1.
Canst thou, my Clora, declare,
After thy sweet song dieth
Into the wild summer air,
Whither it falleth or flieth?
Soon would my answer be noted,
Wert thou but sage as sweet throated.
2.
Melody, dying away,
Into the dark sky closes,
Like the good soul from her clay
Like the fair odor of roses:
Therefore thou now art behind it,
But thou shalt follow and find it.
{22} 'My dear Donne,' as FitzGerald called him, 'who shares with
Spedding my oldest and deepest love.' He afterwards succeeded J. M.
Kemble as Licenser of Plays. The late Master of Trinity, then Greek
Professor, wrote to me of him more than five and twenty years ago, 'It
may do no harm that you should be known to Mr. Donne, whose acquaintance
I hope you will keep up. He is one of the finest gentlemen I know, and
no ordinary scholar--remarkable also for his fidelity to his friends.'
{23} The Return to Nature, or, a Defence of the Vegetable Regimen,
dedicated to Dr. W. Lambe, and written in 1811. It was printed in 1821
in The Pamphleteer, No. 38, p. 497.
{28} Wherstead Lodge on the West bank of the Orwell, about two miles
from Ipswich, formerly belonged to the Vernon family. The FitzGeralds
lived there for about ten years, from 1825 to 1835, when they removed to
Boulge, near Woodbridge, the adjoining Parish to Bredfield.
{32} By De Quincey, in Tait's Magazine, Sept. 1834, etc.
{38} At Boulge.
{42} Life of Cowper.
{43a} Probably the Perse Grammar School.
{43b} See Carlyle's Life of Sterling, c. iv.
{44} East Anglian for 'shovel.'
{45} Mrs. Schutz lived till December, 1847.
{50a} The Quaker Poet of Woodbridge, whose daughter FitzGerald
afterwards married.
{50b} His eldest brother, John Purcell FitzGerald.
{52} Letters from an eminent Prelate to one of his Friends, 2nd ed.;
1809, p. 114, Letter XLVI.
{57} A noted prize fighter.
{58} Widow of Serjeant Frere, Master of Downing College, Cambridge.
{59} Probably Mrs. Schutz of Gillingham Hall, already mentioned.
{60a} Coram Street.
{60b} Wordsworth, The Fountain, ed. 1800.
{61a} William Browne.
{61b} Probably Bletsoe.
{62} Where FitzGerald's uncle, Mr. Peter Purcell, lived.
{64} By Captain Allen F. Gardiner, R.N., 1836.
{65} In an article in Blackwood's Magazine for April 1830, p. 632,
headed Poetical Portraits by a Modern Pythagorean. FitzGerald either
quoted the lines from memory, or intentionally altered them. They
originally stood,
His spirit was the home
Of aspirations high;
A temple, whose huge dome
Was hidden in the sky.
Robert Macnish, LL.D., was the author of The Anatomy of Drunkenness and
The Philosophy of Sleep.
{66a} Master Humphrey's Clock.
{66b} Where Thackeray was then also living.
{67} At Geldestone Hall, near Beccles.
{73a} His sister.
{73b} R. W. Evans, Vicar of Heversham.
{73c} The Paris Sketch Book.
{73d} V. 9.
{75} The artist, of whom Spedding wrote to Thompson in 1842 when he
wished them to become acquainted, 'There is another man whom I have asked
to come a little after 10; because you do not know him, and mutual self
introductions are a nuisance. If however he should by any misfortune of
mine arrive before I do, know that he is Samuel Laurence, a portrait
painter of real genius, of whom during the last year I have seen a great
deal and boldly pronounce him to be worthy of all good men's love. He is
one of the men of whom you feel certain that they will never tire you,
and never do anything which you will wish they had not done. His
advantages of education have been such as it has pleased God (who was
never particular about giving his favourite children a good education) to
send him. But he has sent him what really does as well or better--the
clearest eye and the truest heart; and it may be said of him as of Sir
Peter that
Nature had but little clay
Like that of which she moulded him.'
{79a} Afterwards Greek Professor and Master of Trinity College,
Cambridge.
{79b} In a letter to me written in August 1881 he says, "To-morrow comes
down my Italian sister to Boulge (Malebolge?), and I await her visits
here."
