Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/354

312 And sadly gaze on Gold they cannot gain!

Such be their meed, such still the just reward

Of prostituted Muse and hireling bard!

For this we spurn Apollo's venal son,

And bid a long "good night to Marmion."

These are the themes that claim our plaudits now;

These are the Bards to whom the Muse must bow;

While, , , alike forgot,

Resign their hallowed Bays to.

The time has been, when yet the Muse was young,

When swept the lyre, and  sung,

An Epic scarce ten centuries could claim,

While awe-struck nations hailed the magic name:

The work of each immortal Bard appears

The single wonder of a thousand years.

Empires have mouldered from the face of earth,

Tongues have expired with those who gave them birth,