"However"—and here he viewed it round—
"This article still may pass for sound.
"Some flaws, soon patched, some stains are all
"The harm it has had in its luckless fall.
"Here, Puck!" and he called to one of his train—
"The owner may have this back again.
"Tho' damaged for ever, if used with skill,
"It may serve perhaps to trade on still;
"Tho' the gem can never as once be set,
"It will do for a Tory Cabinet."
[1] Astolpho.
[2] Huskisson.
HOW TO WRITE BY PROXY.
qui facit per alium facit per se.
'Mong our neighbors, the French, in the good olden time
When Nobility flourisht, great Barons and Dukes
Often set up for authors in prose and in rhyme,
But ne'er took the trouble to write their own books.
Poor devils were found to do this for their betters;—
And one day a Bishop, addressing a Blue,
Said, "Ma'am, have you read my new Pastoral Letters?"
To which the Blue answered—"No, Bishop, have you?"
The same is now done by our privileged class;
And to show you how simple the process it needs,
If a great Major-General[1] wishes to pass
For an author of History, thus he proceeds:—
First, scribbling his own stock of notions as well
As he can, with a goose-quill that claims him as kin,
He settles his neckcloth—takes snuff—rings the bell,
And yawningly orders a Subaltern in.
The Subaltern comes—sees his General seated,
In all the self-glory of authorship swelling;—
"There look," saith his Lordship, "my work is completed,—
"It wants nothing now but the grammar and spelling."