I.

A GRAVER strain than yet my boyhood sung,
Devoted be to M ILTON 's honour'd name,
Himself now " Memory's son, and heir of Fame, "
Whose holier Harp approving Angels strung,
Whose Classic Crown that nine-fold Choir did frame
Brown Tiber's margent shades, and Delphian steeps among.

II.

Might but my Name with thy great Glory peer,
Who, with the toil of midnight hours foredone,
Up the high steeps of Fame didst darkly run;
That inward brightness pure, so strong, so clear,
To me more joyous were than sheeny Sun,
Lovelier than Light itself, and than the day more dear.

III.

By the grey Majesty of Homer's hairs,
That thro' his bays glitter so rev'rently,
By him, who (pastoral crooks and reedy pipes laid by)
With thee that thrice-divided Glory shares,
Hearken to one who, all so studiously,
For an eternal Fame and letter'd Laurel cares!