Childe Harold was he hight:[22]—but whence his name[p]

And lineage long, it suits me not to say;

Suffice it, that perchance they were of fame,

And had been glorious in another day:

But one sad losel soils a name for ay,[23]

However mighty in the olden time;

Nor all that heralds rake from coffined clay,

Nor florid prose, nor honied lies of rhyme,[q]

Can blazon evil deeds, or consecrate a crime.