Poems by Samuel Rogers Part 3

Her charm around the enchantress MEMORY threw, A charm that sooths the mind, and sweetens too!

But is Her magic only felt below?

Say, thro' what brighter realms she bids it flow; To what pure beings, in a n.o.bler sphere, [g]

She yields delight but faintly imag'd here: All that till now their rapt researches knew, Not call'd in slow succession to review; But, as a landscape meets the eye of day, At once presented to their glad survey!

Each scene of bliss reveal'd, since chaos fled, And dawning light its dazzling glories spread; Each chain of wonders that sublimely glow'd, Since first Creation's choral anthem flow'd; Each ready flight, at Mercy's smile divine, To distant worlds that undiscover'd shine; Full on her tablet flings its living rays, And all, combin'd, with blest effulgence blaze.

There thy bright train, immortal Friendship, soar; No more to part, to mingle tears no more!

And, as the softening hand of Time endears The joys and sorrows of our infant-years, So there the soul, releas'd from human strife, Smiles at the little cares and ills of life; Its lights and shades, its sunshine and its showers; As at a dream that charm'd her vacant hours!

Oft may the spirits of the dead descend To watch the silent slumbers of a friend; To hover round his evening-walk unseen, And hold sweet converse on the dusky green; To hail the spot where first their friendship grew, And heav'n and nature open'd to their view!

Oft, when he trims his cheerful hearth, and sees A smiling circle emulous to please; There may these gentle guests delight to dwell, And bless the scene they lov'd in life so well!

Oh thou! with whom my heart was wont to share From Reason's dawn each pleasure and each care; With whom, alas! I fondly hop'd to know The humble walks of happiness below; If thy blest nature now unites above An angel's pity with a brother's love, Still o'er my life preserve thy mild controul, Correct my views, and elevate my soul; Grant me thy peace and purity of mind, Devout yet cheerful, active yet resign'd; Grant me, like thee, whose heart knew no disguise, Whose blameless wishes never aim'd to rise, To meet the changes Time and Chance present, With modest dignity and calm content.

When thy last breath, ere Nature sunk to rest, Thy meek submission to thy G.o.d express'd; When thy last look, ere thought and feeling fled, A mingled gleam of hope and triumph shed; What to thy soul its glad a.s.surance gave, Its hope in death, its triumph o'er the grave?

The sweet Remembrance of unblemish'd youth, The still inspiring voice of Innocence and Truth!

Hail, MEMORY, hail! in thy exhaustless mine From age to age unnumber'd treasures shine!

Thought and her shadowy brood thy call obey, And Place and Time are subject to thy sway!

Thy pleasures most we feel, when most alone; The only pleasures we can call our own.

Lighter than air, Hope's summer-visions die, If but a fleeting cloud obscure the sky; If but a beam of sober Reason play, Lo, Fancy's fairy frost-work melts away!

But can the wiles of Art, the grasp of Power, s.n.a.t.c.h the rich relics of a well-spent hour?

These, when the trembling spirit wings her flight, Pour round her path a stream of living light; And gild those pure and perfect realms of rest, Where Virtue triumphs, and her sons are blest!

NOTES ON THE FIRST PART.

NOTE a.

_Up springs at every step to claim a tear_,

I came to the place of my birth, and cried, "The friends of my Youth, where are they?"--And an echo answered, "Where are they?" From an Arabic MS.

NOTE b.

_Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise!_

When a traveller, who was surveying the ruins of Rome, expressed a desire to possess some relic of its antient grandeur, Poussin, who attended him, stooped down, and, gathering up a handful of earth shining with small grains of porphyry, "Take this home," said he, "for your cabinet; and say boldly, _Questa e Roma Antica_."

NOTE c.

_The church-yard yews round which his fathers sleep_;

Every man, like Gulliver in Lilliput, is fastened to some spot of earth, by the thousand small threads which habit and a.s.sociation are continually stealing over him. Of these, perhaps, one of the strongest is here alluded to.

When the Canadian Indians were once solicited to emigrate, "What!"

they replied, "shall we say to the bones of our fathers, Arise, and go with us into a foreign land?"--Hist. des Indes, par Raynal, vi. 21.

NOTE d.

_So, when he breath'd his firm yet fond adieu_,

See COOK'S first voyage, book i. chap. 16.

Another very affecting instance of local attachment is related of his fellow-countryman Potaveri, who came to Europe with M. de Bougainville.--See LES JARDINS, chant, ii.

NOTE e.

_So Scotia's Queen, &c_.

Elle se leve sur son lict, et se met a contempler la France encore, et tant qu'elle peut. BRANToME, i. 140.

NOTE f.

_Thus kindred objects kindred thoughts inspire_.

To an accidental a.s.sociation may be ascribed some of the n.o.blest efforts of human genius. The Historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire first conceived his design among the ruins of the Capitol; and to the tones of a Welsh harp are we indebted for the Bard of Gray.--GIBBON'S Hist. xii. 432.--Mem. of Gray, sect. iv.

let. 25.

NOTE g.

_Hence home-felt pleasure, &c_.

Who can sufficiently admire the affectionate attachment of Plutarch, who thus concludes his enumeration of the advantages of a great city to men of letters; "As to myself, I live in a little town; and I choose to live there, lest it should become still less,"--Vit. Dem.

NOTE h.

_For this young FOSCARI, &c_.

He was suspected of murder, and at Venice suspicion is good evidence.

Neither the interest of the Doge, his father, nor the intrepidity of conscious innocence, which he exhibited in the dungeon and on the rack, could procure his acquittal. He was banished to the island of Candia for life.

But here his resolution failed him. At such a distance from home he could not live; and, as it was a criminal offence to solicit the intercession of any foreign prince, in a fit of despair he addressed a letter to the Duke of Milan, and intrusted it to a wretch whose perfidy, he knew, would occasion his being remanded a prisoner to Venice.

NOTE i.

_And watch and weep in ELOISA'S cell_.

The Paraclete, founded by Abelard, in Champagne.

NOTE k.

_'Twas ever thus. As now at VIRGIL'S tomb_

Vows and pilgrimages are not peculiar to the religious enthusiast.

Silius Italicus performed annual ceremonies on the mountain of Posilippo; and it was there that Boccaccio, quasi da un divino estro inspirato, re-solved to dedicate his life to the muses.

NOTE l.

_So TULLY paus'd amid the wrecks of Time_.

When Cicero was quaestor in Sicily, he discovered the tomb of Archimedes by its mathematical inscription.

Tusc. Quaest. v. 3.