Oft I have caught them standing rapt before
Some barbarous portrait, grim with early art—
A Gorgon, to a nicely balanced eye,
That scarcely hinted at humanity;
Yet they would crown it with the port of Jove,
Make every wrinkle a heroic scar,
And light that garbage of forgotten times
With such a legendary halo, as would add
Another lustre to the Golden Book.
At first the children pleased me; many a laugh,