II.
“Eternal fate has said,—He must remove;
The bards triumphant wait for him above.
To everlasting day and blest abodes
(The seats of poets and of gods)
He’s gone, to fill the throne
Which none could fill but he alone;
The glorious throne for him prepared;
Of glorious acts the glorious, just reward.
See, see, as he ascends on high,
The sacred bards attending in the sky!
So low do they descend
To meet their now immortal friend!
Immortal there above, and here below,
As long as men shall wit and English know,
The unequalled Dryden must be so,
Immortal in his verse, in verse unequalled too.”—
She said,—then disappear’d; when I
Could plainly see all that was done on high.