A legend, which, I much bewail,

Has been by time or mice defaced,

So much that parts are scarcely traced:

My wish has been, a man to find

Whose taste to poetry inclined,

Who kindly would the remnants read

And fill in where the sense may need—

A few words here—a passage there—

While now and then a page may share,

Destruction's touch, and need much skill