For after nights of storm, that dismal train
The pious convent sends, with hope humane,
To find some out-stretch'd man-perchance to save,
Or give, at least, that last good gift, a grave!
But now a gathering crowd did I survey,
That slowly up the pasture bent their way;

Nor could I doubt but that their care had found
Some pilgrim in th' unchannel'd torrent drown'd.
And down the lawn I hasten'd to implore
That they would bring the body to my door;
But soon exclaim'd a boy, who ran before,

120

125

'Thrown by the last night's waters from their bed, 130 Your daughter has been found, and she is dead!"

The old man paused-May he who, sternly just,
Lays at his will his creatures in the dust;
Some ere the earliest buds of hope be blown,
And some, when every bloom of joy is flown ;
May he the parent to his child restore

135

In that unchanging realm, where Love reigns evermore! March 8, 1798.

NICIAS ERYTHRAEUS.

TO A YOUNG LADY 1

[MISS LAVINIA POOLE]

ON HER RECOVERY FROM A FEVER

WHY need I say, Louisa dear!
How glad I am to see you here,
A lovely convalescent;

Risen from the bed of pain and fear,
And feverish heat incessant.

The sunny showers, the dappled sky,
The little birds that warble high,

Their vernal loves commencing,
Will better welcome you than I
With their sweet influencing.
Believe me, while in bed you lay,
Your danger taught us all to pray:
You made us grow devouter!
Each eye looked up and seemed to say,
How can we do without her?

Besides, what vexed us worse, we knew,
They have no need of such as you

In the place where you were going:
This World has angels all too few,
And Heaven is overflowing!

March 31, 1798.

First published in the Morning Post, Dec. 9, 1799, included in the Annual Anthology, 1800, in Sibylline Leaves, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

To a Young Lady, &c.—Title] To a Young Lady, on Her First Appearance After A Dangerous Illness. Written in the Spring of 1799 [1799 must be a slip for 1798]. M. P., An. Anth.

I Louisa] Ophelia M. P., An. Anth.

6-7

The breezy air, the sun, the sky,

The little birds that sing on high M. P., An. Anth. 12 all] how M. P., An. Anth. 13 grow] all M, P., An. Anth. which M. P., An. Anth. 17 have] had M. P., An. Anth. The M. P. Below 20 Laberius M. P., An. Anth.

16 what]

19 This]

LEWTI 1

OR THE CIRCASSIAN LOVE-CHAUNT

AT midnight by the stream I roved,
To forget the form I loved.

Image of Lewti! from my mind
Depart; for Lewti is not kind.

The Moon was high, the moonlight gleam
And the shadow of a star
Heaved upon Tamaha's stream;

But the rock shone brighter far,
The rock half sheltered from my view
By pendent boughs of tressy yew.-
So shines my Lewti's forehead fair,
Gleaming through her sable hair.
Image of Lewti! from my mind.
Depart; for Lewti is not kind.

5

ΤΟ

1 First published in the Morning Post (under the signature Nicias Erythraeus), April 13, 1798: included in the Annual Anthology, 1800; Sibylline Leaves, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834. For MS. versions vide Appendices. 'Lewti was to have been included in the Lyrical Ballads of 1798, but at the last moment the sheets containing it were cancelled and The Nightingale substituted.' (Note to reprint of L. B. (1898), edited by T. Hutchinson.) A copy which belonged to Southey, with the new Table of Contents and The Nightingale bound up with the text as at first printed, is in the British Museum. Another copy is extant which contains the first Table of Contents only, and Lewti without the addition of The Nightingale. In the M. P. the following note accompanies the poem :It is not amongst the least pleasing of our recollections, that we have been the means of gratifying the public taste with some exquisite pieces of Original Poetry. For many of them we have been indebted to the author of the Circassian's Love Chant. Amidst images of war and woe, amidst scenes of carnage and horror of devastation and dismay, it may afford the mind a temporary relief to wander to the magic haunts of the Muses, to bowers and fountains which the despoiling powers of war have never visited, and where the lover pours forth his complaint, or receives the recompense of his constancy. The whole of the subsequent Love Chant is in a warm and impassioned strain. The fifth and last stanzas are, we think, the best.'

Leuti, &c.-Title] Lewti; or the Circassian's Love Chant M. P.
Between lines 14-15

I saw the white waves, o'er and o'er,
Break against the distant shore.

I saw a cloud of palest hue,

Onward to the moon it passed;
Still brighter and more bright it grew,
With floating colours not a few,

Till it reached the moon at last:
Then the cloud was wholly bright,
With a rich and amber light!
And so with many a hope I seek,

And with such joy I find my Lewti;
And even so my pale wan cheek

Drinks in as deep a flush of beauty! Nay, treacherous image! leave my mind, If Lewti never will be kind.

The little cloud-it floats away,

Away it goes; away so soon!

Alas! it has no power to stay:
Its hues are dim, its hues are grey-
Away it passes from the moon!
How mournfully it seems to fly,
Ever fading more and more,
To joyless regions of the sky-

15

20

25

30

35

And now 'tis whiter than before! As white as my poor cheek will be,

When, Lewti! on my couch I lie,

A dying man for love of thee.

Nay, treacherous image! leave my mind-
And yet, thou didst not look unkind.

I saw a vapour in the sky,

Thin, and white, and very high;

All at once upon the sight,
All at once they broke in light;
I heard no murmur of their roar,
Nor ever I beheld them flowing,
Neither coming, neither going;
But only saw them o'er and o'er,
Break against the curved shore:
Now disappearing from the sight,
Now twinkling regular and white,
And LEWTI's smiling mouth can shew
As white and regular a row.
Nay, treach'rous image from my mind
Depart; for LEWTI is not kind. M. P,

40

I ne'er beheld so thin a cloud:
Perhaps the breezes that can fly
Now below and now above,

Have snatched aloft the lawny shroud'
Of Lady fair-that died for love.

For maids, as well as youths, have perished
From fruitless love too fondly cherished.
Nay, treacherous image! leave my mind-
For Lewti never will be kind.

45

50

Hush! my heedless feet from under
Slip the crumbling banks for ever:

Like echoes to a distant thunder,

55

They plunge into the gentle river.
The river-swans have heard my tread,
And startle from their reedy bed.

O beauteous birds! methinks ye measure
Your movements to some heavenly tune!

60

O beauteous birds! 'tis such a pleasure
To see you move beneath the moon,

I would it were your true delight
To sleep by day and wake all night.

This image was borrowed by Miss Bailey (sic) in her Basil as the dates of the poems prove. MS. Note by S. T. C.

52 For] Tho' M. P.

Between lines 52-3

This hand should make his life-blood flow,

That ever scorn'd my LEWTI so.

I cannot chuse but fix my sight

On that small vapour, thin and white!

So thin it scarcely, I protest,

Bedims the star that shines behind it!

And pity dwells in LEWTI's breast
Alas! if I knew how to find it.
And O! how sweet it were, I wist,
To see my LEWTI's eyes to-morrow
Shine brightly thro' as thin a mist

Of pity and repentant sorrow!
Nay treach'rous image! leave my mind-
Ah, LEWTI! why art thou unkind?

53 Hush!] Slush! Sibylline Leaves (Errata, S. L., p. [xi], for Slush r. Hush).