Mourn the young Mother, snatch'd away
From Light and Life's ascending Sun!
Mourn for the babe, Death's voiceless prey,
Earn'd by long pangs and lost ere won.

Mourn the bright Rose that bloom'd and went,
Ere half disclosed its vernal hue!
Mourn the green bud, so rudely rent,
It brake the stem on which it grew.

Mourn for the universal woe

With solemn dirge and faltering tongue: For England's Lady is laid low,

So dear, so lovely, and so young!

The blossoms on her Tree of Life

Shone with the dews of recent bliss:
Transplanted in that deadly strife,
She plucks its fruits in Paradise.

Mourn for the widow'd Lord in chief,
Who wails and will not solaced be!
Mourn for the childless Father's grief,
The wedded Lover's agony !

lotte, by Hyman Hurwitz, Master of the Hebrew Academy, Highgate, 1817."

Coleridge, in Aids to Reflection, speaks of Hurwitz as "that pious, learned, strong-minded, and single-hearted Jew, an Israelite indeed and without guile." The Princess Charlotte died, Nov. 6, 1817.

An improved version of this translation, considered only as a poem, is to be found in the "Remains," i., 57-8. The 5th verse reads "fruit" for "fruits," the 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th verses are omitted, and the line dividing the hymn from the dirge is removed.

Mourn for the Prince, who rose at morn
To seek and bless the firstling bud
Cf his own Rose, and found the thorn,
Its point bedew'd with tears of blood.

O press again that murmuring string!
Again bewail that princely Sire!
A destined Queen, a future King,
He mourns on one funereal pyre.

Mourn for Britannia's hopes decay'd,
Her daughters wail their dear defence;
Their fair example, prostrate laid,

Chaste Love and fervid Innocence.

While Grief in song shall seek repose,
We will take up a Mourning yearly:
To wail the blow that crush'd the Rose,
So dearly prized and loved so dearly.

Long as the fount of Song o'erflows
Will I the yearly dirge renew:
Mourn for the firstling of the Rose

That snapt the stem on which it grew.

The proud shall pass, forgot; the chill,
Damp, trickling Vault their only mourner!
Not so the regal Rose, that still

Clung to the breast which first had worn her!

O Thou, who mark'st the Mourner's path,
To sad Jeshurun's Sons attend!

A mid the Lightnings of Thy Wrath
The showers of Consolation send!

Jehovah frowns! the Islands bow!
And Prince and People kiss the Rod!-
Their dread chastizing Judge wert Thou,
Be Thou their Comforter, O God!

1817.

THE TEARS OF A GRATEFUL

PEOPLE.*

DIRGE.

PPRESS'D, confused, with grief and

pain,

And inly shrinking from the

blow,

In vain I seek the dirgeful strain,
The wonted words refuse to flow.

* "A Hebrew Dirge and Hymn, chaunted in the Great Synagogue, St. James's Place, Aldgate, on the Day of the Funeral of King George III. of blessed memory. By Hyman Hurwitz of Highgate. Translated by a Friend."

George III. died, Jan. 22, 1820. It is very probable, from the preceding poem, that Coleridge was the "friend" in this case. Some interesting particulars relating to this poem, supplied by Mr. W. B. Scott, may be found in the Athenæum, Jan. 22, 1881. We have ventured to insert it among Coleridge's poems, though the authorship is not absolutely proved. A later and inferior translation, by the Rev. Wm. Smith, "of Bower, Scotland," was published at Thurso, "for the translator," in 1827.

A fear in every face I find,

Each voice is that of one who grivees; And all my Soul, to grief resign'd,

Reflects the sorrow it receives.

The Day-Star of our glory sets!

Our King has breathed his latest breath!
Each heart its wonted pulse forgets,
As if it own'd the power of death.

Our Crown, our heart's Desire is fled!
Britannia's glory moults its wing!
Let us with ashes on our head,

Raise up a mourning for our King.

1

Lo! of his beams the Day-Star 1 shorn,
Sad gleams the Moon through cloudy veil!
The Stars are dim! Our Nobles mourn;
The Matrons weep, their Children wail.

No age records a King so just,

His virtues numerous as his days;
The Lord Jehovah was his trust,

And truth with mercy ruled his ways.

His Love was bounded by no Clime;
Each diverse Race, each distant Clan,
He govern'd by this truth sublime,
"God only knows the heart-not man.”

1 Day-Star.] “The author, in the spirit of Hebrew Poetry, here represents the Crown, the Peerage, and the Commonalty, by the figurative expression of the Sun, Moon, and Stars."

His word appall'd the sons of pride,
Iniquity far wing'd her way;
Deceit and fraud were scatter'd wide,
And truth resumed her sacred sway.

He soothed the wretched, and the prey
From impious tyranny he tore ;
He stay'd the Usurper's iron sway,
And bade the Spoiler waste no more.

Thou too, Jeshurun's Daughter! thou,
The oppress'd of nations and the scorn!
Didst hail on his benignant brow
A safety dawning like the morn.

The scoff of each unfeeling mind,

Thy doom was hard, and keen thy grief; Beneath his throne peace thou didst find, And blest the hand that gave relief.

E'en when a fatal cloud o'erspread

The moonlight splendour of his sway, Yet still the light remain'd, and shed Mild radiance on the traveller's way.

But he is gone-the Just! the Good!
Nor could a Nation's prayer delay
The heavenly meed, that long had stood
His portion in the realms of day.

Beyond the mighty Isle's extent

The mightier Nation mourns her Chief: Him Judah's Daughter shall lament, In tears of fervour, love and grief.