The Works of Lord Byron Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Works of Lord Byron novel. A total of 838 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Byron's Poetical Works.Vol. 1.by Byron.PREFACE TO THE POEMS.The text of the present
Byron's Poetical Works.Vol. 1.by Byron.PREFACE TO THE POEMS.The text of the present issue of Lord Byron's Poetical Works is based on that of 'The Works of Lord Byron', in six volumes, 12mo, which was published by John Murray in 1831. T
- 101 [Footnote xlii: While Kennys World just suffered to proceed Proclaims the audience very kind indeed.-- [MS. British Bards. First to Fourth Editions.]] [Footnote xliii: Resume her throne again.-- [MS. British Bards. First to Fourth Editions.]] [Footnote xl
- 102 From Albions cliffs to Caledonias coast. Some few who know to write as well as feel. [MS.]] [Footnote lvi: The spoiler came; and all thy promise fair Has sought the grave, to sleep for ever there.-- [First to Fourth Editions]] [Footnote lvii: On him may m
- 103 ['MS. British Bards.'][Sub-Footnote A: William Smyth (1766-1849). Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, published his 'English Lyrics' (in 1806), and several other works.][Footnote lxix: 'Yet hold--as when by Heaven's sup
- 104 POSTSCRIPT TO THE SECOND EDITION.I have been informed, since the present edition went to the press, that my trusty and well-beloved cousins, the Edinburgh Reviewers, are preparing a most vehement critique on my poor, gentle, 'unresisting'Muse, w
- 105 May shoot a little with a lengthened bow; We claim this mutual mercy for our task, And grant in turn the pardon which we ask; But make not monsters spring from gentle dams-- Birds breed not vipers, tigers nurse not lambs. 20 A laboured, long Exordium, som
- 106 Launched into life, extinct his early fire, He apes the selfish prudence of his Sire; Marries for money, chooses friends for rank, Buys land, and shrewdly trusts not to the Bank; Sits in the Senate; gets a son and heir; Sends him to Harrow--for himself wa
- 107 And, blunt myself, give edge to other's steel, Nor write at all, unless to teach the art To those rehearsing for the Poet's part; From Horace show the pleasing paths of song, [lxix], And from my own example--what is wrong. 490 Though modern prac
- 108 Cash cannot quell them; Pollio played this prank, [xci](Then Phoebus first found credit in a Bank!) Not all the living only, but the dead, Fool on, as fluent as an Orpheus' Head; [68] 720 d.a.m.ned all their days, they posthumously thrive, Dug up fro
- 109 [Footnote 3: "While pure Description held the place of Sense."-- Pope, _Prol. to the Sat.,_ L. 148."While Mr. Sol decked out all so glorious s.h.i.+nes like a Beau in his Birthday Embroidery."[Fielding, _Tom Thumb_, act i. sc. I.]--[_M
- 110 2dly, Batteux: "Mais il est bien difficile de donner des traits propres et individuels aux etres purement possibles."3dly, Dacier: "Il est difficile de traiter convenablement ces caracteres que tout le monde peut inventer."Mr. Sevigne&
- 111 [Footnote 33: His speech on the Licensing Act [in which he opposed the Bill], is reckoned one of his most eloquent efforts.[The following sentences have been extracted from the speech which was delivered:-- "The bill is not only an encroachment upon
- 112 'Some Thoughts concerning Education', by John Locke (1880), p. 152.]][Footnote 49: "Iro pauperior:" a proverb: this is the same beggar who boxed with Ulysses for a pound of kid's fry, which he lost and half a dozen teeth besides.
