Shakespeare--reared a throne
For British Poesy--whose powers inspire
The British pencil, and the British lyre--
Her we invoke--her Sister Arts implore:
Their smiles beseech whose charms yourselves adore,
These if we win, the Graces too we gain--
Their dear, beloved, inseparable train;
Three who their witching arts from Cupid stole
And three acknowledged sovereigns of the soul: 50
Harmonious throng! with nature blending art!
Divine Sestetto! warbling to the heart
For Poesy shall here sustain the upper part.
Thus lifted gloriously we'll sweep along,
Shine in our music, scenery and song;
Shine in our farce, masque, opera and play,
And prove old Drury has not had her day,
Nay more--so stretch the wing the world shall cry,
Old Drury never, never soared so high.
'But hold,' you'll say, 'this self-complacent boast; 60
Easy to reckon thus without your host.'
True, true--that lowers at once our mounting pride;
'Tis yours alone our merit to decide;
'Tis ours to look to you, you hold the prize
That bids our great, our best ambitions rise.
A _double_ blessing _your_ rewards impart,
Each good provide and elevate the heart.
Our twofold feeling owns its twofold cause,
Your bounty's _comfort_--_rapture_ your applause;
When in your fostering beam you bid us live, 70
You give the means of life, and gild the means you give."

_Morning Chronicle_, October 17, 1812.]

[45] {57} [Busby's translation of Lucretius (_The Nature of Things_, a
Didascalie Poem) was published in 1813. Byron was a subscriber, and is
mentioned in the preface as "one of the most distinguished poets of the
age." The passage in question is, perhaps, taken from the Second Book,
lines 880, 881, which Busby renders--

"Just as she quickens fuel into fire,
And bids it, flaming, to the skies aspire."]

[46] {59} [The Leasowes, the residence of the poet Shenstone, is near
the village of Halesowen, in Shropshire.]

[47] [See Dryden's _Cymon and Iphigenia_, lines 84, 85.]

[48] [The sequel of a temporary liaison formed by Lord Byron during his
career in London, occasioned this impromptu. On the cessation of the
connection, the fair one [Lady C. Lamb: see _Letters_, 1898, ii. 451]
called one morning at her quondam lover's apartments. His Lordship w