POWER OF GENIUS OVER ENVY.

'Tis not the rancour of a canker'd heart

That can debase the excellence of art,

Nor great in titles makes our worth obey,

Since we have lines far more esteem'd than they.

For there is hidden in a poet's name

A spell that can command the wings of Fame,

And maugre all oblivion's hated birth

Begin their immortality on earth,

When he that 'gainst a muse with hate combines

May raise his tomb in vain to reach our lines.

Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Volume 1 · 第 300 / 326 题