- 113 [Footnote 66: Lines 689-696 are not in 'MS. L. (a)' or 'MS. L. (b)'.][Footnote 67: 'MS. L.' ('a' and 'b') continue at line 758.][Footnote 68: "Tum quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulsum, Gurgite c.u
- 114 [Footnote 79: On his table were found these words:--"What Cato did, and Addison approved, cannot be wrong." But Addison did not "approve;" and if he had, it would not have mended the matter. He had invited his daughter on the same wate
- 115 or, Which wraps presumption. [MS. M. erased.]] [Footnote viii: As when the poet to description yields Of waters gliding through the goodly fields; The Groves of Granta and her Gothic Halls, Oxford and Christchurch, London and St. Pauls, Or with a ruder fl
- 116 [Proof b, British Museum.]] [Footnote xxi: As Custom fluctuates whose Iron Sway Though ever changing Mortals must obey. [MS. M.]] [Footnote xxii: To mark the Majesty of Epic song. [MS. L. (a).]] [Footnote xxiii: But which is preferable rhyme or blank Whic
- 117 [Footnote x.x.xv: And Vice buds forth developed with his Teens. [MS. M.]] [Footnote x.x.xvi: The beardless Tyro freed at length from school. [MSS. L. (b), M. erased.] And blus.h.i.+ng Birch disdains all College rule. [MS. M. erased.] And dreaded Birch. [M
- 118 [Footnote xlvii: Our Giant Capital where streets still spread Where once our simpler sins were bred. [MS. L. (a).] Our fields where once the rustic earned his bread. [MS. L. (b).]] [Footnote xlviii: Aches with the Orchestra he pays to hear. [MS. M.]] [Foo
- 119 But after toil-inked thumbs and bitten nails Scratched head, ten quires--the easy scribbler fails.-- [MS. L. (a).] [Footnote lix: The one too rustic, tother too refined. [MS. L. (a and b).]] [Footnotes lx: Offensive most to men with house and land Possess
- 120 Babe of old Thelusson [A]----. [MS. L. (a and b).]] [Sub-Footnote A: [Peter Isaac Th.e.l.lusson, banker (died July 21, 1797), by his will directed that his property should acc.u.mulate for the benefit of the unborn heir of an unborn grandson. The will was
- 121 [Sub-Footnote A: "The Devil and Jeffrey are here placed ant.i.thetically to G.o.ds and men, such being their usual position, and their due one--according to the facetious saying, 'If G.o.d won't take you, the Devil must;' and I am sure
- 122 Adds a weeks growth to his enormous ears. [MS. M. erased.]] [Footnote xcvi: But what are these? Benefits might bind Some decent ties about a manly mind. [MS. M.]] [Footnote xcvii: Our modern sceptics can no more allow. [MS. L. (a).]] [Footnote xcviii: Som
- 123 THE CURSE OF MINERVA.--"Pallas te hoc vulnere, Pallas Immolat, et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit."_Aeneid_, lib. xii, 947, 948.NOTE I.In 'The Malediction of Minerva (New Monthly Magazine', vol. iii. p. 240) additional footnotes are
- 124 Other travellers of less authority than Clarke--Dodwell, for instance, who visited the Parthenon before it had been dismantled, and, afterwards, was present at the removal of metopes; and Hughes, who came after Byron (autumn, 1813)--make use of such phras
- 125 So may ye peris.h.!.+--Pallas, when she gave Your free-born rights, forbade ye to enslave."Look on your Spain!--she clasps the hand she hates, But boldly clasps, and thrusts you from her gates. 230 Bear witness, bright Barossa! [19] thou canst tell W
- 126 [Footnote 13: Mr. West, on seeing the "Elgin Collection," (I suppose we shall hear of the "Abershaw" and "Jack Shephard" collection) declared himself a "mere tyro" in art.[Compare Letters of Benjamin West to the Ear
- 127 [Footnote vii: How sweet and Silent, not a pa.s.sing cloud Hides her fair face with intervening shroud. [MS.]] [Footnote viii: seems to smile, [Corsair, III. st. i. 1. 54.]] [Footnote ix: Sad shrine. [MS.]] [Footnote x: Welcome to slaves, and foremost. [M
- 128 INTRODUCTION TO 'THE WALTZ'Byron spent the autumn of 1812 "by the waters of Cheltenham," and, besides writing to order his 'Song of Drury Lane' (the address spoken at the opening of the theatre, Oct. 10, 1812), he put in hand
- 129 [Footnote 2: More expressive.--[_MS_.][Footnote 3: My Latin is all forgotten, if a man can be said to have forgotten what he never remembered; but I bought my t.i.tle-page motto of a Catholic priest for a three-s.h.i.+lling bank token, after much haggling
- 130 [Footnote 2: Lines 15-28 do not appear in the MS., but ten lines (omitting lines 21-24) were inserted in Proof No. 1.][Footnote 3: To rival Lord Wellesley's, or his nephew's, as the reader pleases:--the one gained a pretty woman, whom he deserve
