 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
124
CERVANTES.
If to have been wise Europe's pioneerTo truth, and sense, and better aims of life,—
If by thy satire's keen and caustic knife
To have had Ercles' might to lop and sear
The stolid hydra-heads of errant strife,—
If these be worth a passing grateful thought,
Take it, Cervantes; we have few like thee,
Full of right-minded wit, that wounds not aught
But folly, with its cutting gaiety:
Thanks to thy prison, that its dulness wrought
A lasting humorous good; the crazy knight,
His shrewd rough squire, and those unheard-of deeds,
Whereat the school-boy shouts with huge delight,
And the philosopher wonders as he reads.
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |