CXCVIH.

This note was written upon gilt-edged paper
With a neat little crow-quill, slight and new;
Her small white hand could hardly reach the taper,
It trembled as magnetic needles do,

And yet she did not let one tear escape her;
The seal a sunflower;,,Elle vous suit partout,“
The motto, cut upon a white cornelian;
The wax was superfine, its hue vermillion.

CXCIX.

This was Don Juan's earliest scrape; but whether I shall proceed with his adventures is Dependant on the public altogether;

We'll see, however, what they say to this, Their favour in an author's cap's a feather,

And no great mischief's done by their caprice; And if their approbation we experience,

Perhaps they'll have some more about a year hence.

CC.

My poem's epic, and is meant to be
Divided in twelve books; each book containing,
With love, and war, à heavy gale at sea,

A list of ships, and captains, and kings reigning, New characters; the episodes are three:

A panorama view of hell's in training, After the style of Virgil and of Homer, So that my name of Epic's no misnomer.

CCI.

All these things will be specified in time,
With strict regard to Aristotle's rules,
The vade mecum of the true sublime,

Which makes so many poets, and some fools; Prose poets like blank-verse, I'm fond of rhyme, Good workmen never quarrel with their tools;

I've got new mythological machinery,

And very handsome supernatural scenery.

CCII.

There's only one slight difference between
Me and my epic brethren gone before,

And here the advantage is my own,

I ween; (Not that I have not several merits more, But this will more peculiarly be seen)

They so embellish, that 'tis quite a bore Their labyrinth of fables to thread through, Whereas this story's actually true.

CCCIII.

If any person doubt it, I appeal

To history, tradition, and to facts,

To newspapers, whose truth all know and feel,
To plays in five, and operas in three acts;
All these confirm my statement a good deal,

But that which more completely faith exacts Is, that myself, and several now in Seville,

Saw Juan's last elopement with the devil.

CCIV.

If ever I should condescend to prose,

I'll write poetical commandments, which'
Shall supersede beyond all doubt all those

That went before; in these I shall enrich
My text with many things that no one knows,
And carry precept to the highest pitch:
I'll call the work,,Longinus o'er a Bottle,
Or, Every Poet his own Aristotle."

CCV.

Thou shalt believe in Milton, Dryden, Pope;
Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Southey;

Because the first is crazed beyond all hope,
The second drunk, the third so quaint and mou-

they: With Crabbe it may be difficult to cope,

AndCampbell's Hippocrene is somewhat drouthy: Thou shalt not steal from Samuel Rogers, nor

Commit-flirtation with the muse of Moore.

CCVI.

Thou shalt not covet Mr. Sotheby's Muse,
His Pegasus, nor any thing that's his;
Thou shalt not bear false witness like,,the Blues,"
(There's one, at least, is very fond of this);
Thou shalt not write, in short, but what I choose:
This is true criticism, and you may kiss -
Exactly as you please, or not, the rod,
But if you don't, I'll lay it on, by G-d!

CCVII.

If any person should presume to assert This story is not moral, first, I pray, That they will not cry out before they're hurt, 'Then that they'll read it o'er again, and say, (But, doubtless, nobody will be so pert)

That this is not a moral tale, though gay; Besides, in canto twelfth, I mean to show The very place where wicked people go."