Part 19

O flower of all that springs from gentle blood, And all that generous nurture breeds to make Youth amiable; O friend so true of soul To fair Aglaia; by what envy moved, Lelius! has death cut short thy brilliant day 5 In its sweet opening? and what dire mishap Has from Savona torn her best delight? For thee she mourns, nor e'er will cease to mourn; And, should the out-pourings of her eyes suffice not For her heart's grief, she will entreat Sebeto 10 Not to withhold his bounteous aid, Sebeto Who saw thee, on his margin, yield to death, In the chaste arms of thy belovèd Love! What profit riches? what does youth avail? Dust are our hopes;--I, weeping bitterly, 15 Penned these sad lines, nor can forbear to pray That every gentle Spirit hither led May read them not without some bitter tears.

VIII

"NOT WITHOUT HEAVY GRIEF OF HEART DID HE"

Published 1810[A]

Not without heavy grief of heart did He On whom the duty fell (for at that time The father sojourned in a distant land) Deposit in the hollow of this tomb A brother's Child, most tenderly beloved! 5 FRANCESCO was the name the Youth had borne, POZZOBONNELLI his illustrious house; And, when beneath this stone the Corse was laid, The eyes of all Savona streamed with tears. Alas! the twentieth April of his life 10 Had scarcely flowered: and at this early time, By genuine virtue he inspired a hope That greatly cheered his country: to his kin He promised comfort; and the flattering thoughts His friends had in their fondness entertained,[B] 15 He suffered not to languish or decay. Now is there not good reason to break forth Into a passionate lament?--O Soul! Short while a Pilgrim in our nether world, Do thou enjoy the calm empyreal air; 20 And round this earthly tomb let roses rise, An everlasting spring! in memory Of that delightful fragrance which was once From thy mild manners quietly exhaled.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, January 4.--ED.

[B] In justice to the Author I subjoin the original--

... e degli amici Non lasciava languire i bei pensieri.--W. W. 1815.

IX

"PAUSE, COURTEOUS SPIRIT!--BALBI SUPPLICATES"[A]

Published 1810[B]

Pause, courteous Spirit!--Balbi supplicates That Thou, with no reluctant voice, for him Here laid in mortal darkness, wouldst prefer A prayer to the Redeemer of the world. This to the dead by sacred right belongs; 5 All else is nothing.--Did occasion suit To tell his worth, the marble of this tomb Would ill suffice: for Plato's lore sublime, And all the wisdom of the Stagyrite, Enriched and beautified his studious mind: 10 With Archimedes also he conversed As with a chosen friend; nor did he leave Those laureat wreaths ungathered which the Nymphs Twine near their loved Permessus.[1]--Finally, Himself above each lower thought uplifting, 15 His ears he closed to listen to the songs[2] Which Sion's Kings did consecrate of old; And his Permessus found on Lebanon.[3] A blessèd Man! who of protracted days Made not, as thousands do, a vulgar sleep; 20 But truly did _He_ live his life. Urbino, Take pride in him!--O Passenger, farewell!

I have been unable to obtain any definite information in reference to the persons commemorated in these epitaphs by Chiabrera: Francesco Ceni, Titus, Ambrosio Salinero, Roberto Dati, Lelius, Francesco Pozzobonnelli, and Balbi. Mr. W. M. Rossetti writes to me that he "supposes all the men named by Chiabrera to be such as enjoyed a certain local and temporary reputation, which has hardly passed down to any sort of posterity, and certainly not to the ordinary English reader."

Chiabrera was born at Savona on the 8th of June 1552, and educated at Rome. He entered the service of Cardinal Cornaro, married in his 50th year, lived to the age of 85, and died October 14, 1637. His poetical faculty showed itself late. "Having commenced to read the Greek writers at home, he conceived a great admiration for Pindar, and strove successfully to imitate him. He was not less happy in catching the naïve and pleasant spirit of Anacreon; his canzonetti being distinguished for their ease and elegance, while his _Lettere Famigliari_ was the first attempt to introduce the poetical epistle into Italian Literature. He wrote also several epics, bucolics, and dramatic poems. His _Opere_ appeared at Venice, in 6 vols., in 1768."

Wordsworth says of him, in his _Essay on Epitaphs_, where translations of two of those Epitaphs of Chiabrera first appeared (see _The Friend_, February 22, 1810, and notes to _The Excursion_)--"His life was long, and every part of it bore appropriate fruits. Urbino, his birth-place, might be proud of him, and the passenger who was entreated to pray for his soul has a wish breathed for his welfare.... The Epitaphs of Chiabrera are twenty-nine in number, and all of them, save two, upon men probably little known at this day in their own country, and scarcely at all beyond the limits of it; and the reader is generally made acquainted with the moral and intellectual excellence which distinguished them by a brief history of the course of their lives, or a selection of events and circumstances, and thus they are individualized; but in the two other instances, namely, in those of Tasso and Raphael, he enters into no particulars, but contents himself with four lines expressing one sentiment, upon the principle laid down in the former part of this discourse, when the subject of the epitaph is a man of prime note...."

