VIII.

“Biscayan bondsmen! patience is your cure For all their slights and scoffs--by Heaven’s behest. Lives there a bustard on your hills to endure A foreign vulture in its cuckoo nest? Perchance your nests are warmer--ye know best! Not bustards dwell upon each mountain peak, But royal eagles none may dare molest, For piercing are their talons, sharp their beak-- ’Tis Biscay’s men alone are pliable and meek!