And calmly can Pietra smile-concealing, The days roll on, and still Bianca's lot Seems as a path of Eden. Thou might'st deem To wake her soul from life's enchanted dream; A few short years, and all is changed; her fate Is gathering day by day, prophetic of her doom! Whence the pure spirit looks in radiance forth,- Formed to express but thoughts of loftiest worthYet deem that vice could desecrate such fane?How shall he e'er confide in aught on earth again? In silence oft, with strange, vindictive gaze, Transient, yet filled with meaning stern and wild, Then turns away, and fixes on her child Of the blue deep which bathes Italia's shore, The green Maremma far around it spread- Of brooding sadness o'er the scene is shed. No human footstep tracks the lone domain; The desert of luxuriance glows in vain. And silent are the marble halls that rise 'Mid founts, and cypress-walks, and olive-groves: All sleeps in sunshine 'neath cerulean skies, And still around the sea-breeze lightly roves; Yet every trace of man reveals alone That there life once had flourished-and is gone. Came fraught with death, its power no sign revealing,- And strains of mirth and melody have flowed And thither doth her lord, remorseless, bear Fragrance in each warm southern gale is breathing; The voice that calls thee speaks in every gale, But sink not yet-for there are darker woes, Daughter of beauty! in thy spring-morn fading! Sufferings more keen for thee reserved than those Of lingering death, which thus thine eye are shading! Nerve, then, thy heart to meet that bitter lot, 'Tis agony-but soon to be forgot! What deeper pangs maternal hearts can wring, O'er infancy's fair cheek the blight of death? Such pangs were thine, young mother! Thou didst bend Fixed upon thee-on thee who couldst no aid supply. There was no voice to cheer thy lonely woe Through those dark hours ;-to thee the wind's low sigh, And the faint murmur of the ocean's flow, Came like some spirit whispering-" He must die !"' And thou didst vainly clasp him to the breast His young and sunny smile so oft with hope had blest. 'Tis past-that fearful trial-he is gone! But thou, devoted! hast not long to weep; The hour of Nature's chartered peace comes on, A few short sufferings yet, and death shall be But ask not, hope not, one relenting thought From him who doomed thee thus to waste away; And coldly, sternly, silently can trace The gradual withering of each youthful grace. And yet the day of vain remorse shall come, When thou, bright victim! on his dreams shalt rise A martyr's shrine, be hallowed in his eyes! More than thy fancied guilt with jealous pangs could sting. Lift thy meek eyes to heaven-for all on earth, Young sufferer! fades before thee. Thou art lone- It is our task to suffer, and our fate To learn that mighty lesson—soon or late. The season's glory fades--the vintage-lay Fairer than aught in summer's glowing store. Called forth young Nature in her festal pride, And bore to them their summons from the earth! No sculptured urn, nor verse thy virtues telling, The dew-drops glisten, and the wild flowers wave- For thee who thus did'st pass in brightness to the tomb! * "La voilà, telle que la mort nous l'a faite !" Bossuet's Funeral Oration on the Princess Henrietta. †This poem was written several years since, and intended for immediate publication, but withheld, on account of a coincidence of subject between its story and one chosen about the same time by a popular writer. CHAPTERS FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A No. III. AMONG the trifling grievances and petty misfortunes to which the pedestrian in London is exposed, I know not if there be any much more annoying, than being perpetually saluted and accosted by persons whose faces are either altogether unknown, or, if known, almost entirely forgotten. Independently of the thousand and one other objections which I have to this, the eternal tax which it imposes upon one's time seems quite sufficient to justify my abhorrence of it. If I am at all singular in my opinion on this subject, I must surely be of a very curious temperament; for it appears to me quite impossible that any one can be found who will not readily unite with me in condemning the prevalence of the practice. Can there be a greater nuisance than to be compelled to carry back one's memory over an indefinite length of time, to endeavour to find something that may assist in discovering who it is to whom one is indebted for the silent acknowledgment of a bow, or the more familiar, though respectful, inquiry as to one's health? So long as the inconvenience is confined to the former, it is merely negative, and therefore may be more easily endured; but when it extends to the latter, it becomes a positive evil, to suppress which every man is bound to render assistance. There are, indeed, occasions on which the annoyance does not stop even here, but when the assurance of some finished coxcomb threatens to overwhelm you with a torrent of loquacity upon subjects which, to you, are totally indifferent, and respecting persons about whom you feel not the slightest interest. How frequently have I deprecated the fulfilment of the prophecy to which Horace so pathetically alludes!