Compare the poem _Musings near Aquapendente_. In reference to the places referred to in these Epitaphs of Chiabrera, it may be mentioned that Savona (Epitaphs III., IV., V., VII., VIII.) is a town in the Genovese territory; Permessus (Epitaphs V. and IX.) a river of Boeotia, rising in Mount Helicon and flowing round it, hence sacred to the Muses; and that the fountain of Hippocrene--also referred to in Epitaph V.--was not far distant. Sebeto (Epitaph VII.), now cape Faro, is a Sicilian promontory.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

Twine on the top of Pindus.-- ... 1810.

[2] 1837.

... Song 1810.

[3] 1837.

And fixed his Pindus upon Lebanon. 1810.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Wordsworth's extended commentary on this sonnet in his _Essay on Epitaphs_ (see his "Prose Works" in this edition), should here be referred to.--ED.

[B] In _The Friend_, January 4.--ED.

1810

As indicated in the editorial note to the poems belonging to the year 1809, those of 1810 were mainly sonnets, suggested by the events occurring on the Continent of Europe, and the patriotic efforts of the Spaniards to resist Napoleon. I have assigned the two referring to Flamininus, entitled _On a Celebrated Event in Ancient History_, to the same year. They were first published in 1815, and seem to have been due to the same impulse which led Wordsworth to write the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty."--ED.

"AH! WHERE IS PALAFOX? NOR TONGUE NOR PEN"

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

All the sonnets of 1810 were "dedicated to Liberty." In every edition this poem had for its title the date _1810_.--ED.

Ah! where is Palafox? Nor tongue nor pen Reports of him, his dwelling or his grave! Does yet the unheard-of vessel ride the wave? Or is she swallowed up, remote from ken Of pitying human-nature? Once again 5 Methinks that we shall hail thee, Champion brave, Redeemed to baffle that imperial Slave, And through all Europe cheer desponding men With new-born hope. Unbounded is the might Of martyrdom, and fortitude, and right. 10 Hark, how thy Country triumphs!--Smilingly The Eternal looks upon her sword that gleams, Like his own lightning, over mountains high, On rampart, and the banks of all her streams.

See notes to sonnets (pp. 223 and 229).--ED.

"IN DUE OBSERVANCE OF AN ANCIENT RITE"

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

In due observance of an ancient rite, The rude Biscayans, when their children lie Dead in the sinless time of infancy, Attire the peaceful corse in vestments white; And, in like sign of cloudless triumph bright, 5 They bind the unoffending creature's brows With happy garlands of the pure white rose: Then do[1] a festal company unite In choral song; and, while the uplifted cross Of Jesus goes before, the child is borne 10 Uncovered to his grave: 'tis closed,--her loss The Mother _then_ mourns, as she needs must mourn; But soon, through Christian faith, is grief subdued;[2] And joy returns, to brighten fortitude.[3]

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

This done, ... 1815.

[2] 1837.

Uncovered to his grave.--Her piteous loss The lonesome Mother cannot chuse but mourn; Yet soon by Christian faith is grief subdued, 1815.

[3] C. and 1838.

And joy attends upon her fortitude. 1815.

Or joy returns to brighten fortitude. 1837.

FEELINGS OF A NOBLE BISCAYAN AT ONE OF THOSE FUNERALS, 1810

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

Yet, yet, Biscayans! we must meet our Foes With firmer soul, yet labour to regain Our ancient freedom; else 'twere worse than vain To gather round the bier these festal shows. A garland fashioned of the pure white rose 5 Becomes not one whose father is a slave: Oh, bear the infant covered to his grave! These venerable mountains now enclose A people sunk in apathy and fear. If this endure, farewell, for us, all good! 10 The awful light of heavenly innocence Will fail to illuminate the infant's bier; And guilt and shame, from which is no defence, Descend on all that issues from our blood.

ON A CELEBRATED EVENT IN ANCIENT HISTORY

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

A Roman Master stands on Grecian ground, And to the people at the Isthmian Games Assembled, He, by a herald's voice, proclaims[1] THE LIBERTY OF GREECE:--the words rebound Until all voices in one voice are drowned; 5 Glad acclamation by which air was[2] rent! And birds, high flying in the element, Dropped[3] to the earth, astonished at the sound! Yet were the thoughtful grieved; and still that voice Haunts, with sad echoes, musing Fancy's ear:[4] 10 Ah! that a _Conqueror's_ words[5] should be so dear: Ah! that a _boon_ could shed such rapturous joys! A gift of that which is not to be given By all the blended powers of Earth and Heaven.

