[73] [_A Fragment_, which remained unpublished till 1830, was written at the same time as _Churchill's Grave_ (July, 1816), and is closely allied to it in purport and in sentiment. It is a questioning of Death! O Death, _what_ is thy sting? There is an analogy between exile end death. As Churchill lay in his forgotten grave at Dover, one of "many millions decomposed to clay," so he the absent is dead to the absent, and the absent are dead to him. And what are the dead? the aggregate of nothingness? or are they a multitude of atoms having neither part nor lot one with the other? There is no solution but in the grave. Death alone can unriddle death. The poet's questioning spirit would plunge into the abyss to bring back the answer.] [74] {52}[Compare-- "'Tis said thou holdest converse with the things Which are forbidden to the search of man; That with the dwellers of the dark abodes, The many evil and unheavenly spirits Which walk the valley of the Shade of Death, Thou communest." _Manfred_, act iii. sc. 1, lines 34, seq., _vide post_, p. 121.] [75] {53}Geneva, Ferney, Copet, Lausanne. [For Rousseau, see _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 277, note 1, 300, 301, note 18; for Voltaire and Gibbon, _vide ibid._, pp. 306, 307, note 22; and for De Staël, see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 223, note 1. Byron, writing to Moore, January 2, 1821, declares, on the authority of Monk Lewis, "who was too great a bore ever to lie," that Madame de Staël alleged this sonnet, "in which she was named with Voltaire, Rousseau, etc.," as a reason for changing her opinion about him--"she could not help it through decency" (_Letters_, 1901, v. 213). It is difficult to believe that Madame de Staël was ashamed of her companions, or was sincere in disclaiming the compliment, though, as might have been expected, the sonnet excited some disapprobation in England. A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (February, 1818, vol. 88, p. 122) relieved his feelings by a "Retort Addressed to the Thames"-- "Restor'd to my dear native Thames' bank, My soul disgusted spurns a Byron's lay,-- * * * * * Leman may idly boast her Staël, Rousseau, Gibbon, Voltaire, whom Truth and Justice shun-- * * * * * Whilst meekly shines midst Fulham's bowers the sun O'er Sherlock's and o'er Porteus' honour'd graves, Where Thames Britannia's choicest meads exulting laves."] [76] [Compare-- "Lake Leman woos me with its crystal face." _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza lxviii. line 1, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 257.] [n] {54}_Stanzas To_----.--[Editions 1816-1830.] "Though the Day."--[MS. in Mrs. Leigh's handwriting.]