TO THE SIGHING STREPHON. YOUR pardon, my friend, if my rhymes did offend, Since your beautiful maid your flame has repaid, She's now most divine, and I bow at the shrine Yet still, I must own, I should never have known Since the balm-breathing kiss of this magical Miss My counsel will get but abuse. You say, when "I rove, I know nothing of love;" 'T is true, I am given to range : If I rightly remember, I've loved a good number, [affright, I will not advance, by the rules of romance, While my blood is thus warm I ne'er shall reform, Of this I am sure, was my passion so pure, And if I should shun every woman for one, Now, Strephon, good bye; I cannot deny TO ELIZA. (1) ELIZA, what fools are the Mussulman sect, Could they see thee, Eliza, they'd own their defect, And this doctrine would meet with a general resistance. Had their Prophet possess'd half an atom of sense, He ne'er would have women from paradise driven; Instead of his houris, a flimsy pretence! With women alone he had peopled his heaven. Yet still, to increase your calamities more, Not content with depriving your bodies of sprit, He allots one poor husband to share amongst four!— With souls you'd dispense; but this last, who could bear it ? His religion to plea e neither party is made;" On husbands 't is hard, to the wives most uncivil: Still I can't contradict, what so oft has been said, "Though women are angels, yet wedlock's the devil." LACHIN Y GAIR. (2) AWAY, ye gay landscapes, ye gardens of roses! Round their white summits though elements war; Though cataracts foam 'stead of smooth-flowing fountains, I sigh for the valley of dark Loch na Garr. Ah! there my young footsteps in infancy wander'd; Disclosed by the natives of dark Loch na Garr. [vale. And rides on the wind, o'er his own Highland Round Loch na Garr while the stormy mist gathers, Winter presides in his cold icy car: Clouds there encircle the forms of my fathers; They dwell in the tempests of dark Loch na Garr. (1) Miss Elizabeth Pigot, of Southwell, to whom several of Lord spent some of the early part of my life, the recollection of which Byron's earliest letters were addressed.-E. (2) Tachin y Gair, or, as it is prononced in the Erse, Loch-na Garr, towers proudly pre-eminent in the Northern Highlands, has given birth to these stanzas. poem, it is preuy certain, from the testimony of his nurse near Invercauld. One of our modern tourists mentions it as the highest mountain, perhaps, in Great Britain. Be this at it may, it is certainly one of the most sublime and picturesque amongst our "Caledonian Alps." Its appearance is of a dusky hue, but (3) This word is erroneously pronounced plad: the proper prothe summit is the seat of eternal snows. Near Lachin y Gair Inunciation (according to the Scotch) is shown by the orthography. "Ill starr'd,(1)though brave, did no visions foreboding Years have roll'd on, Loch na Garr, since I left you, TO ROMANCE. PARENT of golden dreams, Romance! Thy votive train of girls and boys; And yet 't is hard to quit the dreams And even woman's smiles are true. (1)I allude here to my maternal ancestors, "the Gordons," many of whom fought for the unfortunate Prince Charles, better known by the name of the Pretender. This branch was nearly allied by biood, as well as attachment, to the Stuarts. George, the second Earl of Huntly, married the Princess Annabella Stuart, daughter of James the First of Scotland. By her he left four sons; the third, Sir William Gordon, I have the honour to claim as one of my progenitors. (2) Whether any perished in the battle of Culloden, I am not certain; but as many fell in the insurrection, I have used the name of the principal action, "pars pro toto." (3) A tract of the Hghlands so called. There is also a Castle of Braemar. (4) In The Island, a poem written a year or two before Lord Byron's death, we have these lines: "He who first met the Highland's swelling blue, Jove's Ida and Olympus crown the deep: "When very young," (he adds in a note) "about eight years of age, after an attack of the scarlet fever at Aberdeen, I was removed, by medical advice, into the Highlands, and from this period I date my love of mountainous countries. I can never forget the effect, a few years afterwards, in England, of the only thing I had long seen, even in miniature, of a mountain, in the Malvern Hills. After I returned to Cheltenham, I used to watch them every afternoon, at sunset, with a sensation which I cannot describe." - E. (8) It is hardly necessary to add, that Pylades was the companion af Orestes, and a partner in one of those friendships which, with those of Achilles and Patroclus, Nisus and Euryalus, Damon Say, will you mourn my absent name, Where unlamented you must lie: Convulsed by gales you cannot weather; Where you, and eke your gentle queen, Alas! must perish altogether. ANSWER TO SOME ELEGANT VERSES SENT BY A FRIENd to the authOR, COMPLAINING THAT ONE OF HIS DESCRIPTIONS WAS RATHER TOO WARMLY DRAWN. "But if any old lady, knight, priest, or physician, CANDOUR compels me, BECHER! (1) to commend and Pythias, have been handed down to posterity as remarkable instances of attachments which, in all probability, never existed beyond the imagination of the poet, or the page of an historian, or modern novelist. Oh! how I hate the nerveless frigid song, ELEGY ON NEWSTEAD ABBEY. (2) "It is the voice of years that are gone! they rol before me with all their deeds.”