- 131 I, "Country-dances! jigs and reels! ... A minuet I could have forgiven ... Zounds! had she made one in a cotillon--I believe I could have forgiven even that--but to be monkey-led for a night! to run the gauntlet through a string of amorous palming pu
- 132 [Footnote iv: As much of Heyne as should not sink the packet. [MS. M.]] [Footnote v: Who in your daughters daughters yet survive Like Banquos spirit be yourselves alive. [MS. M.]] [Footnote vi: Elysiums ill exchanged for that you lost. [MS. M.]] [Footnote
- 133 The Works of Lord Byron.Volume 2.by George Gordon Byron.PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME.The text of the present edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ is based upon a collation of volume i. of the Library Edition, 1855, with the following MSS.: (i.) th
- 134 Childe Harold basked him in the Noontide sun,[r]Disporting there like any other fly; Nor deemed before his little day was done One blast might chill him into misery.But long ere scarce a third of his pa.s.sed by, Worse than Adversity the Childe befell; He
- 135 Why dost thou look so pale?Or dost thou dread a French foeman?Or s.h.i.+ver at the gale?"-- 'Deem'st thou I tremble for my life?Sir Childe, I'm not so weak; But thinking on an absent wife Will blanch a faithful cheek.7.'My spouse
- 136 With diadem hight Foolscap, lo! a Fiend, A little Fiend that scoffs incessantly, There sits in parchment robe arrayed, and by[bf]His side is hung a seal and sable scroll, Where blazoned glare names known to chivalry,[bg]And sundry signatures adorn the rol
- 137 Lo! where the Giant on the mountain stands, His blood-red tresses deepening in the Sun, With death-shot glowing in his fiery hands, And eye that scorcheth all it glares upon; Restless it rolls, now fixed, and now anon Flas.h.i.+ng afar,--and at his iron f
- 138 And Counsel sage, and patriotic Zeal-- The Veteran's skill--Youth's fire--and Manhood's heart of steel?LIV.Is it for this the Spanish maid, aroused, Hangs on the willow her unstrung guitar, And, all uns.e.xed, the Anlace[76] hath espoused,
- 139 Some o'er thy Thamis row the ribboned fair,[dc]Others along the safer turnpike fly; Some Richmond-hill ascend, some scud to Ware, And many to the steep of Highgate hie.Ask ye, Boeotian Shades! the reason why?[15.B.]'Tis to the wors.h.i.+p of the
- 140 It is that weariness which springs From all I meet, or hear, or see: To me no pleasure Beauty brings; Thine eyes have scarce a charm for me.5.It is that settled, ceaseless gloom The fabled Hebrew Wanderer bore; That will not look beyond the tomb, But cann
- 141 [e] _My readers will observe that where the author speaks in his own person he a.s.sumes a very different tone from that of_ "_The cheerless thing, the man without a friend_,"_at least, till death had deprived him of his nearest connections_._I
- 142 [q] ------_nor honied glose of rhyme_.--[D. pencil.][r] _Childe Burun_------.--[MS.][s] {18} _For he had on the course too swiftly run_.--[MS. erased.][t] _Had courted many_----.--[MS. erased.][24] [Mary Chaworth. (Compare "Stanzas to a Lady, on leav
- 143 224).][aj] {27} _Our best gos-hawk can hardly fly_ _So merrily along_.--[MS.]_Our best greyhound can hardly fly_.--[D. erased.][ak] Here follows in the MS. the following erased stanza:-- _My mother is a high-born dame_, _And much misliketh me;_ _She saith
- 144 [48] {36} "I don't remember any crosses there."--[Pencilled note by J.C.Hobhouse.][The crosses made no impression upon Hobhouse, who, no doubt, had realized that they were nothing but guideposts. For an explanation, see letter of Mr. Matthe
- 145 [bt]_For ever famed--in many a native song_.--[MS. erased.]----_a noted song_.--[MS. D.][57] [Compare Virgil, _aeneid_, i. 100-- "Ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis Scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit."][58] [The standard, a cross made
- 146 [76] {57} ["A short two-edged knife or dagger ... formerly worn at the girdle" (_N. Eng. Dict._, art. "Anlace"). The "anlace" of the Spanish heroines was the national weapon, the _punal_, or _cuchillo_, which was sometimes st
- 147 [93] [One bull-fight, one matador. In describing the last act Byron confuses the _chulos_ or cloak-waving footmen, who had already played their part, with the single champion, the matador, who is about to administer the _coup de grace_.][dd] ----_he lies
