The first of his critics he met with was Rowe,
Tho' to keep out of sight he had try'd.
'How comes it, friend Nicholas,' said the old bard,
(While Nic was preparing a speech),
'My ruins so coarsely by you were repair'd,
Who grace to the Graces could teach?'
'Had the time you employ'd when The Biter[[1]] you wrote,
So hiss'd by the critical throng,
Been spent upon mending the holes in my coat,
It had not been ragged so long.'