5. A friend of mine, returned from a cruise in the Mediter-
ranean, stopped for a short time at Barcelona, where a lady>
with whom he became acquainted, gave him a manuscript of
poems by a young poet named Siwel Oznola. It seems that
this cavalier became enamoured of the daughter of a Spanish
grandee; but their love being forbidden by her parents, he
took Lord Byron's advice, and "flung away his breath." He
was one of the daring volunteers, under Andreas, who burnt
the frigate Hellas in the harbor of Paros, in August, 1831, and
blew up the fort, in which he perished. The young lady com-
pleted the romance by committing suicide. Thus it has ever
been, from the days of Francesca of Rimini, to the last denoue-
ment of the daily papers. Parents coerce the mind in that in
which it should have supreme choice, and then " go down to
the grave mourning " over the misery, the madness, the murder,
the adultery, the suicide, and the oldmaidism, of which they
have themselves laid the foundation. It is impossible to con-
ceive of any tyranny greater than that which crushes the affec-
tion of a young and virtuous heart for a deserving object. If
our affections are not our own, what is life worth? I have
translated three of these poems ; not because they are the best,
but because they are the shortest.
NOTES. xvii

SEA SHELLS.
1. Virgil says that Queen Dido's purple robe was dyed with
the blood of the murex clam. Ae. 4, 262.
2. The easy style and playful humor of this poem, remind
us of the best comic odes of the authors of Rejected Addres-
ses. DURIVAGE.
SACRED MELODIES.
