George Gordon Noel Byron

Hope, withering, fled--and Mercy sighed farewell.

Hope, withering, fled--and Mercy sighed farewell.

Besides, they always smell of bread and butter.

Besides, they always smell of bread and butter.

Sweet is old wine in bottles, ale in barrels.

Sweet is old wine in bottles, ale in barrels.

And both were young, and one was beautiful.

And both were young, and one was beautiful.

Ovid's a rake, as half his verses show him,
Anacreon's morals are a still worse sample,
Catullus read more

Ovid's a rake, as half his verses show him,
Anacreon's morals are a still worse sample,
Catullus scarcely has a decent poem,
I don't think Sappho's Ode a good example,
Although Longinus tells us there is no hymn
Where the sublime soars forth on wings more ample;
But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one
Being with "Formosum Pastor Corydon."