{80a} The British and Foreign Review, 1840, Art. on 'The Present
Government of Russia,' pp 543-591.
{80b} _Ibid._ pp. 510-542.
{80c} _Ibid._ p. 355, etc., Art. on 'Introduction to the Literature of
Europe.'
{82} On Hero Worship.
{89} Major Moor of Great Bealings; author of The Hindu Pantheon, Suffolk
Words, Oriental Fragments, etc.
{90a} By Gerald Griffin.
{90b} The chapel of the Palazzo del Podesta, or Bargello, then used as a
prison.
{93} The London coach.
{96} The owner of Bredfield House, where E. F. G. was born.
{97} Hor. Od. 1. 4. 14, 15.
{98} Hor. Od. IV. 5, 25-27. horrida . . . foetus per metasyntaxin
'horrid abortions.'
{99} Not for the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, but the Library of Useful
Knowledge. It was never finished.
{100a} See Barton's Letters, p. 70.
{100b} Vol. III. p. 318.
{100c} The correct reading is 'lonesome.'
{102} No. 30, where his father and mother lived.
{106} Shakespeare, Macb. I. 3, 146, 147.
{111} Milton, P. L. IX. 445.
{114a} Who was in America with Lord Ashburton.
{114b} The late Sir W. F. Pollock, formerly Queen's Remembrancer.
{114c} The Library of Useless Knowledge, by Athanasius Gasker [E. W.
Clarke, son of E. D. Clarke, the Traveller], published in 1837.
{115a} Referring to the 1842 edition of Tennyson's Poems.
{115b} Spedding was at this time in America with Lord Ashburton.
{122} The Rev. T. R. Matthews, of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge:
formerly Curate of Bolnhurst and Colmworth, Chaplain of the House of
Industry, Bedford, and incumbent of Christ Church in that town. He died
4th Sept 1845, and his memory is still cherished by those who were
brought under his influence. Dr. Brown, the biographer of Bunyan,
informs me, 'There is a little Nonconformist community at Ravensden,
about three miles from Bedford, first formed by his adherents, and they
keep hung upon the wall behind the pulpit the trumpet Mr. Matthews used
to blow on village greens and along the highways to gather his
congregation.'
{123} William Browne.
{125} On Levett; quoted from memory.
{128} There were two Parsons who wrote accounts of Naseby--Mastin in
1792, and Locking in 1830.--_Note by E. F. G._
{134} Georg. I. 208-211.
{135} Referring to a passage in the Garden of Cyrus, near the end: 'To
keep our eyes open longer, were but to act our _Antipodes_. The Huntsmen
are up in _America_, and they are already past their first sleep in
_Persia_.'
{137} This was a series of notes, drawn up by Carlyle for FitzGerald's
guidance, and afterwards incorporated almost verbatim in an Appendix to
the Life of Cromwell.
{138} Spedding.
{139} FitzGerald's copy of the 1676 edition is now in my possession.
{142a} Where his brother Peter FitzGerald lived
{142b} See Letter to Barton of 2 Sept. 1841.
{146a} Elegy xi.
{146b} Mrs. Wilkinson, his sister.
{147} Practical Hints on Light and Shade in Painting, by John Burnet,
1826, pp. 25, 26.
{149} His housekeeper at Little Grange.
{152} Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 233.
{155} An old woman at Wherstead in whom FitzGerald took great interest.
She died early in March 1844, at the age of 84.
{157} The Rector of Boulge.
{159} His parrot.
{161} W. Cookson, M.D, of Lincoln died 12 April 1844.
{166} _Note by E. F. G._--Also, bottle-brown: in general all bottled
things are not so fresh coloured as before they were put in. A gherkin
loses considerably in freshness. The great triumph of a housekeeper is
when her guests say, 'Why, are these _really_ bottled gooseberries! They
look like fresh, etc.'
{174a} The MS. of this has been preserved.
{174b} To the Rev. Francis de Soyres.
