against itself or the author, it will be of some service. If it can set you to
sleep
, the benefit will be yet greater;
as some facetious personage observed half a century ago, that "poetry is a mere drug,"
I offer you mine as a humble assistant to the
eau medicinale
. I trust you will forgive this and all my other buffooneries, and believe me to be, with great respect,
Your Lordship's obliged and sincere servant,