SELECTIONS

FROM

THE POEMS OF DRUMMOND.

THESE SELECTIONS CONTAIN THE WHOLE OF DRUM

MOND'S POEMS WORTH PRESERVING.

openion.

TEARS

ON THE

DEATH OF MELIADES.

O HEAVENS! then is it true that thou art gone,
And left this woful isle her loss to moan-
Mæliades, bright day-star of the West,

A comet blazing terror to the East;

And neither that thy spirit so heavenly wise,
Nor body (though of earth) more pure than skies,
Nor royal stem, nor thy sweet tender age,

Of cruel destinies' could quench the rage?

1 Henry, Prince of Wales, eldest son of James the First. Maliades is the name which that prince assumed in all his challenges of a martial sort; as the anagram of "Miles a Deo." Vide the Life.-P. C.

266 Cruel destinies," -"adamantine fates," in the early editions.

O fading hopes! O short-while lasting joy
Of earth-born man, that one hour can destroy!
Than even of virtue's spoils Death trophies rears,

As if he gloried most in many tears.

Forc'd by hard fates,' do heavens neglect our cries?
Are stars set only to act tragedies? 2

Then let them do their worst, since thou art gone,
Raise whom thou list to thrones, enthron'd dethrone;
Stain princely bow'rs with blood, and even to Gange,
In cypress sad, glad Hymen's torches change.
Ah! thou hast left to live; and in the time

When scarce thou blossom'dst in thy pleasant prime:
So falls by northern blast a virgin rose,

At half that doth her bashful bosom close ;

So a sweet flower languishing decays,

That late did blush when kiss'd by Phoebus' rays.3

So Phoebus, mounting the meridian's height,
Chok'd by pale Phoebe, faints unto our sight;
Astonish'd nature sullen stands to see

The life of all this all so chang'd to be;

In gloomy gowns the stars this loss deplore,

4

The sea with murmuring mountains beats the shore;

1 "Hard fates"-"grim destinies."

2 For,

"Are stars set only to act tragedies?"-" Stars seem set only," &c.

3 Vide Pope's Essay on Criticism, Part 2.

Like some fair flower the early spring supplies,

That gaily blooms, but e'en in blooming dies. "

4 "This loss"-"about."

Black darkness reels o'er all, in thousand show'rs
The weeping air on earth her sorrow pours,
That, in a palsy, quakes to see so soon

Her lover set, and night burst forth ere noon..
If heaven, alas! ordain'd thee young to die,
Why was't not where thou might'st thy valour try;1
And to the wond'ring world at least set forth
Some little spark of thy expected worth?
Mæliades, O! that by Ister's streams,

'Mong sounding trumpets, fiery twinkling gleams3
Of warm vermilion swords, and cannons' roar,
Balls thick as rain pour'd on the Caspian shore,
'Mongst broken spears, 'mongst ringing helms and shields,
Huge heaps of slaughter'd bodies 'long the fields,"
In Turkish blood made red like Mars's star,
Thou endedst had thy life, and Christian war;
Or, as brave Bourbon, thou hadst made old Rome,
Queen of the world, thy triumph, and thy tomb!7

160 Why was't not where thou might'st thy valour try;"-"Why was it not where thou thy might didst try."

3 For " 'Mong sounding trumpets, fiery twinkling gleams”— "Amongst shrill sounding trumpets, flaming gleams."

4 For "vermilion"- -"encrimson'd."

"For "on"-"by."

6 For "Mongst broken spears," &c.

"Amongst crush'd lances, ringing helms, and shields, Dismember'd bodies ravishing the fields."

7 For "thy triumph and thy tomb!"-"thy triumphs, place, and tomb!"