HEBREW MELODIES ADVERTISEMENT. THE subsequent poems were written at the request of my friend, the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird, for a Selection of Hebrew Melodies, and have been published, with the music, arranged by Mr. Braham and Mr. Nathan. January, 1815. SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY. SHE walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow'd to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. One shade the more, one ray the less, Or softly lightens o'er her face; And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, THE HARP THE MONARCH MINSTREL Tuz harp the monarch minstrel swept, Lord Byron never alludes to his share in these Melodies with complacency. Mr. Moore having, on one occasun, rallied him a little on the manner in which some of them had been set to music,-" Sunburn Nathan," he exclaims, "why do you always twit me with his Ebrew nasanties? Have I not told you it was all Kinnaird's doing, and my own exquisite facility of temper ?"] "Neither the ancient Jews," says Dr. Burney," not the modern, have ever had characters peculiar to music; so that the melodies used in their religious ceremonies have, at all times, been traditional, and at the mercy of the singers-Kalkbrenner tells us, that "les Juifs Espagnols lisent € chantent leurs pseaumes bien differemment que les Juifs Hollandais, les Juifs Romains autrement que les Juifs de la Prusse et de la Hesse; et tous croient chanter comme on chantait dans le Temple de Jerusalem!"-Hist. de la Musique, tom. 1. p. 34.] [These stanzas were written by Lord Byron, on returntag from a ball-room, where he had seen Mrs. (now Lady) Wilmot Horton, the wife of his relation, the present Governor of Cerion. On this occasion Mrs. Wilinot Horton had appeared in mourning, with numerous spangles on her dress.] "In the reign of King David, music was held in the highest estimation by the Hebrews. The genius of that prince for music, and his attachment to the study and prac tice of it, as well as the great number of musicians appointed by him for the performance of religious rites and ceremonies, could not fail to extend its influence and augment its perfections; for it was during this period, that music was first honored by being admitted in the ministry of sac Which Mane halow 1 whit It O'er tones her seat I was 131 Sven. soften'd men wí ma zond, It gave them var at her wa That feit ut, fred sot so he tar. It told the thumpins då var King, It made our gadors & Talinis nag The cedars bow, 30 DOLLARS M. Still bid the burning gari wa To sounds that veg eine LUTE. In dreams that day's trapi cas ant more IF THAT HIGH WORLD Ir that high weld, which is beyond The eye the same, exnent in tears— It must be so: 'tis not for self That we so tremble on the brink; And striving to o'erieap the gulf, Yet cling to Being's severing link. Oh! in that future let us think To hold each heart the heart that shares; With them the immortal waters drink, And soul in soul grow deathless theirs! rifice, and worship of the ark; as well as by being cultivated by a king."-BURNEY.] ["When Lord Byron put the manuscript into my hand, it terminated with this line. As this, however, did not com plete the verse, I wished him to help out the melody. He replied, Why, I have sent you to heaven-it would be dif ficult to go further! My attention for a few minutes was called to some other person, and his Lordship, whom I had hardly missed, exclaimed, Here, Nathan, I have brought you down again; and immediately presented me the beautiful lines which conclude the melody."-NATHAN.] • [The hymns of David excel no less in sublimity and tenderness of expression, than in loftiness and purity of religious sentiment. In comparison with them, the sacred poetry of all other nations sinks into mediocrity. They have embodied so exquisitely the universal language of religious emotion, that (a few fierce and vindictive passages excepted, natural in the warrior-poet of a sterner age) they have entered, with unquestionable propriety, into the Christian ritual. The songs which cheered the solitude of the desert caves of Engedi, or resounded from the voice of the Hebrew people as they wound along the glens or the hill-sides of Judea, have been repeated for ages in almost every part of the habitable world, in the remotest islands of the ocean, amongst the forests of America, or the sands of Africa. How many hu man hearts have they softened, purified, exalted! of how many wretched beings have they been the secret consolation' -on how many communities have they drawn down the blessings of Divine Providence, by bringing the affections in unison with their deep devotional fervor!