Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/542

498 Her new preferments in this novel reign:

Such was the time, nor ever yet was such;

Hoops are no more, and petticoats not much;

Morals and Minuets, Virtue and her stays,

And tell-tale powder—all have had their days.

The Ball begins—the honours of the house

First duly done by daughter or by spouse,

Some Potentate—or royal or serene—

With Kent's gay grace, or sapient Gloster's mien,

Leads forth the ready dame, whose rising flush

Might once have been mistaken for a blush.

From where the garb just leaves the bosom free,

That spot where hearts were once supposed to be;

Round all the confines of the yielded waist,

The strangest hand may wander undisplaced: