When all our summer friends are fled.

And shall these humble pages dare

Presume to ask, if they compare

With that fair, fragrant, precious gem,

Plucked from cold winter's diadem?

'Tis true both struggled into life,

Through scenes of sorrow, care and strife;

This poor, frail, intellectual flower

Was reared in no elysian bower.

No ray of fortune on it shone,—