Page:The poetical works of William Blake - lyrical and miscellaneous.djvu/269

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LAFAYETTE.

121

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?

LAFAYETTE.^[1]

LET the brothels of Paris be opened.
With many an alluring dance,
To awake the physicians through the city,"
Said the beautiful Queen of France.

The King awoke on his couch of gold,
As soon as he heard these tidings told:
"Arise and come, both fife and drum,
And the famine shall eat both crust and crumb."

Then he swore a great and solemn oath,
"To kill the people I am loth:"
And said—"I love hanging and drawing and quartering
Every bit as well as war and slaughtering."

↑ This poem (or fragment of a poem) is extracted from Mr. D. G. Rossetti's MS. book. It was not published in Mr. Gilchrist's work, being deemed too odd and imperfect. There is, however, a certain element of poetical force in the poem, and it is at any rate extremely curious as indicating Blake's conceptions of contemporary history and politics. The MS. of it is much complicated by false starts and variations.

[1] This poem (or fragment of a poem) is extracted from Mr. D. G. Rossetti's MS. book. It was not published in Mr. Gilchrist's work, being deemed too odd and imperfect. There is, however, a certain element of poetical force in the poem, and it is at any rate extremely curious as indicating Blake's conceptions of contemporary history and politics. The MS. of it is much complicated by false starts and variations.

[1]