The Age Of Bronze Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCBDDEE A BBFFGGHHIIBBJJBBKLMM HHNNOPQQRRPPNN A SSTTBBBBTTUUVVTTTTTT TTWWBBAABBPPCCLLTTBB TTBBXE A XXTTBBTTYYAABBBBIIBB TTBBTTBBTTUULLBBTTZD LL T A2A2B2B2TTDC2TTTTD2D 2BBE2B2BBBBE2F2LLB2B 2BBBBLLPD2ISTTOPG2A2 H2H2IILLBTA2G2 I2I2AAJ2J2TTTTTTDDIS EXTAIK2BBBBPP BBCCUUBBL2L2M2M2TAN2 N2D2OO2O2BBDDBBE2F2B BVVDDQQPPIA2AAAM2M2N N A AAP2ILLM2M2Q2Q2IIBBB BBBR2R2IITTXXABTTBBU UBBAATTTTXXBBE2F2BBT TPP A LLBS2XXR2BT2BTTP2IVV R2R2BTBBE2E2ATU2U2BB LLBBIITTXXN2R2IK2XXB BXXK2VF2F2BBN2N2XXBB TT A LLTTIITTBBR2R2AABBN2 N2YYXR2TTBBIITTIIR2R 2 T IIN2TBBAABBXXBBLLVVT TII T IILLBBLIIITTBBXXBBTT XXIIV2V2XXTTTTTTBBII IIIIXXIIIXXX I BBTTBBIIBBIIBBLLXX T BBXXTTBB TTTIBBBBBBBBBBBBII T TTTTAAK2BBBAYLLIIIIL IBBLLIITTIIIIIIIIBBB B A XXTTXXN2N2XXTTBITTXX BBTTN2N2BBTTN2N2BBIB TTTK2AABBXXBBLLTTBBB BBBBBBBBBBBTTTTIIW2W 2N2N2TTXXIITTTTTTBBA A A TTBBTTIIIITTIITTXXN2 N2BBTTXXL2L2BBBBBBLL BBXXIITTQ2Q2 A BBIITTXXBBTTTBTIIIIX X A TTBBX2X2XXIIIIAAXXTT XXTTBBXXLLBBTK2AAAAA ATT A LLBBXXIIBBLL XX V2

I	A
	-
The good old times all times when old are good	B
Are gone the present might be if they would	B
Great things have been and are and greater still	C
Want little of mere mortals but their will dw	B
A wider space a greener field is given	D
To those who play their tricks before high heaven	D
I know not if the angels weep but men	E
Have wept enough for what to weep again	E
	-
	-
II	A
	-
All is exploded be it good or bad	B
Reader remember when thou wert a lad	B
Then Pitt was all or if not all so much	F
His very rival almost deemed him such	F
We we have seen the intellectual race	G
Of giants stand like Titans face to face	G
Athos and Ida with a dashing sea	H
Of eloquence between which flowed all free	H
As the deep billows of the gean roar	I
Betwixt the Hellenic and the Phrygian shore	I
But where are they the rivals a few feet	B
Of sullen earth divide each winding sheet	B
How peaceful and how powerful is the grave	J
Which hushes all a calm unstormy wave	J
Which oversweeps the World The theme is old	B
Of Dust to Dust but half its tale untold	B
Time tempers not its terrors still the worm	K
Winds its cold folds the tomb preserves its form	L
Varied above but still alike below	M
The urn may shine the ashes will not glow	M
Though Cleopatra's mummy cross the sea	H
O'er which from empire she lured Anthony	H
Though Alexander's urn a show be grown	N
On shores he wept to conquer though unknown	N
How vain how worse than vain at length appear	O
The madman's wish the Macedonian's tear	P
He wept for worlds to conquer half the earth	Q
Knows not his name or but his death and birth	Q
And desolation while his native Greece	R
Hath all of desolation save its peace	R
He wept for worlds to conquer he who ne'er	P
Conceived the Globe he panted not to spare	P
With even the busy Northern Isle unknown	N
Which holds his urn and never knew his throne	N
	-
	-
III	A
	-
But where is he the modern mightier far	S
Who born no king made monarchs draw his car	S
The new Sesostris whose unharnessed kings	T
Freed from the bit believe themselves with wings	T
And spurn the dust o'er which they crawled of late	B
Chained to the chariot of the Chieftain's state	B
Yes where is he the champion and the child	B
Of all that's great or little wise or wild	B
Whose game was Empire and whose stakes were thrones	T
Whose table Earth whose dice were human bones	T
Behold the grand result in yon lone Isle	U
And as thy nature urges weep or smile	U
Sigh to behold the Eagle's lofty rage	V
Reduced to nibble at his narrow cage	V
Smile to survey the queller of the nations	T
Now daily squabbling o'er disputed rations dx	T
Weep to perceive him mourning as he dines	T
O'er curtailed dishes and o'er stinted wines	T
O'er petty quarrels upon petty things	T
Is this the Man who scourged or feasted kings	T
Behold the scales in which his fortune hangs	T
A surgeon's statement and an earl's harangues	T
A bust delayed a book refused can shake	W
The sleep of Him who kept the world awake	W
Is this indeed the tamer of the Great dy	B
Now slave of all could tease or irritate	B
The paltry gaoler and the prying spy	A
The staring stranger with his note book nigh	A
Plunged in a dungeon he had still been great	B
How low how little was this middle state	B
Between a prison and a palace where	P
How few could feel for what he had to bear	P
Vain his complaint My Lord presents his bill	C
His food and wine were doled out duly still	C