—Ossian. NEWSTEAD! fast-falling, once-resplendent dome! Than modern mansions in their pillar'd state; Scowling defiance on the blasts of fate. boyish to criticise, found one poem in which, as it appeared to him, the imagination of the young bard had indulged itself in a luxuriousness of colouring beyond what even youth could excuse. Immediately, as the most gentle mode of conveying his opinion, he sat down and addressed to Lord Byron some expostu(1) The Rev. John Becher, prebendary of Southwell, the well-latory verses on the subject; the above answer was returned by known author of several philanthropic plans for the amelioration the noble poet as prompt ly, with, at the same time, a note in plain of the condition of the poor. In this gentleman the youthful poet prose, to say that he felt fully the justice of his friend's censure, found not only an honest and judicious critic, but a sincere friend. and that, rather than allow the poem in question to be circulated, To his care the superintendence of the second edition of Hours he would instantly recall all the copies that had been sent out, and of Idleness, during its progress through a country press, was cancel the whole impression. On the very same evening, this intrusted, and at his suggestion several corrections and omis- prompt sacrifice was carried into effect. Mr. Becher saw every sions were made. "I must return you," says Lord Byron, in a copy of the edition burned, with the exception of that which he letter written in February, 1808," my best acknowledgments for retained in his own possession, and another which had been dethe interest you have taken in me and my poetical bantlings, and spatched to Edinburgh, and could not be recalled."- Moore. I shall ever be proud to show how much I esteem the advice and (2) As one poem on this subject is already printed, the author the adviser."- E. had, originally, no intention of inserting the following. It is now added, at the particular request of some friends. "To Mr. Becher, the first copy of his little work was presented; and this gentleman, in looking over its pages, among many things to commend and admire, as well as some almost too (3) Henry II. founded Newstead soon after the murder of Thomas à Becket. [See ante, p. 3. c. 1. note 3.-] | No mail-clad serfs (1), obedient to their lord, In grim array the crimson cross (2) demand; Or gay assemble round the festive board Their chief's retainers, an immortal band : Else might inspiring Fancy's magic eye Retrace their progress through the lapse of time, But not from thee, dark pile! departs the chief; Yes! in thy gloomy cells and shades profound A monarch bade thee from that wild arise, And Superstition's crimes, of various dyes, ; Nor raised their pious voices but to pray. Where now the bats their wavering wings extend, Soon as the gloaming (3) spreads her waning shade, The choir did oft their mingling vespers blend, Years roll on years; to ages, ages yield; And bids devotion's hallow'd echoes cease. Hark how the hall, resounding to the strain, (1) This word is used by Walter Scott, in his poem "The Wild Huntsman,” as synonymous with vassals. (2) The red cross was the badge of the crusaders. (5) As "g'oaming" the Scottish word for twilight, is far more poetical, and has been recommended by many eminent literary men, particularly by Dr. Moore in his Letters to Burns, I have ventured to use it on account of its harmony. (4) The priory was dedicated to the Virgin. The heralds of a warrior's haughty reign, [brow, The mirth of feasts, the clang of burnish'd arms, The braying trumpe, and the hoarser drum, Unite in concert with increased alarms. An abbey once, a regal fortress (6) now, Encircled by insulting rebel powers, War's dread machines o'erhang thy threatening And dart destruction in sulphureous showers. Ah, vain defence! the hostile traitor's siege, Though oft repulsed, by guile o'ercomes the brave; His thronging foes oppress the faithful liege, Rebellion's reeking standards o'er him wave. Not unavenged the raging baron yields; The blood of traitors smears the purple plain; Still, in that hour, the warrior wished to strew [strife, From thee, poor pile! to lawless plunder given, While dying groans their painful requiem sound, Far different incense now ascends to heaven, Such