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TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR
539
VI
By those infantine smiles of happy light,
Which were a fire within a stranger's hearth,
Quenched even when kindled, in untimely night
Hiding the promise of a[1] lovely birth:
By those infantine smiles of happy light,
Which were a fire within a stranger's hearth,
Quenched even when kindled, in untimely night
Hiding the promise of a[1] lovely birth:
VII
By those unpractised accents of young speech,25
Which he who is a father thought to frame
To gentlest lore[2], such as the wisest teach—
Thou strike the lyre of mind!—oh, grief and shame!
By those unpractised accents of young speech,25
Which he who is a father thought to frame
To gentlest lore[2], such as the wisest teach—
Thou strike the lyre of mind!—oh, grief and shame!
VIII
By all the happy see in children's growth—
That undeveloped flower of budding years—30
Sweetness and sadness interwoven both,
Source of the sweetest hopes and saddest[3] fears—
By all the happy see in children's growth—
That undeveloped flower of budding years—30
Sweetness and sadness interwoven both,
Source of the sweetest hopes and saddest[3] fears—
IX
By all the days, under an hireling's care,
Of dull constraint and bitter heaviness,—
O wretched ye if ever any were,—35
Sadder than orphans, yet not fatherless![4]
By all the days, under an hireling's care,
Of dull constraint and bitter heaviness,—
O wretched ye if ever any were,—35
Sadder than orphans, yet not fatherless![4]
X
By the false cant which on their innocent lips
Must hang like poison on an opening bloom,
By the dark creeds which cover with eclipse
Their pathway from the cradle to the tomb—40
By the false cant which on their innocent lips
Must hang like poison on an opening bloom,
By the dark creeds which cover with eclipse
Their pathway from the cradle to the tomb—40
XI
By thy most impious Hell, and all its terror;
By all the grief, the madness, and the guilt
Of thine impostures, which must be their error—
That sand on which thy crumbling power is built—[5]
By thy most impious Hell, and all its terror;
By all the grief, the madness, and the guilt
Of thine impostures, which must be their error—
That sand on which thy crumbling power is built—[5]
XII
By thy complicity with lust and hate—45
Thy thirst for tears—thy hunger after gold—
The ready frauds which ever on thee wait—
The servile arts in which thou hast grown old—
By thy complicity with lust and hate—45
Thy thirst for tears—thy hunger after gold—
The ready frauds which ever on thee wait—
The servile arts in which thou hast grown old—
XIII
By thy most killing sneer, and by thy smile—
By all the arts and snares[6] of thy black den,50
And—for thou canst outweep the crocodile—
By thy false tears—those millstones braining men—
By thy most killing sneer, and by thy smile—
By all the arts and snares[6] of thy black den,50
And—for thou canst outweep the crocodile—
By thy false tears—those millstones braining men—
- ↑ promise of a 1839, 2nd ed.; promises of 1839, 1st ed.
- ↑ lore] love Fa.
- ↑ and saddest] the saddest Fa.
- ↑ yet not fatherless! cancelled by Shelley for why not fatherless? Fa.
- ↑ 41-4 By ... built 'crossed by Shelley and marked dele by Mrs. Shelley' (Woodberry) Fa.
- ↑ arts and snares 1839, 1st ed.; snares and arts Harvard Coll. MS.; snares and nets Fa.; acts and snares 1839, 2nd ed.
