The charms of Secants and of Tangents tell,
How Loves and Graces in an Angle dwell;
How slow progressive Points protract the Line,
As pendant spiders spin the filmy twine;
How lengthened Lines, impetuous sweeping round,
Spread the wide Plane, and mark its circling bound;
How Planes, their substance, with their motion grown,
Form the huge Cube, the Cylinder, the Cone.
* * * * *
This parody has two drawbacks, in the first place it is much too long to be inserted here in full, in the second place, much of its humour depends on an acquaintance with the original poem, which comparatively few modern readers have. It will be found complete in The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin.