Teems not each ditty with the glorious tale?[60]

Ah! such, alas! the hero's amplest fate!

When granite moulders and when records fail,

A peasant's plaint prolongs his dubious date.[bw]

Pride! bend thine eye from Heaven to thine estate,

See how the Mighty shrink into a song!

Can Volume, Pillar, Pile preserve thee great?

Or must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue,

When Flattery sleeps with thee, and History does thee wrong?