Old man! 'Tis not difficult to die. - Lord Byron

I grant the power of pathos, and of gold,
Of beauty, flattery, threats, a shilling, — no
Method 's more sure at moments to take hold
Of the best feelings of mankind, which grow
More tender, as we every day behold,
Than that all-softening, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul — the dinner-bell.

She walks the waters like a thing of life,
And seems to dare the elements to strife.

Tis strange,-but true; for truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction: if it could be told,
How much would novels gain by the exchange!
How differently the world would men behold!