victims wallow on the gory ground. There many a pale and ruthless robber's corse, Noisome and ghast, defiles thy sacred sod; O'er mingling man, and horse commix'd with horse, Corruption's heap, the savage spoilers trod. Graves, long with rank and sighing weeds o'erspread, Ransack'd, resign perforce their mortal mould: From ruffian fangs escape not e'en the dead, Raked from repose in search for buried gold. Hush'd is the harp, unstrung the warlike lyre, The minstrel's palsied hand reclines in death; No more he strikes the quivering chords with fire, Or sings the glories of the martial wreath. (6) Newstead sustained a considerable siege in the war between Charles I. and his parliament. (7) Lord Byron, and his brother Sir William, held high commands in the royal army. The former was general in chief in Ireland, lieutenant of the Tower, and governor to James Duke of York, afterwards the unhappy James II.; the latter båd a principal share in many actions. (8) Lucius Carey, Lord Viscount Falkland, the most accom(5) At the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII. bestowed plished man of his age, was killed at the battle of Newbury, Newstead Abbey ou Sir John Byron.-E.] eharging in the ranks of Lord Byron's regiment of cavalry. At length the sated murderers, gorged with prey, What satellites declare her dismal reign! And Nature triumphs as the tyrant dies. Earth shudders as her caves receive his bones, He guides through gentle seas the prow of state; Vassals, within thy hospitable pale, Loudly carousing, bless their lord's return; Culture again adorns the gladdening vale, And matrons, once lamenting, cease to mourn. A thousand songs on tuneful echo float, Unwonted foliage mantles o'er the trees; And hark! the horns proclaim a mellow note, The hunters' cry hangs lengthening on the breeze. Beneath their coursers' hoofs the valleys shake: What fears, what anxious hopes, attend the chase! The dying stag seeks refuge in the Lake; (3) Exulting shouts announce the finish'd race. (1) This is an historical fact. A violent tempest occurred immediately subsequent to the death or interment of Cromwell, which occasioned many disputes between his partisans and the Cavaliers: both interpreted the circumstance into Divine interposition; but whether as approbation or condemnation, we leave to the casuists of that age to decide. I have made such use of the occurrence as suited the subject of my poem. (2) Charies 11. (3) During the lifetime of the fifth Lord Byron, there was found in this Lake-where it is supposed to have been thrown for concealment by the Monks-a large brass eagle, in the body of which, on its being sent to be cleaned, was discovered a secret aperture, concealing within it a number of ancient documents connected with the rights and privileges of the foundation. At the sale of the old Lord's effects, in 1776, this eagle was purchased by a watchmaker of Nottingham; and it now forms, through the liberality of Sir Richard Kaye, an appropriate ornament of the fine old church of Southwell. -E. Ah happy days! too happy to endure! Such simple sports our plain forefathers knew: No splendid vices glitter'd to allure; Their joys were many, as their cares were few. From these descending, sons to sires succeed; Time steals along, and Death uprears his dart; Another chief impels the foaming steed, Another crowd pursue the panting hart. Cherish'd affection only bids them flow. Or gewgaw grottos of the vainly great; Haply thy sun, emerging, yet may shine, Thee to irradiate with meridian ray; (5) Hours splendid as the past may still be thine, And bless thy future as thy former day. (6) on the spot; I have fixed my heart upon it; and no pressure, present or future, shall induce me to barter the last vestige of our inheritance. I have that pride within me which will enable me to support difficulties. I can endure privations; but could I obtain, in exchange for Newstead Abbey, the first fortune in the country, I would reject the proposition. Set your mind at ease on that score; I feel like a man of honour, and I will not sell Newstead. "-E. (5) "We cannot," said the Critical Review for September, 1807, "but hail with something of prophetic rapture, the hope conveyed in the closing stanza, Haply thy sun, emerging, yet may shine," etc.-E. (6) The reader who turns from this Elegy to the stanzas descriptive of Newstead Abbey and the surrounding scenery, in the thirteenth canto of Don Juan, cannot fail to remark how frequently the leading thoughts in the two picces are the same; or to be delighted and instructed, in comparing the juvenile sketch with the bold touches and mellow colouring of the mas (4) "Come what may," wrote Byron to his mother, in Marchter's picture.- E. 1809, "Newstead and I stand or fall together. I have now lived (7) These verses were composed while Lord Byron was suf |