Vain was his sickness never was a clime	L
So free from homicide to doubt's crime	L
And the stiff surgeon who maintained his cause	T
Hath lost his place and gained the world's applause	T
But smile though all the pangs of brain and heart	B
Disdain defy the tardy aid of art	B
Though save the few fond friends and imaged face	T
Of that fair boy his Sire shall ne'er embrace	T
None stand by his low bed though even the mind	B
Be wavering which long awed and awes mankind	B
Smile for the fettered Eagle breaks his chain	X
And higher Worlds than this are his again	E
	-
	-
IV	A
	-
How if that soaring Spirit still retain	X
A conscious twilight of his blazing reign	X
How must he smile on looking down to see	T
The little that he was and sought to be	T
What though his Name a wider empire found	B
Than his Ambition though with scarce a bound	B
Though first in glory deepest in reverse	T
He tasted Empire's blessings and its curse	T
Though kings rejoicing in their late escape	Y
From chains would gladly be their Tyrant's ape	Y
How must he smile and turn to yon lone grave	A
The proudest Sea mark that o'ertops the wave	A
What though his gaoler duteous to the last	B
Scarce deemed the coffin's lead could keep him fast	B
Refusing one poor line along the lid	B
To date the birth and death of all it hid	B
That name shall hallow the ignoble shore	I
A talisman to all save him who bore	I
The fleets that sweep before the eastern blast	B
Shall hear their sea boys hail it from the mast	B
When Victory's Gallic column shall but rise	T
Like Pompey's pillar in a desert's skies	T
The rocky Isle that holds or held his dust	B
Shall crown the Atlantic like the Hero's bust	B
And mighty Nature o'er his obsequies	T
Do more than niggard Envy still denies	T
But what are these to him Can Glory's lust	B
Touch the freed spirit or the fettered dust	B
Small care hath he of what his tomb consists	T
Nought if he sleeps nor more if he exists	T
Alike the better seeing Shade will smile	U
On the rude cavern of the rocky isle	U
As if his ashes found their latest home	L
In Rome's Pantheon or Gaul's mimic dome	L
He wants not this but France shall feel the want	B
Of this last consolation though so scant	B
Her Honour Fame and Faith demand his bones	T
To rear above a Pyramid of thrones	T
Or carried onward in the battle's van	Z
To form like Guesclin's dust her Talisman	D
But be it as it is the time may come	L
His name shall beat the alarm like Ziska's drum	L
	-
	-
V	T
	-
Oh Heaven of which he was in power a feature	A2
Oh Earth of which he was a noble creature	A2
Thou Isle to be remembered long and well	B2
That saw'st the unfledged eaglet chip his shell	B2
Ye Alps which viewed him in his dawning flights	T
Hover the Victor of a hundred fights	T
Thou Rome who saw'st thy C sar's deeds outdone	D
Alas why passed he too the Rubicon	C2
The Rubicon of Man's awakened rights	T
To herd with vulgar kings and parasites	T
Egypt from whose all dateless tombs arose	T
Forgotten Pharaohs from their long repose	T
And shook within their pyramids to hear	D2
A new Cambyses thundering in their ear	D2
While the dark shades of Forty Ages stood	B
Like startled giants by Nile's famous flood	B
Or from the Pyramid's tall pinnacle	E2
Beheld the desert peopled as from hell	B2
With clashing hosts who strewed the barren sand	B
To re manure the uncultivated land	B
Spain which a moment mindless of the Cid	B
Beheld his banner flouting thy Madrid	B
Austria which saw thy twice ta'en capital	E2
Twice spared to be the traitress of his fall	F2
Ye race of Frederic Frederics but in name	L
And falsehood heirs to all except his fame	L
Who crushed at Jena crouched at Berlin fell	B2
First and but rose to follow Ye who dwell	B2
Where Kosciusko dwelt remembering yet	B
The unpaid amount of Catherine's bloody debt	B
Poland o'er which the avenging Angel past	B
But left thee as he found thee still a waste	B
Forgetting all thy still enduring claim	L
Thy lotted people and extinguished name	L
Thy sigh for freedom thy long flowing tear	P
That sound that crashes in the tyrant's ear	D2
Kosciusko On on on the thirst of War	I
Gasps for the gore of serfs and of their Czar	S
The half barbaric Moscow's minarets	T
Gleam in the sun but 'tis a sun that sets	T
Moscow thou limit of his long career	O
For which rude Charles had wept his frozen tear	P
To see in vain he saw thee how with spire	G2
And palace fuel to one common fire	A2
To this the soldier lent his kindling match	H2
To this the peasant gave his cottage thatch	H2
