Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/156

116 Whose downcast eye disdains the wanton leer,

Firm in her virtue's strength, yet not severe;

She, whom a conscious grace shall thus refine,

Will ne'er be "tainted" by a strain of mine.

But, for the nymph whose premature desires

Torment her bosom with unholy fires,

No net to snare her willing heart is spread;

She would have fallen, though she ne'er had read.

For me, I fain would please the chosen few,

Whose souls, to feeling and to nature true,

Will spare the childish verse, and not destroy

The light effusions of a heedless boy.

I seek not glory from the senseless crowd;

Of fancied laurels, I shall ne'er be proud;

Their warmest plaudits I would scarcely prize,

Their sneers or censures, I alike despise. November 26, 1806.

ELEGY ON NEWSTEAD ABBEY.

"It is the voice of years, that are gone! they roll before me, with all their deeds."—.

1.

! fast-falling, once-resplendent dome!

Religion's shrine! repentant pride!