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In Imitation Of Anacreon

By Matthew Prior

Topics: classic

Let 'em Censure: what care I? The Herd of Criticks I defie. Let the Wretches know, I write Regardless of their Grace, or Spight. No, no: the Fair, the Gay, the Young Govern the Numbers of my Song. All that They approve is sweet: And All is Sense, that They repeat. Bid the warbling Nine retire: Venus, String thy Servant's Lyre: Love shall be my endless Theme: Pleasure shall triumph over Fame: And when these Maxims I decline, Apollo, may Thy Fate be Mine: May I grasp at empty Praise; And lose the Nymph, to gain the Bays.

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"Let 'em Censure: what care I?..."

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Author:Matthew Prior

"Let 'em Censure: what care I?..." by Matthew Prior

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Matthew Prior

About Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior (1664–1721) was an English poet and diplomat. His poem "Alma: or, The Progress of the Mind" and his epitaph "Nobles and heralds, by your leave" are witty Augustan verse.

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