“Who o'er the herd would wish to reign,
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain!
Vain as the leaf upon the stream,
And fickle as a changeful dream;
Fantastic as a woman's mood,
And fierce as Frenzy's fever'd blood.
Thou many-headed monster thing,
Oh who would wish to be thy king!”

—  Walter Scott

Canto V, stanza 30.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

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Walter Scott 151
Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet 1771–1832

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