And feeling,[203] in a poet, is the source

Of others' feeling; but they are such liars,

And take all colours—like the hands of dyers.

LXXXVIII.

But words are things,[204] and a small drop of ink,

Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces

That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think;

'T is strange, the shortest letter which man uses

Instead of speech, may form a lasting link

Of ages; to what straits old Time reduces