Hard is the task, and oft the labour vain."
That her literary accouchement should not be a failure, she further says:
"Lord, how I've bother'd all the gods and graces,
Who patronize some mortals, in such cases."
I take the expressive use of the word "some" here to indicate her predecessor, the ancient occupier of the tenement, who certainly was a protégé of the said parties.
Mrs. Hornby then goes on to relate how that during her gestation she invoked Apollo, Thalia, and Erato:
"Soon they arrived, with Hermes at their side,
By Jove commission'd, as their friend and guide.
But when the mirth-inspiring dames stepp'd o'er
The sacred threshold of great Shakspeare's door,