At
this point the Kaiser cut me short;
"Enough of your instrument vile, sir !
Forbid it, heaven, that such a machine
My realm should ever defile, sir!.
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text .
•
note.
•
•
17
"The
king and his consort strapped to a board!
That any should so forget, sir,
The rudiments of reverence
And courtly etiquette, sir!
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text .
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x
18
"And
who are you, that you venture to speak
Of such matters like an equal ?
Have a care, my man, or I'll clip your wings;
You will bitterly rue the sequel.
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text .
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x
19
"Your
impudence, sirrah, exceeds all bounds.
I am furious, and with reason;
Your very breath's lèse majesté
And impious high treason."
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text .
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x
20
When
the fierce old man with insulting words
Gave rein thus to his passion,
I spoke my mind out plump and plain
In no half-hearted fashion.
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text .
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x
21
"You
are only a poor old fabled thing,
And that is the truth about you.
Lie down, Barbarossa, and go to sleep;
We shall free our land without you.
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text .
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x
22
"The
Republicans, cracking their silly jokes,
Would laugh us to scorn if a spectre
We chose as our leader in Liberty's cause—
A ghost with a crown and sceptre.
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text .
23
"For
your standard, too, I have lost my love.
Fools, mad for everything olden,
In my burschenschaft days disgusted me quite
With your colours, the black-red-golden.
dt
text .
24
"Yes,
slumber away in your mountain hid.
Both for us and yourself it were wiser;
For, now I consider the facts of the case,
We are better without a Kaiser."
