Maria, could Horace have guessed <br />What honour awaited his ode <br />To his little volume addressed, <br />The honour which you have bestowed,-- <br />Who have traced it in characters here, <br />So elegant, even, and neat, <br />He had laughed at the critical sneer <br />Which he seems to have trembled to meet. <br /> <br />And sneer, if you please, he had said, <br />A nymph shall hereafter arise <br />Who shall give me, when you are all dead, <br />The glory your malice denies; <br />Shall dignity give to my lay, <br />Although but a mere bagatelle; <br />And even a poet shall say, <br />Nothing ever was written so well.<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-mrs-throckmorton-on-her-beautiful-transcript-of-horace-s-ode-ad-librum-suum/