- 148 [107] [Compare the In Memoriam stanzas at the end of Beattie's _Minstrel_--"And am I left to unavailing woe?" II. 63, line 2.][dl] {83} ----_belov'd the most_.--[MS. D.][108] [With reference to this stanza, Byron wrote to Dallas, Octob
- 149 [Manuel de G.o.doy (1767-1851) received the t.i.tle of _Principe de la Paz_, Prince of the Peace, in 1795, after the Treaty of Basle, which ceded more than half St. Domingo to France. His tenure of power, as prime minister and director of the king's
- 150 Engracia. Capitulation']. The reply was, 'Quartel-general, Zaragoza.Guerra al cuchillo' ['Head-quarters, Zaragoza. War at the knife's point']." Subsequently, December, 1808, when Moncey (1754-1842) again called upon him
- 151 VIII.[119]Yet if, as holiest men have deemed, there be[dv]A land of Souls beyond that sable sh.o.r.e, To shame the Doctrine of the Sadducee And Sophists, madly vain of dubious lore; How sweet it were in concert to adore With those who made our mortal labo
- 152 'Tis night, when Meditation bids us feel We once have loved, though Love is at an end: The Heart, lone mourner of its baffled zeal,[ej]Though friendless now, will dream it had a friend.Who with the weight of years would wish to bend, When Youth itsel
- 153 'Twas on a Grecian autumn's gentle eve Childe Harold hailed Leucadia's cape afar; A spot he longed to see, nor cared to leave: Oft did he mark the scenes of vanished war, Actium--Lepanto--fatal Trafalgar;[13.B.]Mark them unmoved, for he wou
- 154 He pa.s.sed the sacred Haram's silent tower, And underneath the wide o'erarching gate Surveyed the dwelling of this Chief of power, Where all around proclaimed his high estate.Amidst no common pomp the Despot sate, While busy preparation shook t
- 155 The fault of a friend, bid an enemy live?Let those guns so unerring such vengeance forego?What mark is so fair as the breast of a foe?[172]4.Macedonia sends forth her invincible race; For a time they abandon the cave and the chase: But those scarfs of blo
- 156 This must he feel, the true-born son of Greece, If Greece one true-born patriot still can boast: Not such as prate of War, but skulk in Peace, The bondsman's peace, who sighs for all he lost, Yet with smooth smile his Tyrant can accost, And wield the
- 157 till I have become callous, nor have I a tear left for an event which, five years ago, would have bowed down my head to the earth. It seems as though I were to experience in my youth the greatest misery of age. My friends fall around me, and I shall be le
- 158 [-1] Attila was horned, if we may trust contemporary legends, and the etchings of his visage in Lavater.--[M.S.][-2] Lines 5-9 in the Dallas transcript are in Byron's handwriting.[-3] _Which centuries forgot_----.--[D. erased.][ea] {108} After stanza
- 159 Writing at Athens, January 16, 1810, he tells us, "The spell is broke, the charm is flown."][134] {120} [More than one commentator gravely "sets against" this line--Byron's statement to Dallas (_Corr. of Lord Byron_, Paris, 1824,
- 160 [fc] {132} _But frequent is the lamb, the kid, the goat_-- _And watching pensive with his browsing flock_.--[MS. erased.][fd] _Counting the hours beneath yon skies unerring shock_.--[MS.erased.][151] [The site of Dodona, a spot "at the foot of Mount
- 161 And as they roared out this stave, they whirled round the fire, dropped, and rebounded from their knees, and again whirled round as the chorus was again repeated."--_Travels in Albania_, i. 166, 167.][169] {145} [This was not Byron's first exper
- 162 [fx] _When uttered to the listener's eye_----.--[MS. L.][fy] _The host, the plain, the fight_----.--[MS. L.][fz] _The shattered Mede who flies with broken bow_.--[MS. L.][196] ["The plain of Marathon is enclosed on three sides by the rocky arms
- 163 [The _Mentor_, which Elgin had chartered to convey to England a cargo consisting of twelve chests of antiquities, was wrecked off the Island of Cerigo, in 1803. His secretary, W. R. Hamilton, set divers to work, and rescued four chests; but the remainder
- 164 Leucadia, now Santa Maura. From the promontory (the Lover's Leap) Sappho is said to have thrown herself.[Strabo (lib. x. cap. 2, ed. Paris, 1853, p. 388) gives Menander as an authority for the legend that Sappho was the first to take the "Lover&
- 165 ["Mount Tomerit, or Tomohr," says Mr. Tozer, "lies north-east of Tepalen, and therefore the sun could not set behind it" (_Childe Harold_, 1885, p. 272). But, writing to Drury, May 3, 1810, Byron says that "he penetrated as far as
