Num gracilis rident hyemalia frigora myrti?
Num viret in solitis lotos amata locis?
Num vernant humiles in aprico colle myrica?
Ne malus has oculus, ne mala lædat hyems!
An mea Alegiades, dulcissima turba, puellæ
Curant, an Zephyris irrita vota dabunt?
An viridem saliunt, nullo venante, per hortum
Hinnuleique citi, capreolique leves?
Visamne umbriferos, loca dilectissima, saltus,
Ducit ubi facilem læta Noama chorum?
Num Daregi ripas patulâ tegit arbutus umbra-
Ah! quoties lacrymis humida facta meis?
Grata quis antra colit, nobis absentibus, Amri ;
Antra, puellarum quàm benè nota gregi?
Forsan amatores Meccanâ in valle reductos
Absentis Solimæ commeminisse juvat!
Tempus erit, levibus quo pervigilata cachinnis
Nox dabit unanimi gaudia plena choro;
Quo dulces juvenum spirabit cœtus amores,
Et lætos avidâ combibet aure sonos.
BURSTS from yon valley's side the lightning's gleam,
Or breaks from Leila's cheek unveil'd the beam?
Flames the bright fire in Gadha's spicy grove,
Or darts young Solima her glance of love?
Khozami's nard, or Mecca's violets bloom,
Or Azza's sighs th' ambrosial breeze perfume!
O say, still dwells she in that lonely vale,
Where her sad lover told the stars his tale?
Glooms the dark cloud o'er steep Laláo's brow?
Down his glad side do showers refreshing flow?
And shall I e'er, as once kind Fortune gave,
With morn's first blush quaff Azib's cooling wave?
Swells still 'midst Argan's sands the knoll of green,
And shall I hail once more the happy scene;
Once more on pastoral pipe, in Naidi's grove,
Carol the simple notes of rural love?
On Salai's slope does some dear comrade say,
"Where now does Kadhem's love-lorn wanderer stray?”.
Still sheds the myrtle bough it's silvery shower?
Still glows the peach in Hegia's blushing bower?
Scathed in it's growth by no malignant eye,
Blooms yet the tamarisk's humble progeny?
And true, or false-if false so fair can be-
Are Alija's soft train to love and me?
In lightsome gambols fearless bounds the fawn,
Cropping by turns and coursing o'er the lawn?
And will some maid, who knows the dear retreat,
Conduct me to Noama's vernal seat?
Spreads Dharija's wild lotus still it's shade-
Ah! lotus, by my tears luxuriant made?
Is Ameri's vale still haunted by the swain,
And shall I trace it's verdant glades again?
In Mecca's dome do youthful Arabs bow?—
Arabs, whose gifts awake my heart's warm glow?
Dismounted, bend Chaldæa's horseman race?
Finds in the tent Mahommed's tome it's place?
Frisks the young camel in her pilgrim track,
And shakes the ivory castle on her back?
The well-remembered stone does Azza bless,
And with soft palm our love's pure altar press?
Haply my friends, in Mecca's pleasant bower,
To absent Soliman devote the hour-
Return, return, ye moments of delight,
The evening revel and the rapturous night;
When Love shall breathe around his amorous strain,
And these light numbers sooth the listening swain!
Of the various poetical tributes to his memory the Compiler of this brief biographical sketch may be excused for inserting two, the first from Mr. Grant's, and the second from his own, Verses on "The Restoration of Learning in the East,' without intending any second competition.
"Accomplish'd JONES! whose hand to every art
Could unknown charms and nameless grace impart.
His was the soul by fear nor interest sway'd,
The purest passions and the wisest head:
The heart so tender and the wit so true,
Yet this no malice, that no weakness knew;
The song to Virtue as the Muses dear,
Though glowing chaste, and lovely though severe.
What gorgeous trophies crown his youthful bloom,
The spoils august of Athens and of Rome!
And lo! untouch'd by British views before,
Yet nobler trophies wait on Asia's shore:
There, at his magic voice, what wonders rise!
Th' astonish'd East unfolds her mysteries:
Round her dark shrines a sudden blaze he showers,
And all unveil'd the proud Pantheon towers.