{181} On the 26th of October, Carlyle wrote to FitzGerald:
'One day we had Alfred Tennyson here; an unforgettable day. He staid
with us till late; forgot his stick: we dismissed him with Macpherson's
Farewell. Macpherson (see Burns) was a Highland robber; he played that
Tune, of his own composition, on his way to the gallows; asked, "If in
all that crowd the Macpherson had any clansman?" holding up the fiddle
that he might bequeath it to some one. "Any kinsman, any soul that
wished him well?" Nothing answered, nothing durst answer. He crushed
the fiddle under his foot, and sprang off. The Tune is rough as hemp,
but strong as a lion. I never hear it without something of emotion,--poor
Macpherson; tho' the Artist hates to play it. Alfred's dark face grew
darker, and I saw his lip slightly quivering!'
{185} By James Montgomery: 'Friends' in his Miscellaneous Poems (Works,
ii. 298, ed. 1836).
{189} Miss Cooke.
{190} Great aunt of W. B. Donne.
{196} At Keysoe Vicarage
{197} See letter to Allen, August 1842.
{198} At the Norwich Festival.
{201} James White, author of The Earl of Gowrie, etc.
{202} A Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo.
{203} See the Memoir of Bernard Barton by E. F. G. prefixed to the
posthumous volume of selections from his Poems and Letters, p. xxvi.
{204a} Address to the members of the Norwich Athenaeum, October 17th,
1845.
{204b} Now Professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge.
{205a} Professor Cowell explains to me that this refers to a passage of
Ausonius in his poem on the Moselle. It occurs in the description of the
bank scenery as reflected in the river (194, 5):
Tota natant crispis juga motibus et tremit absens
Pampinus, et vitreis vindemia turget in undis.
FitzGerald used to admire the break in the line after _absens_.
{205b} A reminiscence of Shelley's Evening, as this was of a line in
Wordsworth's Elegiac Stanzas suggested by a picture of Peele Castle in a
storm.
{205c} The short _pasticcio_ of the battle referred to in the letter to
Barton, 22 Sept. 1842.
{209} Trinity Church, Bedford.
{210a} On King's Parade.
{210b} Mrs. Perry.
{211a} F. B. Edgeworth died 12th Oct. 1846.
{211b} Euphranor.
{213} The Rev. J. T. Nottidge of Ipswich died 21 Jan. 1847.
{220} [The last two words are crossed out.--W. A. W.]
{222} Francis Duncan, rector of West Chelborough.
{225} Morris Moore's letters on the Abuses of the National Gallery were
addressed to The Times at the end of 1846 and the beginning of 1847 with
the signature 'Verax.' They were collected and published in a pamphlet
by Pickering in 1847.
{227} See Carlyle's Cromwell (ed. I), i. 193.
{230a} Pliny, Ep. III. 21.
{230b} In a subsequent letter, written when this was supposed to be
lost, he says, 'I liked all your quotations, and wish to read Busbequius;
whose name would become an owl.'
{231} Lord Hatherley.
{232} In the People's Journal, ed. Saunders, iv. 355-358.
{233} iv. 104.
{235} 26 Feb. 1848.
{238} Dombey and Son.
{240} Hellenica, II. i. 25.
{241} Evenings with a Reviewer.
{242} A lithograph of the portrait by Laurence.
{243} Bernard Barton died 19 Feb. 1849.
{247} Grandson of the poet, afterwards Rector of Merton, near Walton,
Norfolk.
{251} No one but FitzGerald in humorous self-depreciation would apply
such an epithet to this delightful piece of biography.
{252a} Selections from the Poems and Letters of Bernard Barton.
{252b} Of course this is not intended to be taken quite seriously. It
is to be remembered that FitzGerald also said of them, 'There are many
verses whose melody will linger in the ear, and many images that will
abide in the memory. Such surely are those of men's hearts brightening
up at Christmas "like a fire new-stirred"--of the stream that leaps along
over the pebbles "like happy hearts by holiday made light"--of the
solitary tomb showing from afar "like a lamb in the meadow," etc.'
{254a} Diogenes and his Lantern.
{254b} Old Lady Lambert.
{261} E. B. Cowell.
{262a} The Rev. George Crabbe, son of the Poet, and Vicar of Bredfield.
{262b} Bramford, near Ipswich.
{265} Charles Childs.
{266} Containing an article by Spedding on Euphranor.
{267a} The Cowells had gone to live in Oxford.
{267b} Euphranor.
{268} Azael the Prodigal, adapted from Scribe and Auber's L'Enfant
Prodigue.
{272} On the English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century
{273} To Polonius.
{274} To visit his friend John Allen.
{275} Esmond.
