"TEARS DRIVEN BACK UPON THE FOUNTAIN-HEAD, AND SORROW'S VOICE SUPPREST."-W. S. LANDOR. NEITHER THE SUNS NOR FROSTS OF ROLLING YEARS-(W. S. LANDOR) "WEAVE, WHILE IN QUIET SLEEP REPOSE THE DEAD; OH, WHEN WILL THEY TOO REST!"-LANDOR. CORINTH. Have ransomed first their country with their blood! To mingle names, august as these, with thine; * Timoleon, the patriot ruler of Corinth. DRY UP THE SPRINGS OR CHANGE THE COURSE OF TEARS."-LANDOR. "MORE MUTABLE THAN WIND-TORN LEAVES ARE WE; YEA, LOWER THAN THE DUST'S ESTATE."-W. S. LANDOR. BOASTFULLY WE CALL THE WORLD OUR OWN :-(LANDOR) WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. Wept more than slavery ever made them weep, [From "The Hellenics," xv.] SIXTEEN. IN Clementina's artless mien And, are the roses of sixteen Lucilla asks, if that be all, Have I not culled as sweet before? Oh yes, Lucilla! and their fall I still deplore. I now behold another scene, Where pleasure beams with heaven's own light; More pure, more constant, more serene, Faith, on whose breast the loves repose, [From Landor's "Collected Works."] WHAT ARE WE WHO SHOULD CALL IT SO?"-W. S. LANDOR. "DISSEVERED FROM OURSELVES, ALIENS AND OUTCASTS, WE ONLY LIVE TO FEEL OUR FALL AND DIE."-LANDOR. 66 EXTREME IN ALL THINGS! HADST THOU BEEN BETWIXT,-(BYRON) NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA. 261 John Gibson Lockhart. 39 66 [JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART, the son-in-law and biographer of Sir Walter Scott,-born in 1794, died in 1854,-was for many years the editor of the Quarterly Review. As a critic he was distinguished by his acuteness of analysis, and by the trenchant vigour of his satire. As a novelist, and the author of "Valerius," "Adam Blair," Reginald Dalton," and "Matthew Wald," he showed a remarkable power in depicting the deeper passions of human nature, and in tracing the declension of a lofty mind from sin to sin. His style was clear and forcible; his command of pathos and humour extraordinary. He painted with all the power, and, let us add, all the gloom of a Rembrandt. His poetical translations from the Spanish are indisputably the finest of their kind; and many of his original poems show that he could have handled "the lyre," had he so willed, with a surprising mastery of touch. He was clear and original in conception; masculine and skilful in execution. "His pictures," says a critic, "have all the distinctness of an autumn landscape, outlined on the horizon by an unclouded morning sun."] "THERE SUNK THE GREATEST, NOR THE WORST OF MEN, WHOSE SPIRIT, ANTITHETICALLY MIXT,-(BYRON) ONE MOMENT OF THE MIGHTIEST, AND AGAIN ON LITTLE OBJECTS WITH LIKE FIRMNESS FIXT."-BYRON. NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA.* HE mighty sun had just gone down Into the chambers of the deep; Each in his cave to sleep; And silent was the island shore, One only tree, one ancient palm, When Buonaparte died. An ancient man, a stately man, Came forth beneath the spreading tree, * This poem originally appeared in Blackwood's Magazine for July, 1821. THY THRONE HAD STILL BEEN THINE, OR NEVER BEEN."-BYRON. "OH, MORE OR LESS THAN MAN, IN HIGH OR LOW, BATTLING WITH NATIONS, FLYING FROM THE FIELD,-(LORD BYRON) AN EMPIRE THOU COULDST CRUSH, COMMAND, REBUILD, JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART. His silent thoughts I could not scan, A trembling hand had partly covered The old man's weeping countenance, That spake of War and France; Said I, "Perchance this faded hand, The bolt of death hath flung. Perchance hath kindled this old cheek; He hath been with him young and old; His soul was as a sword, to leap He knew no other lord. As if it were but yesternight, This man remembers dark Eylau ;+ * Referring to the great battle of the Bridge of Lodi, where Napoleon defeated a superior force of Austrians, May 10, 1796. + The battle of Eylau, in Prussia, where, on February 7 and 8, 1807, the French, under Napoleon, defeated the Russians, after a most sanguinary struggle. The victors lost 15,000 men; the Russians, in killed alone, 20,000. BUT GOVERN NOT THY PETTIEST PASSION."-LORD BYRON. NOW MAKING MONARCHS' NECKS THY FOOTSTOOLS, NOW MORE THAN THY MEANEST SOLDIER TAUGHT TO YIELD."-BYRON. |