XX. To his Book.
Vertumnum Janumque.
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O street and market-place I see you look
With wistful longing, my adventurous book,
That on the stalls for sale you may be seen,
Rubbed by the binder's pumice smooth and clean.
You chafe at look and key, and court the view
Of all the world, disdainful of the few.
Was this your breeding? go where you would go;
When once sent out, you won't come back, you know.
"What mischief have I done?" I hear you whine,
When some one hurts those feelings, now so fine;
For hurt you're sure to be; when people pall
Of reading you, they'll crush and fold you small.
If my prophetic soul be not at fault
From indignation at your rude revolt,
Your doom, methinks, is easy to foretell:
While you've your gloss on, Rome will like you well:
Then, when you're thumbed and soiled by vulgar hands,
You'll feed the moths, or go to distant lands.
Ah, then you'll mind your monitor too late,
While he looks on and chuckles at your fate,
