Life of Lord Byron, Vol. II - With His Letters and Journals by Thomas Moore
page 304 of 333 (91%)
page 304 of 333 (91%)
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"Or, since that hope denied in worlds of strife, Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life! The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray!" In the first copy of this passage sent to the publisher, the last line was written thus-- {_an airy_} "And tints to-morrow with a { fancied } ray"-- the following note being annexed:--"Mr. Murray,--Choose which of the two epithets, 'fancied,' or 'airy,' may be the best; or, if neither will do, tell me, and I will dream another." The poet's dream was, it must be owned, lucky,--"prophetic" being the word, of all others, for his purpose.[108] I shall select but one more example, from the additions to this poem, as a proof that his eagerness and facility in producing, was sometimes almost equalled by his anxious care in correcting. In the long passage just referred to, the six lines beginning "Blest as the Muezzin's strain," &c., having been despatched to the printer too late for insertion, were, by his desire, added in an errata page; the first couplet, in its original form, being as follows:-- "Soft as the Mecca-Muezzin's strains invite Him who hath journey'd far to join the rite." In a few hours after, another scrap was sent off, containing the lines |
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