XXII.
On sloping mounds, or in the vale beneath,[49]
Are domes where whilome kings did make repair;
But now the wild flowers round them only breathe:
Yet ruined Splendour still is lingering there.
And yonder towers the Prince's palace fair:
There thou too, Vathek! England's wealthiest son,[bb][50]
Once formed thy Paradise, as not aware
When wanton Wealth her mightiest deeds hath done,[bc]
Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever wont to shun.
XXIII.
Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan,
Beneath yon mountain's ever beauteous brow:
But now, as if a thing unblest by Man,[bd]
Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as Thou!
Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow
To Halls deserted, portals gaping wide:
Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how
Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied;[be]
Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide!
XXIV.
Behold the hall where chiefs were late convened! [4.B.]
Oh! dome displeasing unto British eye!
With diadem hight Foolscap, lo! a Fiend,
A little Fiend that scoffs incessantly,
There sits in parchment robe arrayed, and by[bf]
His side is hung a seal and sable scroll,
Where blazoned glare names known to chivalry,[bg]
And sundry signatures adorn the roll,[bh]
Whereat the Urchin points and laughs with all his soul.[bi]
XXV.
Convention is the dwarfish demon styled[51]
That foiled the knights in Marialva's dome:
Of brains (if brains they had) he them beguiled,
And turned a nation's shallow joy to gloom.
Here Folly dashed to earth the victor's plume,
And Policy regained what arms had lost:
For chiefs like ours in vain may laurels bloom!
Woe to the conquering, not the conquered host,
Since baffled Triumph droops on Lusitania's coast.