Names all unknown in ages pre-Socratic;
And SHORTER could not have accosted him
By sobriquets endearing or ecstatic;
It would have certainly provoked a scene,
For instance, to have hailed him as "Old bean."
Then at the "Mermaid," had he been invited
As an illustrious brother of the quill,
Would "C.K.S.," I wonder, have delighted
To honour WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE as "Old Bill,"
And in the small uproarious hours A.M.