— "Instat fatum mihi triste, Sabella Quod puero cecinit divinâ mota anus urnâ. Hunc neque dira venena, nec hosticus auferet ensis, There is no class of men who suffer so severely from the annoyance of which I am complaining, as that to which I have the honour of belonging the lawyers. The truth of this assertion will be apparent to every man who reflects, for a single instant, on the infinite variety of persons with whom, day by day, with scarcely any intermission, we are brought into contact and communication. Attorneys, attorneys' clerks, plaintiffs, defendants, prosecutors, and witnesses, are so numerous, and follow each other in such rapid succession, that all attempts at individualizing appear to me utterly hopeless; at least, as far as I am concerned, I can with truth affirm that, in those which I have made, I have failed twenty times in proportion to every one in which I have succeeded. Memory of faces is considered to be peculiarly a regal qualification. Alexander the Great is reported to have known the name of every man in his army; and some of our own royal family have been said never to forget a person to whom they have been once introduced. I am sure I envy most unfeignedly the possessors of so rare a gift; there are few qualities more useful, and scarce any, a deficiency in which is more likely to give offence. There are very few men who can endure with equanimity the consciousness of having been forgotten: a failure in recollection is construed into a personal insult; and many, who have been previously friends, or, at all events, well-wishers, have, from such a circumstance, been converted into foes. The accident which has awakened this train of thought in my mind has brought with it to my recollection circumstances so singular in their nature, so far removed from the ordinary transactions of life,—as well to deserve a place among those memorials which I am thus endeavouring to rescue from oblivion. It is now about six months ago that, walking down Oxford-street, I turned rather hastily round the corner that leads into Tottenham Court-road; while, at the same moment, a well-dressed man, who was passing in the contrary direction, pushed somewhat violently against me. The apparent rudeness of the man's manner attracted my attention towards him; and a momentary glance sufficed to convince me that there was about him that indifference to giving offence, and that readiness to resent any remonstrance upon his conduct, which would render him at once an object both to be feared and shunned by every quiet and peaceable pedestrian. My turning round caused him to do the same. For a single instant there was, in his face, that expression of vulgar defiance which seemed rather to joy than grieve at having caused pain to another; but the next moment, and before I had time either to turn away from, or to address him, he respectfully pulled off his hat, begged my pardon for having unintentionally offended me, and passed on. The act of raising his hat gave to me a sight of his features: the moment I saw them, I felt persuaded of that of which the sudden alteration in his manner convinced me still more forcibly, that they were not altogether unknown to me. Who he was, where, and upon what occasion, I had seen him, I tried in vain to recollect. I turned round a second time, to endeavour to assist my memory by another view of his person-but he was gone. He had evidently walked at the very top of his speed for the purpose of avoiding my recognition. I could just distinguish his figure among the crowd passing onwards towards St. Giles's Church; and, for a single instant, he turned his head, as if to ascertain whether he was watched. Probably, his eye informed him that I was looking after him; for in another moment his head was averted, and I lost sight of him altogether. The man's countenance was so remarkable, that I could not feel satisfied until I had used every endeavour to recal to my memory where I had previously seen it. All my attempts, however, were fruitless; and I was continually vexing myself on account of the badness of my memory, until succeeding events gradually wore away the impression which had been made upon my mind, when, a few days ago, nearly in the same place, I again met the same individual. He was walking with a female companion, and I caught sight of him some time before I reached him. This second opportunity accomplished for me that which I had previously so anxiously attempted in vain; it recalled to my recollection every circumstance connected with the man, who he was—when, where, and the occasions upon which I had previously become acquainted with his person. |