WOMAN. A FRAGMENT. WOMAN! thou loveliest gift that here below Thyself a gift whose pleasure never cloys,—— (1818.) MUNITO. FROM A POEM ON DOGS. THOUGH great Spadille, or that famed Prince of Loo, All conqu❜ring Pam, turn backward from his view,Swift in the noble chase, Munito tracks The Royal guests amid Plebeian packs; And though the cards in mixed confusion lie, Munito still, with more than human art, Knows Kings from Knaves, the Diamond from the Heart: Happy were men, if thus in graver things Our Knaves were always parted from our Kings; LINES WRITTEN IN THE FIRST LEAF OF VOLTAIRE'S " HISTOIRE DE CHARLES XII.” THOU little Book, thy leaves unfold Thy vein is noble; meet and fit Thy tales are sweet, but they renew Thou bid'st me think upon the hours When glad I left Etona's bowers, To laugh with laughing Mary Anne: When Susan's voice of tenderness My darkest sorrows could beguile; WRITTEN IN VOLTAIRE'S CHARLES XII. 251 When study wore its fairest dress, Alas! too soon before mine eye Was spread the page of ancient lore; Too soon those dreams of bliss were o’er. I look on thee, and think again Ye friends with whom I may not be, Ye forms that I have loved and left, My lot and yours are parted now; Long weeks must pass, ere I may greet Ere I may fly again to meet A cousin's smile, a sister's kiss. (ETON, 1820.) TO FLORENCE. LONG years have passed with silent pace, Florence, since thou and I have met; Yet-when that meeting I retrace, My cheek is pale, my eye is wet; For I was doom'd from thence to rove, O'er distant tracts of earth and sea, Unaided, Florence!--save by love; And unremember'd-save by thee! We met and hope beguiled our fears, Hope, ever bright, and ever vain; We parted thence in silent tears, Never to meet--in life-again. The myrtle that I gaze upon, Sad token by thy love devised, Is all the record left of one So long bewail'd—so dearly prized. You gave it in an hour of grief, When gifts of love are doubly dear; You gave it and one tender leaf Glisten'd the while with Beauty's tear. |