To this the merchant flung his hoarded store	I
The prince his hall and Moscow was no more	I
Sublimest of volcanoes Etna's flame	L
Pales before thine and quenchless Hecla's tame	L
Vesuvius shows his blaze an usual sight	B
For gaping tourists from his hackneyed height dz	T
Thou stand'st alone unrivalled till the Fire	A2
To come in which all empires shall expire	G2
	-
Thou other Element as strong and stern	I2
To teach a lesson conquerors will not learn	I2
Whose icy wing flapped o'er the faltering foe	A
Till fell a hero with each flake of snow	A
How did thy numbing beak and silent fang	J2
Pierce till hosts perished with a single pang	J2
In vain shall Seine look up along his banks	T
For the gay thousands of his dashing ranks	T
In vain shall France recall beneath her vines	T
Her Youth their blood flows faster than her wines	T
Or stagnant in their human ice remains	T
In frozen mummies on the Polar plains	T
In vain will Italy's broad sun awaken	D
Her offspring chilled its beams are now forsaken	D
Of all the trophies gathered from the war	I
What shall return the Conqueror's broken car	S
The Conqueror's yet unbroken heart Again	E
The horn of Roland sounds and not in vain	X
Lutzen where fell the Swede of victory	T
Beholds him conquer but alas not die	A
Dresden surveys three despots fly once more	I
Before their sovereign sovereign as before ea	K2
But there exhausted Fortune quits the field	B
And Leipsic's treason bids the unvanquished yield	B
The Saxon jackal leaves the lion's side	B
To turn the bear's and wolf's and fox's guide	B
And backward to the den of his despair	P
The forest monarch shrinks but finds no lair	P
	-
Oh ye and each and all Oh France who found	B
Thy long fair fields ploughed up as hostile ground	B
Disputed foot by foot till Treason still	C
His only victor from Montmartre's hill	C
Looked down o'er trampled Paris and thou Isle	U
Which seest Etruria from thy ramparts smile	U
Thou momentary shelter of his pride	B
Till wooed by danger his yet weeping bride	B
Oh France retaken by a single march	L2
Whose path was through one long triumphal arch	L2
Oh bloody and most bootless Waterloo	M2
Which proves how fools may have their fortune too	M2
Won half by blunder half by treachery	T
Oh dull Saint Helen with thy gaoler nigh	A
Hear hear Prometheus from his rock appeal	N2
To Earth Air Ocean all that felt or feel	N2
His power and glory all who yet shall hear	D2
A name eternal as the rolling year	O
He teaches them the lesson taught so long	O2
So oft so vainly learn to do no wrong	O2
A single step into the right had made	B
This man the Washington of worlds betrayed	B
A single step into the wrong has given	D
His name a doubt to all the winds of heaven	D
The reed of Fortune and of thrones the rod	B
Of Fame the Moloch or the demigod	B
His country's C sar Europe's Hannibal	E2
Without their decent dignity of fall	F2
Yet Vanity herself had better taught	B
A surer path even to the fame he sought	B
By pointing out on History's fruitless page	V
Ten thousand conquerors for a single sage	V
While Franklin's quiet memory climbs to Heaven	D
Calming the lightning which he thence hath riven	D
Or drawing from the no less kindled earth	Q
Freedom and peace to that which boasts his birth	Q
While Washington's a watchword such as ne'er	P
Shall sink while there's an echo left to air	P
While even the Spaniard's thirst of gold and war	I
Forgets Pizarro to shout Bolivar	A2
Alas why must the same Atlantic wave	A
Which wafted freedom gird a tyrant's grave	A
The king of kings and yet of slaves the slave	A
Who burst the chains of millions to renew	M2
The very fetters which his arm broke through	M2
And crushed the rights of Europe and his own	N
To flit between a dungeon and a throne	N
	-
	-
VI	A
	-
But 'twill not be the spark's awakened lo	A
The swarthy Spaniard feels his former glow	A
The same high spirit which beat back the Moor	P2
Through eight long ages of alternate gore	I
Revives and where in that avenging clime	L
Where Spain was once synonymous with crime	L
Where Cortes' and Pizarro's banner flew	M2
The infant world redeems her name of New	M2
'Tis the old aspiration breathed afresh	Q2
To kindle souls within degraded flesh	Q2
Such as repulsed the Persian from the shore	I
Where Greece was No she still is Greece once more	I
One common cause makes myriads of one breast	B
Slaves of the East or helots of the West	B
On Andes' and on Athos' peaks unfurled	B
The self same standard streams o'er either world	B