This "Roman Master" "on Grecian ground" was T. Quintius Flamininus, one of the ablest and noblest of the Roman generals (230-174 B.C.). He was successful against Philip of Macedon, overran Thessaly in 198, and conquered the Macedonian army in 197, defeating Philip at Cynoscephalæ. He concluded a peace with the vanquished. "In the spring of 196, the Roman commission arrived in Greece to arrange, conjointly with Flamininus, the affairs of the country: they also brought with them the terms on which a definite peace was to be concluded with Philip.... The Ætolians exerted themselves to excite suspicions among the Greeks as to the sincerity of the Romans in their dealings with them. Flamininus, however, insisted upon immediate compliance with the terms of the peace.... In this summer, the Isthmian games were celebrated at Corinth, and thousands from all parts of Greece flocked thither. Flamininus, accompanied by the ten commissioners, entered the assembly, and, at his command, a herald, in name of the Roman Senate, proclaimed the freedom and independence of Greece. The joy and enthusiasm at this unexpected declaration was beyond all description: the throngs of people that crowded around Flamininus to catch a sight of their liberator or touch his garment were so enormous, that even his life was endangered." (Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography_: Art. Flamininus, No. 4.)--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

And to the Concourse of the Isthmian Games He, by his Herald's voice, aloud proclaims 1815.

[2] 1815.

... is ... 1838.

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1815.

[3] 1815.

Drop ... 1838.

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1815.

[4] 1837.

... at the sound! --A melancholy Echo of that noise Doth sometimes hang on musing Fancy's ear: 1815.

[5] 1815.

... word ... 1827.

The text of 1837 returns to that of 1815.

UPON THE SAME EVENT

Composed (probably) 1810.--Published 1815

When, far and wide, swift as the beams of morn The tidings passed of servitude repealed, And of that joy which shook the Isthmian Field, The rough Ætolians smiled with bitter scorn. "'Tis known," cried they, "that he, who would adorn His envied temples with the Isthmian crown, 6 Must either win, through effort of his own, The prize, or be content to see it worn By more deserving brows.--Yet so ye prop, Sons of the brave who fought at Marathon, 10 Your feeble spirits! Greece her head hath bowed, As if the wreath of liberty thereon Would fix itself as smoothly as a cloud, Which, at Jove's will, descends on Pelion's top."

The Ætolians were the only Greeks that entertained suspicion of the Roman designs from the first. When Flamininus was wintering in Phocis in 196, and an insurrection broke out at Opus, some of the citizens had called in the aid of the Ætolians against the Macedonian garrison; but the gates of the city were not opened to admit the Ætolian volunteers till Flamininus arrived. Then in the battle at the heights of Cynoscephalæ, where the Macedonian army was routed, the Ætolian contingent, which had helped Flamininus, claimed the sole credit of the victory; and wished no truce made with Philip, as they were bent on the destruction of the Macedonian power. The Ætolians aimed subsequently at exciting suspicion against the sincerity of Flamininus. In the second sonnet, Wordsworth's sympathy seems to have been with the Ætolians, as much as it was with the Swiss and the Tyrolese in their attitude to Buonaparte. But Flamininus was not a Napoleon.--ED.

THE OAK OF GUERNICA

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

The ancient oak of Guernica, says Laborde in his account of Biscay, is a most venerable natural monument. Ferdinand and Isabella, in the year 1476, after hearing mass in the church of Santa Maria de la Antigua, repaired to this tree, under which they swore to the Biscayans to maintain their _fueros_ (privileges). What other interest belongs to it in the minds of this people will appear from the following

SUPPOSED ADDRESS TO THE SAME. 1810

Oak of Guernica! Tree of holier power Than that which in Dodona did enshrine (So faith too fondly deemed) a voice divine Heard from the depths of its aërial bower-- How canst thou flourish at this blighting hour? 5 What hope, what joy can sunshine bring to thee, Or the soft breezes from the Atlantic sea, The dews of morn, or April's tender shower? Stroke merciful and welcome would that be Which should extend thy branches on the ground, 10 If never more within their shady round Those lofty-minded Lawgivers shall meet, Peasant and lord, in their appointed seat, Guardians of Biscay's ancient liberty.

Prophetic power was believed to reside within the grove which surrounded the temple of Jupiter near Dodona, in Epirus, and oracles were given forth from the boughs of the sacred oak.--ED.

