Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast

The little tyrant of his fields withstood,

Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,

Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 15.

Call it not vain: they do not err

Who say that when the poet dies

Mute Nature mourns her worshipper,

And celebrates his obsequies.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto v. Stanza 1.

He stood beside a cottage lone

And listened to a lute,

One summer's eve, when the breeze was gone,

And the nightingale was mute.

Thomas K Hervey (1799-1859): The Devil's Progress.

More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd

To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days,

On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book vii. Line 24.