Superb in action, thought and phrase,
He got but meagre vague renown
Beyond the wits of London Town:—
To know the great the world delays.
Obscure he walked the urban ways:
From queen and courtier came the praise,
The sneer, the cuff, the smile, the frown,
When Shakespeare wrote.
But in our modern modish days
From sheer caprice the critic slays,