C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Oriental Royalty
By Lord Byron (1788–1824)
From ‘Don Juan’
H
Of whom all such as came of age were stowed—
The former in a palace, where like nuns
They lived till some Bashaw was sent abroad,
When she whose turn it was, was wed at once,
Sometimes at six years old—though this seems odd,
’Tis true: the reason is, that the Bashaw
Must make a present to his sire-in-law.
Of years to fill a bowstring or the throne,—
One or the other, but which of the two
Could yet be known unto the Fates alone:
Meantime the education they went through
Was princely, as the proofs have always shown;
So that the heir-apparent still was found
No less deserving to be hanged than crowned.