Where, half-unheard, Time's formless billows glide,
Alone he stems the dim-discover'd tide.
Wide o'er th' expanse as darts his radiant sight,
At once the vanish'd ages roll in light,
Old India's Genius, bursting from repose,
Bids all his tombs their mighty dead disclose;
Immortal names! though long immersed in shade,
Long lost to song, yet destined not to fade.
O'er all, the master of the spell presides,
Their march arranges, and their order guides;
Bids here or there their ranks or gleam, or blaze,
With hues of elder or of later days.
See where in British robes sage Menu shines,
And willing Science opes her Sanscrit mines!
His are the triumphs of her ancient lyres,
Her tragic sorrows and her epic fires;
Her earliest arts, and learning's sacred store,
And strains sublime of philosophic lore:
Bright in his view their gather'd pomp appears,
The treasured wisdom of a thousand years.
Oh! could my verse in characters of day
The living colours of thy mind portray,
And on the sceptic 'midst his impious dreams
Flash all the brightness of their living beams:
Then should he know how talents various, bright,
With pure Devotion's holy thoughts unite;
And blush (if yet a blush survive) to see
What genius, honour, virtue ought to be.
Philosopher, yet to no system tied;
Patriot, yet friend to all the world beside;
Ardent with temper, and with judgement bold,
Firm though not stern, and though correct not cold;
Profound to reason, and to charm us gay;
Learn'd without pride, and not too wise to pray."
"JONES, high-gifted to fulfil her plan;
The friend of learning, freedom, truth, and man.
His were the stores of letter'd time, comprest
The mind of ages in a single breast;
The glance to catch, the patience to inquire,
The sage's temper and the poet's fire.
In him the wealth of Greece and Latium shone,
Their Themis, Clio, Erato his own;
And his, reveal'd in all their dazzling hues,
The luscious charms of Asia's florid Muse.
With her o'er Schiraz' roseate plain he roved,
Where Hafiz revell'd, and where Sadi loved;
On Rocnabad's green maze delighted stray'd,
Heard her soft lute in Mosellay's sweet shade:
Then pierced the mazy depths of Sanscrit lore;
While Brahmins own'd a light unseen before,
Bow'd to their master-pupil, and confest
With humbled brow the genius of the West.
But nobler cares are his: for human kind
He plies his restless energies of mind.
Strung by that orb, beneath whose flaming ray
Inferior natures crumble to decay,
With growing speed he presses to the goal,
And his fleet axles kindle as they roll.
'Twas his to bid admiring India see
In Law, pure reason's ripen'd progeny:
Law, which in heaven and earth holds sovereign sway,
Whose rule the bad endure, the good obey;
Whose giant grasp o'er whirling spheres extends,
Whose tender hand the insect-speck befriends;
Her voice, of quiring worlds th' harmonious mode,
And her high throne the bosom of her God.
Ah! short the blessing: of ethereal fire
One vivid burst, to lighten and expire!
In vain the Christian crown'd the learned name,
And boundless knowledge form'd his meaner fame:
He falls.
It has been observed, that this eminent man employed his faculties rather in acquiring and arranging his materials, than in building structures of his own with them. Perhaps, wonderful as they were, they were best adapted to that purpose. Be that as it may, we ought not to regret the mode, in which he applied them: he now stands the first of his order, and that a very high order, and on this account deserves one of the most conspicuous places in the temple of Fame.*
* To adopt his own criterion of moral elevation, as stated in the Proem to his Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry'—who, if we look at what he not only meditated but accomplished with respect to the melioration of the condition of sixty or seventy millions of our Eastern subjects, shall stand higher than Sir William Jones? Si enim quæratur, ecquis hominum sit maximus? "Ille (inquam) qui optimus:" si rursus interroger, Quis optimus hominum sit? respondeam," Is, qui de humano genere sit optimè meritus. The deep regret, which he expresses in the paragraphs immediately following, at the prospect of leaving his most beloved academic bowers,' will excite congenial feelings in every bosom, which has throbbed under similar circumstances with the joint impulses of youthful friendship and of honourable ambition.
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