The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero)/Poetry/Volume 1/To E——
TO E——[1]
Let Folly smile, to view the names
Of thee and me, in Friendship twin'd;
Yet Virtue will have greater claims
To love, than rank with vice combin'd.
And though unequal is thy fate,
Since title deck'd my higher birth;
Yet envy not this gaudy state,
Thine is the pride of modest worth.
Our souls at least congenial meet,
Nor can thy lot my rank disgrace;
Our intercourse is not less sweet,
Since worth of rank supplies the place.
November, 1802.
- ↑ [E—— was, according to Moore, a boy of Byron's own age, the son of one of the tenants at Newstead.]