- 166 Some thoughts on this subject will be found in the subjoined papers, pp.187-208.34.Spirit of Freedom! when on Phyle's brow Thou sat'st with Thrasybulus and his train.Stanza lxxiv. lines 1 and 2.Phyle, which commands a beautiful view of Athens, h
- 167 Franciscan Convent, Athens, _January_ 23, 1811.[236]Amongst the remnants of the barbarous policy of the earlier ages, are the traces of bondage which yet exist in different countries; whose inhabitants, however divided in religion and manners, almost all
- 168 I remember Mahmout, the grandson of Ali Pacha, asking whether my fellow-traveller and myself were in the upper or lower House of Parliament. Now, this question from a boy of ten years old proved that his education had not been neglected. It may be doubted
- 169 [225] [Miss Owenson (Sydney, Lady Morgan), 1783-1859, published her _Woman, or Ida of Athens_, in 4 vols., in 1812. Writing to Murray, February 20, 1818, Byron alludes to the "cruel work" which an article (attributed to Croker but, probably, wri
- 170 The mistake seemed so completely a lapse of the pen (from the great _similarity_ of the two words, and the _total absence of error_ from the former pages of the literary leviathan) that I should have pa.s.sed it over as in the text, had I not perceived in
- 171 [The following memorandum, in Byron's handwriting, is prefixed to the Transcription:-- "This copy is to be printed from--subject to comparison with the original MS. (from which this is a transcription) in such parts as it may chance to be diffic
- 172 Self-exiled Harold wanders forth again,[286]With nought of Hope left--but with less of gloom; The very knowledge that he lived in vain, That all was over on this side the tomb, Had made Despair a smilingness a.s.sume, Which, though 'twere wild,--as o
- 173 x.x.xIII.Even as a broken Mirror,[296] which the gla.s.s In every fragment multiplies--and makes A thousand images of one that was, The same--and still the more, the more it breaks; And thus the heart will do which not forsakes, Living in shattered guise;
- 174 But Thou, exulting and abounding river!Making thy waves a blessing as they flow Through banks whose beauty would endure for ever Could man but leave thy bright creation so, Nor its fair promise from the surface mow[il]With the sharp scythe of conflict, th
- 175 LXV.By a lone wall a lonelier column rears A gray and grief-worn aspect of old days; 'Tis the last remnant of the wreck of years, And looks as with the wild-bewildered gaze Of one to stone converted by amaze, Yet still with consciousness; and there i
- 176 Broken and trembling to the yoke she bore, Till by the voice of him and his compeers, Roused up to too much wrath which follows o'ergrown fears?Lx.x.xII.They made themselves a fearful monument!The wreck of old opinions--things which grew,[jw]Breathed
- 177 Thine air is the young breath of pa.s.sionate Thought; Thy trees take root in Love; the snows above,[kk]The very Glaciers have his colours caught, And Sun-set into rose-hues sees them wrought[21.B.]By rays which sleep there lovingly: the rocks,[kl]The per
- 178 Yet, though dull Hate as duty should be taught,[353]I know that thou wilt love me: though my name Should be shut from thee, as a spell still fraught With desolation, and a broken claim: Though the grave closed between us,--'twere the same, I know tha
- 179 Compare, too, with stanzas xiii., xiv., _ibid_., lines 58-72.][gu] _Fool he not to know_.--[MS. erased.][gv]_Where there were mountains there for him were friends_._Where there was Ocean--there he was at home_.--[MS.][gw] {224} _Like the Chaldean he could
- 180 [293] {234} [The Hon. Frederick Howard (1785-1815), third son of Frederick, fifth Earl of Carlisle, fell late in the evening of the 18th of June, in a final charge of the left square of the French Guard, in which Vivian brought up Howard's hussars ag
- 181 _Earth's dreams of Heaven--and such to seem to me_ _But one thing wants thy stream_----.--[MS.][303] [Compare Lucan's _Pharsalia_, ix. 969, "Etiam periere ruinae;" and the lines from Ta.s.so's _Gerusalemme Liberata_, xv. 20, quote
- 182 " ... he lived Through that which had been death to many men, And made him friends of mountains: with the stars And the quick Spirit of the Universe He held his dialogues! and they did teach To him the magic of their mysteries."][je] {260} ----_
