ON A DISTANT VIEW OF THE VILLAGE AND SCHOOL OF HARROW ON THE HILL, 1806.

Oh! mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos.'-Virgil.

I.

YE scenes of my childhood, whose lov'd recollection Embitters the present, compar'd with the past; Where science first dawn'd on the powers of reflection, And friendships were form'd, too romantic to last; "

2.

Where fancy, yet, joys to retrace the resemblance

Of comrades, in friendship and mischief allied;3 How welcome to me your ne'er fading remembrance, Which rests in the bosom, though hope is deny'd!

3.

Again I revisit the hills where we sported,

2

The streams where we swam, and the fields where we fought;

4

i. How welcome once more.-[4to]

1. [The motto was prefixed in Hours of Idleness.]

2. "My school-friendships were with me passions (for I was always violent), but I do not know that there is one which has endured (to be sure, some have been cut short by death) till now.' v."-Diary, 1821; Life, p. 21.]

3. [Byron was at first placed in the house of Mr. Henry Drury, but in 1803 was removed to that of Mr. Evans. "The reason why Lord Byron wishes for the change, arises from the repeated complaints of Mr. Henry Drury respecting his inattention to business, and his propensity to make others laugh and disregard their employment as much as himself."-Dr. JOSEPH DRURY to Mr. JOHN HANSON.]

4. ["At Harrow I fought my way very fairly. I think I lost but one battle out of seven."—Diary, 1821; Life, p. 21.]

The school where, loud warn'd by the bell, we resorted,

To pore o'er the precepts by Pedagogues taught.

4.

Again I behold where for hours I have ponder'd,

As reclining, at eve, on yon tombstone1 I lay; Or round the steep brow of the churchyard I wander'd, To catch the last gleam of the sun's setting ray.

5.

I once more view the room, with spectators surrounded,
Where, as Zanga,2 I trod on Alonzo o'erthrown;
While, to swell my young pride, such applauses resounded,
I fancied that Mossop 3 himself was outshone.

6.

Or, as Lear, I pour'd forth the deep imprecation,

By my daughters, of kingdom and reason depriv'd; Till, fir'd by loud plaudits and self-adulation,

I regarded myself as a Garrick reviv'd.1

i. I consider'd myself.—-[4to]

1. [A tomb in the churchyard at Harrow was so well known to be his favourite resting-place, that the boys called it "Byron's Tomb :" and here, they say, he used to sit for hours, wrapt up in thought.-Life, p. 26.]

2. [For the display of his declamatory powers, on the speech-days, he selected always the most vehement passages; such as the speech of Zanga over the body of Alonzo, and Lear's address to the storm.-Life, p. 20, note; and post, p. 103, var. i.]

3. [Henry Mossop (1729-1773), a contemporary of Garrick, famous for his performance of “Zanga” in Young's tragedy of The Revenge.]

7.

Ye dreams of my boyhood, how much I regret you!

i.

Unfaded your memory dwells in my breast; "

Though sad and deserted, I ne'er can forget you:
Your pleasures may still be in fancy possest.

8.

To Ida full oft may remembrance restore me,"
While Fate shall the shades of the future unroll!
Since Darkness o'ershadows the prospect before me,
More dear is the beam of the past to my soul !

9.

But if, through the course of the years which await me, Some new scene of pleasure should open to view,

I will say, while with rapture the thought shall elate me, "Oh! such were the days which my infancy knew.” 1

i.

ii.

1806.

As your memory beams through this agoniz'd breast;
Thus sad and deserted, I ne'er can forget you,

Though this heart throbs to bursting by anguish possest.—[4to]
Your memory beams through this agonized breast.-

[P. on V. Occasions.]

I thought this poor brain, fever'd even to madness,
Of tears as of reason for ever was drain'd;
But the drops which now flow down this bosom of sadness,
Convince me the springs have some moisture retain'd.

Sweet scenes of my childhood! your blest recollection,
Has wrung from these eyelids, to weeping long dead,
In torrents, the tears of my warmest affection,
The last and the fondest, I ever shall shed.—

[4to. P. on V. Occasions.]

1. [Stanzas 8 and 9 first appeared in Hours of Idleness.]

THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY A COLLEGE EXAMINATION.

HIGH in the midst, surrounded by his peers,

MAGNUS his ample front sublime uprears:

Plac'd on his chair of state, he seems a God,

2

While Sophs and Freshmen tremble at his nod;
As all around sit wrapt in speechless gloom,"

His voice, in thunder, shakes the sounding dome;
Denouncing dire reproach to luckless fools,
Unskill'd to plod in mathematic rules.

Happy the youth! in Euclid's axioms tried,
Though little vers'd in any art beside;
Who, scarcely skill'd an English line to pen,.
Scans Attic metres with a critic's ken.

i. M―ns-l.-[4to]

ii. Whilst all around.-[to]

iii. Who with scarce sense to pen an English letter,
Yet with precision scans an Attic metre.-[4to]

ΙΟ

I. No reflection is here intended against the person mentioned under the name of Magnus. He is merely represented as performing an unavoidable function of his office. Indeed, such an attempt could only recoil upon myself; as that gentleman is now as much distinguished by his eloquence, and the dignified propriety with which he fills his situation, as he was in his younger days for wit and conviviality. [Dr. William Lort Mansel (1753-1820) was, in 1798, appointed Master of Trinity College, by Pitt. He obtained the bishopric of Bristol, through the influence of his pupil, Spencer Perceval, in 1808. He died in 1820.]

2. [Undergraduates of the second and third year.]

What! though he knows not how his fathers bled,
When civil discord pil'd the fields with dead,
When Edward bade his conquering bands advance,
Or Henry trampled on the crest of France:
Though marvelling at the name of Magna Charta,
Yet well he recollects the laws of Sparta ;
Can tell, what edicts sage Lycurgus made,
While Blackstone's on the shelf, neglected laid;
Of Grecian dramas vaunts the deathless fame,
Of Avon's bard, rememb'ring scarce the name.

Such is the youth whose scientific pate
Class-honours, medals, fellowships, await;
Or even, perhaps, the declamation prize,
If to such glorious height, he lifts his eyes.
But lo! no common orator can hope

The envied silver cup within his scope:

Not that our heads much eloquence require,

20

Th' ATHENIAN'S1 glowing style, or TULLY's fire. 30 A manner clear or warm is useless, since1

We do not try by speaking to convince ;

Be other orators of pleasing proud,

We speak to please ourselves, not move the crowd:
Our gravity prefers the muttering tone,

A proper mixture of the squeak and groan:

i. The manner of the speech is nothing, since.

[4to. P. on V. Occasions.]

1. Demosthenes.