind's


s: The fatal spell, and still it draws us on,


s: Reaping the whirlwind from the oft-sown winds;


s: Seems ever near the prize--wealthiest when most undone.


s: We wither from our youth, we gasp away--


s: Sick--sick; unfound the boon--unslaked the thirst,


s: Though to the last, in verge of our decay,


s: Some phantom lures, such as we sought at first--


s: But all too late,--so are we doubly curst.


s: Love, Fame, Ambition, Avarice--'tis the same,


s: Each idle--and all ill--and none the worst--


s: For all are meteors with a different name,[oo]


s: And Death the sable smoke where vanishes the flame.


s: Few--none--find what they love or could have loved,


s: Though accident, blind contact, and the strong


s: Our coming evils with a crutch-like rod,


s: Whose touch turns Hope to dust,--the dust we all have trod.


s: The harmony of things,--this hard decree,


s: This boundless Upas, this all-blasting tree,


s: Whose root is Earth--whose leaves and branches be


s: The skies which rain their plagues on men like dew--


s: Disease, death, bondage--all the woes we see,


s: And worse, the woes we see not--which throb through


s: The immedicable soul, with heart-aches ever new.


s: Our right of thought--our last and only place


s: Of refuge; this, at least, shall still be mine:


s: Though from our birth the Faculty divine


s: Is chained and tortured--cabined, cribbed, confined,


s: And bred in darkness, lest the Truth should shine


s: The beam pours in--for Time and Skill will couch the blind.


s: Collecting the chief trophies of her line,


s: Would build up all her triumphs in one dome,


s: Her Coliseum stands; the moonbeams shine


s: As 'twere its natural torches--for divine


s: Should be the light which streams here,--to illume


s: This long-explored but still exhaustless mine


s: Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume


s: Hues which have words, and speak to ye of Heaven,


s: Floats o'er this vast and wondrous monument,


s: And shadows forth its glory. There is given


s: Unto the things of earth, which Time hath bent,


s: A Spirit's feeling, and where he hath leant


s: His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power


s: For which the Palace of the present hour


s: Must yield its pomp, and wait till Ages are its dower.


s: And only Healer when the heart hath bled;


s: Time! the Corrector where our judgments err,


s: The test of Truth, Love--sole philosopher,


s: For all beside are sophists--from thy thrift,


s: Which never loses though it doth defer--


s: My hands, and eyes, and heart, and crave of thee a gift:


s: Amidst this wreck, where thou hast made a shrine


s: Among thy mightier offerings here are mine,


s: Ruins of years--though few, yet full of fate:--


s: Good, and reserved my pride against the hate


s: Which shall not whelm me, let me not have worn


s: This iron in my soul in vain--shall _they_ not mourn?


s: Left the unbalanced scale, great Nemesis![28.H.]


s: Here, where the ancient paid thee homage long--


s: Thou, who didst call the Furies from the abyss,


s: And round Orestes bade them howl and hiss


s: Had it but been from hands less near--in this


s: Thy former realm, I call thee from the dust!


s: Dost thou not hear my heart?--Awake! thou shalt, and must.


s: For my ancestral faults or mine, the wound[op]


s: I bleed withal; and, had it been conferred


s: With a just weapon, it had flowed unbound;


s: But now my blood shall not sink in the ground--


s: To thee I do devote it--_Thou_ shalt take


s: The vengeance, which shall yet be sought and found--


s: Which if _I_ have not taken for the sake--


s: But let that pass--I sleep--but Thou shalt yet awake.


s: And if my voice break forth, 'tis not that now[oq]


s: I shrink from what is suffered: let him speak


s: Or seen my mind's convulsion leave it weak;


s: Not in the air shall these my words disperse,


s: Though I be ashes; a far hour shall wreak


s: The deep prophetic fulness of this verse,


s: And pile on human heads the mountain of my curse!


s: That curse shall be Forgiveness.--Have I not--


s: Hear me, my mother Earth! behold it, Heaven!--


s: Have I not suffered things to be forgiven?


s: Have I not had my brain seared, my heart riven,


s: Hopes sapped, name blighted, Life's life lied away?


s: As rots into the souls of those whom I survey.


s: Have I not seen what human things could do?


s: To the small whisper of the as paltry few--


s: The Janus glance of whose significant eye,


s: Learning to lie with silence, would _seem_ true--


s: And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh,


s: Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy.


s: But I have lived, and have not lived in vain:


s: My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire,


s: And my frame perish even in conquering pain;


s: But there is that within me which shall tire


s: Torture and Time, and breathe when I expire;


s: Something unearthly, which they deem not of,


s: Like the remembered tone of a mute lyre,


s: Shall on their softened spirits sink, and move


s: In hearts all rocky now the late remorse of Love.


s: The seal is set.--Now welcome, thou dread Power!


s: Nameless, yet thus omnipotent, which here


s: Walk'st in the shadow of the midnight hour


s: With a deep awe, yet all distinct from fear;


s: Thy haunts are ever where the dead walls rear


s: Derives from thee a sense so deep and clear


s: And grow upon the spot--all-seeing but unseen.


