Twas for me to controvert them, and I did so in a novel
Which was commonly consider'd "but a step from the
sublime."
I have master'd metaphysics—I have mounted on the pinions
Both of Painting and of Music—and I rather think I know
Ev'ry nook and ev'ry corner of Apollo's whole dominions,
From the top of Mount Parnassus down to Paternoster Row.
I have had my little failures, I have had my great successes—
And Parnassus, I assure you, is a weary hill to climb;
But the lowest and the meanest of my enemies confesses