Front matter
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SELECT' WORKS
OF THE
Canto I. 11 II 15
III 20
IV 25
I. The Old Mansion House ... 31
II. The Grandmother's Tale .... 32
III. Hannah 33
IV. The Sailor's Mother . . .- . 34 V. Tho Witch 35
VI The Ruined Cottage . ... . .37
VII. The Last of the Family .... 38
VIII. The Wedding 39
IX. The Alderman's Funeral ... 41
Ode on the Portrait of Bishop Heber ... 42
God's Judgment on a V/icked Bishop . . 44
King Heary V. and the Hermit of Ureux . . 45 01.1 Christoval's Advice, and the Reason why he
gave it 1 46
Cornelius Agrippa. A Ballad .... 47
King Charlemain ...... 47
St. Romuald 49
The Inchcape Rock 50
The Well of St. Keyne 51
Bishop Bruno 52
The Battle of Blenheim 53
The Old Woman of Berkeley. A Ballad . . 54
The March to Moscow 56
CHARLES LAMB.
Hester
To a River in which a Child was drowned
Queen Oriana's Dream
A Farewell to Tobacco
A Ballad, noting the Vv'ays of the Rich and Poor
To T. L. H., a Child
Lines on the celebrated Picture by Leonardo da Vinci, called the Virgin of the Rocks
The Gipsey's P.Ialison
Ballad. From the German ....
Sonnets : —
I. To Miss Kelly
II. On the Sight of Swans in Kensington
Garden
ni. "Was it some sweet device of Faery," IV. "Msthinks how dainty sweet it were, reclin'd," ......
V. " When last I roved these winding wood-walks green,"
VI. " A timid grace sits trembling in her eye,"
VII. "If from my lips some angry accents fell,"
VIII. The Family Name ....
IX. To John Lamb, Esq., of the South-Sea
House
Blank Verse : — Composed at Midnight
Page
The Gran dame 64
Ci'.ildhood 65
Fancy employed on Divine Subjects . . 65
The Sabbath Bells 65
Miscellaneous : —
On an Infant dying as soon as born . . 65 To J. S. Knowles, Esq., on his Tragedy of Vir-
ginius 66
To the Editor of the Every-day Book . . 68 " O lift with reverent hand that tarnished
flower," 66
Translations from the Latin of Vincent Bourne : —
On a Sepulchral Statue of an Infant Sleeping 66
On a Deaf and Dumb Artist .... 67
The Housekeeper 67
JAMBS HOGG.
The Soldier's Widow 69
The Flower 69
Lord Eglinton's Auld M«n 69
Bonny Mary . 69
My BIythe and Bonny Lassie .... 70
The Braes of Bushby 70
The Hay-makers 70
Bauldy Fraser 71
Scotia's Glens 71
The Emigrant 72
Highland Harry back again .... 72
THOMAS MOORE.
Letter VIII. From Colonel Thomas, to , Esq 84
Irish Melodies : — " Go where Glory waits thee," .... 95 " Oh ! breathe not his name," ... 95
"The Harp that once through Tara's Halls" 95
"Fly not yet," 96
'• Rich and rare were the gems she wore," . 96
Contents
The Meeting of the Waters . . . . The Legacy . • . . • • •
Eveleen's Bower
"Let Erin remember the days of old," "Believe me, if all those endearing young
II Ill
Theodric, a Domestic Tale Miscellaneous Poems : —
O'Connor's Child; or, the Flower of Lovelies Bleeding
Ye Mariners of England. A Naval Ode
Hohenlinden
Exile of Erin
Lord Ullin's Daughter
The Soldier's Dream
To the Rainbow .
The Last Man .
Ode to Winter
Reullura .
The Turkish Lady
The Wounded Hussar
The Brave Roland
The Spectre Boat. A Ballad
Gilderoy ....
The Ritter Bann
Song
The Beech-trce's Petition
Hallowed Ground
Caroline. Part I. . . .
Part II. To the Evening Star Field Flowers .... Pago
. 162
. 153
Dirge of Wallace 154
The Friars of Dijon. A Tale . ... 155
HENRY KIRKE WHITE.
Poems written before the publication of Clifton Grove : —
Ciiildhood. Part 1 158
Part II. . LW
The Fair Maid of Clifton. A New Ballad in the
Old Style 161
Winter Song 162
To the Wind at Midnight . ... . .163
Thanatos 163
Athanatos 163
Ode to the Harvest Moon .... 164 The Eve of Death. Irregular . . . .104
To my Lyre. An Ode . . . . . 165
Clifton Grove. A Sketch in Verse . . . 165
Gondoline. A Ballad 169
Ode. To the Genius of Romance . . . 172
Sonnet 1"2
To Contemplation 172
Description of a Summer's Eve . , . 174
LORD BYRON.
