Oh! there's a holy calm profound 'Tis as a solemn voice from heaven, 'Tis true, it talks of danger nigh, Where pleasure's throb, or tears of sorrow Well!-there are some, thou stormy bed, Whose lip hath drain'd life's cup of pleasure, Round mis'ry's brim. Yes, he can smile serene at death: Tell them that he lies calmly sleeping, ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF CHARLES GOUGH. SIR WALTER SCOTT. I CLIMB'D the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn, Lakes and mountains beneath me gleam'd misty and wide; All was still, save by fits when the eagle was yelling, And, starting around me, the echoes replied. On the right Strathen-edge round the Red Tarn was bending, And Catchedecam its left verge was defending, One huge nameless rock on the front was impending, When I mark'd the sad spot where the wand'rer had died. Dark green was that spot, 'mid the brown mountain heather, Where the pilgrim of nature lay stretch'd in decay, Like the corpse of an outcast, abandon'd to weather, Till the mountain winds wasted the tenantless clay : Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended, For, faithful in death, his mute favourite attended, The much-lov'd remains of his master defended, And chas'd the hill fox and the raven away. *This gentleman was travelling in April 1805, with no other company than a favourite spaniel, over Red Tarn Crag in Patterdale, Cumberland; but a heavy fog coming on, he' had lost his way, and fallen over a precipice about 200 yards high. He was not heard of till about two months afterwards, when his remains were found, still attended by the spaniel. How long didst thou think that his silence was slumber? When the wind wav'd his garments, how oft didst thou start? How many long days, and long nights, didst thou number, Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy heart? And oh! was it meet that no requiem read o'er him; No mother to weep, and no friend to deplore him; And thou, little guardian, alone stretch'd before him, Unhonour'd the pilgrim from life should depart? When a prince to the fate of the peasant has yielded, The tapestry waves dark round the dim-lighted hall; With escutcheons of silver the coffin is shielded, And pages stand mute by the canopied pall; Through the courts, at deep midnight, the torches are gleaming, In the proudly-arch'd chapel the banners are beam ing, Far adown the long aisle sacred music is streaming, Lamenting a chief of the people should fall. But meeter for thee, gentle lover of nature, lamb, When, wilder'd, he drops from some cliff huge in stature, And draws his last sob by the side of his dam ; And more stately thy couch, by this desert lake lying, Thy obsequies sung by the grey plover flying, With but one faithful friend to witness thy dying, In the arms of Helvellyn and Catchedecam, SONG. ANONYMOUS. How many new years have grown old Since first my love was vow'd to you! How many walls as white as snow, Which faithfully performed was! How often hath my pale lean face, Whom neither sighs nor tears can move! O cruel! yet you do not know Whether your servant love or no. And wanting oft a better token, I have been fain to send my heart, Which now your cold disdain hath broken, Nor can you heal't by any art: O look upon't, and you shall know Whether your servant love or no. GENIUS. ANONYMOUS. WHAT is Genius? 'Tis a flame SONG. MOORE. WHY does azure deck the sky? Because it is thy blushes' hue. Why is falling snow so white, But to be like thy bosom fair? Why are solar beams so bright? That they may seem thy golden hair! |