Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/590

548 From me a wandering Englishman; I tore

One sonnet, but invoke the muse once more

To hail these gentle hearts which Love has tied,

In Youth, Birth, Beauty, genially allied

And blest with Virtue's soul, and Fortune's store.

A sweeter language, and a luckier bard

Were worthier of your hopes, Auspicious Pair!

And of the sanctity of Hymen's shrine,

But,—since I cannot but obey the Fair,

To render your new state your true reward,

May your Fate be like Hers, and unlike mine. Ravenna, July 31, 1819. [From an autograph MS. in the possession of the Lady Dorchester, now for the first time printed.]

SONNET TO THE PRINCE REGENT.

ON THE REPEAL OF LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD'S FORFEITURE.

be the father of the fatherless,

To stretch the hand from the throne's height, and raise

His offspring, who expired in other days

To make thy Sire's sway by a kingdom less,—

This is to be a monarch, and repress

Envy into unutterable praise.

Dismiss thy guard, and trust thee to such traits,

For who would lift a hand, except to bless?

Were it not easy, Sir, and is't not sweet

To make thyself belovéd? and to be

Omnipotent by Mercy's means? for thus

Thy Sovereignty would grow but more complete,

A despot thou, and yet thy people free,

And by the heart—not hand—enslaving us. Bologna, August 12. 1819. [First published, Letters and Journals, ii. 234, 235.]