Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/538

494 Seductive Waltz!—though on thy native shore

Even Werter's self proclaimed thee half a whore;

Werter—to decent vice though much inclined,

Yet warm, not wanton; dazzled, but not blind—

Though gentle Genlis, in her strife with Staël,

Would even proscribe thee from a Paris ball;

The fashion hails—from Countesses to Queens,

And maids and valets waltz behind the scenes;

Wide and more wide thy witching circle spreads,

And turns—if nothing else—at least our heads;

With thee even clumsy cits attempt to bounce,

And cockney's practise what they can't pronounce.

Gods! how the glorious theme my strain exalts,

And Rhyme finds partner Rhyme in praise of "Waltz!"