[50] [See Introduction to _The Waltz, Poetical Works_, 1898, i. 475.] [51] [_Illusion, or the Trances of Nourjahad_, a melodrama founded on _The History of Nourjahad_, By the Editor of Sidney Bidulph (Mrs. Frances Sheridan, _née_ Chamberlaine, 1724-1766), was played for the first time at Drury Lane Theatre, November 25, 1813. Byron was exceedingly indignant at being credited with the authorship or adaptation. (See Letter to Murray, November 27, 1813, _Letters_, 1898, ii. 288, _note_ 1.) Miss Sophia Lee, who wrote some of the _Canterbury Tales_, "made a very elegant musical drama of it" (_Memoirs of Mrs. F. Sheridan_, by Alicia Lefanu, 1824, p. 296); but this was not the _Nourjahad_ of Drury Lane.] [52] [Millbank Penitentiary, which was built in the form of a pentagon, was finally taken in hand in the spring of 1813. Solitary confinement in the "cells" was, at first, reserved as a punishment for misconduct.--_Memorials of Millbank_, by Arthur Griffiths, 1875, i. 57.] WINDSOR POETICS. LINES COMPOSED ON THE OCCASION OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT BEING SEEN STANDING BETWEEN THE COFFINS OF HENRY VIII. AND CHARLES I., IN THE ROYAL VAULT AT WINDSOR. FAMED for contemptuous breach of sacred ties, By headless Charles see heartless Henry lies; Between them stands another sceptred thing-- It moves, it reigns--in all but name, a king: Charles to his people, Henry to his wife, --In him the double tyrant starts to life: Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain, Each royal Vampire wakes to life again. Ah, what can tombs avail!--since these disgorge The blood and dust of both--to mould a George.[53] [First published, _Poetical Works_, Paris, 1819, vi. 125.] [ANOTHER VERSION.] ON A ROYAL VISIT TO THE VAULTS.[54] [OR CAESAR'S DISCOVERY OF C.I. AND H. 8. IN YE SAME VAULT.] FAMED for their civil and domestic quarrels See heartless Henry lies by headless Charles; Between them stands another sceptred thing, It lives, it reigns--"aye, every inch a king." Charles to his people, Henry to his wife, In him the double tyrant starts to life: Justice and Death have mixed their dust in vain. The royal Vampires join and rise again. What now can tombs avail, since these disgorge The blood and dirt[55] of both to mould a George! FOOTNOTES: [53] ["I cannot conceive how the _Vault_ has got about; but so it is. It is too _farouche_; but truth to say, my satires are not very playful."--Letter to Moore, March 12, 1814, _Letters_, 1899, iii. 57-58. Moore had written to him, "Your lines about the bodies of Charles and Henry are, I find, circulated with wonderful avidity; even some clods in this neighbourhood have had a copy sent to them by some 'young ladies in town.'"--_Ibid_., p. 57, _note_ 3.