ΤΟ HOPE. WHEN HEN by my solitary hearth I sit, And hateful thoughts enwrap my soul in gloom; When no fair dreams before my "mind's eye" flit, And the bare heath of life presents no bloom; Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed, And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head. Whene'er I wander, at the fall of night, Where woven boughs shut out the moon's bright ray, Should sad Despondency my musings fright, And frown, to drive fair Cheerfulness away, Peep with the moon-beams through the leafy roof, Should Disappointment, parent of Despair, When, like a cloud, he sits upon the air, Chace him away, sweet Hope, with visage bright, Whene'er the fate of those I hold most dear 5 10 15 Tells to my fearful breast a tale of sorrow, 20 O bright-eyed Hope, my morbid fancy cheer; Should e'er unhappy love my bosom pain, In the long vista of the years to roll, Let me not see our country's honour fade: O let me see our land retain her soul, 25 30 Her pride, her freedom; and not freedom's shade. From thy bright eyes unusual brightness shed- 35 Beneath thy pinions canopy my head! Let me not see the patriot's high bequest, 40 But let me see thee stoop from heaven on wings And as, in sparkling majesty, a star Gilds the bright summit of some gloomy cloud; So, when dark thoughts my boding spirit shroud, February, 1815. 45 IMITATION OF SPENSER. Now Morning from her orient chamber came, And her first footsteps touch'd a verdant hill; There the king-fisher saw his plumage bright The copy of these stanzas in Tom Keats's copy-book has a reading in line 12 which ought perhaps to supersede the printed text of 1817, namely, golden scales light. It seems highly likely that Keats really meant to carry his archaism to the extent of making scales a dissyllable, especially as the metre is thus corrected. Lord Houghton states on the authority of the notes of Charles Armitage Brown, given to his lordship in 1832, that this is the earliest known composition of Keats, and was written while he was living at Edmonton. Whose silken fins, and golden scalès' light Cast upward, through the waves, a ruby glow : Ah! could I tell the wonders of an isle 15 20 25 Of the bright waters; or as when on high, Through clouds of fleecy white, laughs the cœrulean sky. And all around it dipp'd luxuriously Slopings of verdure through the glossy tide, Which fell profusely from the rose-tree stem! In strife to throw upon the shore a gem 309 35 (29) In line 29 the transcript reads glassy for glossy; and this is likely enough to be right. WOMAN! when I behold thee flippant, vain, The downcast eye, repentant of the pain E'en then, elate, my spirit leaps, and prances, For that to love, so long, I've dormant lain : But when I see thee meek, and kind, and tender, Thy winning graces;-to be thy defender I hotly burn-to be a Calidore A very Red Cross Knight-a stout Leander- Light feet, dark violet eyes, and parted hair; Soft dimpled hands, white neck, and creamy breast, Are things on which the dazzled senses rest Till the fond, fixed eyes, forget they stare. From such fine pictures, heavens! I cannot dare To turn my admiration, though unpossess'd They be of what is worthy,-though not drest In lovely modesty, and virtues rare. 5 10 15 20 |