XII.

But where's the monarch?[327] hath he dined? or yet Groans beneath indigestion's heavy debt? Have revolutionary pates risen, And turned the royal entrails to a prison? Have discontented movements stirred the troops? Or have _no_ movements followed traitorous soups? Have Carbonaro[328] cooks not carbonadoed Each course enough? or doctors dire dissuaded Repletion? Ah! in thy dejected looks 510 I read all France's treason in her cooks! Good classic Louis! is it, canst thou say, Desirable to be the "Desire?" Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell's green abode, Apician table, and Horatian ode, To rule a people who will not be ruled, And love much rather to be scourged than schooled? Ah! thine was not the temper or the taste For thrones; the table sees thee better placed: A mild Epicurean, formed, at best, 520 To be a kind host and as good a guest, To talk of Letters, and to know by heart One _half_ the Poet's, _all_ the Gourmand's art; A scholar always, now and then a wit, And gentle when Digestion may permit;-- But not to govern lands enslaved or free; The gout was martyrdom enough for thee.