AN UNINSURABLE RISK.


A bookseller opened a shop on the coast,
(I'd rather not mention the spot,)
Where gentlemen lounged o'er the Herald and Post,
And ladies read Byron and Scott.

Much personal memoir, too, shone on the shelves,
Which boasted a whimsical olio;
Decorum sang small, in octavoes and twelves,
And scandal in quarto and folio.

The bookseller, prudently aiming to set
Th' ignipotent god at defiance,
To open a policy vainly essay'd
At the Albion, the Hope, and Alliance.

"My friend, your abortive attempt prithee stop,"
Quoth Jekyll, intent on a joke,
"How can you expect to insure, while your shop
Is rolling out volumes of smoke?"

Ibid.

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