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. A Romaunt:
To lanthe
Canto I
II
Ill
IV
Manfred. A Dramatic Poem ....
The Prophecy of Dante : •
Dedication
Canto I
II
Ill
Book 1 463 III 471
VII 493
Page
Book IX 509
XII 526
Miscellaneous Poems : The Belvidere Apollo. A Prize Poem, recited
in the Theatre, Oxford, in the year 1812 . 5Z0
The Merry Heart 530
The Love of God. Two Sonnets ... 531 Deborah's Hymn of Triumph . . . 531 Downfall of Jerusalem. From the Book of Jeremiah 532
Hymns for Cliurch Service :
Second Sunday in Advent 533
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany , . , 533
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany .... 533
Quinquagesima 533
Second Sunday in Lent 534
Sixth Sunday in Lent 534
Good Friday 534
Sixth Sunday after Trinity .... 534
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity .... 535
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity . . . 535
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity . , . 535
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity ... 535
PERCY BYSSflE SHELLEY.
Adonais. An Elegy on the Death of John Keats 537 Miscellaneous Poems : — Lines vs'ritten among the Euganean Hills, Octo-
The Sensitive Plant 545
Ode to the West Wind 548
An Ode, written October, 1819, before the Spaniards had recovered their liberty . . . 549
Ode to Liberty 549
Ode to Naples 552
The Cloud 554
To a Skylark 555
Hymn to Intellectual Beauty .... 556 Mont Blanc. Lines written in the Vale of
Charaouni 5.5(5
The Fugitives 558
A Lament 558
The Pine Forest of the Cascine, near Pisa . 559
To Night 560
Mutability 560
JOHN KEATS.
Lamia :
Part 1 562
Isabella ; or, the Pot of Basil. A Story from
Boccaccio 56''
The Eve of St. Agneg 573
Book 1 577
To some Ladies, on receiving a curious Shell . 584
Imitation of Spenser 584
Ode to a Nightingale 584
Ode on a Grecian Urn 585
Ode to Psyche 586
Fancy 5S6
Ode 587
Robin Hood. To a Friend . , 587
To Autumn 588
Ode on Melancholy 588
LEIGH HUNT.
Songs and Chorus of the Flowers . . . 500
To a Child, during Sickness, .... 591
The Glove and the Lions ..... S02
CONTENTS.
592 593
595 595 598 596 596
The Fish, the Man, and the Spirit . Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel .
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.
Poems : The Town and Country Child .
Awake, my Love
The Lass of Gleneslan-Mill .
The Poet's Bridal-Day Song
"A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea,"
JOHN CLARE.
Poems :
Jane 598
The Quiet Mind 598
Ivlary Lee . 598
A Summer Morning 599
The Withered Tree 600
THOMAS HOOD.
Poems :
To a Cold Beauty 602
Ruth 602
A Retrospective Review 604
Tom Woodgate 604
FELICIA HEJyIANS.
The League of the Alps; or, the Bleeting on the
Field of Griitli
Songs of the Cid :
The Cid's Departure into Exile
The Cid's Death-bed
The Cid's Funeral Procession
The Cid's Rising Records of Woman :
Arabella Stuart
The Bride of the Greek Isles .
The Switzer's Wife
Properzia Rossi
Gertrude; or, Fidelity till Death
Iinelda
Edith ; a Tale of the Woods
The Indian City
The Peasant Girl of the Rhine
Indian Woman's Death-Song .
Joan of Arc, in Rheims
Pauline
Juana
The American Forest Girl Costanza ....
Madeline. A Domestic Tale .
The Queen of Prussia's Tomb The Memorial Pillar . .
The Grave of a Poetess Miscellaneous Poems : — Bernardo del Carpio .
The Treasures of the Deep .
Bring Flowers ....
England's Dead Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers The Sound of the Sea .
Casablanca
The Homes of England The Captive Knight .
The Minsier ....
The Hour of Prayer .
Washington's Statue .
The Coronation of Inez de Castro
671 673
674 674
675 675
The King of Arragon's Lament for his Brother
The Wreck .
The Graves of a Household
The Hour of Death
Christ Stilling the Tempest
The Sunbeam
The Adopted Child .
The Breeze from Land .
Belshazzar's Feast .
The Birds of Passage .
Breathings of Spring
The Spells of Home .
