Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Forget Me Not, 1824/Lines on the Mausoleum of the Princess Charlotte, at Claremont
Forget Me not; a Christmas and New Year's
Present for 1824. London. R. Ackermann.
Our own delightful minstrel, L. E. L. has
been kind enough to enrich this annual gift
with two voluntary offerings, to which the
publisher has paid the merited compliment of
having plates engraved from their subjects.[1]
Though many have gone before her on the
theme, we quote the following exquisitely
natural and poetical tribute on the Mausoleum
of the Princess Charlotte at Claremont—
Lines on the Mausoleum of the Princess Charlotte,
at Claremont.
Alas! how many storm-clouds hang
O'er every sunny day below!
How many flowers die as they bloom!
How many more before they blow!
But fall the blight, or lour the blast,
O'er every other pleasure here
If they would leave untouched that one
Of all earth's joys most pure and dear!
Young Love! how well thy smile can cheer
All other ills that wring the heart?
All other sorrows may we bear,
But those in which thyself hast part.
And is not this thy worst, of griefs—
Thine uttermost despair—to see
The grave close over the fond heart
Just wakened into life by thee?
To watch the blight steal o'er the rose,
Yews spring where myrtles wont to be—
And for the bridal wreath to wear
One gathered from the cypress-tree?
Look on yon grove, where a white fane
Grows whiter as the moonbeams fall;
There is a bust upon its shrine,
Wearing a white rose coronal:
It is the monument where Hope
And youthful Love sleep side by side,
Raised by the mourner to the name
Of her—his lost, but worshipp'd Bride.
Contextual images of plates from Forget Me Not: (1) exterior
A. Pugin del.H. le Keux sculp. MAUSOLEUM OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE EXTERIOR Pub. by R. Ackermann, London 1824 |
C. Moore del.H. le Keux sculp. MAUSOLEUM OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE INTERIOR |
- ↑ From what we know now, it seems more likely that Landon was responding to pre-existing plates.