XVII.

Thus, Venice! if no stronger claim were thine, Were all thy proud historic deeds forgot-- Thy choral memory of the Bard divine, Thy love of Tasso, should have cut the knot[lt] Which ties thee to thy tyrants; and thy lot Is shameful to the nations,--most of all, Albion! to thee:[400] the Ocean queen should not Abandon Ocean's children; in the fall Of Venice think of thine, despite thy watery wall.[lu]