POSTHUMOUS AND FUGITIVE POEMS. SONNET. TO BYRON. BYRON! how sweetly sad thy melody! Had touch'd her plaintive lute, and thou, being by, With a bright halo, shining beamily, Its sides are tinged with a resplendent glow, Still warble, dying swan! still tell the tale, The enchanting tale, the tale of pleasing woe. SONNET. TO CHATTERTON. O CHATTERTON! how very sad thy fate! How soon the film of death obscured that eye, Melted in dying numbers! Oh! how nigh Of highest Heaven: to thy rolling spheres SONNET. TO SPENSER. SPENSER ! a jealous honourer of thine, A forester deep in thy midmost trees, Did last eve ask my promise to refine Some English that might strive thine ear to please, But Elfin Poet 'tis impossible For an inhabitant of wintry earth To rise like Phoebus, with a golden quill, Fire-wing'd and make a morning in his mirth. It is impossible to escape from toil O' the sudden and receive thy spiriting: The flower must drink the nature of the soil ODE TO APOLLO. I. IN thy western halls of gold Heroic deeds, and sang of fate, With fervour seize their adamantine lyres, Whose chords are solid rays, and twinkle radiant fires. II. Here Homer with his nervous arms But, what creates the most intense surprise, III. Then, through thy Temple wide, melodious swells The sweet majestic tone of Maro's lyre : The soul delighted on each accent dwells,— Enraptured dwells,—not daring to respire, The while he tells of grief around a funeral pyre. IV. 'Tis awful silence then again; Expectant stand the spheres ; Nor move, till ends the lofty strain, Nor move till Milton's tuneful thunders cease, And leave once more the ravish'd heavens in peace. V. Thou biddest Shakspeare wave his hand, And quickly forward spring The Passions-a terrific band And each vibrates the string That with its tyrant temper best accords, While from their Master's lips pour forth the inspiring words. VI. A silver trumpet Spenser blows, And, as its martial notes to silence flee, From a virgin chorus flows A hymn in praise of spotless Chastity. 'Tis still! Wild warblings from the Æolian lyre Enchantment softly breathe, and tremblingly expire. VII. Next thy Tasso's ardent numbers Float along the pleased air, Calling youth from idle slumbers, Rousing them from Pleasure's lair :— Then o'er the strings his fingers gently move, And melt the soul to pity and to love. VIII. But when Thou joinest with the Nine, The dying tones that fill the air, And charm the ear of evening fair, From thee, great God of Bards, receive their heavenly birth. HYMN TO APOLLO. I. GOD of the golden bow, And of the golden hair, Of the patient year, Where-where slept thine ire, |