The Humourous Poetry of the English Language

542
Is but to put the soul on a clean shift.
SMATTERERS
All smatterers are more brisk and pert
Than those that understand an art;
As little sparkles shine more bright
Than glowing coals, that give them light.
BAD WRITERS.
As he that makes his mark is understood
To write his name, and 'tis in law as good,
So he, that can not write one word of sense
Believes he has as legal a pretense
To scribble what he does not understand,
As idiots have a title to their land.
THE OPINIONATIVE.
Opinionators naturally differ
From other men; as wooden legs are stiffer
Than those of pliant joints, to yield and bow,
Which way soever they're design'd to go.
LANGUAGE OF THE LEARNED.
Were Tully now alive, he'd be to seek
In all our Latin terms of art and Greek;
Would never understand one word of sense
The most irrefragable schoolman means:
As if the Schools design'd their terms of art,
Not to advance a science, but to divert;
As Hocus Pocus conjures to amuse
The rabble from observing what he does.