Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/491

Rh When teased with creditors' continual claims,

"To die like Cato," leapt into the Thames!

And therefore be it lawful through the town

For any Bard to poison, hang, or drown.

Who saves the intended Suicide receives

Small thanks from him who loathes the life he leaves;

And, sooth to say, mad poets must not lose

The Glory of that death they freely choose.

Nor is it certain that some sorts of verse

Prick not the Poet's conscience as a curse;