-MILMAN.) THE WILD GAZELLE. THE wild gazelle on Judah's hills Exulting yet may bound, And drink from all the living rills May glance in tameless transport by : A step as fleet, an eye more bright, The cedars wave on Lebanon, But Judah's statelier maids are gone! More bless'd each palm that shades those plains Than Israel's scatter'd race; For, taking root, it there remains In solitary grace: It cannot quit its place of birth, But we must wander witheringly, And where our fathers' ashes be, OH! WEEP FOR THOSE. OH! weep for those that wept by Babel's stream, And where shall Israel lave her bleeding feet? The hearts that leap'd before its heavenly voice? Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, The wild-dove hath her nest, the fox his cave, ON JORDAN'S BANKS. ON Jordan's banks the Arab's camels stray, Yet there even there-Oh God! thy thunders sleep: Oh! in the lightning let thy glance appear; 1 [Jephtha, a bastard son of Gilead, having been wrongfully expelled from his father's house, had taken refuge in a wild country, and become a noted captain of freebooters. His kindred, groaning under foreign oppression, began to look to their valiant, though lawless compatriot, whose profession, according to their usage, was no more dishonorable than that of a pirate in the elder days of Greece. They sent for him, and made him head of their city. Before he went forth against the Ammonites, he made the memorable vow, that, if he returned victorious, he would sacrifice as a burnt JEPHTHA'S DAUGHTER' SINCE our Country, our God-Oh, my sire! And the voice of my mourning is o'er, And of this, oh, my Father! be sure- OH! SNATCH'D AWAY IN BEAUTY'S OH! snatch'd away in beauty's bloom, Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head, Away! we know that tears are vain, That death nor heeds nor hears distress: Will this unteach us to complain? Or make one mourner weep the less? And thou-who tell'st me to forget, Thy looks are wan, thine eyes are wet. MY SOUL IS DARK. My soul is dark-Oh! quickly string The harp I yet can brook to hear; And let thy gentle fingers fling Its melting murmurs o'er mine ear. If in this heart a hope be dear, That sound shall charm it forth again: If in these eyes there lurk a tear, "Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain. But bid the strain be wild and deep, Nor let thy notes of joy be first: I tell thee, minstrel, I must weep, Or else this heavy heart will burst; offering whatever first met him on his entrance into his native city. He gained a splendid victory. At the news of t his only daughter came dancing forth, in the gladness of heart, and with jocund instruments of music, to salute the deliverer of his people. The miserable father rent his clothes in agony; but the noble-spirited maiden would not hear of the disregard of the vow: she only demanded a short period to bewail upon the mountains, like the Antigone of Sopho cles, her dying without hope of becoming a bride or mother and then submitted to her fate.-MILMAN.] For it hath been by sorrow nursed, And ached in sleepless silence long; And now 'tis doom'd to know the worst, And break at once-or yield to song.' I SAW THEE WEEP. I SAW thee weep-the big bright tear I saw thee smile-the sapphire's blaze It could not match the living rays As clouds from yonder sun receive A deep and mellow dye, Which scarce the shade of coming eve Those smiles unto the moodiest mind THY DAYS ARE DONE. THY days are done, thy fame begun; Though thou art fall'n, while we are free Thy name, our charging hosts along, Thy fall, the theme of choral song To weep would do thy glory wrong; "It was generally conceived that Lord Byron's reported singularities approached on some occasions to derangement; and at one period, indeed, it was very currently asserted that his intellects were actually impaired. The report only served to amuse his Lordship. He referred to the circumstance, and declared that he would try how a madthan could write: seizing the pen with eagerness, he for a moment fixed his eyes in majestic wildness on vacancy; when, like a flash of inspiration, without erasing a single word, the above verses were the result."