Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/83

Rh ADDRESS, SPOKEN AT THE OPENING OF DRURY-LANE THEATRE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1812.

one dread night our city saw, and sighed,

Bowed to the dust, the Drama's tower of pride;

In one short hour beheld the blazing fane,

Apollo sink, and Shakespeare cease to reign.

Ye who beheld, (oh! sight admired and mourned,

Whose radiance mocked the ruin it adorned!)

Through clouds of fire the massy fragments riven,

Like Israel's pillar, chase the night from heaven;

Saw the long column of revolving flames

Shake its red shadow o'er the startled Thames,

While thousands, thronged around the burning dome,

Shrank back appalled, and trembled for their home,

As glared the volumed blaze, and ghastly shone Variants Notes