'Tis vain-my tongue can not impart Survey'd earth, ocean, sun, and sky, The world-nay, heaven itself-was mine! XIX. "The shallop of a trusty Moor I long'd to see the isles that gem I sought by turns, and saw them all; (1) Is done, 't will then be time more meet "T is true, they are a lawless brood, That never sees with Terror's eyes; And vengeance vow'd for those who fall, Have made them fitting instruments For more than even my own intents. Distinguish'd from the vulgar rank, But chiefly to my council call The wisdom of the cautious FrankAnd some to higher thoughts aspire, The last of Lambro's (2) patriots there Anticipated freedom share; And oft around the cavern fire On visionary schemes debate, To snatch the Rayahs(3) from their fate. So let them ease their hearts with prate Of equal rights, which man ne'er knew; I have a love for freedom too. Ay! let me like the ocean-Patriarch (4) roam, Or only know on land the Tartar's home! (5) My tent on shore, my galley on the sea, Are more than cities and serais to me: Borne by my steed, or wafted by my sail, Across the desert, or before the gale, Bound where thou wilt, my barb! or glide, my prow! But be the star that guides the wanderer, thou! Thou, my Zuleika, share and bless my bark; The Dove of peace and promise to mine ark! (6) Or, since that hope denied in worlds of strife, Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life! The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray! (7) Blest as the muezzin's strain from Mecca's wall (8) To pilgrims pure and prostrate at his call; Soft-as the melody of youthful days, That steals the trembling tear of speechless praise; (1) The Turkish notions of almost all islands are confined to will do, tell me, and I will dream another." In a subsequent the Archipelago, the sea alluded to. (2) Lambro Canzani, a Greek, famous for his efforts, in 1789-90, for the independence of his country. Abandoned by the RusĮsians, be became a pirate, and the Archipelago was the scene of his enterprises. He is said to be still alive at Petersburg. He and Riga are the two most celebrated of the Greek revolutionists. (3) "Rayahs," all who pay the capitation-tax, called the "Haratch." (4) The first of voyages is one of the few with which the Mussulmans profess much acquaintance. (5) The wandering life of the Arabs, Tartars, and Turkomans, will be found well detailed in any book of Eastern travels. That it possesses a charm peculiar to itself, cannot be denied. A young French renegado confessed to Chateaubriand, that he never found himself alone, galloping in the desert, without a sensation approaching to rapture, which was indescribable. 6) "The longest, as well as most splendid, of those passages, with which the perusal of his own strains, during revision, inspired him, was that rich flow of eloquent feeling which follows the couplet,— Thou, my Zuleika, share and bless my bark,' etc. -a strain of poetry, which for energy and tenderness of thought, for music of versification, and selectness of diction, has through out the greater portion of it, but few rivals in either ancient or modern song." Moore.-E. (7) Originally written thus the following note being annexed :-"Mr. Murray, choose which letter, he says-" Instead of Or Or 'And And tints to-morrow with a fancied ray, And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray. And gilds to-morow's hope with heavenly ray.' I wish you would ask Mr. Gifford which of them is best; or, rather, not worst."-E. "It is therefore probable that, after all, the merit of the choice may have belonged to Mr. Gifford." Moore.-E. (8) The six lines beginning "Blest as the muezzin's strain," etc. were among the additions made to the poem, and when despatched to the printer for insertion, the first couplet was originally as follows: "Soft as the Mecca muezzin's strains invite, Him who hath journey'd far to join the rite." In a few hours after, another scrap was sent off, containing the lines thus: "Blest as the muezzin's strain from Mecca's dome, Which welcomes Faith to view her Prophet's tomb;" with the following note to Mr. Murray:-"Look out in the Encyclopedia, article Mecca, whether it is there or at Medina the Prophet is entombed. If at Medina, the first lines of my alteration must run : Blest as the call which from Medina's dome, of the two epithets, fancied' or 'airy,' may be best; or if neither If at Mecca, the lines may stand as before." Dear as his native song to exile's ears, A thousand swords, with Selim's heart and hand, The spoil of nations shall bedeck my bride. I, like the rest, must use my skill or strength, The deepest murmur of this lip shall be To love, whose deadliest bane is human art: Few words remain of mine my tale to close; XXI. "His head and faith from doubt and death No deed they've done, nor deed shall do, But yet, though thou are plighted mine, XXII. Zuleika, mute and motionless, (1) "Jannat al Aden," the perpetual abode, the Mussulman for eternally pestering you with paradise. -to confirm your orthodoxy." (2) "You wanted some reflections; and I send you, per Selim, eighteen lines in decent couplets, of a pensive, if not an ethical, tendency. One more revise-positively the last, if decently done at any rate, the penultimate. Mr. Canning's approbation, I need not say, makes me proud.