When Autumn's winds denude the grove,
I seek my Lecture, where it lurks
'Mid the unpublished portion of
My works,
And ponder, while its sheets I scan,
How many years away have slipt
Since first I penned that ancient man-
uscript.
I know thee well—nor can mistake
The old accustomed pencil stroke
Denoting where I mostly make
A joke,—
Or where coy brackets signify
Those echoes faint of classic wit
Which, if a lady's present, I
Omit.
Though Truth enlarge her widening range,
And Knowledge be with time increased,
While thou, my Lecture! dost not change
The least,
But fixed immutable amidst
The advent of a newer lore,
Maintainest calmly what thou didst
Before:
Though still malignity avows
That unsuccessful candidates
To thee ascribe their frequent ploughs
In Greats—
Once more for intellectual food
Thou'lt serve: an added phrase or two
Will make thee really just as good
As new:
And listening crowds, that throng the spot,
Will still as usual complain
That "Here's the old familiar rot
Again!"