"That a tempest-cleaving swan Of the songs of Albion, Driven from his ancestral streams By the might of evil dreams, Found a nest in thee; and Ocean Welcomed him with such emotion, That its joy grew his, and sprung From his lips like music flung O'er a mighty thunder-fit, Chastening terror."] [lx] _The Past at least is mine--whate'er may come_. _But when the heart is full the lips must needs lie dumb_.-- [MS. M. erased.] ----_or else mine now were cold and dumb_.--[MS. M.] [403] {344} _Tannen_ is the plural of _tanne_, a species of fir peculiar to the Alps, which only thrives in very rocky parts, where scarcely soil sufficient for its nourishment can be found. On these spots it grows to a greater height than any other mountain tree. [Byron did not "know German" (Letter to Murray, June 7, 1820), and he may, as Mr. Tozer suggests, have supposed that the word "tannen" denoted not "fir trees" generally, but a particular kind of fir tree. He refers, no doubt, to the Ebeltanne (_Abies pectinata_), which is not a native of this country, but grows at a great height on the Swiss Alps and throughout the mountainous region of Central Europe.] [ly] _But there are minds which as the Tannen grow_.--[MS. erased.] [lz] _Of shrubless granite_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [ma] {345} _In rocks and unsupporting places_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [404] [Cicero, _De Finibus_, II. xxix., controverts the maxim of Epicurus, that a great sorrow is necessarily of short duration, a prolonged sorrow necessarily light: "Quod autem magnum dolorem brevem longinquum levem esse dicitis, id non intelligo quale sit, video enim et magnos et eosdem bene longinquos dolores." But the sentiment is adopted by Montaigne (1. xiv.), ed. 1580, p. 66: "Tu ne la sentiras guiere long temps, si tu la sens trop; elle mettra fin à soy ou à toy; l'un et l'autre revient a un." ("Si tu ne la portes; elle t'emportera," note.) And again by Sir Thomas Brown, "Sense endureth no extremities, and sorrows destroy us or themselves" (see Darmesteter, _Childe Harold_, 1882, p. 193). Byron is not refining upon these conceits, but is drawing upon his own experience. Suffering which does not kill is subject to change, and "continueth not in one stay;" but it remains within call, and returns in an hour when we are not aware.] [405] {346} [Compare Bishop Blougram's lament on the instability of unfaith-- "Just when we are safest, there's a sunset-touch, A fancy from a flower-bell, some one's death, A chorus-ending from Euripides,-- And that's enough for fifty hopes and fears. * * * * * To rap and knock and enter in our soul, Take hands and dance there." Browning's _Poetical Works_, 1869, v. 268.] [mb] _A tone of music--eventide in spring_. or, ----_twilight--eve in spring_.--[MS. M, erased.]