The Hornet's Nest

Ah, Charlotte, what has happened to you? The Hornet's Nest of Rebellion is becalmed by easy words and even more by comfortable conceits; an old woman gazing on a slave's blanket and dreaming of the true past, eyes shut because reality is faithless. The consort of businessman Republicans, you are now a painted lady with a full purse but no independence. Where is your backbone--has it weakened and vanished from supinity and disuse? Or is it irreparably bent, hunched and round like your heels?