ON SAM ROGERS QUESTION AND ANSWER [One of the malicious poems which Byron wrote recklessly on the spur of the moment without intention of publishing. It was printed after his death in Fraser's Magazine, January, 1833. Byron's long friendship with Rogers may be traced in the Letters, but he seems not to have fully trusted the man, however much he admired his classic' verses. In a letter to Murray (February 20, 1818) he speaks his suspicions loudly.] QUESTION NOSE and chin would shame a knocker; ANSWER Many passengers arrest one, Hear his tone (which is to talking All which women or which men do, When to do it with impunity: You are neither then he 'Il flatter, Till he finds some trait for satire; For his merits, would you know 'em? Once he wrote a pretty Poem, [1818.] THE DUEL 40 50 60 70 [First published in the Edition of 1901 from a manuscript in the possession of Mr. Murray. These lines, addressed to Mary Chaworth, allude to the duel fought between her granduncle, William Chaworth, Esq., of Annesley, and the poet's granduncle, the fifth Lord Byron, on January 26, 1765. Mr. Chaworth fell in the encounter, and his antagonist was tried before the House of Lords on the charge of murder, but acquitted by a verdict of manslaughter.'] 'Tis fifty years, and yet their fray To me the Lands of him who slew ΤΟ To Monarchs crown'd, and some discrown'd, As ever Britain's Annals knew: And the last Conquer'd own'd the line I loved thee Since things like these are best forgot: Perhaps thou mayst imagine now Who loved thee, and who loved thee not. And thou wert wedded to another, And I at last another wedded: I am a father, thou a mother, To Strangers vow'd, with strangers bedded If to have woo'd thee I could dare. How many things! I loved thee - thou And I was, what I am, Alas! 31 4C And what he is, and what thou art, STANZAS TO THE PO [These stanzas were first published in 1824 by Medwin in the Conversations. According to a statement of the Countess Guiccioli they were composed by Byron in April, 1819, while actually sailing on the Po from Venice to Ravenna, where he was to join her. The stanzas were supposed by the earlier editors to have been transmitted to London in a letter to Murray (May 8, 1820), with the direction: They must not be published: pray recollect this, as they are mere verses of society, and written upon private feelings and passions.' Mr. E. H. Coleridge points out several incongruities in these statements, and suggests that the poem alluded to as 'mere verses of society' is not this address to the Po, but the somewhat cynical rhymes, 'Could Love forever, Run like a river.' The theory is plausible, but no more. In a letter to the Athenæum, August 24, 1901, Mr. Richard Edgcumbe suggests that the poem is to the river Trent, and is concerned with Mrs. Chaworth Musters.] Will she return by whom that wave shall sweep? Both tread thy banks, both wander on thy shore, I by thy source, she by the dark-blue deep. But that which keepeth us apart is not Distance, nor depth of wave, nor space of earth, But the distraction of a various lot, 40 A stranger loves the lady of the land, Born far beyond the mountains, but his blood Is all meridian, as if never fann'd By the black wind that chills the polar flood. SONNET ON THE NUPTIALS OF THE MARQUIS ANTONIO CAVALLI WITH THE COUNTESS CLELIA RASPONI OF RAVENNA [First published in the Edition of 1901 from a manuscript in the possession of the Lady Dorchester.] A NOBLE Lady of the Italian shore, Lovely and young, herself a happy bride, Commands a verse, and will not be denied, From me a wandering Englishman; I tore One sonnet, but invoke the muse once more To hail these gentle hearts which Love has tied, In Youth, Birth, Beauty, genially allied, And blest with Virtue's soul and Fortune's store. A sweeter language and a luckier bard Were worthier of your hopes, Auspicious Pair! And of the sanctity of Hymen's shrine, But, since I cannot but obey the Fair, To render your new state your true reward, May your Fate be like Hers, and unlike mine. RAVENNA, July 31, 1819. SONNET TO THE PRINCE REGENT ON THE REPEAL OF LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD'S forfeiture To be the father of the fatherless, To stretch the hand from the throne's height, and raise His offspring, who expired in other days To make thy sire's sway by a kingdom less,This is to be a monarch, and repress Envy into unutterable praise. Dismiss thy guard, and trust thee to such traits, For who would lift a hand, except to bless ? Were it not easy, Sir, and is 't not sweet To make thyself beloved? and to be Omnipotent by mercy's means? for thus Thy Sovereignty would grow but more complete; A despot thou, and yet thy people free, And by the heart, not hand, enslaving us. BOLOGNA, August 12, 1819. STANZAS [A friend of Lord Byron's, who was with him at Ravenna when he wrote these Stanzas, says: "They were composed, like many others, with no view of publication, but merely to relieve himself in a moment of suffering. He had been painfully excited by some circumstances which appeared to make it necessary that he should immediately quit Italy, and in the day and the hour that he wrote the song was labouring under an access of fever.' So reads the note in the Edition of 1831. It is to be remarked, however, that Byron was not at Ravenna but at Venice on the date of the poem.] COULD Love for ever Run like a river, And Time's endeavour No other pleasure We'd hug the chain. Love plumes his wing; When lovers parted A few years older, For whom they sigh! They pluck Love's feather From out his wing — He'll stay for ever, But sadly shiver Without his plumage, when past the Spring. Like Chiefs of Faction, His life is action A formal paction That curbs his reign, Obscures his glory, Despot no more, he Quits with disdain. He must move on- Wait not, fond lover! All passion blight: If once diminish'd Love's reign is finish'd 31 40 50 [First published in the Edition of 1901 from a manuscript in the possession of Mr. Murray.] LADY! in whose heroic port And Beauty, Victor even of Time, And haughty lineaments, appear Then part in friendship, — and bid good- Much that is awful, more that 's dear night. So shall Affection To recollection The dear connection Bring back with joy: As through the past; Wherever human hearts resort 60 To those who watch thee will disclose not least though With thee how proudly Love hath dwelt ! His full Divinity was felt, IC 20 |