The Athenian wears again Harmodius' sword	B
The Chili chief abjures his foreign lord	B
The Spartan knows himself once more a Greek	R2
Young Freedom plumes the crest of each cacique	R2
Debating despots hemmed on either shore	I
Shrink vainly from the roused Atlantic's roar	I
Through Calpe's strait the rolling tides advance	T
Sweep slightly by the half tamed land of France	T
Dash o'er the old Spaniard's cradle and would fain	X
Unite Ausonia to the mighty main	X
But driven from thence awhile yet not for aye	A
Break o'er th' gean mindful of the day	B
Of Salamis there there the waves arise	T
Not to be lulled by tyrant victories	T
Lone lost abandoned in their utmost need	B
By Christians unto whom they gave their creed	B
The desolated lands the ravaged isle	U
The fostered feud encouraged to beguile	U
The aid evaded and the cold delay	B
Prolonged but in the hope to make a prey	B
These these shall tell the tale and Greece can show	A
The false friend worse than the infuriate foe	A
But this is well Greeks only should free Greece	T
Not the barbarian with his masque of peace	T
How should the Autocrat of bondage be	T
The king of serfs and set the nations free	T
Better still serve the haughty Mussulman	X
Than swell the Cossaque's prowling caravan	X
Better still toil for masters than await	B
The slave of slaves before a Russian gate	B
Numbered by hordes a human capital	E2
A live estate existing but for thrall	F2
Lotted by thousands as a meet reward	B
For the first courtier in the Czar's regard	B
While their immediate owner never tastes	T
His sleep sans dreaming of Siberia's wastes	T
Better succumb even to their own despair	P
And drive the Camel than purvey the Bear	P
	-
	-
VII	A
	-
But not alone within the hoariest clime	L
Where Freedom dates her birth with that of Time	L
And not alone where plunged in night a crowd	B
Of Incas darken to a dubious cloud eb	S2
The dawn revives renowned romantic Spain	X
Holds back the invader from her soil again	X
Not now the Roman tribe nor Punic horde ec	R2
Demands her fields as lists to prove the sword	B
Not now the Vandal or the Visigoth	T2
Pollute the plains alike abhorring both ed	B
Nor old Pelayo on his mountain rears	T
The warlike fathers of a thousand years	T
That seed is sown and reaped as oft the Moor	P2
Sighs to remember on his dusky shore	I
Long in the peasant's song or poet's page	V
Has dwelt the memory of Abencerrage	V
The Zegri and the captive victors flung	R2
Back to the barbarous realm from whence they sprung	R2
But these are gone their faith their swords their sway	B
Yet left more anti christian foes than they ee	T
The bigot monarch and the butcher priest	B
The Inquisition with her burning feast	B
The Faith's red Auto fed with human fuel	E2
While sate the catholic Moloch calmly cruel	E2
Enjoying with inexorable eye ef	A
That fiery festival of Agony	T
The stern or feeble sovereign one or both	U2
By turns the haughtiness whose pride was sloth	U2
The long degenerate noble the debased	B
Hidalgo and the peasant less disgraced	B
But more degraded the unpeopled realm	L
The once proud navy which forgot the helm	L
The once impervious phalanx disarrayed	B
The idle forge that formed Toledo's blade	B
The foreign wealth that flowed on every shore	I
Save hers who earned it with the native's gore	I
The very language which might vie with Rome's	T
And once was known to nations like their homes	T
Neglected or forgotten such was Spain	X
But such she is not nor shall be again	X
These worst these home invaders felt and feel	N2
The new Numantine soul of old Castile eg	R2
Up up again undaunted Tauridor	I
The bull of Phalaris renews his roar eh	K2
Mount chivalrous Hidalgo not in vain	X
Revive the cry Iago and close Spain	X
Yes close her with your arm d bosoms round	B
And form the barrier which Napoleon found	B
The exterminating war the desert plain	X
The streets without a tenant save the slain	X
The wild Sierra with its wilder troop ei	K2
Of vulture plumed Guerrillas on the stoop ej	V
For their incessant prey the desperate wall	F2
Of Saragossa mightiest in her fall	F2
The Man nerved to a spirit and the Maid	B
Waving her more than Amazonian blade	B
The knife of Arragon Toledo's steel	N2
The famous lance of chivalrous Castile	N2
The unerring rifle of the Catalan	X
The Andalusian courser in the van	X
The torch to make a Moscow of Madrid	B
And in each heart the spirit of the Cid	B
Such have been such shall be such are Advance	T
And win not Spain but thine own freedom France	T
	-
	-
