PART I SAMUEL ROGERS. 1763-1855 THE SASSO DI DANTE On that ancient seat, The seat of stone that runs along the wall, South of the church, east of the belfry tower, (Thou canst not miss it) in the sultry time Would Dante sit conversing, and with those Who little thought that in his hand he held The balance and assigned at his good pleasure To each his place in the invisible world, To some an upper region, some a lower ; Many a transgressor sent to his account, Long ere in Florence numbered with the dead. Nor then forget that Cham er of the Dead noon A twofold influence-only to be felt A light, a darkness, mingling each with each; Both and yet neither. There, from age to age, Two Ghosts are sitting on their sepulchres. That is the Duke Lorenzo-mark him well. He meditates, his head upon his hand. What from beneath his helm-like bonnet scowls ? Is it a face, or but an eyeless skull ? 'Tis lost in shade; yet, like the basilisk, It fascinates, and is intolerable. CAROLINA, LADY NAIRNE. 1766-1845 WOULD YOU BE YOUNG AGAIN? Would you be young again ? So would not I One tear to memory giv'n, Onward I'd hie, Life's dark flood forded o'er, Say, would you plunge once more, If you might, would you now Wander through thorny wilds, Faint and astray? Hope's smiles around us shed, Where are they gone, of yore Dear and more dear, tho' now Where they rejoice to be, WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. 1775-1864 ON HIS SEVENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY I strove with none, for none was worth my strife, Nature I loved, and next to Nature, Art; I warmed both hands before the fire of life, It sinks, and I am ready to depart. THE REV. GEORGE CROLY. 1780-1860 PERICLES This was the ruler of the land, When Athens was the land of fame ; Yet not by fetter, nor by spear, His sovereignty was held or won : |