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For ever stretch'd beneath this mantling shade, Press'd by the turf where once my childhood play'd; Wrapt by the soil that veils the spot I loved,

Mix'd with the earth o'er which my footsteps moved; Blest by the tongues that charm'd my youthful ear, Mourn'd by the few my soul acknowledged here; Deplored by those in early days allied,

And unremember'd by the world beside.

September 2, 1807

NOTES TO HOURS OF IDLENESS.

1.-Page 13, line 1.

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY.

THE author claims the indulgence of the reader more for this piece than, perhaps, any other in the collection; but as it was written at an earlier period than the rest (being composed at the age of fourteen), and his first essay, he preferred submitting it to the indulgence of his friends in its present state, to making either addition or alteration.

2.-Page 14, line 5.

1802.

["My first dash into poetry was as early as 1800. It was the ebullition of a passion for my first cousin, Margaret Parker (daughter and grand-daughter of the two Admirals Parker), one of the most beautiful of evanescent beings. I have long forgotten the verse; but it would be difficult for me to forget her-her dark eyes-her long eye-lashes-her completely Greek cast of face and figure! I was then about twelve-she rather older, perhaps a year. She died about a year or two afterwards, in consequence of a fall, which injured her spine, and induced consumption. Her sister Augusta (by some thought still more beautiful), died of the same malady; and it was, indeed, in attending her, that Margaret met with the accident which occasioned her death. My sister told me, that when she went to see her, shortly before her death, upon accidentally mentioning my name, Margaret coloured, throughout the paleness of mortality, to the eyes, to the great astonishment of my sister, who knew nothing of our attachment, nor could conceive why my name should affect her at such a time. I knew nothing of her illness, being at Harrow and in the country, till she was gone. Some years after, I made an attempt at an elegy-a very dull one. I do not recollect scarcely anything equal to the transparent beauty of my cousin, or to the sweetness of her temper, during the short period of our intimacy. She looked as if she had been made out of a rainbow-all beauty and peace."-Byron Diary, 1821]

3.-Page 14, line 6.

TO E.

[This little poem, and some others in the collection, refer to a boy of Lord Byron's own age, son of one of his tenants at Newstead, for whom he had formed a romantic attachment, previous to any of his school intimacies.]

4.-Page 15, line 10.

Thy comrade's honour and thy friend's delight.

[From this point the lines in the private edition were entirely different

"Though low thy lot, since in a cottage born,

No titles did thy humble name adorn,

To me, far dearer was thy artless love,

Than all the joys wealth, fame, and friends could prove:
For thee alone I lived, or wish'd to live;

Oh God! if impious, this rash word forgive!
Heart-broken now, I wait an equal doom,
Content to join thee in thy turf-clad tomb;
Where, this frail form composed in endless rest,
I'll make my last cold pillow on thy breast:
That breast where oft in life I've laid my head,
Will yet receive me mouldering with the dead:
This life resign'd, without one parting sigh,
Together in one bed of earth we'll lie!

Together share the fate to mortals given;

Together mix our dust, and hope for heaven."

The epitaph is supposed to commemorate the youth who is the subject of the verses "To E-." The latter picce was omitted in the published volume, which, coupled with the obliteration of every allusion to his humble origin in the epitaph, led Mr. Moore to infer that growing pride of rank made Lord Byron ashamed of the plebeian friendship.]

5.-Page 16, line 4.

My epitaph shall be my name alone:

[By his will, drawn up in 1811, Lord Byron directed, that "no inscription, save his name and age, should be written on his tomb;" and, in 1819, he wrote thus to Mr. Murray :-" Some of the epitaphs at the Certosa cemetery, at Ferrara, pleased me more than the more splendid monuments at Bologna; for instance

'Martini Luigi
Implora pace.

Can anything be more full of pathos? I hope whoever may survive me will see those two words, and no more, put over me."]

6.-Page 16, line 10.

ON LEAVING NEWSTEAD ABBEY.

[The priory of Newstead, or de Novo Loco, in Sherwood, was founded about the year 1170, by Henry II. On the dissolution of the monasteries it was granted by Henry VIII. to "Sir John Byron the Little, with the great beard." His portrait is still preserved at Newstead.]

7.-Page 16, line 19.

