82
JEUX D'ESPRIT AND MINOR POEMS, 1798-1824.
THE CONQUEST.[1]
The Son of Love and Lord of War I sing;
Him who bade England bow to Normandy,
And left the name of Conqueror more than King
To his unconquerable dynasty.
Not fanned alone by Victory's fleeting wing,
He reared his bold and brilliant throne on high;
The Bastard kept, like lions, his prey fast,
And Britain's bravest Victor was the last.
March 8-9, 1823.
[First published, Lord Byron's Works, 1833, xvii. 246.]
[First published, Lord Byron's Works, 1833, xvii. 246.]
IMPROMPTU.[2]
Beneath Blessington's eyes
The reclaimed Paradise
Should be free as the former from evil;
But if the new Eve
For an Apple should grieve,
What mortal would not play the Devil?
April, 1823.
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 635.]
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 635.]
- ↑ [This fragment was found amongst Lord Byron's papers, after his departure from Genoa for Greece.]
- ↑ [With the view of inducing these friends [Lord and Lady Blessington] to prolong their stay at Genoa, he suggested their taking a pretty villa, called "Il Paradiso," in the neighbourhood of his own, and accompanied them to look at it. Upon that occasion it was that, on the lady expressing some intention of residing there, he produced the following impromptu.—Life, 577.]
