The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 3 | Page 5

1816; and _Farewell to England_, _Ode to the Isle of St. Helena_, _To the Lily of France_, _On the Morning of my Daughter's Birth_, published by J. Johnston, 1816, were repudiated by Byron, in a letter to Murray, dated July 22, 1816. A longer poem entitled _The Tempest_, which was attached to the spurious _Pilgrimage to the Holy Land_, published by Johnston, "the Cheapside impostor," in 1817, was also denounced by Byron as a forgery in a letter to Murray, dated December 16, 1816.
The _Triumph of the Whale_, by Charles Lamb, and the _Enigma on the Letter H_, by Harriet Fanshawe, were often included in piratical editions of Byron's _Poetical Works_. Other attributed poems which found their way into newspapers and foreign editions, viz. (i.) _To my dear Mary Anne_, 1804, "Adieu to sweet Mary for ever;" and (ii.) _To Miss Chaworth_, "Oh, memory, torture me no more," 1804, published in _Works of Lord Byron_, Paris, 1828; (iii.) lines written _In the Bible_, "Within this awful volume lies," quoted in _Life, Writings, Opinions, etc_., 1825, iii. 414; (iv.) lines addressed to (?) George Anson Byron, "And dost thou ask the reason of my sadness?" _Nicnac_, March 29, 1823; (v.) _To Lady Caroline Lamb_, "And sayst thou that I have not felt," published in _Works, etc_., 1828; (vi.) lines _To her who can best understand them_, "Be it so, we part for ever," published in the _Works of Lord Byron, In Verse and Prose_, Hartford, 1847; (vii.) _Lines found in the Travellers' Book at Chamouni_, "How many numbered are, how few agreed!" published _Works, etc_., 1828; and (viii.) a second copy of verses with the same title, "All hail, Mont Blanc! Mont-au-Vert, hail!" _Life, Writings, etc_., 1825, ii. 384; (ix.) _Lines addressed by Lord Byron to Mr. Hobhouse on his Election for Westminster_, "Would you get to the house by the true gate?" _Works, etc_., 1828; and (x.) _Enigma on the Letter I_, "I am not in youth, nor in manhood, nor age," _Works, etc_., Paris, p. 720, together with sundry epigrams, must, failing the production of the original MSS., be accounted forgeries, or, perhaps, in one or two instances, of doubtful authenticity.
The following poems: _On the Quotation_, "_And my true faith_" etc.; [_Love and Gold_]; _Julian_ [_a Fragment_]; and _On the Death of the Duke of Dorset_, are now published for the first time from MSS. in the possession of Mr. John Murray.
POEMS 1809-1813.
THE GIRL OF CADIZ.[1]
1.
Oh never talk again to me?Of northern climes and British ladies;?It has not been your lot to see,[a]?Like me, the lovely Girl of Cadiz.?Although her eye be not of blue,?Nor fair her locks, like English lasses,?How far its own expressive hue?The languid azure eye surpasses!
2.
Prometheus-like from heaven she stole?The fire that through those silken lashes?In darkest glances seems to roll,?From eyes that cannot hide their flashes:?And as along her bosom steal?In lengthened flow her raven tresses,?You'd swear each clustering lock could feel,?And curled to give her neck caresses.
3.
Our English maids are long to woo,[b][2]?And frigid even in possession;?And if their charms be fair to view,?Their lips are slow at Love's confession;?But, born beneath a brighter sun,?For love ordained the Spanish maid is,?And who,--when fondly, fairly won,--?Enchants you like the Girl of Cadiz?
4.
The Spanish maid is no coquette,?Nor joys to see a lover tremble,?And if she love, or if she hate,?Alike she knows not to dissemble.?Her heart can ne'er be bought or sold--?Howe'er it beats, it beats sincerely;?And, though it will not bend to gold,?'Twill love you long and love you dearly.
5.
The Spanish girl that meets your love?Ne'er taunts you with a mock denial,?For every thought is bent to prove?Her passion in the hour of trial.?When thronging foemen menace Spain,?She dares the deed and shares the danger;?And should her lover press the plain,?She hurls the spear, her love's avenger.
6.
And when, beneath the evening star,?She mingles in the gay Bolero,[3]?Or sings to her attuned guitar?Of Christian knight or Moorish hero,?Or counts her beads with fairy hand?Beneath the twinkling rays of Hesper,[c]?Or joins Devotion's choral band,?To chaunt the sweet and hallowed vesper;--
7.
In each her charms the heart must move?Of all who venture to behold her;?Then let not maids less fair reprove?Because her bosom is not colder:?Through many a clime 'tis mine to roam?Where many a soft and melting maid is,?But none abroad, and few at home,?May match the dark-eyed Girl of Cadiz.[d]
1809.