Note 308 — PART THE SECOND. (continued 6)
Reading edition
The playful spirit in which the writer adverts to this subject appears to have yielded afterwards to a feeling of indignation; the following lines in his own hand-writing having been found by Dr. Johnson amongst his papers:—
ON THE AUTHOR OF LETTERS ON LITERATURE.
The Genius of th' Augustan age His head among Rome's ruins rear'd; And, bursting with heroic rage, When literary Heron appear'd, Thou hast, he cried, like him of old Who set th' Ephesian dome on fire, By being scandalously bold, Attain'd the mark of thy desire. And for traducing Virgil's name Shalt share his merited reward; A perpetuity of fame, That rots, and stinks and is abhorr'd.