A brand from Della Crusca’s altar.
“O thou!” who soar’dst to heights sublimer
Than e’er before attain’d by rhymer,
Till even my good friend Apollo
At distance gazed, but dared not follow,
“Genius or MUSE,” who had’st propensity
To seem to strive to stretch immensity,
Whose “airy lays,” quoth Bell’s fraternity,
Would last through more than one eternity,
(Although it seems, the deuce is in ’t,