“CRITICS, RIGHT HONOURABLE BARD, DECREE”
I have found this in a catalogue of Autograph Letters, and have no knowledge of its date, or of the Bard referred to. Solomon Gesner wrote a poem on The Death of Abel, which was translated into English. See footnote to The Prelude, book vii. l. 564.—Ed.
“Critics, right honourable Bard, decree
Laurels to some, a night-shade wreath to thee,
Whose muse a sure though late revenge hath ta’en
Of harmless Abel’s death, by murdering Cain.”
On Cain, a Mystery, dedicated to Sir Walter Scott:—
“A German Haggis from receipt
Of him who cooked the death of Abel,
And sent ‘warm-reeking, rich and sweet,’
From Venice to Sir Walter’s table.”