| Secret, short, swift this Writer iS, | the Sun’s course seemes but slow to hiS |
| The Teacher’s nimble tongue comes shorT | this Writer waits his nexT reporT |
| Eagles arE swift, his pen doth fleE | his quill an Eagle’s seems to bE |
| Noe clouds can flee, Nor waters ruN | swifter theN his quick strokes have doN |
| One posting Swiftly TO and frO | his Oft-turn’d quill doth even SO |
| Galley or ship with Sailes and FlagG | the Weavers shuttle, Leopard, StagG |
| Roe, Dromedary, Horse oR Ha’R: | oR the swift swiming Dolphin ra’R |
| And the quick Scribes, As ShemajA | Baruch, EzrA, E L I S H A M A |
| Paint forth, as Patterns in a maP | this ARTS true Portrature and shaP |
| Haste Haste to learn what it doth teacH | Swiftness and Shortness botH to reacH |
| Yea both in StenographyLY | much more in this E P I T O M Y |
After this ingenious torturing of the Queen’s English, it is not surprising to find,
“In steed [sic] of Tenne commandts. Lords Pray’r, Creed:
Heer’s Three and Thirty Languages to Reade,”
that is to say, the sentence “But the just shall live by his faith,” in that number of tongues, first in his stenographic characters, and then transliterated into longhand. His dedication is written in the style of a sermon, and in an introductory verse he does not fail to claim that by his art are
“... Sermons writ even from the lip,
And sudden thoughts before they slip.”
His good opinion of his own stenography, and powers of versification, sustains him to the end of his book, and he bids us adieu in this wise:—
“Herewith Farewell; If you can tell
What yet more fair, short, swift maybee,
Let the world know it, candedly [sic] show it
Or if not, Follow this with mee.”
William Hopkins “Flying Penman” (1695), has the following commendation signed by one whose surname has since become famous in divinity:—
“Virgil, who largely wrot about the Gnat
That saveing Man’s life his own ruine gat,
Might have emploi’d his pen about this Fly
With greater pleasure and Utility,
A Fly this is, but of more noble kind
Than in the winged crue you ere did find:
A Flying Man; the Flying-Pen-man ’tis
Whose wing the fleeing game doth never miss.
The Eagle strikes down and eats up his prey
Destroying all that he doth bear away,
But what this Pen-man takes he doth preserve,
And makes it better to all uses serve,
When fleeting words would vanish with their sound
He doth them stay, and them deliver bound,
By Lines of Characters wherein they rest
As in a dwelling that doth please them best.
The Art of Spelling at first was thought
Strange, and they deem’d immortal who it taught,
Spelling by Characters excelleth all
That under any other Art doth fall.
Some Charactors creep, some go, these do Fly
Showing their authors great agility,
And this ability he doth impart
By certain rules of a defusive Art.”
Edward Beecher.