- 183 [kb] _Deep into Nature's breast the existence which they lose_.--[MS.][331] [For the a.s.sociation of "Fortune" and "Fame" with a star, compare stanza xi. lines 5, 6-- "Who can contemplate Fame through clouds unfold The _star
- 184 Parnell's _Vigil of Venus: British Poets_, 1794, vii. 7.][kr] {279} ----_driven him to repose._--[MS.][342] [Compare _Confessions of J. J. Rousseau_, lib. iv., _pa.s.sim._][343] {281} [In his appreciation of Voltaire, Byron, no doubt, had in mind cer
- 185 ?s?????? t' ????a? ?p???s?t?? [I)sono/mous t' A)the/nas e)poiesa/ten]"Hence," says Mr. Tozer, "'the sword in myrtles drest' (Keble's _Christian Year_, Third Sunday in Lent) became the emblem of a.s.sertors of libert
- 186 "The Army of the Sambre and Meuse to its Commander-in-Chief Hoche."This is all, and as it should be. Hoche was esteemed among the first of France's earlier generals, before Buonaparte monopolised her triumphs.He was the destined commander o
- 187 "Je ne trouve pas de plus digne hommage a la Divinite que cette admiration muette qu'excite la contemplation de ses oeuvres, et qui ne s'exprime point par des actes developpes. Je comprends comment les habitants des villes, qui ne voient qu
- 188 The poem as it stood was complete, and, as a poem, it lost as well as gained by the insertion of additional stanzas and groups of stanzas, "purple patch" on "purple patch," each by itself so attractive and so splendid. The pilgrim find
- 189 Stanza xlvii. "Yet, Italy! through every other land,"-- Stanza li. "Appear'dst thou not to Paris in this guise?"-- Stanza lii. "Glowing, and circ.u.mfused in speechless love,"-- Stanza liv.-lx. "In Santa Croce'
- 190 CANTO THE FOURTH[375]I.I stood in Venice, on the "Bridge of Sighs;"[376][1.H.]A Palace and a prison on each hand: I saw from out the wave her structures rise As from the stroke of the Enchanter's wand:[377]A thousand Years their cloudy wing
- 191 Thus, Venice! if no stronger claim were thine, Were all thy proud historic deeds forgot-- Thy choral memory of the Bard divine, Thy love of Ta.s.so, should have cut the knot[lt]Which ties thee to thy tyrants; and thy lot Is shameful to the nations,--most
- 192 The tears and praises of all time, while thine Would rot in its oblivion--in the sink Of worthless dust, which from thy boasted line Is shaken into nothing--but the link Thou formest in his fortunes bids us think Of thy poor malice, naming thee with scorn
- 193 In Santa Croce's[431] holy precincts lie[15.H.]Ashes which make it holier, dust which is Even in itself an immortality, Though there were nothing save the past, and this, The particle of those sublimities Which have relapsed to chaos:--here repose An
- 194 Horribly beautiful! but on the verge, From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, An Iris[453] sits, amidst the infernal surge, Like Hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn Its steady dyes, while all around is torn By the distracted waters, bears serene It
- 195 The fool of false dominion--and a kind Of b.a.s.t.a.r.d Caesar, following him of old With steps unequal; for the Roman's mind Was modelled in a less terrestrial mould,[26.H.]With pa.s.sions fiercer, yet a judgment cold,[470]And an immortal instinct w
- 196 'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past, First Freedom, and then Glory--when that fails, Wealth--Vice--Corruption,--Barbarism at last.And History, with all her volumes vast, Hath but _one_ page,--'tis better written here, Where gorgeous Tyranny
- 197 Arches on arches![506] as it were that Rome, Collecting the chief trophies of her line, Would build up all her triumphs in one dome, Her Coliseum stands;[507] the moonbeams s.h.i.+ne As 'twere its natural torches--for divine Should be the light which
- 198 Shrine of all saints and temple of all G.o.ds, From Jove to Jesus--spared and blest by Time-- Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods Arch--empire--each thing round thee--and Man plods His way through thorns to ashes--glorious Dome!Shalt thou not last?
- 199 But where is he, the Pilgrim of my Song, The Being who upheld it through the past?Methinks he cometh late and tarries long.He is no more--these breathings are his last-- His wanderings done--his visions ebbing fast, And he himself as nothing:--if he was A
- 200 Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Gla.s.ses itself in tempests; in all time, Calm or convulsed--in breeze, or gale, or storm-- Icing the Pole, or in the torrid clime Dark-heaving--boundless, endless, and sublime-- The image of Eternity-