Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 5.djvu/581

 THE AGE OF BRONZE.

I.

The " good old times "—all times when old are good—

Are gone ; the present might be if they would ;

Great things have been, and are, and greater still

Want little of mere mortals but their will : i

A wider space, a greener field, is given

To those who play their " tricks before high heaven." 1

I know not if the angels weep, but men

Have wept enough — for what ? — to weep again !

II.

All is exploded — be it good or bad.

Reader ! remember when thou wert a lad,

Then Pitt was all ; or, if not all, so much,

His very rival almost deemed him such.2

We — we have seen the intellectual race

Of giants stand, like Titans, face to face —

Athos and Ida, with a dashing sea

Of eloquence between, which flowed all free.

As the deep billows of the Ægean roar

Betwixt the Hellenic and the Phrygian shore.

But where are they — the rivals ! a few feet

Of sullen earth divide each winding sheet.3

i. Want nothing of the little, but their will— [MS.]

1. [Measure for Measure, act ii. sc. 2, line l21.]

2. [Fox used to say, "I never want a word, but Pitt never wants the word."]

3. [The grave of Fox, in Westminster Abbey is within eighteen inches of that of Pitt. Compare—