VII. The Childe departed from his father's hall: So old, it seemed only not to fall, Yet strength was pillar'd in each massy aisle. Where Superstition once had made her den VIII. Yet oft-times in his maddest mirthful mood Strange pangs would flash along Childe Harold's brow, As if the memory of some deadly feud Or disappointed passion lurk'd below: But this none knew, nor haply cared to know; That feels relief by bidding sorrow flow, Nor sought he friend to counsel or condole, Whate 'er this grief mote be, which he could not control. IX. And none did love him—though to hall and bower Yea! none did love him-nor his lemans dear "of habits and tastes too intellectual for mere vulgar debauchery," but, assuredly, quite incapable of playing the parts of flatterers and parasites.] X. Childe Harold had a mother -not forgot, Before his weary pilgrimage begun : If friends he had, he bade adieu to none. Yet deem not thence his breast a breast of steel; 1 Ye, who have known what 'tis to dote upon A few dear objects, will in sadness feel Such partings break the heart they fondly hope to heal. XI. His house, his home, his heritage, his lands, Without a sigh he left, to cross the brine, [line. 3 And traverse Paynim shores, and pass Earth's central XII. The sails were fill'd, and fair the light winds blew, The silent thought, nor from his lips did come 1 [" Yet deem him not from this with breast of steel." -MS.] 2 ["His house, his home, his vassals and his lands, 3 [Lord Byron originally intended to visit India.] B XIII. But when the sun was sinking in the sea He seized his harp, which he at times could string, And fleeting shores receded from his sight, Thus to the elements he pour'd his last "Good Night.” 1 1. "ADIFU, adieu! my native shore The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, Yon sun that sets upon the sea 2. "A few short hours and he will rise Deserted is my own good hall, Its hearth is desolate; Wild weeds are gathering on the wall; My dog howls at the gate. [See Lord Maxwell's "Good Night," in Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Poetical Works, vol. ii. p. 141. ed. 1834 "Adieu, madame, my mother dear," &c.] 3. "Come hither, hither, my little page!! But dash the tear-drop from thine eye; Our fleetest falcon scarce can fly "2 More merrily along." 4. 'Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high, I fear not wave nor wind: 3 Am sorrowful in mind; 4 For I have from my father gone, A mother whom I love, And have no friend, save these alone, But thee- and one above. [This "little page was Robert Rushton, the son of one of Lord Byron's tenants. "Robert I take with me," says the poet, in a letter to his mother; "I like him, because, like myself, he seems a friendless animal: tell his father he is well, and doing well."] 2 3 ["Our best goss-hawk can hardly fly So merrily along."- MS.] ["Oh, master dear! I do not cry "-MS.] 4 [Seeing that the boy was "sorrowful" at the separation from his parents, Lord Byron, on reaching Gibraltar, sent him back to England under the care of his old servant Joe Murray. Pray," he says to his mother," shew the lad every kindness, as he is my great favourite." He also wrote a letter to the father of the boy, which leaves a most favourable impression of his thoughtfulness and kindliness. "I have," he says," sent Robert home, because the country which I am about to travel through is in a state which renders it unsafe, particularly for one so young. I allow you to deduct from your rent five and twenty pounds a year for his education, for three years, provided I do not return before that time, and I desire he may be considered as in my service. He has behaved extremely well."] 5. My father bless'd me fervently, 6. "Come hither, hither, my staunch yeoman,2 1 [Here follows in the original MS. : 'My Mother is a high-born dame, I had a sister once I ween, Whose tears perhaps will flow; For three long years and moe.'] 2 [William Fletcher, the faithful valet;- who, after a service of twenty years, (" during which," he says, " his Lord was more to him than a father,") received the Pilgrim's last words at Missolonghi, and did not quit his remains, until he had seen them deposited in the family vault at Hucknall. This unsophisticated "yeoman" was a constant source of pleasantry to his master:e. g. "Fletcher," he says, in a letter to his mother, "is not valiant ; he requires comforts that I can dispense with, and sighs for beer, and beef, and tea, and his wife, and the devil knows what besides. We were one night lost in a thunder-storm, and since, nearly wrecked. In both cases he was sorely bewildered; from apprehensions of famine and banditti in the first, and drowning in the second instance. His eyes were a little hurt by the lightning, or |