LXXXII.

He also had been busy seeing sights

The Parliament and all the other houses; Had sat beneath the gallery at nights,

J.

To hear debates whose thunder roused (not rouses) The world to gaze upon those northern lights

*

Which flashed as far as where the musk-bull browses: He had also stood at times behind the throneBut Grey was not arrived, and Chatham gone. LXXXIII.

7

He saw however, at the closing session,

That noble sight, when really free the nation, A king in constitutional possession

Of such a throne as is the proudest station, Though despots know it not-till the progression Of freedom shall complete their education. 'Tis not mere splendour makes the show august To eye or heart-it is the people's trust.

LXXXIV.

There too he saw (whate'er he may

be now,)

A Prince, the prince of princes, at the time With fascination in his very bow,

And full of promise, as the spring of prime. Though royalty was written on his brow,

He had then the grace too, rare in every clime, Of being, without alloy of fop or beau,

A finished gentleman from top to toe.

*For a description and print of this inhabitant of the Polar Region and native country of the Aurora Boreales, see Parry's Voyage in search of a North-West Passage.

LXXXV.

And Juan was received, as hath been said,
Into the best society: and there
Occurred what often happens, I'm afraid,
However disciplined and debonnaire :-
The talent and good humour he displayed,
Besides the marked distinction of his air,
Exposed him, as was natural, to temptation,
Even though himself avoided the occasion.

LXXXVI.

But what, and where, with whom, and when, and why, Is not to be put hastily together;

And as my object is morality

(Whatever people say) I don't know whether LA

I'll leave a single reader's eyelid. dry,

But harrow up his feelings till they wither, And hew out a huge monument of pathos, As Philip's son proposed to do with Athos. *

LXXXVII.

Here the twelfth Canto of our introduction
Ends. When the body of the book's begun,
You'll find it of different construction

me

From what some people say 'twill be when done:
The plan at present's simply in
concoction.
I can't oblige you, reader! to read on;

That's your affair, not mine : a real spirit
Should neither court neglect, nor dread to bear it.

A sculptor projected to hew Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander, with a city in one hand, and, I believe, a river in his pocket, with various other similar devices. But Alexander's gone, and Athos remains, I trust ere long to look over a nation of freemen.,

LXXXVIII.

And if my thunderbolt not always rattles,
Remember, reader! you have had before
The worst of tempests and the best of battles

That e'er were brewed from elements or gore, Besides the most sublime of-Heaven knows what else: An Usurer could scarce expect much more

But

my

best Canto, save one on Astronomy,

Will turn upon « Political Economy.»>

LXXXIX.

That is your present theme for popularity:
Now that the Public Hedge hath scarce a stake,

It grows an act of patriotic charity,

To show the people the best way to break. My plan (but I, if but for singularity,

Reserve it) will be very sure to take.

Meantime read all the National Debt-sinkers,
And tell me what you think of your great thinkers.

END OF CANTO THE TWELFTH.

CANTO XIII.

I Now mean to be serious;

1.

it is time,

Since laughter now-a-days is deemed too serious. A jest at Vice by Virtue's called a crime,

And critically held as deleterious : Besides, the sad's a source of the sublime, Although when long a little apt to weary us; And therefore shall my lay soar high and solemn As an old temple dwindled to a column.

II.

The Lady Adeline Amundeville

('Tis an old Norman name, and to be found In pedigrees by those who wander still

Along the last fields of that Gothic ground) Was high-born, wealthy by her father's will, And beauteous, even where beauties most abound, In Britain-which of course true patriots find The goodliest soil of Body and of Mind.

III.

I'll not gainsay them; it is not my cue;

I leave them to their taste, no doubt the best, An eye's an eye, and whether black or blue, Is no great matter, so 'tis in request 'Tis nonsense to dispute about a hue

The kindest may be taken as a test. The fair sex should be always fair; and no man, Till thirty, should perceive there's a plain woman.