Another view! not less renown'd for Wit; The hour draws nigh, a few brief days will close, To me, this little scene of joys and woes; Each knell of Time now warns me to resign 70 Shades where Hope, Peace, and Friendship all were mine : Hope, that could vary like the rainbow's hue, 80 Sackville. The rest of it was political. In 1604, he was created Earl of Dorset by James I. He died suddenly at the council-table, in consequence of a dropsy on the brain." -Specimens of the British Poets, by Thomas Campbell, London, 1819, ii. 134, sq.] 1. Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset [1637-1706], esteemed the most accomplished man of his day, was alike distinguished in the voluptuous court of Charles II. and the gloomy one of William III. He behaved with great gallantry in the sea-fight with the Dutch in 1665; on the day previous to which he composed his celebrated song [" To all you Ladies now at Land"]. His character has been drawn in the highest colours by Dryden, Pope, Prior, and Congreve. Vide Anderson's British Poets, 1793, vi. 107, 108. To these adieu! nor let me linger o'er Dorset, farewell! I will not ask one parti And, yet, perhaps, in some maturer year, Since chance has thrown us in the self-same sphere, We hence may meet, and pass each other by No more, as once, in social hours rejoice, Or hear, unless in crowds, thy well-known voice; To veil those feelings, which, perchance, it ought, If these, but let me cease the lengthen'd strain,— Oh! if these wishes are not breath'd in vain, The Guardian Seraph who directs thy fate Will leave thee glorious, as he found thee great. 1805. i. D—r—t farewell.—[Poems O. and T.] TO THE EARL OF CLARE. Tu semper amoris Sis memor, et cari comitis ne abscedat imago. I. FRIEND of my youth! when young we rov'd, Like striplings, mutually belov'd, With Friendship's purest glow; The bliss, which wing'd those rosy hours, Was such as Pleasure seldom showers On mortals here below. 2. The recollection seems, alone, Dearer than all the joys I've known, When distant far from you: Though pain, 'tis still a pleasing pain, 3. My pensive mem'ry lingers o'er, Those scenes to be enjoy'd no more, Those scenes regretted ever; i. To the Earl of - .-[Poems O. and T.] 4. As when one parent spring supplies Two streams, which from one fountain rise, Together join'd in vain ; How soon, diverging from their source, Each, murmuring, seeks another course, Till mingled in the Main ! 5. Our vital streams of weal or woe, Though near, alas! distinctly flow, Nor mingle as before: Now swift or slow, now black or clear, 6. Our souls, my Friend! which once supplied One wish, nor breathed a thought beside, Now flow in different channels: Disdaining humbler rural sports, 'Tis yours to mix in polish'd courts, And shine in Fashion's annals; 7. 'Tis mine to waste on love my time, Or vent my reveries in rhyme, Without the aid of Reason; For Sense and Reason (critics know it) Nor left a thought to seize on. 8. Poor LITTLE! sweet, melodious bard! Of late esteem'd it monstrous hard That he, who sang before all; By dire Reviewers should be branded, 9. And yet, while Beauty's praise is thine, Repine not at thy lot. Thy soothing lays may still be read, And critics are forgot. IO. Still I must yield those worthies merit Who chasten, with unsparing spirit, Bad rhymes, and those who write them: I. These stanzas were written soon after the appearance of a severe critique in a northern review, on a new publication of the British Anacreon. [Byron refers to the article in the Edinburgh Review, of July, 1807, on "Epistles, Odes, and other Poems, by Thomas Little, Esq."] |