spirit is an equal, etc. The spirit can also oppose to
"its own funereal destiny" a firm will, etc.]

[73] [_A Fragment_, which remained unpublished till 1830, was written at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 Stael, 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 Stael 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
Stael 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 Stael, Rousseau,
Gibbon, Voltaire, whom Truth and Justice shun--
* * * * *
Whilst meekly shines midst Fulham's bowers t