INDIGNATION OF A HIGH-MINDED SPANIARD, 1810

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

We can endure that He should waste our lands, Despoil our temples, and by sword and flame Return us to the dust from which we came; Such food a Tyrant's appetite demands: And we can brook the thought that by his hands 5 Spain may be overpowered, and he possess, For his delight, a solemn wilderness Where all the brave lie dead. But, when of bands Which he will break for us he dares to speak, Of benefits, and of a future day 10 When our enlightened minds shall bless his sway; _Then_, the strained heart of fortitude proves weak; Our groans, our blushes, our pale cheeks declare That he has power to inflict what we lack strength to bear.

Compare the two sonnets _On a Celebrated Event in Ancient History_ (pp. 242-44). The following note to the last line of this sonnet occurs in Professor Reed's American edition of the Poems:--"The student of English poetry will call to mind Cowley's impassioned expression of the indignation of a Briton under the depression of disasters somewhat similar.

Let rather Roman come again, Or Saxon, Norman, or the Dane: In all the bonds we ever bore, We grieved, we sighed, we wept, _we never blushed before_."

See Cowley's _Discourse on the Government of Oliver Cromwell_.--ED.

"AVAUNT ALL SPECIOUS PLIANCY OF MIND"

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

Avaunt all specious pliancy of mind In men of low degree, all smooth pretence! I better like a blunt indifference, And self-respecting slowness, disinclined To win me at first sight: and be there joined 5 Patience and temperance with this high reserve, Honour that knows the path and will not swerve; Affections, which, if put to proof, are kind; And piety towards God. Such men of old Were England's native growth; and, throughout Spain, (Thanks to high God) forests of such remain:[1] 11 Then for that Country let our hopes be bold; For matched with these shall policy prove vain, Her arts, her strength, her iron, and her gold.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

Forests of such do at this day remain; 1815.

"O'ERWEENING STATESMEN HAVE FULL LONG RELIED"

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

In all the editions this poem has for its title the date _1810_.--ED.

O'erweening Statesmen have full long relied On fleets and armies, and external wealth: But from _within_ proceeds a Nation's health; Which shall not fail, though poor men cleave with pride To the paternal floor; or turn aside, 5 In the thronged city, from the walks of gain, As being all unworthy to detain A Soul by contemplation sanctified. There are who cannot languish in this strife, Spaniards of every rank, by whom the good 10 Of such high course was felt and understood; Who to their Country's cause have bound a life Erewhile, by solemn consecration, given To labour, and to prayer, to nature, and to heaven.[A]

FOOTNOTES:

[A] See Laborde's Character of the Spanish People; from him the sentiment of these two last lines is taken.--W. W. 1815.

THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH GUERILLAS

Composed 1810.--Published 1815

Hunger, and sultry heat, and nipping blast From bleak hill-top, and length of march by night Through heavy swamp, or over snow-clad height-- These hardships ill-sustained, these dangers past, The roving Spanish Bands are reached at last, 5 Charged, and dispersed like foam: but as a flight Of scattered quails by signs do reunite, So these,--and, heard of once again, are chased With combinations of long-practised art And newly-kindled hope; but they are fled-- 10 Gone are they, viewless as the buried dead: Where now?--Their sword is at the Foeman's heart! And thus from year to year his walk they thwart, And hang like dreams around his guilty bed.

See the note appended to the sonnet entitled _Spanish Guerillas_ (p. 254).--ED.

MATERNAL GRIEF

Composed 1810.--Published 1842

[This was in part an overflow from the Solitary's description of his own and his wife's feelings upon the decease of their children. (See _Excursion_, book 3rd.)--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections."--ED.

Departed Child! I could forget thee once Though at my bosom nursed; this woeful gain Thy dissolution brings, that in my soul Is present and perpetually abides A shadow, never, never to be displaced 5 By the returning substance, seen or touched, Seen by mine eyes, or clasped in my embrace. Absence and death how differ they! and how Shall I admit that nothing can restore What one short sigh so easily removed?-- 10 Death, life, and sleep, reality and thought, Assist me, God, their boundaries to know, O teach me calm submission to thy Will!

The Child she mourned had overstepped the pale Of Infancy, but still did breathe the air 15 That sanctifies its confines, and partook Reflected beams of that celestial light[A] To all the Little-ones on sinful earth Not unvouchsafed--a light that warmed and cheered Those several qualities of heart and mind 20 Which, in her own blest nature, rooted deep, Daily before the Mother's watchful eye, And not hers only, their peculiar charms Unfolded,--beauty, for its present self, And for its promises to future years, 25 With not unfrequent rapture fondly hailed.

Have you espied upon a dewy lawn A pair of Leverets each provoking each To a continuance of their fearless sport, Two separate Creatures in their several gifts 30 Abounding, but so fashioned that, in all That Nature prompts them to display, their looks, Their starts of motion and their fits of rest, An undistinguishable style appears And character of gladness, as if Spring 35 Lodged in their innocent bosoms, and the spirit Of the rejoicing morning were their own?