VIII	A
	-
But lo a Congress What that hallowed name	L
Which freed the Atlantic May we hope the same	L
For outworn Europe With the sound arise	T
Like Samuel's shade to Saul's monarchic eyes	T
The prophets of young Freedom summoned far	I
From climes of Washington and Bolivar	I
Henry the forest born Demosthenes	T
Whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas	T
And stoic Franklin's energetic shade	B
Robed in the lightnings which his hand allayed	B
And Washington the tyrant tamer wake	R2
To bid us blush for these old chains or break	R2
But who compose this Senate of the few	A
That should redeem the many Who renew	A
This consecrated name till now assigned	B
To councils held to benefit mankind	B
Who now assemble at the holy call	N2
The blest Alliance which says three are all	N2
An earthly Trinity which wears the shape	Y
Of Heaven's as man is mimicked by the ape	Y
A pious Unity in purpose one	X
To melt three fools to a Napoleon ek	R2
Why Egypt's Gods were rational to these	T
Their dogs and oxen knew their own degrees	T
And quiet in their kennel or their shed	B
Cared little so that they were duly fed	B
But these more hungry must have something more	I
The power to bark and bite to toss and gore	I
Ah how much happier were good sop's frogs	T
Than we for ours are animated logs	T
With ponderous malice swaying to and fro	I
And crushing nations with a stupid blow	I
All dully anxious to leave little work	R2
Unto the revolutionary stork	R2
	-
	-
IX	T
	-
Thrice blest Verona since the holy three	I
With their imperial presence shine on thee	I
Honoured by them thy treacherous site forgets el	N2
The vaunted tomb of all the Capulets	T
Thy Scaligers for what was Dog the Great	B
Can Grande which I venture to translate	B
To these sublimer pugs Thy poet too	A
Catullus whose old laurels yield to new	A
Thine amphitheatre where Romans sate	B
And Dante's exile sheltered by thy gate	B
Thy good old man whose world was all within	X
Thy wall nor knew the country held him in	X
Would that the royal guests it girds about	B
Were so far like as never to get out	B
Aye shout inscribe rear monuments of shame	L
To tell Oppression that the world is tame	L
Crowd to the theatre with loyal rage	V
The comedy is not upon the stage	V
The show is rich in ribandry and stars	T
Then gaze upon it through thy dungeon bars	T
Clap thy permitted palms kind Italy	I
For thus much still thy fettered hands are free	I
	-
	-
X	T
	-
Resplendent sight Behold the coxcomb Czar	I
The Autocrat of waltzes and of war	I
As eager for a plaudit as a realm	L
And just as fit for flirting as the helm	L
A Calmuck beauty with a Cossack wit	B
And generous spirit when 'tis not frost bit	B
Now half dissolving to a liberal thaw em	L
But hardened back whene'er the morning's raw	I
With no objection to true Liberty	I
Except that it would make the nations free	I
How well the imperial dandy prates of peace	T
How fain if Greeks would be his slaves free Greece	T
How nobly gave he back the Poles their Diet	B
Then told pugnacious Poland to be quiet	B
How kindly would he send the mild Ukraine	X
With all her pleasant Pulks to lecture Spain	X
How royally show off in proud Madrid	B
His goodly person from the South long hid	B
A blessing cheaply purchased the world knows	T
By having Muscovites for friends or foes	T
Proceed thou namesake of great Philip's son	X
La Harpe thine Aristotle beckons on	X
And that which Scythia was to him of yore	I
Find with thy Scythians on Iberia's shore	I
Yet think upon thou somewhat ag d youth	V2
Thy predecessor on the banks of Pruth	V2
Thou hast to aid thee should his lot be thine	X
Many an old woman but not Catherine	X
Spain too hath rocks and rivers and defiles	T
The Bear may rush into the Lion's toils	T
Fatal to Goths are Xeres' sunny fields	T
Think'st thou to thee Napoleon's victor yields	T
Better reclaim thy deserts turn thy swords	T
To ploughshares shave and wash thy Bashkir hordes	T
Redeem thy realms from slavery and the knout	B
Than follow headlong in the fatal route	B
To infest the clime whose skies and laws are pure	I
With thy foul legions Spain wants no manure	I
Her soil is fertile but she feeds no foe	I
Her vultures too were gorged not long ago	I
And wouldst thou furnish them with fresher prey	I
Alas thou wilt not conquer but purvey	I
I am Diogenes though Russ and Hun	X
Stand between mine and many a myriad's sun	X
But were I not Diogenes I'd wander	I
Rather a worm than such an Alexander	I
Be slaves who will the cynic shall be free	I
