Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 7.djvu/69

37 CONDOLATORY ADDRESS

TO SARAH COUNTESS OF JERSEY, ON THE PRINCE REGENT'S RETURNING HER PICTURE TO MRS. MEE.

the vain triumph of the imperial lord,

Whom servile Rome obeyed, and yet abhorred,

Gave to the vulgar gaze each glorious bust,

That left a likeness of the brave, or just;

What most admired each scrutinising eye

Of all that decked that passing pageantry?

What spread from face to face that wondering air?

The thought of Brutus —for his was not there!

That absence proved his worth,—that absence fixed

His memory on the longing mind, unmixed;

And more decreed his glory to endure,

Than all a gold Colossus could secure.

If thus, fair Jersey, our desiring gaze

Search for thy form, in vain and mute amaze,

Amidst those pictured charms, whose loveliness,

Bright though they be, thine own had rendered less:

If he, that, whom truth admits

Heir of his father's crown, and of his wits,

If his corrupted eye, and withered heart,

Could with thy gentle image bear to part;