Book Description:
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ON RECEIVING A CURIOUS SHELL, AND A COPY OF VERSES, FROM THE SAME LADIES. AST thou from the caves of Golconda, a gem Pure as the ice drop that froze on the mountain? Bright as the humming bird's green diadem, When it flutters in sun beams that shine through a fountain ? Hast thou a goblet for dark sparkling wine ? 5 That goblet right heavy, and massy, and gold? And splendidly mark'd with the story divine Of Armida the fair, and Rinaldo the bold ? Hast thou a steed with a mane richly flowing? Hast thou a sword that thine enemy's smart is? 10 Hast thou a trumpet rich melodies blowing ? And wear'st thou the shield of the fam'd Britomartis ? What is it that hangs from thy shoulder, so brave, Embroider'd with many a spring peering flower? Is it a scarf that thy fair lady gave? 15 And hastest thou now to that fair lady's bower? Ah! courteous Sir Knight, with large joy thou art crown'd; Full many the glories that brighten thy youth! The title of this poem has generally stood distributed between this and the preceding composition; though Lord Houghton, in his latest (Aldine) edition restores the arrangement of the 1817 volume. Hunt calls these verses (see Appendix), a 'string of magistrate interrogatories about a shell and a copy of verses.' In Tom Keats's book of transcripts, already mentioned, the poem is headed merely ' On receiving a curious shell and a copy of verses; ' but another transcript, in the hand writing of George Keats, is subscribed (not headed) ' Written on receiving a copy of Tom Moore's ' Golden Chain,' and a most beautiful Dome shaped shell from a Lady.' The reference is no doubt to The Wreath and the Chain ; and this small revelation is satisfactory as accounting for the Tom Moorish triviality of the two pieces. In the las...
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