His tub hath tougher walls than Sinop en	X
Still will he hold his lantern up to scan	X
The face of monarchs for an honest man	X
	-
	-
XI	I
	-
And what doth Gaul the all prolific land	B
Of ne plus ultra ultras and their band	B
Of mercenaries and her noisy chambers	T
And tribune which each orator first clambers	T
Before he finds a voice and when 'tis found	B
Hears the lie echo for his answer round	B
Our British Commons sometimes deign to hear	I
A Gallic senate hath more tongue than ear	I
Even Constant their sole master of debate	B
Must fight next day his speech to vindicate	B
But this costs little to true Franks who'd rather	I
Combat than listen were it to their father	I
What is the simple standing of a shot	B
To listening long and interrupting not	B
Though this was not the method of old Rome	L
When Tully fulmined o'er each vocal dome	L
Demosthenes has sanctioned the transaction	X
In saying eloquence meant Action action	X
	-
	-
XII	T
	-
But where's the monarch hath he dined or yet	B
Groans beneath indigestion's heavy debt	B
Have revolutionary pat s risen	X
And turned the royal entrails to a prison	X
Have discontented movements stirred the troops	T
Or have no movements followed traitorous soups	T
Have Carbonaro cooks not carbonadoed	B
Each course enough or doctors dire dissuaded	B
	-
Repletion Ah in thy dejected looks	T
I read all France's treason in her cooks	T
Good classic Louis is it canst thou say	T
Desirable to be the Desir	I
Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell's green abode	B
Apician table and Horatian ode	B
To rule a people who will not be ruled	B
And love much rather to be scourged than schooled	B
Ah thine was not the temper or the taste	B
For thrones the table sees thee better placed	B
A mild Epicurean formed at best	B
To be a kind host and as good a guest	B
To talk of Letters and to know by heart	B
One half the Poet's all the Gourmand's art	B
A scholar always now and then a wit	B
And gentle when Digestion may permit	B
But not to govern lands enslaved or free	I
The gout was martyrdom enough for thee	I
	-
	-
XIII	T
	-
Shall noble Albion pass without a phrase	T
From a bold Briton in her wonted praise	T
Arts arms and George and glory and the Isles	T
And happy Britain wealth and Freedom's smiles	T
White cliffs that held invasion far aloof	A
Contented subjects all alike tax proof	A
Proud Wellington with eagle beak so curled eo	K2
That nose the hook where he suspends the world	B
And Waterloo and trade and hush not yet	B
A syllable of imposts or of debt	B
And ne'er enough lamented Castlereagh	A
Whose penknife slit a goose quill t'other day ep	Y
And 'pilots who have weathered every storm'	L
But no not even for rhyme's sake name Reform	L
These are the themes thus sung so oft before	I
Methinks we need not sing them any more	I
Found in so many volumes far and near	I
There's no occasion you should find them here	I
Yet something may remain perchance to chime	L
With reason and what's stranger still with rhyme eq	I
Even this thy genius Canning may permit	B
Who bred a statesman still wast born a wit	B
And never even in that dull House couldst tame	L
To unleavened prose thine own poetic flame	L
Our last our best our only orator	I
Even I can praise thee Tories do no more	I
Nay not so much they hate thee man because	T
Thy Spirit less upholds them than it awes	T
The hounds will gather to their huntsman's hollo	I
And where he leads the duteous pack will follow	I
But not for love mistake their yelling cry	I
Their yelp for game is not an eulogy	I
Less faithful far than the four footed pack	I
A dubious scent would lure the bipeds back	I
Thy saddle girths are not yet quite secure	I
Nor royal stallion's feet extremely sure	I
The unwieldy old white horse is apt at last	B
To stumble kick and now and then stick fast	B
With his great Self and Rider in the mud	B
But what of that the animal shows blood	B
	-
	-
XIV	A
	-
Alas the Country how shall tongue or pen	X
Bewail her now uncountry gentlemen	X
The last to bid the cry of warfare cease	T
The first to make a malady of peace	T
For what were all these country patriots born	X
To hunt and vote and raise the price of corn	X
But corn like every mortal thing must fall	N2
Kings Conquerors and markets most of all	N2
And must ye fall with every ear of grain	X
Why would you trouble Buonapart 's reign	X
He was your great Triptolemus his vices	T
Destroyed but realms and still maintained your prices	T
He amplified to every lord's content	B
