" (See
_Poetical
Works_, 1899, ii.
Byron
Breezes foul and tempests murky
May unship us in a crack.
But, since Life at most a jest is,
As philosophers allow,
Still to laugh by far the best is,
Then laugh on--as I do now.
Laugh at all things,
Great and small things,
Sick or well, at sea or shore;
While we're quaffing,
Let's have laughing--
Who the devil cares for more? --
Some good wine! and who would lack it,
Ev'n on board the Lisbon Packet?
Falmouth Roads, _June_ 30, 1809.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, i. 230-232. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[3] [For Francis Hodgson (1781-1852), see _Letters_, 1898, i. 195,
_note_ 1. ]
[4] [Compare Peter Pindar's _Ode to a Margate Hoy_--
"Go, beauteous Hoy, in safety ev'ry inch!
That storm should wreck thee, gracious Heav'n forbid!
Whether commanded by brave Captain Finch
Or equally tremendous Captain Kidd. "]
[5] [Murray was "Joe" Murray, an ancient retainer of the "Wicked Lord. "
Bob was Robert Rushton, the "little page" of "Childe Harold's Good
Night.
" (See _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 26, _note_ 1. )]
[6] [For "the stanza," addressed to the "Princely offspring of
Braganza," published in the _Morning Post_, December 30, 1807, see
_English Bards, etc. _, line 142, _note_ 1, _Poetical Works_, 1898, i.
308, 309. ]
[TO DIVES. [7] A FRAGMENT. ]
UNHAPPY Dives! in an evil hour
'Gainst Nature's voice seduced to deeds accurst!
Once Fortune's minion now thou feel'st her power;
Wrath's vial on thy lofty head hath burst.
In Wit, in Genius, as in Wealth the first,
How wondrous bright thy blooming morn arose!
But thou wert smitten with th' unhallowed thirst
Of Crime unnamed, and thy sad noon must close
In scorn and solitude unsought the worst of woes.
1809.
[First published, _Lord Byron's Works_, 1833, xvii. 241. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[7] [Dives was William Beckford.