-NATHAN.] [Haunted with that insatiable desire of searching into the secrets of futurity, inseparable from uncivilized man, Saul knew not to what quarter to turn. The priests, outraged by his cruelty, had forsaken him: the prophets stood aloof; no dreams visited his couch; he had persecuted even the unlawful diviners. He hears at last of a female necromancer, a woman with the spirit of Ob; strangely similar in sound to the Obeah women in the West Indies. To the cave-dwelling of this woman, in Endor, the monarch proceeds in disguise. He commands her to raise the spirit of Samuel. At this daring demand, the woman first recogmises, or pretends to recognise, her royal visiter. "Whom seest thou?" says the king.-"Mighty ones ascending from the earth."-" of what form ?"-" An old man covered with SONG OF SAUL BEFORE HIS LAST WARRIORS and chiefs! should the shaft or the sword Thou who art bearing my buckler and bow, SAUL THOU whose spell can raise the dead, King, behold the phantom seer!" a mantle." Saul, in terror, bows down his head to the earth; and, it should seem, not daring to look up, receives from the voice of the spectre the awful intination of his defeat and death. On the reality of this apparition we pretend not to decide: the figure, if figure there were, was not seen by Saul; and, excepting the event of the approaching battle, the spirit said nothing which the living prophet had not said before, repeatedly and publicly. But the fact is curious, as showing the popular belief of the Jews in departed spirits to have been the same with that of most other nations.-MILMAN.] ["Since we have spoken of witches," said Lord Byron, at Cephalonia, in 1823, what think you of the witch of Endor 1 have always thought this the finest and most finished witch-scene that ever was written or conceived; and you will be of my opinion, if you consider all the circumstances and the actors in the case, together with the gravity, simplicity, and dignity of the language. It beats all the ghost scenes I ever read. The finest conception on a similar subject is that of Goethe's Devil, Mephistopheles; and though, of course, you will give the priority to the former, as being inspired, yet the latter, if you know it, will appear to you-at least it does to me--one of the finest and most sublime specimens of human conception."] "ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER." FAME, wisdom, love, and power were mine, I strive to number o'er what days There rose no day, there roll'd no hour The serpent of the field, by art And spells, is won from harming; Nor music's voice can lure it; WHEN COLDNESS WRAPS THIS SUFFER- WHEN coldness wraps this suffering clay, It cannot die, it cannot stray, But leaves its darken'd dust behind. By steps each planet's heavenly way? A thing of eyes, that all survey? Eternal, boundless, undecay'd, A thought unseen, but seeing all, All, all in earth, or skies display'd, Shall it survey, shall it recall: Each fainter trace that memory holds So darkly of departed years, In one broad glance the soul beholds, And all, that was, at once appears. Before Creation peopled earth, Its eye shall roll through chaos back; And where the furthest heaven had birth, The spirit trace its rising track. And where the future mars or makes, Its glance dilate o'er all to be, While sun is quench'd or system breaks, Fix'd in its own eternity. Above or Love, Hope, Hate, or Fear, O'er all, through all, its thought shall fly; A nameless and eternal thing, Forgetting what it was to die. VISION OF BELSHAZZAR THE King was on his throne, In Judah deem'd divine- The godless Heathen's wine. In that same hour and hall, And wrote as if on sand: A solitary hand Along the letters ran, And traced them like a wand. The monarch saw, and shook, And bade no more rejoice; All bloodless wax'd his look, And tremulous his voice. "Let the men of lore appear, The wisest of the earth, And expound the words of fear, Which mar our royal mirth." Chaldea's seers are good, But here they have no skill; Are wise and deep in lore; A captive in the land, A stranger and a youth, He heard the king's command, He saw that writing's truth, The lamps around were bright, The prophecy in view; He read it on that night,The morrow proved it true. "Belshazzar's grave is made, The Persian on his throne !" SUN OF THE SLEEPLESS! SUN of the sleepless! melancholy star! |