Would shout around him, and he loved the noise;

They called him Neddy; - Neddy had the art

To play with skill his ignominious part;

When he his trifles would for sale display,

And act the mimic for a schoolboy’s pay.

For many years he plied his humble trade,

And used his tricks and talents to persuade;

The fellow barely read, but chanced to look

Among the fragments of a tatter’d book;

Where, after many efforts made to spell