Shalt thou, from public shame exempt,
 Thy reverence to this tomb refuse!
A Waller , with profane contempt,
 Dares to insult a Waller 's muse!

Whom chiefs of the fanatic train
 Loved, for they felt her purer fire;
Whom in our GEORGE 's GERMAN reign,
 E NGLAND 's degenerate sons admire

Yet, for the the tomb's unequal fate,
 Our indignation we may spare;
The memory of the truly great
 Depends not on a stupid heir.

For canst thou, parricide, destroy
 The deathless force of WALLER 's mind?
Canst thou his flame, his wit annoy,
 Which will but die with human kind?

The glory of the poet's page
 Shall brighten still, and still expand,
In spite of envy's feeble rage,
 Or MAMMON 's cold, tenacious hand.

Then let that page, inspired by love,
 And by the muse's hallowed flame,
The merit of dead WALLER prove,
 The Poet's character proclaim.

The rugged tree, with yellow tinged;
 The icy monumental stone;
The iron oft with rags befringed,
 With many a noxious weed o'ergrown,

While far from chance's blind controul
 Great EDMUND 's bays perpetual bloom,
Let these describe a wretch's soul,
 And be the breathing WALLER 's tomb.

Sons of low care! how long, in vain,
 To you shall useful truth be told?
Yet hear, once more, the moral strain;
 You damn yourselves , to save your gold .