George Gordon Byron - The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 7. Poetry

The sacred song that on mine ear
Yet vibrates from that voice of thine,
I heard, before, from one so dear —
'T is strange it still appears divine.

But, oh! so sweet that look and tone
To her and thee alike is given;
It seemed as if for me alone
That both had been recalled from Heaven!

And though I never can redeem
The vision thus endeared to me;
I scarcely can regret my dream,
When realised again by thee.

There is no more for me to hope,
There is no more for thee to fear;
And, if I give my Sorrow scope,
That Sorrow thou shalt never hear.
Why did I hold thy love so dear?
Why shed for such a heart one tear?
Let deep and dreary silence be
My only memory of thee!

When all are fled who flatter now,
Save thoughts which will not flatter then;
And thou recall'st the broken vow
To him who must not love again —
Each hour of now forgotten years
Thou, then, shalt number with thy tears;
And every drop of grief shall be
A vain remembrancer of me!

Oh you, who in all names can tickle the town,
Anacreon, Tom Little, Tom Moore, or Tom Brown, — 26 26 [Moore's " Intercepted Letters; or, The Twopenny Post-Bag , By Thomas Brown, the Younger," was published in 1813.]
For hang me if I know of which you may most brag,
Your Quarto two-pounds, or your Two-penny Post Bag;

But now to my letter – to yours 'tis an answer —
To-morrow be with me, as soon as you can, sir,
All ready and dressed for proceeding to spunge on
(According to compact) the wit in the dungeon — 27 27 [James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) was imprisoned February, 1813, to February, 1815, for a libel on the Prince Regent, published in the Examiner , March 12, 1812. — Letters , 1898, ii. 205-208, note 1.]
Pray Phoebus at length our political malice
May not get us lodgings within the same palace!
I suppose that to-night you're engaged with some codgers,
And for Sotheby's Blues 28 28 [For "Sotheby's Blues," see Introduction to The Blues, Poetical Works , 1901, iv. 570, et ibid ., 579, 580.] have deserted Sam Rogers;
And I, though with cold I have nearly my death got,
Must put on my breeches, and wait on the Heathcote; 29 29 [Katherine Sophia Manners was married in 1793 to Sir Gilbert Heathcote. See Letters , 1898, ii. 402, 406.]
But to-morrow, at four, we will both play the Scurra ,
And you'll be Catullus, the Regent Mamurra. 30 30 [See Catullus , xxix. 1-4 — "Quis hoc potest videre? quis potest pati, Nisi impudicus et vorax et aleo, Mamurram habere, quod Comata Gallia Habebat uncti et ultima Britannia?" etc.]

When Thurlow this damned nonsense sent,
(I hope I am not violent)
Nor men nor gods knew what he meant.

And since not even our Rogers' praise
To common sense his thoughts could raise —
Why would they let him print his lays?

To me, divine Apollo, grant – O!
Hermilda's 32 32 [ Hermilda in Palestine was published in 1812, in quarto, and twice reissued in 1813, as part of Poems on Various Occasions (8vo). The Lines upon Rogers' Epistle to a Friend appeared first in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1813, vol. 83, p. 357, and were reprinted in the second edition of Poems, etc. , 1813, pp. 162, 163. The lines in italics, which precede each stanza, are taken from the last stanza of Lord Thurlow's poem.] first and second canto,
I'm fitting up a new portmanteau;

And thus to furnish decent lining,
My own and others' bays I'm twining, —
So, gentle Thurlow, throw me thine in.

" I lay my branch of laurel down ."
" Thou lay thy branch of laurel down!"
Why, what thou'st stole is not enow;
And, were it lawfully thine own,
Does Rogers want it most, or thou?
Keep to thyself thy withered bough,
Or send it back to Doctor Donne: 34 34 [Lord Thurlow affected an archaic style in his Sonnets and other verses. In the Preface to the second edition of Poems, etc. , he writes, "I think that our Poetry has been continually declining since the days of Milton and Cowley … and that the golden age of our language is in the reign of Queen Elizabeth."]
Were justice done to both, I trow,
He'd have but little, and thou – none.