Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/367

Rh With thee our nursery damsels shed their tears,

Ere Miss as yet completes her infant years:

But in her teens thy whining powers are vain;

She quits poor for 's purer strain.

Now to soft themes thou scornest to confine

The lofty numbers of a harp like thine;

"Awake a louder and a loftier strain,"

Such as none heard before, or will again!

Where all discoveries jumbled from the flood,

Since first the leaky ark reposed in mud,

By more or less, are sung in every book,

From Captain Noah down to Captain Cook.

Nor this alone—but, pausing on the road,

The Bard sighs forth a gentle episode,

And gravely tells—attend, each beauteous Miss!—

When first Madeira trembled to a kiss.