The grand agrarian alchymy high rent er	I
Why did the tyrant stumble on the Tartars	T
And lower wheat to such desponding quarters	T
Why did you chain him on yon Isle so lone	X
The man was worth much more upon his throne	X
True blood and treasure boundlessly were spilt	B
But what of that the Gaul may bear the guilt	B
But bread was high the farmer paid his way	T
And acres told upon the appointed day es	T
But where is now the goodly audit ale	N2
The purse proud tenant never known to fail	N2
The farm which never yet was left on hand	B
The marsh reclaimed to most improving land	B
The impatient hope of the expiring lease	T
The doubling rental What an evil's peace	T
In vain the prize excites the ploughman's skill	N2
In vain the Commons pass their patriot bill	N2
The Landed Interest you may understand	B
The phrase much better leaving out the land	B
The land self interest groans from shore to shore	I
For fear that plenty should attain the poor et	B
Up up again ye rents exalt your notes	T
Or else the Ministry will lose their votes	T
And patriotism so delicately nice	T
Her loaves will lower to the market price eu	K2
For ah the loaves and fishes once so high	A
Are gone their oven closed their ocean dry ev	A
And nought remains of all the millions spent	B
Excepting to grow moderate and content	B
They who are not so had their turn and turn	X
About still flows from Fortune's equal urn	X
Now let their virtue be its own reward	B
And share the blessings which themselves prepared	B
See these inglorious Cincinnati swarm	L
Farmers of war dictators of the farm	L
Their ploughshare was the sword in hireling hands	T
Their fields manured by gore of other lands	T
Safe in their barns these Sabine tillers sent	B
Their brethren out to battle why for rent	B
Year after year they voted cent per cent	B
Blood sweat and tear wrung millions why for rent	B
They roared they dined they drank they swore they meant	B
To die for England why then live for rent	B
The peace has made one general malcontent	B
Of these high market patriots war was rent	B
Their love of country millions all mis spent	B
How reconcile by reconciling rent	B
And will they not repay the treasures lent	B
No down with everything and up with rent	B
Their good ill health wealth joy or discontent	B
Being end aim religion rent rent rent	B
Thou sold'st thy birthright Esau for a mess	T
Thou shouldst have gotten more or eaten less	T
Now thou hast swilled thy pottage thy demands	T
Are idle Israel says the bargain stands	T
Such landlords was your appetite for war	I
And gorged with blood you grumble at a scar	I
What would they spread their earthquake even o'er cash	W2
And when land crumbles bid firm paper crash	W2
So rent may rise bid Bank and Nation fall	N2
And found on 'Change a Fundling Hospital	N2
Lo Mother Church while all religion writhes	T
Like Niobe weeps o'er her offspring Tithes	T
The Prelates go to where the Saints have gone	X
And proud pluralities subside to one	X
Church state and faction wrestle in the dark	I
Tossed by the deluge in their common ark	I
Shorn of her bishops banks and dividends	T
Another Babel soars but Britain ends	T
And why to pamper the self seeking wants	T
And prop the hill of these agrarian ants	T
Go to these ants thou sluggard and be wise	T
Admire their patience through each sacrifice	T
Till taught to feel the lesson of their pride	B
The price of taxes and of homicide	B
Admire their justice which would fain deny	A
The debt of nations pray who made it high	A
	-
	-
	-
XV	A
	-
Or turn to sail between those shifting rocks	T
The new Symplegades the crushing Stocks	T
Where Midas might again his wish behold	B
In real paper or imagined gold	B
That magic palace of Alcina shows	T
More wealth than Britain ever had to lose	T
Were all her atoms of unleavened ore	I
And all her pebbles from Pactolus' shore	I
There Fortune plays while Rumour holds the stake	I
And the World trembles to bid brokers break	I
How rich is Britain not indeed in mines	T
Or peace or plenty corn or oil or wines	T
No land of Canaan full of milk and honey	I
Nor save in paper shekels ready money	I
But let us not to own the truth refuse	T
Was ever Christian land so rich in Jews	T
Those parted with their teeth to good King John	X
And now ye kings they kindly draw your own	X
All states all things all sovereigns they control	N2
And waft a loan from Indus to the pole	N2
The banker broker baron brethren speed	B
To aid these bankrupt tyrants in their need	B
