A Century of Parody and Imitation

by Unknown

Read not Milton, for he is dry; nor Shakespeare, for he wrote of common life:

Nor Scott, for his romances, though fascinating, are yet intelligible:

Nor Thackeray, for he is a Hogarth, a photographer who flattereth not:

Nor Kingsley, for he shall teach thee that thou shouldest not dream, but do.

Read incessantly thy Burke; that Burke who, nobler than he of old,

Treateth of the Peer and Peeress, the truly Sublime and Beautiful:

Likewise study the 'creations' of 'the Prince of modern Romance';

Sigh over Leonard the Martyr, and smile on Pelham the puppy:

Learn how 'love is the dram-drinking of existence';

And how we 'invoke, in the Gadara of our still closets,