Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/511

Rh Draws slight comparisons of these with those,

And envies Laïs all her Attic beaux.

When shall a modern maid have swains like these?

Alas! Sir Harry is no Hercules!

And last of all, amidst the gaping crew,

Some calm spectator, as he takes his view,

In silent indignation mixed with grief,

Admires the plunder, but abhors the thief.

Oh, loathed in life, nor pardoned in the dust,

May Hate pursue his sacrilegious lust!

Linked with the fool that fired the Ephesian dome,

Shall vengeance follow far beyond the tomb,

And Eratostratus and Elgin shine

In many a branding page and burning line;

Alike reserved for aye to stand accursed,

Perchance the second blacker than the first

"So let him stand, through ages yet unborn,

Fixed statue on the pedestal of Scorn;

Though not for him alone revenge shall wait,

But fits thy country for her coming fate:

Hers were the deeds that taught her lawless son

To do what oft Britannia's self had done.