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Graham: Poetical "Economy
POETICAL ECONOMY
What hours I spent of precious time,
What pints of ink I used to waste,
Attempting to secure a rhyme
To suit the public taste,
Until I found a simple plan
Which makes the lamest lyric scan!
When I've a syllable de trop,
I cut it off, without apol.:
This verbal sacrifice, I know,
May irritate the schoL;
But all must praise my dev'lish cunn.
Who realise that Time is Mon.
My sense remains as clear as cryst.,
My style as pure as any Duch.
Who does not boast a bar sinist.
Upon her fam. escutch.;
And I can treat with scornful pit.
The sneers of ev'ry captious crit.
I gladly publish to the pop.
A scheme of which I make no myst.,
And beg my fellow scribes to cop.
This-labour-saving syst.
I offer it to the consid.
Of ev'ry thoughtful individ.
The author, working like a beav.,
His readers' pleasure could redoub.
Did he but now and then abbrev.
The work he gives his pub.
(This view I most partic. suggest
To A. C. Bens, and G. K. Chest.)
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