The Improvisatrice; and Other Poems

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

THE IMPROVISATRICE;

AND

OTHER POEMS.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, DORSET-STREET.

THE IMPROVISATRICE.

He heard her prayer with withering look;
Then from unholy herbs he took
A drug, and said it would recover
The lost heart of her faithless lover.

Published by Hurst, Robinson & Co. London, 1824

The

THE IMPROVISATRICE;

and

Other Poems.

BY

L. E. L.

 

L o n d o n.

PUBLISHED BY HURST, ROBINSON & CO 90, CHEAPSIDE, & 8, PALL MALL.

THE IMPROVISATRICE;

AND

OTHER POEMS.

BY L. E. L.

WITH EMBELLISHMENTS.

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by Fate.
Marlowe.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR HURST, ROBINSON AND CO.
90, CHEAPSIDE, AND 8, PALL-MALL; AND
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH.

————

1824.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Poetry needs no Preface: if it do not speak for itself, no comment can render it explicit. I have only, therefore, to state that The Improvisatrice is an attempt to illustrate that species of inspiration common in Italy, where the mind is warmed from the earliest childhood by all that is beautiful in Nature and glorious in Art. The character depicted is entirely Italian,—a young female with all the loveliness, vivid feeling, and genius of her own impassioned land. She is supposed to relate her own history; with which are intermixed the tales and episodes which various circumstances call forth.

Some of the minor poems have appeared in The Literary Gazette.

L. E. L.

Contents.

	page
THE IMPROVISATRICE	1
TALES AND MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
ROSALIE	109
ROLAND’S TOWER	129
THE GUERILLA CHIEF	143
THE BAYADERE	155
ST. GEORGE’S HOSPITAL	179
THE DESERTER	185
GLADESMUIR	193
THE MINSTREL OF PORTUGAL	204
THE BASQUE GIRL AND HENRI QUATRE	212
THE SAILOR	219
THE COVENANTERS	227
FRAGMENTS.
THE SOLDIER’S FUNERAL	235
LINES WRITTEN UNDER A PICTURE OF A GIRL BURNING A LOVE LETTER	238
ARION, A TALE	240
MANMADIN, THE INDIAN CUPID, FLOATING DOWN THE GANGES	250
THE FEMALE CONVICT	256
THE PAINTER’S LOVE	261
INEZ	271
THE OAK	282
THE VIOLET	284
CHANGE	286
THE GREY CROSS	289
CRESCENTIUS	291
ON A STAR	295
HOME	297
THE EMERALD RING, A SUPERSTITION	300
LOVE	302
LOVE, HOPE, AND BEAUTY	304
THE CRUSADER	305
THE WARRIOR, A SKETCH	310
APOLOGUE	315
BALLADS.
THE SOLDIER’S GRAVE	318
SONG OF THE HUNTER’S BRIDE	322
WHEN SHOULD LOVERS BREATHE THEIR VOWS?	326