Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/71

AND THOU ART DEAD, AS YOUNG AND FAIR.^{[lower-roman 1]}

Heu, quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!"^{[decimal 1]}

1.

And thou art dead, as young and fair
As aught of mortal birth;
And form so soft, and charms so rare,
Too soon returned to Earth!^{[lower-roman 2]}
Though Earth received them in her bed,
And o'er the spot the crowd may tread^{[lower-roman 3]}
In carelessness or mirth,
There is an eye which could not brook
A moment on that grave to look.

Variants

1. Stanzas.—[Editions 1812-1831.]
2. Are mingled with the Earth.—[MS.]
   Were never meant for Earth.—[MS. erased.]
3. Unhonoured with the vulgar dread.—[MS. erased.]

Notes

1. ["The Lovers' Walk is terminated with an ornamental urn, inscribed to Miss Dolman, a beautiful and amiable relation of Mr. Shenstone's, who died of the small-pox, about twenty-one years of age, in the following words on one side:—

   "'Peramabili consobrinæ
   M.D.'

   On the other side—

   "'Ah! Maria!
   pvellarvm elegantissima!
   ah Flore venvstatis abrepta,
   vale!
   hev qvanto minvs est
   cvm reliqvis versari
   qvam tui
   meminisse.'"

   (From a Description of the Leasowes, by A. Dodsley; Poetical Works of William Shenstone [1798], p. xxix.)]