A FABLE FOR THE CRITICS.
19
Better still, I could make out a good solid list
From recondite authors who do not exist,—
But that would be naughty; at least, I could twist
Something out of Absyrtus, or turn your inquiries
After Milton's prose metaphor, drawn from Osiris;
But, as Cicero says he won't say this or that,
(A fetch, I must say, most transparent and flat)
After saying whate'er he would possibly think of,—
I simply will state that I pause on the brink of
A mire, ancle-deep, of deliberate confusion,
Made up of old jumbles of classic allusion,
So, when you are thinking yourselves to be pitied,
Just conceive how much harder your teeth you'd have gritted,
An 'twere not for the dulness I've kindly omitted.
From recondite authors who do not exist,—
But that would be naughty; at least, I could twist
Something out of Absyrtus, or turn your inquiries
After Milton's prose metaphor, drawn from Osiris;
But, as Cicero says he won't say this or that,
(A fetch, I must say, most transparent and flat)
After saying whate'er he would possibly think of,—
I simply will state that I pause on the brink of
A mire, ancle-deep, of deliberate confusion,
Made up of old jumbles of classic allusion,
So, when you are thinking yourselves to be pitied,
Just conceive how much harder your teeth you'd have gritted,
An 'twere not for the dulness I've kindly omitted.
I'd apologize here for my many digressions,
Were it not that I'm certain to trip into fresh ones,
('Tis so hard to escape if you get in their mesh once;)
Just reflect, if you please, how 'tis said by Horatius,
That Maeonides nods now and then, and, my gracious!
It certainly does look a little bit ominous
When he gets under way with ton d'apameibomenos.
(Here a something occurs which I'll just clap a rhyme to,
And say it myself, ere a Zoilus has time to,—
Any author a nap like Von Winkle's may take,
If he only contrive to keep readers awake,
Were it not that I'm certain to trip into fresh ones,
('Tis so hard to escape if you get in their mesh once;)
Just reflect, if you please, how 'tis said by Horatius,
That Maeonides nods now and then, and, my gracious!
It certainly does look a little bit ominous
When he gets under way with ton d'apameibomenos.
(Here a something occurs which I'll just clap a rhyme to,
And say it myself, ere a Zoilus has time to,—
Any author a nap like Von Winkle's may take,
If he only contrive to keep readers awake,
