As those which dimmed the olden style;
The days when Israelites selfwilled
The prophets stoned, the poets killed,
The days when slavish English churls
Their rhymers starved and worshiped earls;
Who Shakspeare’s record left to fade,
Because he had not begged their aid;
Who suffered Milton, blind and poor,
To starve, or beg from door to door,
As old, blind Homer did before.