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. |
 | 7. |
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TO LORD THURLOW. |
 | The works of Lord Byron |  |
TO LORD THURLOW.
“I lay my branch of laurel down.”
“ Thou lay thy branch of laurel down!”Why, what thou'st stole is not enow;
And, were it lawfully thine own,
Does Rogers want it most, or thou?
Keep to thyself thy withered bough,
Or send it back to Doctor Donne:
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He'd have but little, and thou—none.
“Then, thus, to form Apollo's crown.”
A crown! why, twist it how you will,Thy chaplet must be foolscap still.
When next you visit Delphi's town,
Enquire amongst your fellow-lodgers,
They'll tell you Phœbus gave his crown,
Some years before your birth, to Rogers.
“Let every other bring his own.”
When coals to Newcastle are carried,And owls sent to Athens, as wonders,
From his spouse when the Regent's unmarried,
Or Liverpool weeps o'er his blunders;
When Tories and Whigs cease to quarrel,
When Castlereagh's wife has an heir,
Then Rogers shall ask us for laurel,
And thou shalt have plenty to spare.
| The works of Lord Byron | |