Full swiftly blew the swift Siroc, And long ere now, with foaming shock, Now thou art safe; nay, long ere now And since I now remember thee Do thou, amid the fair white walls, At times from out her latticed halls Then think upon Calypso's isles, And when the admiring circle mark A half-form'd tear, a transient spark Of melancholy grace, Again thou'lt smile, and blushing shun Some coxcomb's raillery ; ["These stanzas have a music in them, which, independently of all meaning, is enchanting."-MOORE.] Nor own for once thou thought'st of one, Though smile and sigh alike are vain, When sever'd hearts repine, My spirit flies o'er mount and main, STANZAS WRITTEN IN PASSING THE AMBRACIAN GULF. THROUGH cloudless skies, in silvery sheen, And now upon the scene I look, The azure grave of many a Roman; Florence whom I will love as well Sweet Florence ! those were pleasant times, Though Fate forbids such things to be, I cannot lose a world for thee, But would not lose thee for a world. November 14. 1809. THE SPELL IS BROKE, THE CHARM IS FLOWN! WRITTEN AT ATHENS, JANUARY 16. 1810. THE spell is broke, the charm is flown! Each lucid interval of thought Recalls the woes of Nature's charter; WRITTEN AFTER SWIMMING FROM Ir, in the month of dark December, 1 On the 3d of May, 1810, while the Salsette (Captain Bathurst) was lying in the Dardanelles, Lieutenant Ekenhead, of that frigate, If, when the wintry tempest roar'd, For me, degenerate modern wretch, But since he cross'd the rapid tide, To woo, and. - Lord knows what beside, and the writer of these rhymes, swam from the European shore to the Asiatic- by the by, from Abydos to Sestos would have been more correct. The whole distance, from the place whence we started to our landing on the other side, including the length we were carried by the current, was computed by those on board the frigate at upwards of four English miles; though the actual breadth is barely one. The rapidity of the current is such that no boat can row directly across, and it may, in some measure, be estimated from the circumstance of the whole distance being accomplished by one of the parties in an hour and five, and by the other in an hour and ten minutes. The water was extremely cold, from the melting of the mountain snows. About three weeks before, in April, we had made an attempt; but, having ridden all the way from the Troad the same morning, and the water being of an icy chillness, we found it necessary to postpone the completion till the frigate anchored below the castles, when we swam the straits, as just stated; entering a considerable way above the European, and landing below the Asiatic, fort. Chevalier says that a young Jew swam the same distance for his mistress; and Oliver mentions its having been done by a Neapolitan; but our consul, Tarragona, remembered neither of these circumstances, and tried to dissuade us from the attempt. A number of the Salsette's crew were known to have accomplished a greater distance; and the only thing that surprised me was, that, as doubts had been entertained of the truth of Leander's story, no traveller had ever ondeavoured to ascertain its practicability. 'Twere hard to say who fared the best : Sad mortals! thus the Gods still plague you! He lost his labour, I my jest: For he was drown'd, and I've the ague. 1 May 9. 1810. LINES IN THE TRAVELLERS' BOOK AT ORCHOMENUS. IN THIS BOOK A TRAVELLER HAD WRITTEN: "FAIR Albion, smiling, sees her son depart To trace the birth and nursery of art: Noble his object, glorious is his aim; He comes to Athens, and he writes his name." THE modest bard, like many a bard unknown, His name would bring more credit than his verse. 2 1 ["My companion," says Mr. Hobhouse, "had before made a more perilous, but less celebrated passage; for I recollect that, when we were in Portugal, he swam from Old Lisbon to Belem Castle, and having to contend with a tide and counter current, the wind blowing freshly, was but little less than two hours in crossing."] 2 ["At Orchomenus, where stood the Temple of the Graces, I was tempted to exclaim, Whither have the Graces fled?' Little did I expect to find them here; yet here comes one of them with golden cups and coffee, and another with a book. The book is a register of names, some of which are far sounded by the voice of fame. Among them is Lord Byron's, connected with some line which I here send you."- H. W. WILLIAMS.] |