Punctuation personified

MR. STOPS.
LONDON:
JOHN HARRIS, CORNER OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD.
LONDON: PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, DORSET STREET.
Young Robert could read but he gabbled so fast:
And ran on with such speed, that all meaning he lost.
Till one Morning he met Mr. Stops by the way,
Who advis’d him to listen to what he should say.
Then entering the house, he a riddle repeated.
To shew, WITHOUT STOPS, how the ear may be cheated.
“Ev’ry lady in this land
“Has twenty nails upon each hand