Answer to Introductory Epistle

Walter Scott (1771–1832)

Take thou no scorn,Of fiction born,Fair fiction's muse to woo:Old Homer's themeWas but a dream.Himself a fiction too.

From my research the boldest spider fled,And moths, retreating, trembled as I read.

We have too long detain'd him in the porch,And kept him from the sunshine with a torch.

The king said sail,But the wind said no.