# The Fate of Adelaide, a Swiss Romantic Tale; and Other Poems

THE
FATE OF ADELAIDE,
A SWISS ROMANTIC TALE;
AND
OTHER POEMS:
BY
LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON
LONDON: JOHN WARREN, OLD BOND STREET. MDCCCXXI.
TO MRS. SIDDONS.
Madam,
The sanction of a Lady so long distinguished for brilliant talents, has to me, indeed, been the greatest encouragement. Ever accustomed to look up to Mrs. Siddons as the perfection of all that is beautiful and sublime in poetry, I cannot express how gratified I feel in being allowed to bring my first offering to a shrine so much venerated. However unworthy I may be of the high honour conferred, it could nor be more gratefully appreciated than by one, whose admiration and respect, can, Madam, only be equalled by her gratitude.
L. E. L.
PREFACE.
The appeal of so young a Candidate for public favour as myself, must be made less to the candour, than to the kindness of my judges. Well aware that, like the fountain of youth of which we read in the Fairy Tales of the East, the bright springs of poetry may he drank but by few; and that the path we fondly deemed led to immortality, too often terminates in the waters of oblivion—I dare only intreat gentle visitings, for the alight plant thus adventured in open daylight; and look forward to its fate with fear, rather than with hope that it will blossom to maturity.
| The Fate of Adelaide Canto I | Romantic Switzerland! thy scenes are traced | 1 |
| The Fate of Adelaide Canto II | Once more my harp awakens; once again | 33 |
| The Farewell | Farewell! companion of my solitude! | 69 |
| Lines to — | Think of me, and I'll tell thee when | 71 |
| Fragment | Love thee! yes, yes! the storms that rend aside | 73 |
| Absence | I will not say, I fear your absent one | 75 |
| Curtius | There is a multitude, in number like | 77 |
| Sketch of a Painting of Santa Malvidera | She knelt upon the rock; her graceful arms | 81 |
| Sonnet | Green willow! over whom the perilous blast | 83 |
| Sonnet | It is not in the day of revelry | 84 |
| Stanzas | I do not weep that thou art laid | 85 |
| The Village of the Lepers | There was a curse on the unhappy race— | 86 |
| Lines on — | I saw thy cheek when 'twas fresh as spring | 88 |
| Fragment | It is not spring, but still the new-come year | 91 |
| Portrait | I gaz'd admiringly upon his face | 93 |
| To — | Oh! say not, that I love not nature's face | 95 |
| Corinna | She stood alone; but on her every eye | 97 |
| Sleeping Child | How innocent, how beautiful thy sleep! | 99 |
| Lines addressed to Colonel H. | Who envies not the glory of the brave! | 101 |
| Love's Parting Wreath | I give thee, love, a blooming braid | 103 |
| Answer | The wreath you gave me, love, is dead | 105 |
| Dirge | Oh, calm be thy slumbers! | 107 |
| Sonnet | I envy not the traveller's delight | 109 |
| Absence | Oh! never can we feel how dear | 110 |
| A Lover's Dream | It was a dream, as bright as e'er | 113 |
| The Phoenix and the Dove | My wings are bright with the rainbow's dyes | 115 |
| Love's Choice | Too long the daring power of love | 116 |
| The Star | Oh! would I might share thy wild car | 117 |
| Stanzas adapted to music by — | My heart is as light as the gossamer veil | 119 |
| Answer to — | Twine not the cypress round my harp— | 121 |
| Castle Building | You may smile at the fanciful structures I rear | 123 |
| Fable | Four souls, that on earth had just yielded their breath | 125 |
| Sketch of Scenery | It was a little glen, which, like a thing | 129 |
| Lines to — | No, no! thou hast broken the spell that entwin'd me— | 133 |
| Lines addressed to Miss Bisset | Came it not like enchantment on the soul | 135 |
| Fragment | I saw her amid pleasure's gayest haunts— | 137 |
| Lines | She kneels by the grave where her lover sleeps | 139 |
| The Storm | There was a vessel combating the waves | 141 |
| Sir John Doyle Bart. | My heart has beat high at the heroes of old | 146 |
| Fragment | Is not this grove | 149 |
| Addressed to — | The bee, when varying flowers are nigh | 154 |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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