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Behold a high injunction suddenly

To Arno's side hath brought him, and he charmed
A Tuscan audience: but full soon was called
To the perpetual silence of the grave.
Mourn, Italy, the loss of him who stood
A Champion steadfast and invincible,
To quell the rage of literary War!

1809

20

O

III

THOU who movest onward with a mind Intent upon thy way, pause, though in haste! "Twill be no fruitless moment. I was born Within Savona's walls, of gentle blood. On Tiber's banks my youth was dedicate To sacred studies; and the Roman Shepherd Gave to my charge Urbino's numerous flock. Well did I watch, much laboured, nor had power To escape from many and strange indignities; Was smitten by the great ones of the world, But did not fall; for Virtue braves all shocks, Upon herself resting immoveably.

Me did a kindlier fortune then invite

To serve the glorious Henry, King of France,
And in his hands I saw a high reward

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Stretched out for my acceptance, but Death came.
Now, Reader, learn from this my fate, how false,
How treacherous to her promise, is the world;
And trust in God-to whose eternal doom
Must bend the sceptred Potentates of earth.

ΤΟ

20

1809

TH

IV

`HERE never breathed a man who, when his life Was closing, might not of that life relate Toils long and hard.-The warrior will report

Of wounds, and bright swords flashing in the field,
And blast of trumpets.

He who hath been doomed

To bow his forehead in the courts of kings,
Will tell of fraud and never-ceasing hate,
Envy and heart-inquietude, derived
From intricate cabals of treacherous friends.
I, who on shipboard lived from earliest youth,
Could represent the countenance horrible
Of the vexed waters, and the indignant rage

ΤΟ

Of Auster and Boötes. Fifty years

Over the well-steered galleys did I rule:-
From huge Pelorus to the Atlantic pillars,
Rises no mountain to mine eyes unknown;
And the broad gulfs I traversed oft and oft.
Of every cloud which in the heavens might stir
I knew the force; and hence the rough sea's pride
Availed not to my Vessel's overthrow.

What noble pomp and frequent have not I
On regal decks beheld! yet in the end
I learned that one poor moment can suffice
To equalise the lofty and the low.

We sail the sea of life-a Calm One finds,
And One a Tempest-and, the voyage o'er,
Death is the quiet haven of us all.

If more of my condition ye would know,
Savona was my birthplace, and I
sprang
Of noble parents: seventy years and three
Lived I-then yielded to a slow disease.

20

30

1809

T

RUE is it that Ambrosio Salinero

With an untoward fate was long involved
In odious litigation; and full long,

Fate harder still! had he to endure assaults
Of racking malady. And true it is

That not the less a frank courageous heart
And buoyant spirit triumphed over pain;
And he was strong to follow in the steps
Of the fair Muses. Not a covert path
Leads to the dear Parnassian forest's shade,
That might from him be hidden; not a track
Mounts to pellucid Hippocrene, but he
Had traced its windings.-This Savona knows,
Yet no sepulchral honours to her Son
She paid, for in our age the heart is ruled
Only by gold. And now a simple stone
Inscribed with this memorial here is raised
By his bereft, his lonely, Chiabrera.
Think not, O Passenger! who read'st the lines
That an exceeding love hath dazzled me;
No-he was one whose memory ought to spread
Where'er Permessus bears an honoured name,
And live as long as its pure stream shall flow.

10

20

Published 1837

D

VI

ESTINED to war from very infancy
Was I, Roberto Dati, and I took
In Malta the white symbol of the Cross:
Nor in life's vigorous season did I shun
Hazard or toil; among the sands was seen
Of Lybia; and not seldom, on the banks
Of wide Hungarian Danube, 'twas my lot
To hear the sanguinary trumpet sounded.
So lived I, and repined not at such fate:
This only grieves me, for it seems a wrong,
That stripped of arms I to my end am brought
On the soft down of my paternal home.
Yet haply Arno shall be spared all cause
To blush for me. Thou, loiter not nor halt
In thy appointed way, and bear in mind
How fleeting and how frail is human life!

O

VII

1809

FLOWER of all that springs from gentle blood,

And all that generous nurture breeds to make

Youth amiable; O friend so true of soul

To fair Aglaia; by what envy moved,

Lelius! has death cut short thy brilliant day

In its sweet opening? and what dire mishap
Has from Savona torn her best delight?

