Chapter 1 No.1

Lear and Cordelia! 'twas an ancient tale

Before thy Shakespeare gave it deathless fame;

The times have changed, the moral is the same.

So like an outcast, dowerless and pale,

Thy daughter went; and in a foreign gale

Spread her young banner, till its sway became

A wonder to the nations. Days of shame

Are close upon thee; prophets raise their wail.

When the rude Cossack with an outstretched hand

Points his long spear across the narrow sea,-

"Lo! there is England!" when thy destiny

Storms on thy straw-crowned head, and thou dost stand

Weak, helpless, mad, a by-word in the land,-

God grant thy daughter a Cordelia be!

[1852.]