* To make you some amends *Mr. Canning's note was as follows:-"I received the books, and alterations, I send you Cobbett, Lord B. to Mr. M. among them, the Bride of Abydos. It is very very beautiful. Lord Byron (when I met him, one day, at a dinner, at Mr. Ward's) was so kind as to promise to give me a copy of it. I mention this, not to save my purchase, but because I should be really flattered by the present."-E. Another-and another-and another- Far, wide, through every thicket spread, XXIII. Dauntless he stood-"Tis come-soon past- But yet my band not far from shore Despair benumb'd her breast and eye!— That sound hath drawn my foes more nigh. XXIV. One bound he made, and gain'd the sand: A gasping head, a quivering trunk : And almost met the meeting wave: His band are plunging in the bay, Wet-wild-unwearied, to the strand They struggle-now they touch the land! They come 't is but to add to slaughterHis heart's best blood is on the water. XXV. Escaped from shot, unharm'd by steel, For her his eye but sought in vain? Hath doom'd his death, or fix'd his chain. Sad proof, in peril and in pain, How late will lover's hope remain! His back was to the dashing spray; Behind, but close, his comrades lay, When, at the instant, hiss'd the ball"So may the foes of Giaffir fall!" Whose voice is heard? whose carbine rang? Whose bullet through the night-air sang, Too nearly, deadly aim'd to err? 'Tis thine-Abdallah's murderer! The father slowly rued thy hate, The son hath found a quicker fate: Fast from his breast the blood is bubbling, The whiteness of the sea-foam troublingIf aught his lips essay'd to groan, The rushing billows choked the tone! XXVI. Morn slowly rolls the clouds away; Few trophies of the fight are there: The shouts that shook the midnight-bay Are silent; but some signs of fray That strand of strife may bear, And fragments of each shiver'd brand; May there be mark'd; nor far remote There lies a white capote! 'Tis rent in twain-one dark-red stain But where is he who wore? And cast on Lemnos' shore: That hand, whose motion is not life, Yet feebly seems to menace strife, Flung by the tossing tide on high, Then levell'd with the wave-(1) The bird that tears that prostrate form Had bled or wept to see him die, Had seen those scatter'd limbs composed, And mourn'd above his turban-stone, (2) That heart hath burst-that eye was closedYea-closed before his own! XXVII. By Helle's stream there is a voice of wail! Thy destined lord is come too late: The loud Wul-wulleh (3) warn his distant ear? Thy handmaids weeping at the gate, The Koran-chanters of the hymn of fate, The silent slaves with folded arms that wait, Sighs in the hall, and shrieks upon the gale, Tell him thy tale! Thou didst not view thy Selim fall! That fearful moment when he left the cave Thy heart grew chill: He was thy hope-thy joy-thy love—thine allAnd that last thought on him thou couldst not save Sufficed to kill; Burst forth in one wild cry-and all was still. Peace to thy broken heart and virgin grave! Thrice happy! ne'er to feel nor fear the force Vainly thou heap'st the dust upon thy head, Vainly the sackcloth o'er thy limbs dost spread: By that same hand Abdallah-Selim-bled. Now let it tear thy beard in idle grief: (1) "While the Salsette lay off the Dardanelles, Lord Byron saw the body of a man, who had been executed by being cast into the sea, floating on the stream, moving to and fro with the trembling of the water, which gave to his arms the effect of scaring away several sea-fowl that were hovering to devour. This incident has been strikingly depicted." Galt. (2) A turban is carved in stone above the graves of men only. "Thy pride of heart, thy bride of Osman's bed, She, whom thy sultan had but seen to wed, Thy daughter's dead! Hope of thine age, thy twilight's lonely beam, The star hath set that shone on Helle's stream. What quench'd its ray ?