Recollections." The correspondence of the poet at the period of these deaths shows that his public commemoration of his departed friends was no formal tribute.] 67.-Stanza xcii., line i. Oh, known the earliest, and esteem'd the most! ["Beloved the most."-MS.] 68.-Stanza xciii., line 9. Ere Greece and Grecian arts by barbarous hands were quell' d. " Dec. 30th, 1809."--MS.] COME, blue-eyed maid of heaven !—but thou, alas ! Is the dread sceptre and dominion dire Of men who never felt the sacred glow That thoughts of thee and thine on polish'd breasts bestow.2 II. Ancient of days! august Athena ! where, Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were: First in the race that led to Glory's goal, They won, and pass'd away-is this the whole? The warrior's weapon and the sophist's stole Are sought in vain, and o'er each mouldering tower, Dim with the mist of years, gray flits the shade of power. G III. Son of the morning, rise! approach you here Come-but molest not yon defenceless urn Look on this spot-a nation's sepulchre ! Abode of gods, whose shrines no longer burn. Even gods must yield-religions take their turn: "Twas Jove's-'tis Mahomet's-and other creeds Will rise with other years, till man shall learn Vainly his incense soars, his victim bleeds; Poor child of Doubt and Death, whose hope is built on reeds.3 IV. Bound to the earth, he lifts his eye to heaven- V. Or burst the vanish'd Hero's lofty mound; Why ev'n the worm at last disdains her shatter'd cell! |