Page:A fable for critics - or, better ... A glance at a few of our literary progenies ... (IA fableforcritics00loweiala).pdf/28

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But he'll very soon find himself laid on the shelf,
If they fall a nodding when he nods himself.)

 Once for all, to return, and to stay, will I, nill I—
When Phœbus expressed his desire for a lily,
Our hero, whose homœopathic sagacity
With an ocean of zeal mixed his drop of capacity,
Set off for the garden as fast as the wind,
(Or, to take a comparison more to my mind,
As a sound politician leaves conscience behind,)
And leaped the low fence, as a party back jumps
O'er his principles, when something else turns up trumps,

 He was gone a long time, end Apollo meanwhile,
Went over some sonnets of his with a file,
For of all compositions, he thought that the sonnet
Best repaid all the toil you expended upon it;
It should reach with one impulse the end of its course,
And for one final blow collect all of its force;
Not a verse should be salient, but each one should tend
With o wave-like up-gathering to burst at the end;—
So, condensing the strength here, there smoothing a wry kink,
He was killing the time, when up walked Mr.———;
At a few steps behind him, a smell man in glasses,
Went dodging about, muttering “murderers! asses!”
From out of his pocket a paper he'd take,