Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/497

CANTO IV.] Its knell in princely ears, till the o'erstung

Nations have armed in madness—the strange fate

Which tumbles mightiest sovereigns, and hath flung

Against their blind omnipotence a weight

Within the opposing scale, which crushes soon or late,—

CLXXII.

These might have been her destiny—but no—

Our hearts deny it: and so young, so fair,

Good without effort, great without a foe;

But now a Bride and Mother—and now there!

How many ties did that stern moment tear!

From thy Sire's to his humblest subject's breast

Is linked the electric chain of that despair,

Whose shock was as an Earthquake's, and opprest

The land which loved thee so that none could love thee best.