The Song of Night .
The Voice of the Wind
The Better Land
The Wakening
Let us Depart ! .
The Curfew Song of England
The Dying Girl and Flowers
Marguerite nf France .
The English Boy
Passing Away
Dreams of Heaven
CAROLINE NORTON.
The Dream
The Creole Girl; or, The Physician's Story Miscellaneous Poems : —
"I cannot love thee," . . . . ,
The- Picture cf Sappho ....
The Poet's Choice ....
The Hunting-horn of Charlemagne
To Ferdinand Seymour . . .
The Mother's Heart
The Blind Man's Bride
The Fallen Leaves . . . .
ROBERT POLLOK.
Book 1 679
II 6S3
III 6S9
VII 721
VIII 727
GEORGE CROLY.
Poems :
Pericles and Aspasia 752
Lines written at Spithead 752
Leoniilas 752
The Death of Leonidas 752
Illustrations of Napoleon :
I. Napoleon at St. Helena. Suggested by
Haydnn's Picture .... 753
II. Napoleon, in his fall, to Cains Marius . 755
HI. Napoleon at Austerlitz .... 755
The Lily of the Valley 756
The Artist's Chamber 756
Lorenzo de' Medici 756
Satan. From a Picture by Sir Thomas Lawrence 757
Epitaph 757
The Song of Antar. From the Arabic . . 757
The Entry into Jerusalem .... 758
The Painter 75S
Rosolia 768
Jacob's Dream. From a Picture by Allston . 159
On the Ruins of Mesolonghi .... 759
Rebellion . . 760
ROBERT SOUTHEY.
Robert Southey was born in Bristol, on the 12th of August, 1 774. Having given early tokens of that genius which has since placed his name foremost among British Worthies, his friends resolved that the advantages of a hberal education should be added to those which Nature had bestowed upon him, and sent him in 17S7, to Westminster School. In 1792, he was entered at Baliol College, Oxford. During his residence in the University, he became infected with Jacobinical principles ; but if some of his earher productions contributed to disseminate pernicious doctrines, he has amply compensated mankind by the labours of a long life in the cause of Virtue. In 1796, his first great poem, "Joan of Arc," appeared ; and his fame was completely estabhshed, when, in 1S03, the romance of " Thalaba" issued from the press. He has since been continually before the world ; and there is scarcely a branch of hterature to which he has not contributed, — a list of his publications would fill this page. In 1813, Southey accepted the office of Poet Laureat, on the death of Pye, — and for nearly the first time, during at least a century, the office, instead of conferring, received dignity.
Southey is tall and handsome, with a clear and noble forehead; an aquiline nose ; a profusion of hair ; and uncommonly briglit eyes : his voice is musical, full of gentleness and persuasion, and his smile is as winning as it is sweet. His hair, once a curling and glossy black, curls still, but is as wliite as snow ; and his step has lost some of its elasticity, — but his eyes are as bright, and his ' smile as winning, as ever. He is rarely seen in the great world. His distaste of the turmoils of life induced him to decline the offer of a seat in the House of Commons, to which he had been elected ; — apart from the bustle and feverish excitement of a city, he pursues his gentle and useful course from year to year :
"And to his mountains and his forests rude Cliaunts in sweet melody his classic song."
He has led the life of a scholar with as much steadiness of purpose and devotion, as if he had bound himself to his books by a religious vow. His works are sufficient to form a hbrary ; they are proofs of his amazing industry, not less than his vast and comprehensive learning. His wonderful 2 genius may excite our admiration; but the extent of his "profitable labour" is, indeed, prodigious. There is nothing like it we believe in the history of the human mind. His character is as unspotted as that of any public man — Uving or dead. The world is aware that he has had some enemies : no one ever deserved them less. His friends are numerous, devoted, and firm. No one ever earned them better, or merited them more : " We soon live down Evil or good report, if undeserved."
His political opponents have tendered evidence to the estimable character of both his head and heart. One of the harshest arraigners of what he calls the inconsistency of Dr. Southey — as if that were inconsistency which induces to leave a path after it is known to be the wrong one — states, that " in all the relations and charities of private life, he is correct, exemplary, generous, just." He is one of the leading critics of the age ; and, ahhough there is abundant proof of his generous zeal in aiding young talent, there has never attached to him the suspicion of depressing h. The career of Southey is the best answer to the absurd, but too generally received opinion, that a critic is of necessity acrimonious or unjust.
