In short, the maxim for the amorous tribe is

Horatian, "Medio tu tutissimus ibis."[337]

XVIII.

The "tu" 's too much,—but let it stand,—the verse

Requires it, that's to say, the English rhyme,

And not the pink of old hexameters;

But, after all, there's neither tune nor time

In the last line, which cannot well be worse,[GK]

And was thrust in to close the octave's chime:

I own no prosody can ever rate it