Robert Browning

“ And the boys began research.
16.
'Twas the space where our sires would lay a saint,
A benefactor,—a bishop, suppose;
A baron with armour-adornments quaint;
A dame with chased ring and jewelled rose,
Things sanctity saves from taint:
17.
So we come to find them in after-days
When the corpse is presumed to have done with gauds
Of use to the living, in many ways:
For the boys get pelf, and the town applauds,
And the church deserves the praise. ”