Though so easy and so light!
Who putteth on his harness,
And striveth for a crown,
Oh, let him never glory
Till he lays his armor down.
NOTES.
The first poem in this collection was inserted as appropriate to follow the dedication, although it was written at a much later date than most of the others. The Hymn of the Wreath, was also written after most of the Lays, but I have given it its place, because I knew of no better use for it. And although the two are of a graver burden, than those that immediately follow, they are supposed the more suitable, as commencing the book with a vanitas vanitatum. After these, lays of emulation, love, disappointment, and reflection succeed each other, until the whole are of a devotional and religious cast. Even in these last, there will be noticed a progressive order, varying from “Spiritual Songs” to Catholic Hymns and Anthems.
I’d die mid soft music.
The etherial harmony of Von Weber’s Last Waltz, though too melancholy for mirth, is not dignified enough for religion. I have furnished it with words, therefore, which seem to me expressive of the sentiment of the music. But that sentiment must by no means be attributed to me. I had heard that the Last Waltz was composed by Von Weber on his death-bed; and therefore imagined the burthen of its strain, such as I have suggested. But a truly Christian composer would not employ his last hours on any thing less than a sacred Anthem, or a Miserere: and the story of Mozart’s Requiem is much more interesting and becoming.