LINES INSCRIBED UPON A CUP FORMED FROM A SKULL.1

I.

START not-nor deem my spirit fled :

In me behold the only skull,

From which, unlike a living head,
Whatever flows is never dull.

2.

I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee:
I died let earth my bones resign;
Fill up-thou canst not injure me;
The worm hath fouler lips than thine.

3.

Better to hold the sparkling grape,

Than nurse the earth-worm's slimy brood;

And circle in the goblet's shape

The drink of Gods, than reptile's food.

1. [Byron gave Medwin the following account of this cup : -"The gardener in digging [discovered] a skull that had probably belonged to some jolly friar or monk of the abbey, about the time it was dis-monasteried. Observing it to be of giant size, and in a perfect state of preservation, a strange fancy seized me of having it set and mounted as a drinking cup. I accordingly sent it to town, and it returned with a very high polish, and of a mottled colour like tortoiseshell."-Medwin's Conversations, 1824, p. 87.]

4.

Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,

In aid of others' let me shine;

And when, alas! our brains are gone,

What nobler substitute than wine?

5.

Quaff while thou canst another race,
When thou and thine, like me, are sped,

May rescue thee from earth's embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.

6.

Why not? since through life's little day
Our heads such sad effects produce;
Redeem'd from worms and wasting clay,
This chance is theirs, to be of use.

Newstead Abbey, 1808. [First published in the
seventh edition of Childe Harold.]

WELL THOU ART HAPPY.1

I.

WELL! thou art happy, and I feel

That I should thus be happy too;

i. To Mrs.

[erased].-[MS. L.]

Το -[Imit. and Transl. Hobhouse, 1809.]

1. [These lines were written after dining at Annesley with Mr. and Mrs. Chaworth Musters. Their daughter, born 1806, and now Mrs. Hamond, of Westacre, Norfolk, is still (January, 1898) living.]

For still my heart regards thy weal

Warmly, as it was wont to do.

2.

Thy husband's blest-and 'twill impart
Some pangs to view his happier lot: i.
But let them pass-Oh! how my heart
Would hate him if he loved thee not!

3.

When late I saw thy favourite child,

I thought my jealous heart would break; But when the unconscious infant smil'd,

I kiss'd it for its mother's sake.

4.

I kiss'd it, and repress'd my sighs
Its father in its face to see;
But then it had its mother's eyes,
And they were all to love and me.
5.".

Mary, adieu! I must away:

While thou art blest I'll not repine; But near thee I can never stay;

My heart would soon again be thine.

i. Some pang to see my rival's lot.-[MS. L.] ii. MS. L. inserts

Poor little pledge of mutual love,

I would not hurt a hair of thee,
Although thy birth should chance to prove
Thy parents' bliss-my misery.