To "energise the object I pursue,"
And give both Belial and his Dance their due![1]
Imperial Waltz! imported from the Rhine
(Famed for the growth of pedigrees and wine),30
Long be thine import from all duty free,
And Hock itself be less esteemed than thee;
In some few qualities alike—for Hock
Improves our cellar—thou our living stock.
The head to Hock belongs—thy subtler art
Intoxicates alone the heedless heart:
Through the full veins thy gentler poison swims,
And wakes to Wantonness the willing limbs.
Oh, Germany! how much to thee we owe,
As heaven-born Pitt can testify below,40
Ere cursed Confederation made thee France's,
And only left us thy d—d debts and dances![2]
Of subsidies and Hanover bereft,
- ↑ And weave a couplet worthy them and you.—[Proof.]
- ↑ [The Confederation of the Rhine (1803-1813), by which the courts of Würtemberg and Bavaria, together with some lesser principalities, detached themselves from the Germanic Body, and accepted the immediate protection of France.]
would have been recited by his son (October 15), but the gallery refused to hear it out. On the next night (October 16) "Master" Busby was more successful. Byron's parody of Busby's address, which began with the line, "When energising objects men pursue," is headed, "Parenthetical Address. By Dr. Plagiary."]
