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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 597

 
 
George Linley. (1798–1865) (continued)
 
Yes, life then seemed one pure delight,
  Tho’ now each spot looks drear;
Yet tho’ thy smile be lost to sight,
  To memory thou art dear.


Oft in the tranquil hour of night,
  When stars illume the sky,
I gaze upon each orb of light,
  And wish that thou wert by.


I think upon that happy time,
  That time so fondly loved,
When last we heard the sweet bells chime,
  As thro’ the fields we roved.
          Song. 1 
 
Robert Pollok. (1799–1827)
 
6112
    Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy.
          The Course of Time. Book i. Line 464.
6113
    Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord!
Star of Eternity! The only star
By which the bark of man could navigate
The sea of life and gain the coast of bliss
Securely.
          The Course of Time. Book ii. Line 270.
6114
    He touched his harp, and nations heard, entranced,
As some vast river of unfailing source,
Rapid, exhaustless, deep, his numbers flowed
And opened new fountains in the human heart.
          The Course of Time. Book iv. Line 684.
 
Note 1.
This song was written and composed by Linley for Mr. Augustus Braham, and sung by him. It is not known when it was written,—probably about 1830.

  Another song, entitled “Though lost to Sight, to Memory dear,” was published in London in 1880, purporting to have been written by Ruthven Jenkyns in 1703 and published in the “Magazine for Mariners.” That magazine, however, never existed, and the composer of the music acknowledged, in a private letter, that he copied the words from an American newspaper. The reputed author, Ruthven Jenkyns, was living, under another name, in California in 1882. [back]