Yet why for him the needless verse essay? It finds an echo in each youthful breast; IDA! not yet exhausted is the theme, This parting song, the dearest and the last; (1) "To Dr. Drury," observes Moore, Lord Byron has left on record a tribute of affection and respect, which, like the reverential regard of Dryden for Dr. Busby, will long associate together honourably the names of the poet and the master." The above is not, however, the only one. In a note to the fourth Canto of Childe Harold, he says, "My preceptor was the best and worthiest friend I ever possessed, whose warnings I have remembered but too well, though too late- when I have erred, and whose counsels I have but followed when I have done well or wisely. If ever this imperfect record of my feelings towards him should reach his eyes, let it remind him of one who never thinks of him but with gratitude and veneration- of one who would more gladly boast of having been his pupil, if, by more closely following his injunctions, he could reflect any honour upon his instructor." We extract the following from some unpublished letters of Lord Byron :"Harrow, Nov. 2. 1804. There is so much of the gentleman, so much mildness and nothing of pedantry in his character, that I cannot help liking him, and will remember his instructions with gratitude as long as I live. He is the best master we ever had, and at the same time respected and feared." "Nov. 11. 1804. I revere Dr. Drury. He is never violent, never outrageous. I dread offending him; - not, however, through fear; but the respect I bear him makes me unhappy when I am under his displeasure." -E (2) In a note to the fourth canto of Childe Harold, Lord Byron says:"No one could, or can be more attached to Harrow than I have always While future hope and fear alike unknown, IDA! still o'er thy hills in joy preside, Whose friends, like autumn leaves. by tempests whirl'd, Are swept for ever from this busy world; You turn with faltering hand life's varied page; been, and with reason; a part of the time passed there was the happiest of my life."-E Peruse the record of your days on earth, But bless the scroll which fairer words adorn, ANSWER TO A BEAUTIFUL POEM, ENTITLED "THE COMMON LOT." (2) MONTGOMERY! true, the common lot "Unknown the region of his birth," The hero (3) rolls the tide of war ; (1) "L'Amitié est l'Amour sans ailes, a subsequent poem, under this title. - E.] " is a French proverb. [See (2) Written by James Montgomery, author of "The Wanderer in Switzerland," &c. (3) No particular hero is here alluded to. The exploits of Bayard, Nemours, Edward the Black Prince, and, in more modern times the fame of Marlborough, Frederick the Great, Count Saxe, Charles of Sweden, &c. are familiar to every historical reader, but the exact places of their birth are known to a very small proportion of their admirers. His joy or grief, his weal or woe, The patriot's and the poet's frame The lustre of a beauty's eye Assumes the ghastly stare of death; The fair, the brave, the good must die, And sink the yawning grave beneath. Once more the speaking eye revives, The rolling seasons pass away, And Time, untiring, waves his wing; All, all must sleep in grim repose, The old and young, with friends and foes, The mouldering marble lasts its day, To ruin's ruthless fangs a prey, The wrecks of pillar'd pride remain. What, though the sculpture be destroy'd, By those whose virtues claim reward. Then do not say the common lot Some few who ne'er will be forgot Shall burst the bondage of the grave. 1806. TO A LADY WHO PRESENTED THE AUTHOR THIS Band, which bound thy yellow hair, Like relics left of saints above. Oh! I will wear it next my heart; "Twill bind my soul in bonds to thee From me again 'twill ne'er depart, But mingle in the grave The dew I gather from thy lip |