The works of Lord Byron A new, revised and enlarged edition, with illustrations. Edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge and R. E. Prothero |
 | I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
 | V. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 7. |
 | The works of Lord Byron |  |
XII.
But where 's the monarch? hath he dined? or yetGroans beneath indigestion's heavy debt?
567
And turned the royal entrails to a prison?
Have discontented movements stirred the troops?
Or have no movements followed traitorous soups?
Have Carbonaro cooks not carbonadoed
Each course enough? or doctors dire dissuaded
Repletion? Ah! in thy dejected looks
I read all France's treason in her cooks!
Good classic Louis! is it, canst thou say,
Desirable to be the “Desiré?”
Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell's green abode,
Apician table, and Horatian ode,
To rule a people who will not be ruled,
And love much rather to be scourged than schooled?
Ah! thine was not the temper or the taste
For thrones; the table sees thee better placed:
A mild Epicurean, formed, at best,
To be a kind host and as good a guest,
To talk of Letters, and to know by heart
One half the Poet's, all the Gourmand's art;
A scholar always, now and then a wit,
And gentle when Digestion may permit;—
568
The gout was martyrdom enough for thee.
| The works of Lord Byron | |