With laurel planted upon hoary hairs,
In sign of conquest by his wit achieved
And benefits his wisdom had conferred;
His stooping body tottered with wreaths of flowers[FT]
Opprest, far less becoming ornaments
Than Spring oft twines about a mouldering tree;[389]
Yet so it pleased a fond, a vain, old Man,
And a most frivolous people. Him I mean
Who penned,[390] to ridicule confiding faith,
This sorry Legend; which by chance we found