{220} _A dizzy world_----.--[MS. erased.]

[282] [Compare _The Dream_, viii. 6, _seq_.--

"Pain was mixed
In all which was served up to him, until
* * * * *
He fed on poisons, and they had no power,
But were a kind of nutriment."]

[gn] _To bear unbent what Time cannot abate_.--[MS.]

[283] [Of himself as distinct from Harold he will say no more. On the
tale or spell of his own tragedy is set the seal of silence; but of
Harold, the idealized Byron, he once more takes up the parable. In
stanzas viii.-xv. he puts the reader in possession of some natural
changes, and unfolds the development of thought and feeling which had
befallen the Pilgrim since last they had journeyed together. The
youthful Harold had sounded the depth of joy and woe. Man delighted him
not--no, nor woman neither. For a time, however, he had cured himself of
this trick of sadness. He had drunk new life from the fountain of
natural beauty and antique lore, and had returned to take his part in
the world, inly armed against dangers and temptations. And in the world
he had found beauty, and fame had found him. What wonder that he had
done as others use, and then discovered that he could not fare as others
fared? Henceforth there remained no comfort but in nature, no refuge but
in exile!]

[go] {221}

_He of the breast that strove no more to feel,_
_Scarred with the wounds_----.--[MS.]

[gp] {222} _Secure in curbing coldness_----.--[MS.]

[gq] _Shines through the wonder-works--of God and Nature's hand_.--[MS.]

[gr]
_Who can behold the flower at noon, nor seek_
_To pluck it? who can stedfastly behold_.--[MS.]

[gs] _Nor feel how Wisdom ceases to be cold_.--[MS. erased.]

[284] [The Temple of Fame is on the summit of a mountain; "Clouds
overcome it;" but to the uplifted eye the mists dispel, and behold the
goddess pointing to her star--the star of glory!]

[gt] {223} _Yet with a steadier step than in his earlier time_.--[MS.
erased.]

[285] [Compare _Manfred_, act ii. sc. 2, lines 50-58--

"From my youth upwards
My spirit walked not with the souls of men,
Nor looked upon the earth with human eyes;
* * * * *
My joys, my griefs, my passions, and my powers
Made me a stranger; though I wore the form,
I had no sympathy with breathing flesh."

Compare, too, with stanzas xiii.,