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TO JOHN MINSHULL, ESQ.
279

But hail to thee, Paulding, the pride of the Backwood!
The poet of cabbages,33 log huts, and gin,
God forbid thou shouldst get in the clutches of Blackwood!
Oh, Lord! how the wits of old England would grin!
In pathos, oh! who could be flatter or funnier?
Were ever descriptions more vulgar and tame?
I wronged thee, by Heaven! when I said there were none here
Could cope with great Minshull, thou peer of his fame!

D.