ON GREECE.

CONTEMPLATION ON A SCULL.

Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall,
Its chambers desolate, its portals foul (1);
Yes, this was once ambition's airy hall (2),
The dome of thought, the palace of the soul;
Behold through each lack-lustre (3) eyeless hole,
The gay recess of wisdom and of wit,

And passion's host that never brook'd (4) control.
Can all that saint or sophist ever writ (5)
People this lonely tower, this tenement refit (6)?

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ON GREECE.

Cold is the heart, fair Greece, that looks on thee,
Nor feels as lovers o'er the dust they loved :

Dull is the eye that will not weep to see

Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines (7) removed (8) By British hands, which it had best behoved (9)

(1) Foul, souillé.

(2) Hall, temple.

(3) Lack-lustre, sans éclat.

(4) To brook, supporter, souffrir.

(5) Writ pour wrote, passé de to write, écrire.

(6) To refit, réparer, mettre à neuf.

(7) Shrine, autel, temple.

(8) To remove, transporter, éloigner.

(9) Which it had best behoved, dont ce fut plutôt le devoir. Le verbe unipersonnel to behove répond à peu près au verbe importer. Ex. Il vous importe de, It behoves you to.

To guard those relics ne'er to be restored.

Curst be the hour when from their isle they roved,
And once again thy hapless (1) bosom gored (2),

And snatched thy shrinking (3) Gods to northern climes [abhorr'd!

BYRON.

ON GREECE.

Clime of the unforgotten brave!

Whose land from plain to mountain cave
Was Freedom's home or Glory's grave!
Shrine of the mighty! Can it be,
That this is all remains of thee?
Approach, thou craven, crouching (4) slave:
Say, is not this Thermopyla?

These waters blue that round you lave,

Oh servile offspring of the free

Pronounce what sea, what shore is this?

The gulf, the rock of Salamis!

BYRON.

SURPRISE AND JOY.

As the stream late (3) concealed
By the fringe of its willows (6),

(1) Hapless, malheureux.

(2) To gore, déchirer, percer.

(3) Shrinking, qui se retire, qui se tient à l'écart.

(4) Craven, crouching, rampant, lâche.

(5) Late, naguère.

(6) Willows, saules pleureurs.

THE MORNING AFTER A BATTLE.

When it rushes revealed

In the light (1) of its billows;

As the bolt (2) bursts on high

From the black cloud that bound it,
Flash'd (3) the soul of that eye
Through the long lashes round it.
A war-horse at the trumpet's sound,
A lion roused by heedless hound (4),
A tyrant waked to sudden strife
By graze (5) of ill directed knife,
Starts not (6) to more convulsive life
Than he, etc., etc.

BYRON.

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THE MORNING AFTER A BATTLE.

Day glimmers (7) on the dying and the dead,
The cloven cuirass and the helmless head;
The war-horse masterless (8) is on the earth,
And that last gasp (S) hath burst his bloody girth (10);

(1) Light, éclat, lumière.

(2) The bolt, la foudre.

(3) To flash, éclater, briller.

(4) Heedless hound, chien de chasse imprudent.

(5) Graze, effleurage, action d'effleurer.

(6) To start, frémir, s'éveiller en sursaut.

(7) To glimmer, reluire, poindre.

(8) Masterless, sans maître, sans cavalier.

(9) Last gasp, dernier soupir.

(10) Bloody girth, courroie ensanglantée. Il serait difficile de trouver un vers plus dur pour l'oreille.

And near, yet quivering with what life remain'd, The heel that urged (1) him and the hand that rein'd, And some too near that rolling torrent lie,

Whose waters mock the lips of those that die.

BYRON.

A JEW'S REVENGE.

If it will feed (2) nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and hindered (3) me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted (4) my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies. And what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt (5) with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed (6) by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick (7) us, do we not bleed? if you tickle (8) us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in

(1) To urge, pousser, exciter, aiguillonner.

(2) To feed, nourrir.

(3) To hinder, empêcher.

(4) To thwart, s'opposer à, contrarier.

(5) To hurt, faire mal, blesser.

(6) To heal, guérir.

(7) To prick, piquer, blesser avec un instrument pointu. (8) To tickle, chatouiller.

EULOGY OF WOMAN.

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the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong (1) a Christian, what is his humility. Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany (2) you teach me I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better (3) the instruction.

SHAKSPEARE. Merchant of Venise, ACT. 3, Sc. 1.

AFFLICTION.

Have you not sometimes seen an early flower
Open its bud (4) and spread its silken leaves,
To catch sweet airs, and odours to bestow;
Then by the keen blast nipp'd, pull in (5) its leaves,
And though still living die to scent and beauty?
Emblem of ME; affliction, like a storm,

Hath kill'd the forward blossom (6) of my heart.

ANONYMOUS.

EULOGY OF WOMAN.

O woman! lovely woman! nature made thee
To temper man; we had been (7) brutes without you.

(1) To wrong, léser, faire tort à.

(2) Villany, scélératesse.

(3) It shall go hard but I will better, il sera difficile de m'empêcher de profiter, ou de bien faire valoir, etc.

(4) Open its bud, s'épanouir.

(5) To pull in, retirer, fermer.

(6) Blossom, fleur; se dit en général pour les fleurs des arbres fruitiers: autrement on dit flower.

(7) We had been, nous eussions été, ou nous serions.