XIII. But when the sun was sinking in the sea He seized his harp, which he at times could string, And fleeting shores receded from his sight, 1. "ADIEU, adieu! my native shore The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, Yon sun that sets upon the sea Farewell awhile to him and thee, 2. "A few short hours and he will rise Its hearth is desolate; Wild weeds are gathering on the wall; My dog howls at the gate. 1 [See Lord Maxwell's "Good Night," in Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Poetical Works, vol. ii. p. 141. ed. 1834 "Adieu, madame, my mother dear," &c.] 3. "Come hither, hither, my little page!! But dash the tear-drop from thine eye; More merrily along." 2 4. Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high, Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I Am sorrowful in mind; 4 For I have from my father gone, And have no friend, save these alone, [This "little page was Robert Rushton, the son of one of Lord Byron's tenants. "Robert I take with me," says the poet, in a letter to his mother; "I like him, because, like myself, he seems a friendless animal: tell his father he is well, and doing well." ] 2 3 ["Our best goss-hawk can hardly fly ["Oh, master dear! I do not cry MS.] 4 [Seeing that the boy was "sorrowful" at the separation from his parents, Lord Byron, on reaching Gibraltar, sent him back to England under the care of his old servant Joe Murray. "Pray," he says to his mother," shew the lad every kindness, as he is my great favourite." He also wrote a letter to the father of the boy, which leaves a most favourable impression of his thoughtfulness and kindliness. "I have," he says, " sent Robert home, because the country which I am about to travel through is in a state which renders it unsafe, particularly for one so young. I allow you to deduct from your rent five and twenty pounds a year for his education, for three years, provided I do not return before that time, and I desire he may be considered as in my service. He has behaved extremely well."] 5. • My father bless'd me fervently, 6. "Come hither, hither, my staunch yeoman,2 'Deem'st thou I tremble for my life? [Here follows in the original MS. : 'My Mother is a high-born dame, I had a sister once I ween, Whose tears perhaps will flow; For three long years and moe.'] 2 [William Fletcher, the faithful valet; who, after a service of twenty years, (" during which," he says, "his Lord was more to him than a father,") received the Pilgrim's last words at Missolonghi, and did not quit his remains, until he had seen them deposited in the family vault at Hucknall. This unsophisticated "yeoman" was a constant source of pleasantry to his master :e. g. "Fletcher," he says, in a letter to his mother, "is not valiant; he requires comforts that I can dispense with, and sighs for beer, and beef, and tea, and his wife, and the devil knows what besides. We were one night lost in a thunder-storm, and since, nearly wrecked. In both cases he was sorely bewildered; from apprehensions of famine and banditti in the first, and drowning in the second instance. His eyes were a little hurt by the lightning, or 7. 'My spouse and boys dwell near thy hall, And when they on their father call, 8. "For who would trust the seeming sighs Fresh feres will dry the bright blue eyes No thing that claims a tear.3 crying, I don't know which. I did what I could to console him, but found him incorrigible. He sends six sighs to Sally. I shall settle him in a farm; for he has served me faithfully, and Sally is a good woman." After all his adventures by flood and field, short commons included, this humble Achates of the poet has now established himself as the keeper of an Italian warehouse, in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, where, if he does not thrive, every one who knows any thing of his character will say he deserves to do so.] 1 2 ["Enough, enough, my yeoman good, But if I in thy sandals stood, ["For who would trust a paramour, Or e'en a wedded freere, Though her blue eyes were streaming o'er, 3 ["I leave England without regret-I shall return to it without pleasure. I am like Adam, the first convict sentenced to transportation; but I have no Eve, and have eaten no apple but what was sour as a crab."- Lord B. to Mr. Hodgson.] 9. "And now I'm in the world alone, But why should I for others groan, 10. "With thee, my bark, I'll swiftly go Nor care what land thou bear'st me to, Welcome, welcome, ye dark-blue waves! Welcome, ye deserts, and ye caves! Good Night! "3 [From the following passage in a letter to Mr. Dallas, it would appear that that gentleman had recommended the suppression or alteration of this stanza :-"I do not mean to exchange the ninth verse of the Good Night.' I have no reason to suppose my dog better than his brother brutes, mankind; and Argus we know to be a fable."] 2 [Here follows, in the original MS. : "Methinks it would my bosom glad To change my proud estate, And be again a laughing lad Since youth I scarce have pass'd an hour Except sometimes in Lady's bower, Or when the bowl I drain."] 3 [Originally, the "little page " and the "yeoman" were introduced in the following stanzas: "And of his train there was a henchman page, A peasant boy, who served his master well; And often would his pranksome prate engage Childe Harold's ear, when his proud heart did swell |