(Unveiled by Mr. Henry Irving at Canterbury, September 16, 1891.)
MARLOWE, your "mighty line"
Though worthy of a darling of the Nine,
Has—in quotation—many a reader riled.
Like SHAKSPEARE's "wood-notes wild,"
And POPE's "lisped numbers," it becomes a bore
When hackneyed o'er and o'er
By every petty scribe and criticaster.
Yet we must own you master
Of the magnificent and magniloquent.