“Call it not vain;—they do not err,
Who say, that when the Poet dies,
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper,
And celebrates his obsequies.”

— Walter Scott , The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto V, stanza 1.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

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Walter Scott 151

Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet 1771–1832

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Context: Experience does not err; only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power. Men wrongly complain of Experience; with great abuse they accuse her of leading them astray but they set Experience aside, turning from it with complaints as to our ignorance causing us to be carried away by vain and foolish desires to promise ourselves, in her name, things that are not in her power; saying that she is fallacious. Men are unjust in complaining of innocent Experience, constantly accusing her of error and of false evidence.

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“Call it not vain;—they do not err,Who say, that when the Poet dies,Mute Nature mourns her worshipper,And celebrates his obsequies.”

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Walter Scott 151

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“Call it not vain;—they do not err,
Who say, that when the Poet dies,
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper,
And celebrates his obsequies.”