And this again is what I tell you, this again is what I cry out to you: that the power by which a man of Genius does his work, and the power by which he earns his bread, are things so entirely distinct that they may not occur together at all!The man may have both, but then again he may only have the former. And in that case he will die like a poisoned rat in a hole.
Last Verses
By Thomas Chatterton
(This boy, 1752-1770, came to London friendless and unknown, and on account of starvation committed suicide at the age of eighteen. He has become the classic example of the world’s mistreatment of its poets. The reference to Bristol is to his native city)
Farewell, Bristolia’s dingy piles of brick,
Lovers of mammon, worshippers of trick!
Ye spurned the boy who gave you antique lays,
And paid for learning with your empty praise.
Farewell, ye guzzling aldermanic fools,
By nature fitted for corruption’s tools!