10

Arcadia displays but a region of dreams; TO THE DUKE OF DORSET
What are visions like these to the first kiss
of love ?

DORSET! whose early steps with mine have

stray'd, Oh! cease to affirm that man, since his Exploring every path of Ida's glade; birth,

Whom still affection taught me to defend, From Adam till now, has with wretched- And made me less a tyrant than a friend, ness strove;

Though the harsh custom of our youthful Some portion of paradise still is on earth,

band And Eden revives in the first kiss of Bade thee obey, and gave me to command, love.

Thee, on whose head a few short years will

shower When age chills the blood, when our plea- The gift of riches and the pride of power; sures are past —

E'en now a name illustrious is thine own, For years fleet away with the wings of the Renown'd in rank, not far beneath the dove –

throne. The dearest remembrance will still be the Yet, Dorset, let not this seduce thy soul last,

To shun fair science, or evade control, Our sweetest memorial the first kiss of Though passive tutors, fearful to dispraise love.

The titled child whose future breath may
December 23, 1806.

raise,
View ducal errors with indulgent eyes,

And wink at faults they tremble to chastise.
ON A CHANGE OF MASTERS AT When youthful parasites, who bend the
A GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOL

knee

To wealth, their golden idol, not to thee, (In March, 1805, Dr. Drury retired from his And even in simple boyhood's opening situation of head-master at Harrow, and was

dawn succeeded by Dr. Butler. Byron, before his

Some slaves are found to flatter and to departure for Greece, in 1809, became recon

fawn, ciled with Dr. Butler.]

When these declare, “that pomp alone WHERE are those honours, Ida ! once your

should wait own,

On one by birth predestined to be great; When Probus filled your magisterial throne? That books were only meant for drudging As ancient Rome, fast falling to disgrace,

fools, Hail'd a barbarian in her Cæsar's place, That gallant spirits scorn the common So you, degenerate, share as hard a fate,

rules;'
And seat Pomposus where your Probus Believe them not; — they point the path to
sate.

shame,
Of narrow brain, yet of a narrower soul, And seek to blast the honours of thy name.
Pomposus holds you in his harsh control; Turn to the few in Ida's early throng,
Pomposus, by no social virtue sway'd, Whose souls disdain not to condemn the
With florid jargon, and with vain parade;

wrong;
With noisy nonsense, and new-fangled rules Or if, amidst the comrades of thy youth,

were ne'er before enforced in None dare to raise the sterner voice of schools.

truth, Mistaking pedantry for learning's laws, Ask thine own heart; 't will bid thee, boy, He governs, sanction'd but by self-applause.

forbear;
With him the same dire fate attending For well I know that virtue lingers there.
Rome,

Yes! I have mark'd thee many a passing
Il-fated Ida! soon must stamp your doom: day,
Like her o'erthrown, for ever lost to fame, But now new scenes invite me far away;
No trace of science left you, but the

Yes! I have mark'd within that generous

mind July, 1805.

A soul, if well matured, to bless mankind.

20

Such as

30

1

name.

41

80

50

Ah! though myself, by nature haughty, Such were thy fathers; thus preserve their wild,

name, Whom Indiscretion hail'd her favourite Not heir to titles only, but to fame. child;

The hour draws nigh, a few brief days will Though every error stamps me for her

close own,

To me, this little scene of joys and woes; And dooms my fall, I fain would fall alone; Each knell of Time now warns me to resign Though my proud heart no precept now Shades where Hope, Peace, and Friendship can tame,

all were mine: I love the virtues which I cannot claim. Hope, that could vary like the rainbow's 'T is not enough, with other sons of

hue, power,

And gild their pinions as the moments flew; To gleam the lambent meteor of an hour; Peace, that reflection never frown'd away, To swell some peerage page in feeble pride, By dreams of ill to cloud some future day; With long-drawn names that grace no page Friendship, whose truth let childhood only beside;

tell, Then share with titled crowds the common Alas ! they love not long, who love so well. lot

To these adieu ! nor let me linger o'er In life just gazed at, in the grave forgot; Scenes hail'd, as exiles hail their native While naught divides thee from the vulgar

shore, dead

Receding slowly through the dark-blue Except the dull cold stone that hides thy deep,

89 head,

Beheld by eyes that mourn yet cannot weep. The mouldering 'scutcheon, or the herald's Dorset, farewell ! I will not ask one part roll,

Of sad remembrance in so young a heart; That well-emblazon'd but neglected scroll, The coming morrow from thy youthful Where lords, unhonour'd, in the tomb may

mind find

Will sweep my name, nor leave a trace beOne spot, to leave a worthless name behind.

hind. There sleep, unnoticed as the gloomy vaults And yet, perhaps, in some maturer year, That veil their dust, their follies, and their Since chance has thrown us in the self-same faults,

sphere, A race, with old armorial lists o'erspread, Since the same senate, nay, the same debate, In records destined never to be read. May one day claim our suffrage for the Fain would I view thee, with prophetic

state, eyes,

We hence may meet, and pass each other by, Exalted more among the good and wise, 60 With faint regard, or cold and distant eye. A glorious and a long career pursue, For me, in future, neither friend nor foe, 101 As first in rank, the first in talent too: A stranger to thyself, thy weal or woe, Spurn every vice, each little meanness shun; With thee no more again I hope to trace Not Fortune's minion, but her noblest son. The recollection of our early race;

Turn to the annals of a former day; No more, as once, in social hours rejoice, Bright are the deeds thine earlier sires Or hear, unless in crowds, thy well-known display.

voice. One, though a courtier, lived a man of Still, if the wishes of a heart untaught worth,

To veil those feelings which perchance it And call’d, proud boast! the British drama ought, forth.

If these, — but let me cease the lengthen'd Another view, not less renown'd for wit; 69

strain, Alike for courts, and camps, or senates fit; Oh! if these wishes are not breathed in Bold in the field, and favour'd by the Nine; vain, In every splendid part ordain’d to shine; The guardian seraph who directs thy fate Far, far distinguish'd from the glittering Will leave thee glorious, as he found thee throng,

great. The pride of princes, and the boast of song. 1805.