Lord Byron — Sonnet To Lake Leman

Rousseau—Voltaire—our Gibbon—and De Staël—        &nbspLeman! these names are worthy of thy shore,        &nbspThy shore of names like these! wert thou no more, Their memory thy remembrance would recall: To them thy banks were lovely as to all,        &nbspBut they have made them lovelier, for the lore        &nbspOf mighty minds doth hallow in the core Of human hearts the ruin of a wall        &nbspWhere dwelt the wise and wondrous; but by thee How much more, Lake of Beauty! do we feel,        &nbspIn sweetly gliding o'er thy crystal sea, The wild glow of that not ungentle zeal,        &nbspWhich of the Heirs of Immortality Is proud, and makes the breath of Glory real!