I now mean to be serious;—it is time,

Since Laughter now-a-days is deemed too serious;

A jest at Vice by Virtue's called a crime,

And critically held as deleterious:

Besides, the sad's a source of the sublime,

Although, when long, a little apt to weary us;

And therefore shall my lay soar high and solemn,

As an old temple dwindled to a column.