THE CHAIN I GAVE. FROM THE TURKISH. THE chain I gave was fair to view, These gifts were charm'd by secret spell, That chain was firm in every link, But not to bear a stranger's touch; That lute was sweet- till thou could'st think In other hands its notes were such. Let him, who from thy neck unbound Restring the chords, renew the clasp. When thou wert changed, they alter'd too; 'Tis past to them and thee adieu False heart, frail chain, and silent lute. LINES WRITTEN ON A BLANK LEAF OF "THE PLEASURES OF MEMORY." ABSENT or present, still to thee, My friend, what magic spells belong! But when the dreaded hour shall come How fondly will she then repay April 19. 1812 ["When Rogers does talk, he talks well; and, on all subjects of taste, his delicacy of expression is pure as his poetry. If you enter his house-his drawing-room- his library-you of yourself say, this is not the dwelling of a common mind. There is not a gem, a coin, a book thrown aside on his chimney-piece, his sofa, his table, that does not bespeak an almost fastidious elegance in the possessor."-B. Diary, 1813.] 2 [The reader will recall Collins's exquisite lines on the tomb of Thomson: "In yonder grave a Druid lies, Where slowly winds the stealing wave," &c.] ADDRESS, SPOKEN AT THE OPENING OF DRURY-LANE THEATRE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10. 1812.1 In one dread night our city saw, and sigh'd, Ye who beheld, (oh! sight admired and mourn'd, Whose radiance mock'd the ruin it adorn'd !) Through clouds of fire the massy fragments riven, Like Israel's pillar, chase the night from heaven; Saw the long column of revolving flames Shake its red shadow o'er the startled Thames, ? [The theatre in Drury Lane, which was opened, in 1747, with Dr. Johnson's masterly address, beginning, "When Learning's triumph o'er her barbarous foes First rear'd the Stage, immortal Shakspeare rose,' and witness'd the last glories of Garrick, having fallen into decay, was rebuilt in 1794. The new building perished by fire in 1811; and the Managers, in their anxiety that the opening of the present edifice should be distinguished by some composition of at least equal merit, advertised in the newspapers for a general competition. Scores of addresses, not one tolerable, showered on their desk, and they were in sad despair, when Lord Holland interfered, and, not without difficulty, prevailed on Lord Byron to write these verses" at the risk," as he said, "of offending a hundred scribblers and a discerning public." The admirable jeu d'esprit of the Messrs. Smith will long preserve the memory of the "Rejected Addresses."] 2 ["By the bye, the best view of the said fire (which I myself saw from a house-top in Covent Garden) was at Westminster Bridge, from the reflection of the Thames "-Lord Byron to Lord Holland.] While thousands, throng'd around the burning dome, Yes- it shall be the magic of that name As soars this fane to emulate the last, Oh! might we draw our omens from the past, B On Drury, Garrick's latest laurels grew; refuse TR Dear are the days which made our annals bright, While thus Remembrance borrows Banquo's glass Friends of the stage! to whom both Players and Must sue alike for pardon or for praise, And made us blush that you forbore to blame; [Originally, "Ere Garrick died," &c. -" By the bye one of my corrections in the copy sent yesterday has dived into the bathos some sixty fathom When Garrick died, and Brinsley ceased to write.' Ceasing to live is a much more serious concern, and ought not, to be first. Second thoughts in every thing are best; but, in rhyme, third and fourth don't come amiss. I always scrawl in this way, and smooth as fast as I can, but never sufficiently; and, latterly, I can weave a nine-line stanza faster than a couplet, for which measure I have not the cunning. When I began Childe Harold,' I had never tried Spenser's measure, and now I cannot scribble in any other."-Lord Byron to Lord Holland.] 2 [The following lines were omitted by the Committee"Nay, lower still, the Drama yet deplores That late she deign'd to crawl upon all-fours. |