{282} Six Dramas from Calderon.
{283a} Chief Justice.
{283b} Baron Parke, afterwards Lord Wensleydale.
{284} This conjecture was correct. See p. 307.
{285a} The Gardener and the Nightingale in Sir W. Jones's Persian
Grammar.
{285b} Vicarage.
{287a} Farlingay Hall, sometimes called Farthing Cake Hall.
{287b} Mrs. De Soyres.
{291} Not Harry, but Franklin Lushington in Points of War.
{292a} It was in the autumn of 1791.
{292b} From Cowley's translation of Anacreon.
{292c} P. 148.
{302a} This with a wider margin, or in some other way distinguishable
from the rest of the inscription.
{302b} Some volumes of which C. had brought down to Suffolk, being then
engaged with his Frederick II. _MS. note by FitzGerald_.
{304} Salaman and Absal.
{307} In another letter written about the same time he says, 'The letter
to Major Price at the beginning is worth any Money, and almost any Love!'
This dedication by Major Moor to his old comrade-in-arms FitzGerald would
sometimes try to read aloud but would break down before he could finish
it.
{308a} The Selection from his Letters, etc., published after his death,
in which FitzGerald wrote a sketch of his life.
{308b} On Comparative Mythology, in the Oxford Essays for 1856.
{308c} Life's a Dream: The Great Theatre of the World. From the Spanish
of Calderon.
{309} In an article on Spanish Literature in the Westminster Review for
April 1851, pp. 281-323.
{311} In his 'Memoire sur la poesie philosophique et religieuse chez les
Persans.' His edition of the text of Attar's poem came out in 1857, but
the French translation only in 1863.
{312} In his 'Geschichte der schonen Redekunste Persiens.'
{313} Mrs. Cowell's father and mother.
{316} This Apologue FitzGerald afterwards turned into verse; but it
remained an unfinished fragment. Professor Cowell has kindly filled up
the gaps which were left.
A Saint there was who three score Years and ten
In holy Meditation among Men
Had spent, but, wishing, ere he came to close
With God, to meet him in complete Repose,
Withdrew into the Wilderness, where he
Set up his Dwelling in an aged Tree
Whose hollow Trunk his Winter Shelter made,
And whose green branching Arms his Summer Shade.
And like himself a Nightingale one Spring
Making her Nest above his Head would sing
So sweetly that her pleasant Music stole
Between the Saint and his severer Soul,
And made him sometimes [heedless of his] Vows
Listening his little Neighbour in the Boughs.
Until one Day a sterner Music woke
The sleeping Leaves, and through the Branches spoke--
'What! is the Love between us two begun
And waxing till we Two were nearly One
For three score Years of Intercourse unstirr'd
Of Men, now shaken by a little Bird;
And such a precious Bargain, and so long
A making, [put in peril] for a Song?'
{317} George Borrow, Author of The Bible in Spain, etc.
{318} Evan Banks, by Miss Williams. See Allan Cunningham's Songs of
Scotland, iv. 59.
{319} Boswell's Johnson, 11 April 1776.
{320} This struck E. F. G. so much that he introduced it into Omar
Khayyam, stanza xxxiii. Professor Cowell writes, 'I well remember
shewing it to FitzGerald and reading it with him in his early Persian
days at Oxford in 1855. I laughed at the quaintness; but the idea seized
his imagination from the first, and, like Virgil with Ennius' rough
jewels, his genius detected gold where I had seen only tinsel. He has
made two grand lines out of it.'
{322} A retired clergyman who lived at Bramford.
{323a} On Comparative Mythology. Oxford Essays, 1856.
{323b} Fraser's Magazine for April 1857.
{328} M. Garcin de Tassy scrupulously observed this injunction in his
Note sur les Ruba'iyat de Omar Khaiyam, which appeared in the journal
Asiatique.
{337} See Letter to John Allen, 12 July 1840.
{344} Rather of the Orthodox reader by Omar himself.
{348} Hatifi's Haft Paikar, a poem on the Seven Castles of Bahram Gur,
as I learn from Professor Cowell, 'each with its princess who lives in
it, and tells Bahram a story.' He adds, 'We always used the name with an
understood playful reference to Corporal Trim's unfinished story of the
King of Bohemia and _his_ Seven Castles.'