OH,
Castlereagh!
Byron
Trelawny, 1887, pp.
302, 303.
)]
[128] [According to Lady Anne Hamilton (_Secret History of the Court of
England_, 1832, i. 198-207), the Princess Charlotte incurred the
suspicion and displeasure of her uncles and her grandmother, the Queen,
by displaying an ardent and undue interest in her sub-preceptor. On
being reproved by the Queen for "condescending to favour persons in low
life with confidence or particular respect, persons likely to take
advantage of your simplicity and innocence," and having learnt that
"persons" meant Mr. Nott, she replied by threatening to sign a will in
favour of her sub-preceptor, and by actually making over to him by a
deed her library, jewels, and all other private property. Lady Anne
Hamilton is not an accurate or trustworthy authority, but her extremely
circumstantial narrative was, no doubt, an expansion of the contemporary
scandal to which Byron's lampoon gave currency. ]
LUCIETTA. A FRAGMENT.
LUCIETTA, my deary,
That fairest of faces!
Is made up of kisses;
But, in love, oft the case is
Even stranger than this is--
There's another, that's slyer,
Who touches me nigher,--
A Witch, an intriguer,
Whose manner and figure
Now piques me, excites me,
Torments and delights me--
_Caetera desunt_.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed. ]
EPIGRAMS.
OH, Castlereagh! thou art a patriot now;
Cato died for his country, so did'st thou:
He perished rather than see Rome enslaved,
Thou cut'st thy throat that Britain may be saved!
* * * * *
So Castlereagh has cut his throat! --The worst
Of this is,--that his own was not the first.
* * * * *
So _He_ has cut his throat at last! --He! Who?
The man who cut his country's long ago.
_? August, 1822. _
[First published, _The Liberal_, No. I. October 18, 1822, p. 164. ]
THE CONQUEST. [129]
THE Son of Love and Lord of War I sing;
Him who bade England bow to Normandy,
And left the name of Conqueror more than King
To his unconquerable dynasty.
[128] [According to Lady Anne Hamilton (_Secret History of the Court of
England_, 1832, i. 198-207), the Princess Charlotte incurred the
suspicion and displeasure of her uncles and her grandmother, the Queen,
by displaying an ardent and undue interest in her sub-preceptor. On
being reproved by the Queen for "condescending to favour persons in low
life with confidence or particular respect, persons likely to take
advantage of your simplicity and innocence," and having learnt that
"persons" meant Mr. Nott, she replied by threatening to sign a will in
favour of her sub-preceptor, and by actually making over to him by a
deed her library, jewels, and all other private property. Lady Anne
Hamilton is not an accurate or trustworthy authority, but her extremely
circumstantial narrative was, no doubt, an expansion of the contemporary
scandal to which Byron's lampoon gave currency. ]
LUCIETTA. A FRAGMENT.
LUCIETTA, my deary,
That fairest of faces!
Is made up of kisses;
But, in love, oft the case is
Even stranger than this is--
There's another, that's slyer,
Who touches me nigher,--
A Witch, an intriguer,
Whose manner and figure
Now piques me, excites me,
Torments and delights me--
_Caetera desunt_.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray,
now for the first time printed. ]
EPIGRAMS.
OH, Castlereagh! thou art a patriot now;
Cato died for his country, so did'st thou:
He perished rather than see Rome enslaved,
Thou cut'st thy throat that Britain may be saved!
* * * * *
So Castlereagh has cut his throat! --The worst
Of this is,--that his own was not the first.
* * * * *
So _He_ has cut his throat at last! --He! Who?
The man who cut his country's long ago.
_? August, 1822. _
[First published, _The Liberal_, No. I. October 18, 1822, p. 164. ]
THE CONQUEST. [129]
THE Son of Love and Lord of War I sing;
Him who bade England bow to Normandy,
And left the name of Conqueror more than King
To his unconquerable dynasty.
