And partly that bright names will hallow song; Even where the thickest of war's tempest lower'd, They reach'd no nobler breast than thine-young, gallant Howard! There have been tears and breaking hearts for thee, With all her reckless birds upon the wing, I turn'd from all she brought to those she could not bring. BYRON. ITALIAN SUN-SET. The moon is up, and yet it is not night- While, on the other hand, meek Dian's crest Floats through the azure air-an island of the blest. A single star is at her side, and reigns The odorous purple of a new-born rose, glows. Fill'd with the face of heaven, which, from afar, With a new colour, as it gasps away, BYRON. THE PROPHECY OF CAPYS. Now slain is King Amulius, Of the great Sylvian line, On the throne of Aventine. Who spake the words of doom : “The Children to the Tiber, The mother to the tomb." In Alba's lake no fisher His net to-day is flinging: To-day no axe is ringing : The scythe lies in the hay : No work is done to-day. And every Alban burgher Hath donned his whitest gown ; And every head in Alba Weareth a poplar crown; And every Alban door-post With boughs and flowers is gay ; For to-day the dead are living ; The lost are found to-day. They were doomed by a bloody king : They were doomed by a lying priest : They were cast on the raging flood : They were tracked by the raging beast. Raging beast and raging flood Alike have spared the prey; And to-day the dead are living : The lost are found to-day. The troubled river knew them, And smoothed his yellow foam, That bore the fate of Rome. And licked them o'er and o'er, And gave them of her own fierce milk, Rich with raw flesh and gore. Twenty winters, twenty springs, Since then have rolled away ; And to-day the dead are living: The lost are found to-day. So they marched along the lake; They marched by fold and stall, By corn-field and by vineyard, Unto the old man's hall. In the hall-gate sate Capys, Capys the sightless seer; As Romulus drew near. And his blind eyes flashed fire: “Hail! foster child of the wondrous nurse! Hail! son of the wondrous sire! “But thou-what dost thou here In the old man's peaceful hall ? What doth the eagle in the coop, The bison in the stall ? Our corn fills many a garner; Our vines clasp many a tree; Our flocks are white on many a hill; But these are not for thee. “From sunrise until sunset All earth shall hear thy fame: A glorious city thou shalt build, And name it by thy name : Like Vesta's sacred fire, The spirit of thy sire. “The ox toils through the furrow, Obedient to the goad; Plods with his weary load : His master's whistle hears; To the loud clashing shears. “But thy nurse will hear no master, Thy nurse will bear no load; And woe to them that shear her, And woe to them that goad! When all the pack, loud baying, Her bloody lair surrounds, She dies in silence, biting hard, Amidst the dying hounds. “ Pomona loves the orchard ; And Liber loves the wine; |