Led their vassals from Europe to Palestine's plain,

[There is no record of the Byrons having assisted in the Holy Wars, and Mr. Moore conjectures that the only authority for the notion was

some groups of heads, which appear to represent Christian soldiers and Saracens, on the old panel-work at Newstead, and which were probably put up before the Abbey came into the possession of the family.Ĵ

8.-Page 16, line 24.

Near Askalon's towers, John of Horistan slumbers,

["In the park of Horseley," says Thoroton," there was a castle, some of the ruins of which are yet visible, called Horistan Castle, which was the chief mansion of Ralph de Burun's successors."]

9.-Page 16, line 26.

Paul and Hubert, too, sleep in the valley of Cressy;

Two of the family of Byron are enumerated as serving with distinction in the siege of Calais, under Edward III, and as among the knights who fell on the glorious field of Cressy.]

10.-Page 16, line 30.

On Marston,

The battle of Marston Moor, where the adherents of Charles I. were defeated.

11.-Page 16, line 30.

with Rupert, 'gainst traitors contending,

Son of the Elector Palatine, and nephew to Charles I. He afterwards commanded the fleet in the reign of Charles II.

12.-Page 16, line 33.

Till death their attachment to royalty seal'd.

[On the monument of Richard, the second Lord Byron, who lies buried in the chancel of Hucknal-Tokard church, there is the following inscription:-"Beneath, in a vault, is interred the body of Richard Lord Byron, who, with the rest of his family, being seven brothers, faithfully served King Charles the First in the civil wars, who suffered much for their loyalty, and lost all their present fortunes: yet it pleased God so to bless the humble endeavours of the said Richard Lord Byron, that he re-purchased part of their ancient inheritance, which he left to his posterity, with a laudable memory for his great piety and charity." The first Lord, ennobled by Charles I. in 1613, was the eldest brother of this Richard.]

13.-Page 18, line 1.

ADRIAN'S ADDRESS TO HIS SOUL WHEN DYING.

[This and several little pieces that follow, appear to be fragments of school exercises.]

14.-Page 19, line 3.

By Death's unequal hand alike controll'd,

[The hand of Death is said to be unjust or unequal, as Virgil died older than Tibullus.]

15.-Page 23, line 34.

Nor yet thy doom was fix'd, nor Jove relentless frown'd.

["My first Harrow verses (that is, English, as Exercises), a translation of a chorus from the Prometheus of schylus, were received by Dr. Drury, my grand patron (our head master) but coolly. No one had, at that time, the least notion that I should subside into poesy."-Byron Diary.]

16.- Page 29, line 1.

STANZAS TO A LADY, WITH THE POEMS OF CAMOENS.

[Lord Strangford's translation of Camoëns' Amatory Verses, was, with Little's Poems, a favourite study of Lord Byron's at the period.]

17.-Page 29, line 13.

In pity for the poet's woes.

[Camoëns terminated a life of misadventures in an alms-house.]

18.-Page 30, line 21.

ON A CHANGE OF MASTERS AT A GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOL.

[In March, 1805, Dr. Drury, the Probus of the piece, retired from his situation of head master at Harrow, and was succeeded by Dr. Butler, the Pomposus. "Dr. Drury," said Lord Byron, in one of r.is note-books, "was the best, the kindest (and yet strict, too) friend I ever had; and Í look upon him still as a father." Out of affection to his late preceptor, Lord Byron advocated the election of Mark Drury to the vacant post, and hence his dislike of the successful candidate. He was reconciled to Dr. Butler before departing for Greece in 1809, and in his diary he says, "I treated him rebelliously, and have been sorry ever since."]

19.-Page 31, line 8.

TO THE DUKE OF DORSET.

In looking over my papers to select a few additional poems for this second edition, I found the above lines, which I had totally forgotten, composed in the summer of 1805, a short time previous to my departure from Harrow. They were addressed to a young schoolfellow of high rank, who had been my frequent companion in some rambles through the neighbouring country: however, he never saw the lines, and most probably never will. As, on a re-perusal, I found them not worse than some other pieces in the collection, I have now published them, for the first time, after a slight revision.

20.-Page 31, line 14.

Dade thee obey, and gave me to command;

At every public school the junior boys are completely subservient to the upper forms till they attain a seat in the higher classes. From this state of probation, very properly, no rank is exempt; but after a certain period, they command in turn those who succeed.

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