CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE.

CANTO THIRD.

The asterisks refer to notes at the end on the words or lines to which they are affixed.

I.

Is thy face like thy mother's, my fair child!
ADA!* sole daughter of my house and heart?
When last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled,
And then we parted,-not as now we part,
But with a hope.-

5

Awaking with a start, The waters heave around me; and on high The winds lift up their voices: I depart, Whither I know not; but the hour 's gone by, When Albion's lessening shores could grieve or glad

mine eye.

II.

Once more upon the waters!* yet once more!
And the waves bound beneath me as a steed

That knows his rider.

Welcome to their roar !

Swift be their guidance, wheresoe'er it lead !

10

Though the strained mast should quiver as a reed, 15
And the rent canvas fluttering strew the gale,
Still must I on; for I am as a weed,

Flung from the rock, on Ocean's foam to sail Where'er the surge may sweep, the tempest's breath prevail.

III.

In my youth's summer I did sing of One,*
The wandering outlaw of his own dark mind ;
Again I seize the theme, then but begun,
And bear it with me, as the rushing wind
Bears the cloud onwards: in that Tale I find

20

The furrows of long thought,* and dried-up tears,* 25
Which, ebbing, leave a sterile track behind,
O'er which all heavily the journeying years

Plod the last sands of life,--where not a flower appears.

IV.

Since my young days of passion-joy, or pain, Perchance my heart and harp have lost a string, 30 And both may jar: it may be, that in vain I would essay as I have sung to sing. Yet, though a dreary strain, to this I cling; So that it wean me from the weary dream Of selfish grief or gladness-so* it fling Forgetfulness around me-it shall seem To me, though to none else, a not ungrateful theme.

V.

He, who grown aged in this world of woe,
In deeds, not years, piercing the depths of life,
So that* no wonder waits him; nor below
Can love or sorrow, fame, ambition, strife,
Cut to his heart again with the keen knife
Of silent, sharp endurance: he can tell

Why thought seeks refuge in lone caves, yet rife
With airy images, and shapes which dwell

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40

45

Still unimpaired, though old, in the soul's haunted cell.*

VI.

*"Tis to create, and in creating live
A being more intense, that we endow
With form our fancy, gaining as we give

The life we image, even as I do now.

What am I? Nothing: but not so art thou,
Soul of my thought! with whom I traverse earth,
Invisible but gazing, as I glow

Mixed with thy spirit, blended with thy birth,

50

And feeling still with thee in my crushed feelings' dearth.*

VII.

Yet must I think less wildly :-I have thought
Too long and darkly, till my brain became,
In its own eddy boiling and o'erwrought,

A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame:

*

55

And thus, untaught in youth my heart to tame, 60 My springs of life were poisoned." "Tis too late! Yet am I changed; though still enough the same In strength to bear what time can not abate, And feed on bitter fruits without accusing Fate.*

VIII.

Something too much of this :-but now 'tis past, 65 And the spell closes with its silent seal.

Long absent HAROLD re-appears at last;

He of the breast which fain no more would feel, Wrung with the wounds which kill not, but ne'er heal;

Yet Time, who changes all, had altered him In soul and aspect as in age: years steal Fire from the mind as vigour from the limb; And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim.

IX.

70

His had been quaffed too quickly, and he found The dregs were wormwood; but he filled again, 75 And from a purer fount,* on holier ground, And deemed its spring perpetual; but in vain! Still round him clung invisibly a chain Which galled for ever, fettering though unseen, And heavy though it clanked not; worn with pain, Which pined although it spoke not, and grew keen, Entering with every step he took through many a scene.

X.

79

Secure in guarded coldness, he had mixed
Again in fancied safety with his kind,
And deemed his spirit now so firmly fixed
And sheathed with an invulnerable mind,
That, if no joy, no sorrow lurked behind;
And he, as one, might 'midst the many stand
Unheeded, searching through the crowd to find
Fit speculation; such as in strange land

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90

He found in wonder-works of God and Nature's hand.

XI.

But who can view the ripened rose, nor seek

To wear it? who can curiously behold

The smoothness and the sheen of beauty's cheek,

Nor feel the heart can never all grow old?

Who can contemplate Fame through clouds unfold
The star which rises o'er her steep, nor climb?
Harold, once more within the vortex, rolled
On with the giddy circle, chasing Time,

95

Yet with a nobler aim than in his youth's fond prime.

its adjuncts.- -The Pythian hymn, thought by Thucydides to have been composed by Homer, narrates the birth of Apollo and the slaying of the Python, which gave its name Pythian to the oracle. 659-683. Cadiz, ancient Gades, supposed to have been founded by the Phoenicians about 1100 B.C.; and as to morals, manners, and maritime activity, faithful to its origin. The French tried to reduce it from 1810 to 1812, but failed in the attempt. 679. Kibes, from Ger. Kerb, notch, ulcerated chilblains or hacks in the heels; but heels only are here meant."

681-682. In lieu of true devotion, &c. The votaries of vice are often superstitious observers of the forms of religion. 686-692. A solemn feast, ironically applied to a Sunday bull-fight, fully described in stanzas lxxii.-lxxix.-Forest-monarch, hardly applicable to the bull, is often applied to the wild boar. 695-696. Spruce, a colloquialism meaning conventional trimness without elegance.- -Smug, a variation of the same. Observe the irony of the word gulp for breathe.

697. Coach of hackney. The terms 'hackney coach' and 'hack' are said to have originated in the London custom of driving to this village, begun about 1634; but coche-a-haquenée was a term used in France about 1600.- -Whiskey, a light onehorse carriage, also called a tim-whiskey.

698-705. The various places here named are favourite holiday resorts of the inhabitants of London.

706. Ask ye, Baotian shades! This was written at Thebes, and consequently in the best situation for asking and answering such a question; not as the birthplace of Pindar, but as the capital of Boeotia, where the first riddle was propounded and solved.-BYRON.

717. Beadsman, A. S. bead, a prayer, one who prays for others. 723. Ne for no.-Lated wight, belated fellow.

724. Dons, Span. don, from Lat. dominus, a lord.— -Grandee, Span. grande, a nobleman of the highest rank in Spain. 733. Featly, nimbly, by way of display.

737. All that kings or chiefs e'er gain; that is, the crowd's loud shout, &c. Note the irony in the comparison.

739. Matadore, Span. matador, murderer, slayer; the man appointed to kill the bull at a bull-fight.

758. Now is thy time to perish, or display; that is, to 'do or die.' 760. Croupe, Fr., hind-quarters; here applied to the action of veering a horse round on his hind-legs.

770. Unseamed. Note the figure here used, unseaming a garment. 776. Brast, O. Eng., burst, broken.