For thee she mourns, nor e'er will cease to mourn;
And, should the out-pourings of her eyes suffice not
For her heart's grief, she will entreat Sebeto
Not to withhold his bounteous aid, Sebeto
Who saw thee, on his margin, yield to death,
In the chaste arms of thy beloved Love!
What profit riches? what does youth avail?
Dust are our hopes;-I, weeping bitterly,
Penned these sad lines, nor can forbear to pray
That every gentle Spirit hither led

May read them not without some bitter tears.

ΙΟ

ΙΟ

Published 1837

VIII

OT without heavy grief of heart did He

NOT

On whom the duty fell (for at that time

The father sojourned in a distant land)

Deposit in the hollow of this tomb

A brother's Child, most tenderly beloved!
FRANCESCO was the name the Youth had borne,

POZZOBONNELLI his illustrious house;

And, when beneath this stone the Corse was laid,
The of all Savona streamed with tears.
Alas! the twentieth April of his life

eyes

Had scarcely flowered: and at this early time,
By genuine virtue he inspired a hope

That greatly cheered his country: to his kin
He promised comfort; and the flattering thoughts
His friends had in their fondness entertained,1
He suffered not to languish or decay.

Now is there not good reason to break forth
Into a passionate lament? O Soul!

Short while a Pilgrim in our nether world,
Do thou enjoy the calm empyreal air;
And round this earthly tomb let roses rise,
An everlasting spring! in memory

Of that delightful fragrance which was once
From thy mild manners quietly exhaled.

1809

ΙΟ

20

PA

IX

AUSE, courteous Spirit!-Baldi supplicates
That Thou, with no reluctant voice, for him
Here laid in mortal darkness, wouldst prefer
A prayer to the Redeemer of the world.
This to the dead by sacred right belongs;
All else is nothing.-Did occasion suit
To tell his worth, the marble of this tomb
Would ill suffice: for Plato's lore sublime,
And all the wisdom of the Stagyrite,
Enriched and beautified his studious mind:
With Archimedes also he conversed

As with a chosen friend; nor did he leave

Those laureat wreaths ungathered which the Nymphs
Twine near their loved Permessus.-Finally,
Himself above each lower thought uplifting,
His ears he closed to listen to the songs
Which Sion's Kings did consecrate of old;
And his Permessus found on Lebanon.
A blessèd Man! who of protracted days
Made not, as thousands do, a vulgar sleep;
But truly did He live his life. Urbino,
Take pride in him!-O Passenger, farewell!

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1809

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I

Y a blest Husband guided, Mary came

BY

From nearest kindred, Vernon her new name;
She came, though meek of soul, in seemly pride
Of happiness and hope, a youthful Bride.

O dread reverse! if aught be so, which proves
That God will chasten whom he dearly loves.
Faith bore her up through pains in mercy given,
And troubles that were each a step to Heaven:
Two Babes were laid in earth before she died;
A third now slumbers at the Mother's side;
Its Sister-twin survives, whose smiles afford
A trembling solace to her widowed Lord.

Reader! if to thy bosom cling the pain
Of recent sorrow combated in vain ;

Or if thy cherished grief have failed to thwart
Time still intent on his insidious part,

Lulling the mourner's best good thoughts asleep,
Pilfering regrets we would, but cannot, keep;

Bear with Him-judge Him gently who makes known
His bitter loss by this memorial Stone;

And pray that in his faithful breast the grace

Of resignation find a hallowed place.

II

Published 1835

IX months to six years added he remained
sin unstained:

O blessed Lord! whose mercy then removed
A Child whom every eye that looked on loved;
Support us, teach us calmly to resign

What we possessed, and now is wholly thine!

ΤΟ

20

Published 1837

III

CENOTAPH

IN affectionate remembrance of Frances Fermor, whose remains are deposited in the church of Claines, near Worcester, this stone is erected by her sister, Dame Margaret, wife of Sir George Beaumont, Bart., who, feeling not less than the love of a brother for the deceased, commends this memorial to the care of his heirs and successors in the possession of this place.

Y vain affections unenthralled,

BY

Though resolute when duty called

To meet the world's broad eye,
Pure as the holiest cloistered nun

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