Thousands ’tis true the course have run,
Which reason would have bid them shun:
’Tis common sense and good in law,
To furnish brick we should have straw.
But by the mystic code of schools
There’s neither straw allowed nor tools;
And years of pain, and learning’s stock,
Begin and end in Hic, haec, hoc!
What charms are there, in sense or sound
Of such intrinsic merit found,