"Lives there a reptile baser than the slave?

—Lothsome as death, corrupted as the grave;

See the dull Creole, at his pompous board,

Attendant vassals cringing round their lord;

Satiate with food, his heavy eyelids close,

Voluptuous minions fan him to repose;

Prone on the noonday couch he lolls in vain,

Delirious slumbers mock his maudlin brain;

He starts in horror from bewildering dreams;

His bloodshot eye with fire and frenzy gleams;