"]
[33] [Lord Thurlow affected an archaic style in his Sonnets and other
verses.
[33] [Lord Thurlow affected an archaic style in his Sonnets and other
verses.
Byron
2.
"_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 Phoebus gave his crown,
Some years before your birth, to Rogers.
3.
"_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.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, i. 397. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[32] ["On the same day I received from him the following additional
scraps ['To Lord Thurlow']. The lines in Italics are from the eulogy
that provoked his waggish comments. "--_Life_, p. 181. The last stanza of
Thurlow's poem supplied the text--
"Then, thus, to form Apollo's crown,
(Let ev'ry other bring his own,)
I lay my branch of laurel down.
"]
[33] [Lord Thurlow affected an archaic style in his Sonnets and other
verses. In the Preface to the second edition of _Poems, etc. _, he
writes, "I think that our Poetry has been continually declining since
the days of Milton and Cowley . . . and that the golden age of our
language is in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. "]
THE DEVIL'S DRIVE. [ii][34]
1.
THE Devil returned to Hell by two,
And he stayed at home till five;
When he dined on some homicides done in _ragout_,
And a rebel or so in an _Irish_ stew,
And sausages made of a self-slain Jew,
And bethought himself what next to do,
"And," quoth he, "I'll take a drive.
I walked in the morning, I'll ride to-night;
In darkness my children take most delight,
And I'll see how my favourites thrive. 10
2.
"And what shall I ride in? " quoth Lucifer, then--
"If I followed my taste, indeed,
I should mount in a waggon of wounded men,
And smile to see them bleed.
But these will be furnished again and again,
And at present my purpose is speed;
To see my manor as much as I may,
And watch that no souls shall be poached away.
3.
"I have a state-coach at Carlton House,
A chariot in Seymour-place;[35] 20
But they're lent to two friends, who make me amends
By driving my favourite pace:
And they handle their reins with such a grace,
I have something for both at the end of the race.
