6.

I deem'd that Time, I deem'd that Pride,
Had quench'd at length my boyish flame;
Nor knew, till seated by thy side,

My heart in all,-save hope,—the same.

7.

Yet was I calm: I knew the time

My breast would thrill before thy look;

But now to tremble were a crime

We met, and not a nerve was shook.

8.

I saw thee gaze upon my face,

Yet meet with no confusion there : One only feeling couldst thou trace;

The sullen calmness of despair.

9.

Away! away! my early dream

Remembrance never must awake:

Oh! where is Lethe's fabled stream?
My foolish heart be still, or break.

November 2, 1808. [First published, 1809.]

INSCRIPTION ON THE MONUMENT OF A
NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.1

WHEN Some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,

The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe

And storied urns record who rest below:

When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,

Not what he was, but what he should have been:

1. [This monument is placed in the garden of Newstead. A prose inscription precedes the verses :

"Near this spot

Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,

And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
If inscribed over human ashes,

Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a Dog,

Who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803,
And died at Newstead Abbey, Nov. 18, 1808."

Byron thus announced the death of his favourite to his friend Hodgson :-"Boatswain is dead!—he expired in a state of madness on the 18th after suffering much, yet retaining all the gentleness of his nature to the last; never attempting to do the least injury to any one near him. I have now lost everything except old Murray." In the will which the poet executed in 1811, he desired to be buried in the vault with his dog, and Joe Murray was to have the honour of making one of the party. When the poet was on his travels, a gentleman, to whom Murray showed the tomb, said, 'Well, old boy, you will take your place here some twenty years hence." "I don't know that, sir," replied Joe; "if I was sure his lordship would come here I should like it well enough, but I should not like to lie alone with the dog."— Life, pp. 73, 131.]

66

But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,

Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth-

Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth :
While Man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive Heaven.
Oh Man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power,

Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!

Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,

Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit !

By nature vile, ennobled but by name,

Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame. Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn,

Pass on-it honours none you wish to mourn :

To mark a Friend's remains these stones arise;

I never knew but one, and here he lies.

Newstead Abbey, October 30, 1808. [First published, 1809.]

i. I knew but one unchang'd-and here he lies.

[Imit. and Transl., p. 191.]

TO A LADY,1

ON BEING ASKED MY REASON FOR QUITTING ENGLAND

IN THE SPRING.

i.

I.

WHEN Man, expell'd from Eden's bowers,

A moment linger'd near the gate,
Each scene recall'd the vanish'd hours,

And bade him curse his future fate.

2.

But, wandering on through distant climes,
He learnt to bear his load of grief;

Just gave a sigh to other times,

And found in busier scenes relief.

3.

Thus, Lady! will it be with me,ii.

And I must view thy charms no more;

For, while I linger near to thee,

I sigh for all I knew before.

i. The Farewell To a Lady.-[Imit. and Transl.]
ii. Thus Mary! (Mrs. Musters).-[MS.]

1. [Byron had written to his mother on November 2, 1808, announcing his intention of sailing for India in the following March. See Childe Harold, canto i. st. 3. See also Letter to Hodgson, Nov. 27, 1808.]

4.

In flight I shall be surely wise,
Escaping from temptation's snare ;

I cannot view my Paradise

Without the wish of dwelling there..1

December 2, 1808. [First published, 1809.]

FILL THE GOBLET AGAIN.".

A SONG.

I.

FILL the goblet again! for I never before

Felt the glow which now gladdens my heart to its core ; Let us drink-who would not?-since, through life's

varied round,

In the goblet alone no deception is found.

i. Without a wish to enter there.-[Imit. and Transl., p. 196.] ii. Song.-[Imit. and Transl., p. 204.]

dated within

1. [In an unpublished letter of Byron to a few days of his final departure from Italy to Greece, in 1823, he writes: "Miss Chaworth was two years older than myself. She married a man of an ancient and respectable family, but her marriage was not a happier one than my own. Her conduct, however, was irreproachable; but there was not sympathy between their characters. I had not seen her for many years when an occasion offered to me, January, 1814. I was upon the point, with her consent, of paying her a visit, when my sister, who has always had more influence over me than any one else, persuaded me not to do it. "For," said she, "if you go you will fall in love again, and then there will be a scene; one step will lead to another, et cela fera un éclat."]