The other day his father made him spell
Maron; the rascal made it Simon; dolt
I thought myself to send him to a school:
Ass-tending is his trade. Another time
We set him to recite some childish piece;
He sifts it out like water through a crack,
“Apollo,” pause, then “hunter.”
The poor mother goes on to say that it is useless to scold the boy; for, if she does, he promptly runs away from home to sponge upon his grandmother, or sits up on the roof out of the way, like an ape, breaking the tiles, which is expensive for his parents.
Yet he knows
The seventh and the twentieth of the month,