120 EXTEMPORE. TO ----------, TO WHOSE INTERFERENCE I CHIEFLY OWE THE VERY LIBERAL PRICE GIVEN FOR LALLA ROOKH When they shall tell, in future times, Of thousands giv'n for idle rhymes Like these--the pastime of an hour, They'll wonder at the lavish taste That could, like tulip-fanciers, waste A little fortune on a flower! Yet wilt not thou, whose friendship set Such value on the bard's renown; Yet wilt not thou, my friend, regret The golden shower thy spell brought down; For thou dost love the free-born Muse, Whose flight no curbing chain pursues; And thou dost think the song, that shrines That image, --so ador'd by thee, And spirits like thee,--Liberty, Of price beyond all India's mines! THOMAS MOORE