From the Fly-Leaf of the Rowfant — Montaigne (Florio, 1603)
Frederick Locker. Written for the present collection.
Of yore, when books were few and fine,
Will Shakspere cut these leaves of mine,
But when he passed I went astray
Till bought by Pope, a gift for Gay.
Then, later on, betwixt my pages
A nose was poked—the Bolt-Court Sage’s.
But though the Fame began with Rawleigh,
And had not dwindled with Macaulay,
Though still I tincture many tomes
Like Lowell’s pointed sense, and Holmes’,
For me the halcyon days have past—
I’m here, and with a dunce at last.