Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/58

5.
And theirs was the wealth and the fulness of Fame,
And mine to inherit too haughty a name;^{[lower-roman 1]}
And theirs were the times and the triumphs of yore,
And mine to regret, but renew them no more.

6.
And Ruin is fixed on my tower and my wall,
Too hoary to fade, and too massy to fall;
It tells not of Time's or the tempest's decay,^{[lower-roman 2]}
But the wreck of the line that have held it in sway.
August 26, 1811.
[First published in Memoir of Rev. F. Hodgson, 1878, i. 187.]

 

EPISTLE TO A FRIEND,^{[decimal 1]}

IN ANSWER TO SOME LINES EXHORTING THE AUTHOR TO BE CHEERFUL, AND TO "BANISH CARE."

"Oh! banish care"—such ever be
The motto of thy revelry!
Perchance of mine, when wassail nights
Renew those riotous delights,
Wherewith the children of Despair
Lull the lone heart, and "banish care."
But not in Morn's reflecting hour,
When present, past, and future lower,
When all I loved is changed or gone,

Mock with such taunts the woes of one,

Variants

1. And mine was the pride and the worth of a name.—[MS. M.]
2. It tells not of time ——.—[MS. M.]

Notes

1. [Francis Hodgson.]