ON REPAIRING A MINIATURE BUST OF BUONAPARTE. FOR MRS. PALMER
madam,
E’en Lodi’s stream, Marengo’s plain,
Amidst their heaps of dead,
Still left the illustrious Corsican
His laurels and his head.
What have you done? Was it to show,5
Still dire events portending,
That man may look as pure as snow,
Yet stand in need of mending?
Though mending is in part my trade,
Where step by step I’m led on,10
I ne’er the bold attempt yet made,
To set a great man’s head on.
But satirists, may well suspect
That some great heads have long
Been our sole care, and (from neglect)15
That we have set them wrong.
But jokes apart, ’tis plain to all,
Who see this broken bust,
The head of the original—
Was rightly placed at first.20