Quotation by Robert Browning

Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a riband to stick in his coat—
...
We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,
Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,
Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,
Made him our pattern to live and to die!
Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,
Burns, Shelley, were with us—they watch from their graves!
He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,
MHe alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!