O’er the unyielding loins, to keep from flight
The inconstant wind, that all too often flies—
The Nonpareil stands! Fame, whose bright eyes run o’er
With joy to see a chicken of her own:
Dips her rich pen in ‘claret,’ and writes down
Under the letter R, first on the score,
‘Randall, John—Irish parents—age not known—
Good with both hands, and only ten stone four!’”
“TO JOHN RANDALL, THE FAMOUS PUGILIST.”
(In imitation of Milton’s celebrated Sonnet.)