True, she said little—’twas the rest that broke
Forth into universal epigram;
But then ’twas to the purpose what she spoke:
Like Addison’s “faint praise,” so wont to damn,
Her own but served to set off every joke,
As music chimes in with a melodrame.
How sweet the task to shield an absent friend!
I ask but this of mine, to—not defend.