To Mrs. Throckmorton, On Her Beautiful Transcript Of Horaces Ode, Ad Librum Suum.
By William Cowper
Maria, could Horace have guessd
What honour awaited his ode
To his own little volume addressd,
The honour which you have bestowd;
Who have traced it in characters here,
So elegant, even, and neat,
He had laughd at the critical sneer
Which he seems to have trembled to meet.
And sneer, if you please, he had said,
A nymph shall hereafter arise,
Who shall give me, when you are all dead,
The glory your malice denies;
Shall dignity give to my lay,
Although but a mere bagatelle;
And even a poet shall say,
Nothing ever was written so well.