Volume II Part 121 (1/2)

HORATIO.

Fitzroy-square, Feb. 13.

[Footnote 1: Supposing LORD BYRON to have a daughter.]

(7) To LORD BYRON ('Morning Post', February 16, 1814).

”Bard of the pallid front, and curling hair, To London taste, and northern critics dear, Friend of the dog, companion of the bear, APOLLO drest in trimmest Turkish gear.

”'Tis thine to eulogize the fell Corsair, Scorning all laws that G.o.d or man can frame; And yet so form'd to please the gentle fair, That reading misses wish their Loves the same.

”Thou prov'st that laws are made to aid the strong, That murderers and thieves alone are brave, That all religion is an idle song, Which troubles life, and leaves us at the grave.

”That men and dogs have equal claims on Heav'n, Though dogs but bark, and men more wisely prate, That to thyself one friend alone was giv'n, That Friend a Dog, now s.n.a.t.c.h'd away by Fate.

”And last can tell how daughters best may shew Their love and duty to their fathers dear, By reckoning up what stream of filial woe Will give to every crime a cleansing tear.

”Long may'st thou please this wonder-seeking age, By MURRAY purchas'd, and by MOORE admir'd; May fas.h.i.+on never quit thy cla.s.sic page, Nor e'er be with thy Turkomania tir'd.”

UNUS MULTORUM.

(8) VERSES ADDRESSED TO LORD BYRON ('Morning Post', February 16, 1814).

”Lord _Byron_! Lord _Byron_!

Your heart's made of iron, As hard and unfeeling as cold.

Half human, half bird, From _Virgil_ we've heard, Were form'd the fam'd harpies of old.

”Like those monsters you chatter, Friends and foes you bespatter, And dirty, like them, what you eat: The _Hollands_, your muse Does most grossly abuse, Tho' you feed on their wine and their meat.