s: In murmured pity, or loud-roared applause,


s: As man was slaughtered by his fellow man.


s: And wherefore slaughtered? wherefore, but because


s: Such were the bloody Circus' genial laws,


s: And the imperial pleasure.--Wherefore not?


s: What matters where we fall to fill the maws


s: Of worms--on battle-plains or listed spot?


s: Both are but theatres--where the chief actors rot.


s: He leans upon his hand--his manly brow[os]


s: And his drooped head sinks gradually low--


s: And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow


s: From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one,[ot]


s: Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now[ou]


s: The arena swims around him--he is gone,[ov]


s: Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.


s: He heard it, but he heeded not--his eyes


s: Were with his heart--and that was far away;


s: He recked not of the life he lost nor prize,


s: But where his rude hut by the Danube lay--


s: _There_ were his young barbarians all at play,


s: _There_ was their Dacian mother--he, their sire,


s: Butchered to make a Roman holiday--[ow][29.H.]


s: All this rushed with his blood--Shall he expire


s: And unavenged?--Arise! ye Goths, and glut your ire!


s: But here, where Murder breathed her bloody steam;--


s: And here, where buzzing nations choked the ways,


s: And roared or murmured like a mountain stream


s: Dashing or winding as its torrent strays;


s: Here, where the Roman million's blame or praise


s: Was Death or Life--the playthings of a crowd--[ox][30.H.]


s: My voice sounds much--and fall the stars' faint rays[oy]


s: On the arena void--seats crushed--walls bowed--


s: And galleries, where my steps seem echoes strangely loud.


s: Walls--palaces--half-cities, have been reared;


s: Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass,[oz]


s: And marvel where the spoil could have appeared.


s: Hath it indeed been plundered, or but cleared?


s: When the colossal fabric's form is neared:


s: It will not bear the brightness of the day,


s: Which streams too much on all--years--man--have reft away.


s: But when the rising moon begins to climb


s: Its topmost arch, and gently pauses there--


s: When the stars twinkle through the loops of Time,


s: And the low night-breeze waves along the air


s: The garland-forest, which the gray walls wear,[pa]


s: Like laurels on the bald first Cæsar's head--


s: When the light shines serene but doth not glare--


s: Then in this magic circle raise the dead;--


s: Heroes have trod this spot--'tis on their dust ye tread.[pb]


s: "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand:


s: When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;


s: And when Rome falls--the World." From our own land


s: Thus spake the pilgrims o'er this mighty wall


s: In Saxon times, which we are wont to call


s: Ancient; and these three mortal things are still


s: On their foundations, and unaltered all--


s: Rome and her Ruin past Redemption's skill--


s: The World--the same wide den--of thieves, or what ye will.


s: Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime--


s: Shrine of all saints and temple of all Gods,


s: From Jove to Jesus--spared and blest by Time--


s: Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods


s: Arch--empire--each thing round thee--and Man plods


s: His way through thorns to ashes--glorious Dome!


s: Shalt thou not last? Time's scythe and Tyrants' rods


s: Of Art and Piety--Pantheon!--pride of Rome![pc]


s: Despoiled yet perfect! with thy circle spreads


s: Her light through thy sole aperture; to those


s: Who worship, here are altars for their beads--


s: Their eyes on honoured forms, whose busts around them close.


s: There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light


s: Two forms are slowly shadowed on my sight--


s: Two insulated phantoms of the brain:[pd]


s: It is not so--I see them full and plain--


s: An old man, and a female young and fair,


s: Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein


s: The blood is nectar:--but what doth she there,


s: With her unmantled neck, and bosom white and bare?[pe]


s: Full swells the deep pure fountain of young life,


s: Where _on_ the heart and _from_ the heart we took


s: Our first and sweetest nurture--when the wife,


s: Blest into mother, in the innocent look,


s: Or even the piping cry of lips that brook[pf]


s: No pain and small suspense, a joy perceives[pg]


s: Man knows not--when from out its cradled nook


s: She sees her little bud put forth its leaves--


s: What may the fruit be yet?--I know not--Cain was Eve's.


s: But here Youth offers to Old Age the food,


s: The milk of his own gift: it is her Sire


s: To whom she renders back the debt of blood


s: Born with her birth:--No--he shall not expire


s: While in those warm and lovely veins the fire


s: Great Nature's Nile, whose deep stream rises higher


s: Reverse of her decree, than in the abyss


s: Where sparkle distant worlds:--Oh, holiest Nurse!


s: No drop of that clear stream its way shall miss


s: To thy Sire's heart, replenishing its source[ph]


s: With life, as our freed souls rejoin the Universe.


s: Turn to the Mole which Hadrian reared on high,


s: Whose travelled phantasy from the far Nile's


s: Enormous model, doomed the artist's toils


s: To build for Giants, and for his vain earth,


s: His shrunken ashes, raise this Dome: How smiles


s: The gazer's eye with philosophic mirth,[pi]