Of late years, the prose of Southey has been preferred to his poetry. It rarely happens that there is a preference without a disparagement. No Poet in the present or the past century, has written three such poems as Thalaba, Kchama, and Roderic. Others have more excelled in <?f- Uiieati9ig what they find before them in life; but none have given proof of such extraordinary power in creating. He has been called diffuse, because there is a spaciousness and amplitude about his poetry — as if concentration was the highest quality of a writer. He lays all his thoughts before us; but they never rush forth tumultuously. He excels in unity of design and congruity of character ; and never did Poet more adequately express heroic fortitude, and generous affections. He has not, however, liorited his pen to grand paintings of epic character. Among his shorter productions will be found some light and graceful sketches, full of beauty and feeling, and not the less valuable because they invariably aim at promoting virtue.
A TALE OF PARAGUAY.
DEDICATION.
TO EDITH MAY SOUTHEY.
Edith 1 ten years are number'd, since the day, Which ushers in the cheerful month of May, To us by thy dear birth, my daughter dear, Was blest. Thou therefore didst the name
partake Of that sweet month, the sweetest of the year ; But fither was it given thee for the sake Of a good man, thy father's friend sincere. Who at the font made answer in thy name. Thy love and reverence rightly may he claim. For closely hath he been with me allied In friendship's holy bonds, from that first hour When in our youth we met on Tejo's side ; Bonds which, defying now all Fortune's power, Time hath not loosen'd, nor will Death divide.
2
A child more welcome, by indulgent Heaven Never to parents' tears and prayers was given; For scarcely eight months at thy happy birth Had pass'd, since of thy sister we were left, — Our first-born and our only babe, bereft. Too fair a flower was she for this rude earth ! The features of her beauteous infancy Have faded from me, hke a passing cloud. Or like the glories of an evening sky : And seldom hath my tongue pronounced her
name Since she was summon'd to a happier sphere. But that dear love, so deeply wounded then, I in my soul with silent faith sincere Devoutly cherish till we meet again.
I saw thee first with trembling thankfulness, O daughter of my hopes and of my fears ! Press' d on thy senseless cheek a troubled kiss. And breathed my blessing over thee with tears. But memory did not long our bliss alloy ; For gentle nature, who had given relief, Wean'd with new love the chasten'd heart from
grief; And the sweet season minister'd to joy.
4
It was a season when their leaves and flowers The trees as to an Arctic summer spread; When chilling wintry winds and snowy showers, Which had too long usurp'd the vernal hours, Like spectres from the sight of morning, fled Before the presence of that joyous May ; And groves and gardens all the hve-long day Rung with the birds' loud love-songs. Over all. One thrush was heard from morn till even-fall ; Thy Mother well remembers when she lay The happy prisoner of the genial bed, How from yon lofty poplar's topmast spray At earliest dawn his thrilling pipe was heard ; And when the hght of evening died away, That blithe and indefatigable bird Still his redundant song of joy and love preferr'd.
5
How I have doted on thine infant smiles At morning, when thine eyes unclosed on mine ; How, as the months in swift succession roU'd, I mark'd thy human faculties unfold, And watch' d the dawning of the light divine; And with what artifice of playful guiles Won from thy lips with still-repeated wiles Kiss after kiss, a reckoning often told, — Something I ween thou know'st; for thou hast
seen Thy sisters in their turn such fondness prove, And felt how childhood, in its winning years, The attemper' d soul to tenderness can move. This thou canst tell; but not the hopes and fears With which a parent's heart doth overflow, — The thoughts and cares inwoven with that
love, — Its nature and its depth, thou dost not, canst not
know.
The years which since thy birth have pass'd
away May well to thy young retrospect appear A measureless extent : — like yesterday To me, so soon they fiU'd their short career. To thee discourse of reason have they brought With sense of time and change ; and something
too Of this precarious state of things have taught, Where Man abideth never in one stay; And of mortality a mom-nful thought. And I have seen thine eyes suffused in grief, When I have said that with autumnal gray The touch of eld hath mark'd thy father's head . That even the longest day of life is brief, And mine is falling fast into the yellow leaf.
7
Thy happy nature from the painful thought With instinct turns, and scarcely canst thou
bear To hear me name the grave. Thouknowest not How large a portion of my heart is there ! The faces which I loved in infancy Are gone ; and bosom-friends of riper age, With whom I fondly talk'd of years to come, Summon'd before me to their heritage Are in the better world, beyond the tomb. And I have brethren there, and sisters dear, And dearer babes. I therefore needs must
dwell Often in thought with those whom still I love so
well.
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You’ve reached the end of Select works of the British poets, in a chronological series from Southey to Croly: with biographical and critical notices.