Truth, like the juice of the poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in larger, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal consequences in excess.

Landor found Latin useful for expressing things that might otherwise have been “indecent or unattractive” as he put it and as a cover for libellous material. Equally sensitive are his “domestic” poems about his sister and his children. By a succession of bizarre actions he was successively thrown out of Rugby Oxford and from time to time from the family home.

Walter Savage Landor (30 January 1775 – 17 September 1864) was an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations and the poem Rose Aylmer but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity.