Whate'er thy countrymen have done <br />By law and wit, by sword and gun, <br />In thee is faithfully recited, <br />And all the living world that view <br />Thy work, give thee the praises due <br />At once instructed and delighted. <br /> <br />Yet for the fame of all these deeds <br />What beggar in the invalids, <br />With lameness broke, with blindness smitten, <br />Wish'd ever decently to die, <br />To have been either Mezeray, <br />Or any Monarch he has written? <br /> <br />It's strange, dear Author, yet it true is, <br />That down from Pharamond to Louis <br />All covet life, yet call it pain, <br />And feel the ill, yet shun the cure: <br />Can sense this paradox endure? <br />Resolve me, Cambray, or Fontaine. <br /> <br />The man in graver tragic known <br />(Though his best part long since was done) <br />Still on the stage desires to tarry, <br />And he who play'd the Harlequin, <br />After the jest still loads the scene, <br />Unwilling to retire though weary.<br /><br />Matthew Prior<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/written-in-the-beginning-of-mezeray-s-history-of-france/