Nor these alone Columbia feels no less	T
Fresh speculations follow each success	T
And philanthropic Israel deigns to drain	X
Her mild per centage from exhausted Spain	X
Not without Abraham's seed can Russia march	L2
Tis gold not steel that rears the conqueror's arch	L2
Two Jews a chosen people can command	B
In every realm their Scripture promised land	B
Two Jews keep down the Romans and uphold	B
The accurs d Hun more brutal than of old	B
Two Jews but not Samaritans direct	B
The world with all the spirit of their sect	B
What is the happiness of earth to them	L
A congress forms their New Jerusalem	L
Where baronies and orders both invite	B
Oh holy Abraham dost thou see the sight	B
Thy followers mingling with these royal swine	X
Who spit not on their Jewish gaberdine	X
But honour them as portion of the show	I
Where now oh Pope is thy forsaken toe	I
Could it not favour Judah with some kicks	T
Or has it ceased to kick against the pricks	T
On Shylock's shore behold them stand afresh	Q2
To cut from Nation's hearts their pound of flesh	Q2
	-
	-
XVI	A
	-
Strange sight this Congress destined to unite	B
All that's incongruous all that's opposite	B
I speak not of the Sovereigns they're alike	I
A common coin as ever mint could strike	I
But those who sway the puppets pull the strings	T
Have more of motley than their heavy kings	T
Jews authors generals charlatans combine	X
While Europe wonders at the vast design	X
There Metternich power's foremost parasite	B
Cajoles there Wellington forgets to fight	B
There Chateaubriand forms new books of martyrs	T
And subtle Greeks intrigue for stupid Tartars	T
There Montmorenci the sworn foe to charters	T
Turns a diplomatist of great clat	B
To furnish articles for the D bats	T
Of war so certain yet not quite so sure	I
As his dismissal in the Moniteur	I
Alas how could his cabinet thus err	I
Can Peace be worth an ultra minister	I
He falls indeed perhaps to rise again	X
Almost as quickly as he conquered Spain	X
	-
	-
XVII	A
	-
Enough of this a sight more mournful woos	T
The averted eye of the reluctant Muse	T
The Imperial daughter the Imperial bride	B
The imperial Victim sacrifice to pride	B
The mother of the Hero's hope the boy	X2
The young Astyanax of Modern Troy	X2
The still pale shadow of the loftiest Queen	X
That Earth has yet to see or e'er hath seen	X
She flits amidst the phantoms of the hour	I
The theme of pity and the wreck of power	I
Oh cruel mockery Could not Austria spare	I
A daughter What did France's widow there	I
Her fitter place was by St Helen's wave	A
Her only throne is in Napoleon's grave	A
But no she still must hold a petty reign	X
Flanked by her formidable chamberlain	X
The martial Argus whose not hundred eyes	T
Must watch her through these paltry pageantries	T
What though she share no more and shared in vain	X
A sway surpassing that of Charlemagne	X
Which swept from Moscow to the southern seas	T
Yet still she rules the pastoral realm of cheese	T
Where Parma views the traveller resort	B
To note the trappings of her mimic court	B
But she appears Verona sees her shorn	X
Of all her beams while nations gaze and mourn	X
Ere yet her husband's ashes have had time	L
To chill in their inhospitable clime	L
If e'er those awful ashes can grow cold	B
But no their embers soon will burst the mould	B
She comes the Andromache but not Racine's	T
Nor Homer's Lo on Pyrrhus' arm she leans ew	K2
Yes the right arm yet red from Waterloo	A
Which cut her lord's half shattered sceptre through	A
Is offered and accepted Could a slave	A
Do more or less and he in his new grave	A
Her eye her cheek betray no inward strife	A
And the Ex Empress grows as Ex a wife	A
So much for human ties in royal breasts	T
Why spare men's feelings when their own are jests	T
	-
	-
XVIII	A
	-
But tired of foreign follies I turn home	L
And sketch the group the picture's yet to come	L
My Muse 'gan weep but ere a tear was spilt	B
She caught Sir William Curtis in a kilt	B
While thronged the chiefs of every Highland clan	X
To hail their brother Vich Ian Alderman	X
Guildhall grows Gael and echoes with Erse roar	I
While all the Common Council cry Claymore	I
To see proud Albyn's tartans as a belt	B
Gird the gross sirloin of a city Celt	B
She burst into a laughter so extreme	L
That I awoke and lo it was no dream	L
	-
Here reader will we pause if there's no harm in	X
This first you'll have perhaps a second Carmen	X
	-
B J n th	V2

George Gordon Byron

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