-the blood that thou hast Hark! to the hurried question of Despair: (4) [shed!] "Where is my child?". an echo answers"Where?" XXVIII. Within the place of thousand tombs That shine beneath, while dark above A single rose is shedding there Its lonely lustre, meek and pale: It looks as planted by Despair So white-so faint-the slightest gale Might whirl the leaves on high; And yet, though storms and blight assail, And hands more rude than wintry sky May wring it from the stem-in vainTo-morrow sees it bloom again! The stalk some spirit gently rears, And waters with celestial tears; For well may maids of Helle deem That this can be no earthly flower, Which mocks the tempest's withering hour, And buds unshelter'd by a bower; Nor droops, though spring refuse her shower, Nor woos the summer beam: To it the livelong night there sings A bird unseen-but not remote: Invisible his airy wings, But soft as harp that houri strings His long entrancing note! It were the bulbul; but his throat, Though mournful, pours not such a strain; For they who listen cannot leave The spot, but linger there and grieve, As if they loved in vain! And yet so sweet the tears they shed, And longer yet would weep and wake, (3) The death-song of the Turkish women. The "silent slaves" are the men, whose notions of decorum forbid complaint in public. (4) "I came to the place of my birth, and cried, The friends of my youth, where are they?' and an echo answered ‘Where are they?"-From an Arabic MS. The above quotation (from which the idea in the text is taken) must be already familiar to But when the day-blush bursts from high, Expires that magic melody. And some have been who could believe, (So fondly youthful dreams deceive, Yet harsh be they that blame,) 'Tis from her cypress summit heard, : every reader it is given in the first annotation, p. 67, of The Pleasures of Memory; a poem so well known as to render a reference almost superfluous; but to whose pages all will be delighted to recur. (1) And airy tongues, that syllable men's names."-Milton. For a belief that the souls of the dead inhabit the form of birds, we need not travel to the East. Lord Lyttleton's ghost story, the belief of the Duchess of Kendal, that George I. flew into her window in the shape of a raven (see Orford's Reminiscences), and many other instances, bring this superstition nearer home. The most singular was the whim of a Worcester lady, who, believing her daughter to exist in the shape of a singing-bird, literally furnished her pew in the cathedral with cages full of the kind; and as she was rich, and a benefactress in beautifying the church, no objection was made to her harmless folly. For this anecdote, see Orford's Letters. (2) The heroine of this poem, the blooming Zuleika, is all purity and loveliness. Never was a faultless character more delicately or more justly delinea.ed. Her piety, her intelligence, her strict sense of duty, and her undeviating love of truth, appear to have been originally blended in her mind, rather than inculcated by education. She is always natural, always attractive, always affectionate; and it must be admitted that her affections are not unworthily bestowed. Selim, while an orphan and dependant, is never degraded by calamity; when better hopes are presented to him, his buoyant spirit rises with his expectations: he is enter It was no mortal arm that bore Next morn 't was found where Selim fell; "T is named the "Pirate-phantom's pillow!" Where first it lay, that morning flower Hath flourish'd; flourisheth this hour, Alone and dewy, coldly pure and pale; As weeping Beauty's cheek at Sorrow's tale! (3) prising, with no more rashness than becomes his youth; and when disappointed in the success of a well-concerted project, he meets, with intrepidity, the fate to which he is exposed through his own generous forbearance. To us, The Bride of Abydos appears to be, in every respect, superior to The Giaour, though, in point of diction, it has been, perhaps, less warmly admired. We will not argue this point, but will simply observe, that what is read with ease is generally read with rapidity; and that many beauties of style, which escape observation in a simple and connected narrative, would be forced on the reader's attention by abrupt and perplexing transitions. It is only when a traveller is obliged to stop on his journey, that he is disposed to examine and admire the prospect." George Ellis. (3) "The Bride, such as it is, is my first entire composition of any length (except the Satire, and be d--d to it), for the Giaour is but a string of passages, and Childe Harold is, and I rather think always will be, unconcluded. It was published on Thursday, the 2d of December; but how it is liked, I know not. Whether it succeeds or not, is no fault of the public, against whom I can have no complaint. But I am much more indebted to the tale than I can ever be to the most important reader; as it wrung my thoughts from reality to imagination; from selfish regrets to vivid recollections; and recalled me to a country replete with the brightest and darkest, but always most lively, colours of my memory." B. Diary, Dec. 5, 1813.-E. |