Lord Byron writing in praise of renegacy

Lord Byron

And though I hope not unscathed to go,

Who conquers me shall find a stubborn foe.

The time hath been, when no harsh sound would fall

From lips that now may seem imbued with gall;

Nor fools nor follies tempt me to despise

The meanest thing that crawl’d beneath my eyes:

But now, so callous grown, so changed since youth,

I’ve learned to think, and sternly speak the truth;

Learn’d to deride the critic’s starch decree,

And break him on the wheel he meant for me;

To spurn the rod a scribbler bids me kiss,

Nor care if courts and crowds applaud or hiss:

-English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809)