To his parent he bow’d, and now penitent groan,

Cried “Thy strength and my empty pretences I own,

“In vain were my hopes to supplant thee on earth,

“And immortal, O mother, thou art in thy birth!

“As now you behold me in penitence sunk,

“Take all my Romances, nay, take too my Monk;

“But leave me, since thus I acknowledge my crime,

“My epilogues, sonnets, and lady-like rhyme.”

Mother Goose, as her son was in penitence sunk,

Took all his Romances, but took, too, his Monk;