_Enigma on the Letter "I"_ (Vol. v., p. 321.).--Having both Miss C.
Fanshawe's enigmas, I send you a copy of that on the letter "I," which
is inquired for by E. S. S. W., in case it should not reach you from any
other quarter. In an old scrap-book in my possession it stands thus:
"ENIGMA BY LORD BYRON.
"I am not in youth, nor in manhood, nor age,
But in infancy ever am known:
I am stranger alike to the fool and the sage;
And, though I'm distinguish'd in history's page,
I always am greatest alone.
"I am not in the earth, nor the sun, nor the moon:
You may search all the sky, I'm not there;
In the morning and evening, though not in the noon,
You may plainly perceive me: for, like a balloon,
I am always suspended in air.
"I am always in riches; and yet, I am told,
Wealth ne'er did my presence desire.
I dwell with the miser, but not with his gold:
And sometimes I stand in his chimney so cold,
Though I serve as a part of the fire.
"I often am met in political life:
In my absence no kingdom can be.
And they say there can neither be friendship nor strife,
No one can live single, no one take a wife,
Without interfering with me.
"My brethren are many; and of my whole race
Not one is more slender and tall:
And, though not the oldest, I hold the first place;
And ev'n in dishonour, despair, and disgrace,
I boldly appear 'midst them all.
"Though disease may possess me, and sickness, and pain,
I am never in sorrow or gloom:
Though in wit and in wisdom I equally reign,
I'm the heart of all sin, and have long lived in vain,
And ne'er shall be found in the tomb.
"(I.)"
How came Miss Fanshawe's enigmas to be attributed to Lord Byron?