Page images
PDF
EPUB

Blithe as the lark on sun-gilt wings
High poised-or as the wren that sings
In shady places, to proclaim

Her modest gratitude.

Not vain is sadly-uttered praise;
The words of truth's memorial vow
Are sweet as morning fragrance shed
From flowers 'mid GOLDAU's ruins bred;
As evening's fondly-lingering rays,
On RIGHI's silent brow.

Lamented youth! to thy cold clay
Fit obsequies the Stranger paid;
And piety shall guard the Stone
Which hath not left the spot unknown
Where the wild waves resigned their
And that which marks thy bed.

60

65

70

prey

And, when thy Mother weeps for Thee,
Lost Youth! a solitary Mother;
This tribute from a casual Friend
A not unwelcome aid may lend,
To feed the tender luxury,
The rising pang to smother.1

XXXIV.

SKY-PROSPECT-FROM THE PLAIN OF FRANCE.

Lo! in the burning west, the craggy nape Of a proud Ararat! and, thereupon,

75

1 The persuasion here expressed was not groundless. The first human consolation that the afflicted Mother felt was derived from this tribute to her son's memory, a fact which the author learned, at his own residence, from her Daughter, who visited Europe some years afterwards.-Goldau is one of the villages desolated by the fall of part of the Mountain Rossberg.

5

The Ark, her melancholy voyage done!
Yon rampant cloud mimics a lion's shape;
There, combats a huge crocodile-agape
A golden spear to swallow! and that brown
And massy grove, so near yon blazing town,
Stirs and recedes-destruction to escape!
Yet all is harmless-as the Elysian shades
Where Spirits dwell in undisturbed repose— 10
Silently disappears, or quickly fades:

Meek Nature's evening comment on the shows
That for oblivion take their daily birth
From all the fuming vanities of Earth!

XXXV.

ON BEING STRANDED NEAR THE HARBOUR OF
BOULOGNE.1

WHY cast ye back upon the Gallic shore,
Ye furious waves! a patriotic Son

Of England-who in hope her coast had won,
His project crowned, his pleasant travel o'er?
Well-let him pace this noted beach once more, 5
That gave the Roman his triumphal shells;
That saw the Corsican his cap and bells
Haughtily shake, a dreaming Conqueror!-
Enough my Country's cliffs I can behold,
And proudly think, beside the chafing sea,
Of checked ambition, tyranny controlled,
And folly cursed with endless memory:
These local recollections ne'er can cloy;
Such ground I from my very heart enjoy!

XXXVI.

AFTER LANDING-THE VALLEY OF DOVER.
NOVEMBER, 1820.

WHERE be the noisy followers of the game

1 See Note.

ΤΟ

Which faction breeds? the turmoil where, that passed

Through Europe, echoing from the newsman's

blast,

And filled our hearts with grief for England's shame?

6

Peace greets us ;-rambling on without an aim
We mark majestic herds of cattle, free
To ruminate, couched on the grassy lea;
And hear far-off the mellow horn proclaim
The Season's harmless pastime. Ruder sound
Stirs not; enrapt I gaze with strange delight, 10
While consciousnesses, not to be disowned,
Here only serve a feeling to invite

That lifts the spirit to a calmer height,
And makes this rural stillness more profound.

XXXVII.

AT DOVER.

FROM the Pier's head, musing, and with increase Of wonder, I have watched this sea-side Town, Under the white cliff's battlemented crown, Hushed to a depth of more than Sabbath peace: The streets and quays are thronged, but why disown

5

Their natural utterance? whence this strange release

From social noise silence elsewhere unknown?

A Spirit whispered, "Let all wonder cease; Ocean's o'erpowering murmurs have set free 9 Thy sense from pressure of life's common din; As the dread Voice that speaks from out the sea Of God's eternal Word, the Voice of Time Doth deaden, shocks of tumult, shrieks of crime, The shouts of folly, and the groans of sin."

1837 (?).

XXXVIII.

DESULTORY STANZAS,

UPON RECEIVING THE PRECEDING SHEETS FROM
THE PRESS.

Is then the final page before me spread,
Nor further outlet left to mind or heart?
Presumptuous Book! too forward to be read,
How can I give thee licence to depart?
One tribute more: unbidden feelings start
Forth from their coverts; slighted objects rise;
My spirit is the scene of such wild art
As on Parnassus rules, when lightning flies,
Visibly leading on the thunder's harmonies.

5

IO

All that I saw returns upon my view,
All that I heard comes back upon my ear,
All that I felt this moment doth renew;
And where the foot with no unmanly fear
Recoiled-and wings alone could travel-there
I move at ease; and meet contending themes 15
That press upon me, crossing the career
Of recollections vivid as the dreams

Of midnight,-cities, plains, forests, and mighty

streams.

20

Where Mortal never breathed I dare to sit
Among the interior Alps, gigantic crew,
Who triumphed o'er diluvian power!—and yet
What are they but a wreck and residue,
Whose only business is to perish !-true

To which sad course, these wrinkled Sons of

Time

Labour their proper greatness to subdue;
Speaking of death alone, beneath a clime

25

Where life and rapture flow in plenitude

sublime.

Fancy hath flung for me an airy bridge

Across thy long deep Valley, furious Rhone!
Arch that here rests upon the granite ridge 30
Of Monte Rosa-there on frailer stone
Of secondary birth, the Jung-frau's cone;
And, from that arch, down-looking on the Vale
The aspect I beheld of every zone;

35

A sea of foliage, tossing with the gale, Blithe Autumn's purple crown, and Winter's icy mail!

1

Far as ST. MAURICE, from yon eastern FORKS,1 Down the main avenue my sight can range: And all its branchy vales, and all that lurks Within them, church, and town, and hut, and grange,

40

For my enjoyment meet in vision strange;
Snows, torrents;-to the region's utmost bound,
Life, Death, in amicable interchange;-
But list! the avalanche-the hush profound
That follows-yet more awful than that awful
sound!

Is not the chamois suited to his place?
The eagle worthy of her ancestry?

45

-Let Empires fall; but ne'er shall Ye disgrace Your noble birthright, ye that оссиру Your council-seats beneath the open sky,

50

On Sarnen's Mount,' there judge of fit and

right,

In simple democratic majesty;

Soft breezes fanning your rough brows-the might

And purity of nature spread before your sight!

1 At the head of the Vallais. See Note.

2 See Note.

« PreviousContinue »