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Days of my youth! I wish not your recall!

Hairs of my youth! T'm content you should fall ;
Eyes of my youth! ye much evil have seen;

Cheeks of my youth! bathed (1) in tears you have been,
Thoughts of my youth! ye have led me astray;
Strength of my youth! why lament your decay?
Days of my age! ye will shortly be past;
Pain of my age! but a while (2) can ye last;
Joys of my age! in true wisdom delight;
Eyes of my age! be religion your light;
Thoughts of my age! dread not the cold sod (5);
Hopes of my age! be ye fixed on your God!

TUCKER.

TO HOPE.

Bright morning star of bliss, whose cheering (4) ray Shines through the mist of dark futurity,

Illumes the night of woe,

And gilds the clouds of care;

Kindled (5) by thee, the world's bright meteors blaze : The universe is pension'd (6) on thy smiles :

Thy name,

thy magic name

Is on the hero's shield!

(1) Bathed, baigné.

(2) A while, peu de temps.

(3) Sod, sol, gazon.
(4) Cheering, qui réjouit.
(5) To kindle, allumer.

(6) Pensioned, nourri.

ADDRESS TO AN EGYPTIAN MUMMY.

Still in misfortune's steps thou lov'st to tread,
And while sweet pity dries the mourner's tear,
To raise the drooping head,

And stanch (1) the bleeding wound,

The dungeon knows thy voice: nor gates, nor bars
Can hope exclude-the poor man's comforter!

The antidote to pain!

The conqueror of death!

271

ADDRESS TO AN EGYPTIAN MUMMY.

And thou hast walk'd about (2)—how strange a story!-
In Thebes' streets three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium was in all its glory,
And time had not begun to overthrow (3)

Those temples, palaces, and piles (4) stupendous (5),
Of which the very ruins are tremendous.
Why should this worthless tegument endure,
If its undying guest be lost for ever?
O let us keep the soul embalm'd and pure
In living virtue, that when both must sever (6),
Although corruption may our frame consume,
The immortal spirit in the skies (7) may bloom.

(1) To stanch, étancher, panser. • (2) To walk about, parcourir.

(3) To overthrow, renverser.

(4) Piles, tas de pierres, monuments. (5) Stupendous, prodigieux.

(6) To sever, séparer.

(7) The skies, les cieux, lè paradis.

NAPOLEON'S SNUFF-BOX.

Bonaparte expressed great esteem for the celebrated Charles Fox, to whose exertions, in concert with the other whigs (1), may be attributed the peace that was concluded between the two countries in 1800. Fox visited the French capital, and was received in a very flattering manner by Napoleon, who, to mark his esteem, sent a beautiful snuff-box set with diamonds, as a present to a Lady, sister I believe of Charles Fox. On this occasion one of the high tory (2) lords addressed some poetical lines to her Ladyship, endeavouring to persuade her not to accept the jewel; the piece contained seven stanzas and began thus :

"Lady, reject the gift, 'tis stain'd with gore" (5), etc.

Lord Byron immediately addressed a very laconic morcel to the Lady, containing, in four lines, persuasion, eulogium and satire, which caused a great deal of mirth at London. The piece ran thus :

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Lady, accept the box a hero wore,

In spite of all this elegiac stuff (4) :

Let not seven stanzas written by a bore (5)
Prevent your Ladyship (6) from taking snuff (7). "

BYRON.

(1) The whigs, les libéraux.

(2) The tories, les aristocrates.

(3) Stain'd with gore, taché de sang.

(4) Stuff, bêtise, non-sens.

(5) A bore, un cruel homme, un homme ennuyeux.

(6) Your ladyship, votre seigneurie.

(7) To take snuff, priser.

THE ROSE AN EMBLEM OF LOVE AND HOPE.

THE TEAR OF PATERNAL LOVE.

Some feelings (1) are to mortals given,
With less of earth in them than heaven;
And if there be a human tear

From passion's dross (2) refined and clear,
A tear so limpid and so meek,

It would not stain an angel's cheek,
'Tis that which pious fathers shed

Upon a duteous (5) daughter's head!

SCOTT.

THE ROSE AN EMBLEM OF LOVE AND HOPE.

The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new,

And hope is brightest when it dawns (4) from fears;
The rose is sweetest washed (5) with morning dew,
And love is loveliest when embalmed in tears.
O wilding rose (6), whom fancy thus endears,
I bid your blossoms in my bonnet wave,
Emblem of hope and love through future years!

SCOTT.

(1) Feelings, sentiments.

(2) Dross, la lie, le rebut, la crasse. (3) Duteous, obéissant, dévoué.

(4) To dawn, naître.

(5) Washed, arrosé, lavé.

(6) Wilding rose, rose éphémère.

273

THE POWER OF GREAT MINDS.

What is that spell (1), that thus his lawless train
Confess and envy, yet oppose in vain?

What should it be? that thus their faith can bind?
The power of Thought -- the magic of the mind!
Link'd (2) with success, assumed (3) and kept with skill,
That moulds another's weakness to its will;

Wields (4) with their hands, but, still to these unknown,
Makes even their mightiest deeds appear his own.

Such hath it been shall be beneath the sun

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The many (5) still must labour for the one!
'Tis nature's doom but let the wretch who toils,
Accuse not, hate not him who wears the spoils.
Oh! if he knew the weight of splendid chains,
How light the balance (6) of his humbler pains!

ЕРІТАРН.

BYRON.

My epitaph shall be my name alone :

If that with honour fail to crown my clay (7),
Oh may no other fame my deeds repay!

(1) Spell, magie.

(2) Linked, joint, réuni.
(5) To assume, s'arroger.
manier.

(4) To wield,

(5) The many, la plupart.

(6) The balance, le poids.

(7) My clay, mes dépouilles mortelles.

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