The royal
Vampires
join and rise again.
Byron
,
IN THE ROYAL VAULT AT WINDSOR.
FAMED for contemptuous breach of sacred ties,
By headless Charles see heartless Henry lies;
Between them stands another sceptred thing--
It moves, it reigns--in all but name, a king:
Charles to his people, Henry to his wife,
--In him the double tyrant starts to life:
Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain,
Each royal Vampire wakes to life again.
Ah, what can tombs avail! --since these disgorge
The blood and dust of both--to mould a George. [53]
[First published, _Poetical Works_, Paris, 1819, vi. 125. ]
[ANOTHER VERSION. ]
ON A ROYAL VISIT TO THE VAULTS. [54]
[OR CAESAR'S DISCOVERY OF C. I. AND H. 8. IN YE SAME VAULT. ]
FAMED for their civil and domestic quarrels
See heartless Henry lies by headless Charles;
Between them stands another sceptred thing,
It lives, it reigns--"aye, every inch a king. "
Charles to his people, Henry to his wife,
In him the double tyrant starts to life:
Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain.
The royal Vampires join and rise again.
What now can tombs avail, since these disgorge
The blood and dirt[55] of both to mould a George!
FOOTNOTES:
[53] ["I cannot conceive how the _Vault_ has got about; but so it is. It
is too _farouche_; but truth to say, my satires are not very
playful. "--Letter to Moore, March 12, 1814, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 57-58.
Moore had written to him, "Your lines about the bodies of Charles and
Henry are, I find, circulated with wonderful avidity; even some clods in
this neighbourhood have had a copy sent to them by some 'young ladies in
town. '"--_Ibid_. , p. 57, _note_ 3.
The discovery "that King Charles I. was buried in the vault of King
Henry VIII. ," was made on completing the mausoleum which George III.
caused to be built in the tomb-house. The Prince Regent was informed of
the circumstance, and on April 1, 1813, the day after the funeral of his
mother-in-law, the Duchess of Brunswick, he superintended in person the
opening of the leaden coffin, which bore the inscription, "King Charles,
1648" (_sic_). See _An Account of what appeared on Opening the Coffin of
King Charles the First_, by Sir H.
IN THE ROYAL VAULT AT WINDSOR.
FAMED for contemptuous breach of sacred ties,
By headless Charles see heartless Henry lies;
Between them stands another sceptred thing--
It moves, it reigns--in all but name, a king:
Charles to his people, Henry to his wife,
--In him the double tyrant starts to life:
Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain,
Each royal Vampire wakes to life again.
Ah, what can tombs avail! --since these disgorge
The blood and dust of both--to mould a George. [53]
[First published, _Poetical Works_, Paris, 1819, vi. 125. ]
[ANOTHER VERSION. ]
ON A ROYAL VISIT TO THE VAULTS. [54]
[OR CAESAR'S DISCOVERY OF C. I. AND H. 8. IN YE SAME VAULT. ]
FAMED for their civil and domestic quarrels
See heartless Henry lies by headless Charles;
Between them stands another sceptred thing,
It lives, it reigns--"aye, every inch a king. "
Charles to his people, Henry to his wife,
In him the double tyrant starts to life:
Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain.
The royal Vampires join and rise again.
What now can tombs avail, since these disgorge
The blood and dirt[55] of both to mould a George!
FOOTNOTES:
[53] ["I cannot conceive how the _Vault_ has got about; but so it is. It
is too _farouche_; but truth to say, my satires are not very
playful. "--Letter to Moore, March 12, 1814, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 57-58.
Moore had written to him, "Your lines about the bodies of Charles and
Henry are, I find, circulated with wonderful avidity; even some clods in
this neighbourhood have had a copy sent to them by some 'young ladies in
town. '"--_Ibid_. , p. 57, _note_ 3.
The discovery "that King Charles I. was buried in the vault of King
Henry VIII. ," was made on completing the mausoleum which George III.
caused to be built in the tomb-house. The Prince Regent was informed of
the circumstance, and on April 1, 1813, the day after the funeral of his
mother-in-law, the Duchess of Brunswick, he superintended in person the
opening of the leaden coffin, which bore the inscription, "King Charles,
1648" (_sic_). See _An Account of what appeared on Opening the Coffin of
King Charles the First_, by Sir H.
