With those who, scatter'd far, perchance deplore,
Like me, the happy scenes they knew before:
Oh! as I trace again thy winding hill,

Mine eyes admire, my heart adores thee still,
Thou drooping Elm! beneath whose boughs I lay,
And frequent mus'd the twilight hours away;

Where, as they once were wont, my limbs recline,
But, ah! without the thoughts which then were mine:
How do thy branches, moaning to the blast,
Invite the bosom to recall the past,

And seem to whisper, as they gently swell,

"Take, while thou canst, a lingering, last farewell!"

When Fate shall chill, at length, this fever'd breast, And calm its cares and passions into rest, Oft have I thought, 'twould soothe my dying hour,— If aught may soothe, when Life resigns her power,To know some humbler grave, some narrow cell, Would hide my bosom where it lov'd to dwell; With this fond dream, methinks 'twere sweet to dieAnd here it linger'd, here my heart might lie; Here might I sleep where all my hopes arose,

Scene of my youth, and couch of my repose;

For ever stretch'd beneath this mantling shade, Press'd by the turf where once my childhood play'd; Wrapt by the soil that veils the spot I lov'd,

Mix'd with the earth o'er which my footsteps mov'd;

VOL. I.

Р

1

Blest by the tongues that charm'd my youthful ear,
Mourn'd by the few my soul acknowledged here;
Deplor'd by those in early days allied,

And unremember'd by the world beside.

September 2, 1807.

FRAGMENT.

WRITTEN SHORTLY AFTER THE MARRIAGE OF MISS

CHAWORTH.1

I.

HILLS of Annesley, Bleak and Barren,

Where my thoughtless Childhood stray'd,
How the northern Tempests, warring,

Howl above thy tufted Shade!

1. [Miss Chaworth was married to John Musters, Esq., in August, 1805. The stanzas were first published in Moore's Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, 1830, i. 56. (See, too, The Dream, st. ii. 1. 9.)

The original MS. (which is in the possession of Mrs. Chaworth Musters) formerly belonged to Miss E. B. Pigot, according to whom they "were written by Lord Byron in 1804." "We were reading Burns' Farewell to Ayrshire

Scenes of woe and Scenes of pleasure
Scenes that former thoughts renew
Scenes of woe and scenes of pleasure
Now a sad and last adieu, etc.

when he said, 'I like that metre; let me try it,' and taking
up a pencil, wrote those on the other side in an instant. I

2.

Now no more, the Hours beguiling,
Former favourite Haunts I see;

Now no more my Mary smiling,

Makes ye seem a Heaven to Me.

1805.

REMEMBRANCE.

'Tis done!-I saw it in my dreams:
No more with Hope the future beams;
My days of happiness are few:
Chill'd by Misfortune's wintry blast,
My dawn of Life is overcast ;

Love, Hope, and Joy, alike adieu !

Would I could add Remembrance too!

1806. [First published, 1832.]

read them to Moore, and at his particular request I copied them for him."-E. B. Pigot, 1859.

On the fly-leaf of the same volume (Poetry of Robert Burns, vol. iv. Third Edition, 1802), containing the Farewell to Ayrshire, Byron wrote in pencil the two stanzas "Oh! little lock of golden hue," in 1806 (vide post, p. 233).

It may be noted that the verses quoted, though included until recently among his poems, were not written by Burns, but by Richard Gall, who died in 1801, aged 25.]

TO A LADY

WHO PRESENTED THE AUTHOR WITH THE VELVET BAND

WHICH BOUND HER TRESSES.

I.

THIS Band, which bound thy yellow hair

Is mine, sweet girl! thy pledge of love;
It claims my warmest, dearest care,

Like relics left of saints above.

2.

Oh! I will wear it next my heart;

"Twill bind my soul in bonds to thee:

From me again 'twill ne'er depart,

But mingle in the grave with me.

E'en when our lives are on the wane;
The leaves of Love will still be green
When Memory bids them bud again.

1806. [First published, 1832.]

i.

on a transient kiss.-[MS. Newstead.]

TO A KNOT OF UNGENEROUS CRITICS.1

RAIL on, Rail on, ye heartless crew!
My strains were never meant for you;
Remorseless Rancour still reveal,
And damn the verse you cannot feel.
Invoke those kindred passions' aid,
Whose baleful stings your breasts pervade;
Crush, if you can, the hopes of youth,
Trampling regardless on the Truth:
Truth's Records you consult in vain,
She will not blast her native strain;
She will assist her votary's cause,

His will at least be her applause,
Your prayer the gentle Power will spurn;

To Fiction's motley altar turn,

Who joyful in the fond address

Her favoured worshippers will bless :

And lo! she holds a magic glass,

Where Images reflected pass,

1. [From an autograph MS. at Newstead, now for the first time printed.

There can be little doubt that these verses were called forth by the criticisms passed on the "Fugitive Pieces" by certain ladies of Southwell, concerning whom, Byron wrote to Mr. Pigot (Jan. 13, 1807), on sending him an early copy of the Poems, "That unlucky poem to my poor Mary has been the cause of some animadversion from ladies in years. I have not printed it in this collection in consequence of my being pronounced a most profligate sinner, in short a 'young Moore."-Life, p. 41.]