When all the glories of the Muse shall fade, When dimm'd for ever Valour's ardent flame; When spotless Virtue, sunk in deepest shade, No more shall swell the clarion of Fame, Then, not till then, O Sidney! shall thy name, Dear to the Muse, to Virtue, Valour dear! Cease from the tender, and the brave, to claim The tribute due, of an approving tear; Till then, thy godlike deeds, thy noble aim, Thy glorious death, they sighing shall revere: In bright array, intrepid shall they stand, To guard from wrong thy memory divine: Nor shall a trifler's* sacrilegious hand, Tear the just laurels from thy hallow'd shrine.
